| preferred to more delicate plants. 
|b = 
CAMEL. 
educate them at an early age. They are first 
taught to bear burdens, by having their limbs 
secured under the belly, and then a weight pro- 
portioned to their strength is put on: this is not 
changed for a heavier load till the animal is 
thought to have gained sufficient power to sus- 
tain it. Food and drink are not allowed at will, 
but given in small quantity, at long intervals. 
They are then gradually accustomed to long 
journeys, and an accelerated pace, until their 
qualities of fleetness and strength are fully 
brought into action. They are taught to kneel, 
for the purpose of receiving or removing their 
load. When too heavily laden, they refuse to 
rise ; and, by loud cries, complain of the injustice. 
Small camels carry from 600 to 800 lbs.; the 
largest and strongest bear 1,000 or 1,200 Ilbs., 
from 30 to 35 milesa-day. Those which are used 
for speed alone are capable of travelling from 60 
to 90 miles a-day. Instead of employing blows 
| or ill treatment to increase their speed, the 
camel-drivers sing cheerful songs, and thus urge 
the animals to their best efforts. When a caravan 
of camels arrives at a resting or baiting-place, 
they kneel, and, the cords sustaining the load 
being untied, the bales slip down on each side. 
| They generally sleep on their bellies, crouching 
between the bales they have carried: the load is, 
therefore, replaced with great facility. In an 
abundant pasture, they generally browse as much 
in an hour as serves them for ruminating all 
night, and for their support during the next day. 
But it is uncommon to find such pasturage, and 
they are contented with the coarsest fare: nettles, 
thistles, wormwood, and various harsh vegetables 
are eaten by them with avidity, and are even 
Camels, de- 
signed exclusively for labour, are usually gelded, 
and females are also treated in a similar manner. 
They are, it is true, not so strong, nor so spirited, 
as unmutilated animals, but are much more man- 
ageable. During their sexual season, the males 
become furious and ungovernable: they refuse 
food, are spiteful, biting and kicking even their 
keepers, to whom they are, at other times, very 
obedient. At this time, also, a foetid secretion is 
effused from a glandular apparatus on the neck ; 
the animal foams at the mouth, and a red, mem- 
branous vesicle, similar to a bladder, is extended 
on each side of the mouth. One male is reserved 
perfect for every eight females. The female re- 
ceives the male in the same crouching attitude, 
in which she places herself to receive a load, or 
for the purpose of sleeping. She goes with young 
12 months, and brings forth one at a birth. Her 
milk is very thick, abundant and rich, but of 
rather a strong taste. Mingled with water, it 
forms a very nutritive article of diet. Breeding 
and milk-giving camels are exempted from ser- 
vice, and fed as well as possible, the value of their 
milk being greater than that of their labour. The 
young camel usually sucks for 12 months; but 
CAMELINA. 659 
suck, and exempted from restraint, for two or 
three years. The camel attains the full exercise 
of its functions within four or five, and the dura- 
tion of its life is from forty to fifty years. 
The humps or bunches on the back of the camel 
are mere accumulations of cellular substance and 
fat, covered by skin, and a longer hair than that 
of the general surface. During long journeys, in 
which the animals suffer severely from want of 
food, and become greatly emaciated, these pro- 
tuberances are gradually absorbed, and no trace 
of them left, except that the skin is loose and 
flabby where they were situated. In preparing 
for a journey, it is necessary to guard the humps 
from pressure or friction by appropriate saddles, 
as the slightest ulceration of these parts is fol- 
lowed by the worst consequences: insects deposit 
their larvee in the sores, and sometimes extensive 
and destructive mortification ensues. 
The Bactrian or common camel is larger than 
the dromedary ; the limbs are not so long in pro- 
portion to the body; the muzzle is larger and 
more tumid; the hair of a darker brown, and the 
usual gait slower. A still more striking distinc- 
tion is afforded by the two humps—the drome- 
dary having but one. This single hump of the 
latter occupies the middle of the back, rising gra- | 
dually on all sides towards its apex, and never | 
inclining to one side. Both species are occasion- 
ally found in collections of animals. 
dary is more frequently seen than the camel. 
The drome- | 
During that season of the year when these | 
gentle creatures become violent, the Turks take — 
advantage of this change in their disposition to | 
set on foot camel-fights—disgraceful exhibitions, | 
indicative of the same spirit as the lion-fights of | 
Rome, the bull-fights of Spain, the bull and 
badger-baitings and cock-fights of England. 
These fights are common at Smyrna and Aleppo. | 
The camels of Smyrna are led out to a large plain, | 
filled with eager crowds. The animals are muz- 
zled to prevent their doing each other serious | 
injury, for their bite is tremendous, always bring- | 
A couple, being let loose, run | 
ing the piece out. 
at each other with extreme fury. Their mode of 
combat is curious: they knock their heads to- | 
gether laterally, twist their long necks, wrestle 
with their fore-legs, almost like bipeds, and seem 
to be principally bent on throwing down their | 
adversary. 
CAMELINA,—popularly Gold of Pleasure. 
ferous family. The cultivated species, Camelina 
sativa—called by Linneeus Myagrum sativum—is 
an annual weed of the cultivated fields of Britain; | 
yet it does not grow with us in a truly wild state, 
but is generally introduced among imported flax- | 
seed or by other artificial means. Its stem is 
usually about twelve or eighteen inches high ; its 
leaves are lanceolate, and nearly entire ; its flower 
is pale yellow, and appears from May till July ; 
its pods are pear-shaped, scarcely half the length 
Such as are intended for speed are allowed to | of their footstalks, and divided by two large and 
Hh: 
genus of hardy, herbaceous plants, of the cruci- | 
