in Asia and Africa, the rest being confined to the Alpine countries of Chili, and Peru. In a wild state they are supposed to be gregarious, and to associate together in vast herds. The females have each two teats, and seldom produce more than one young-one at a birth. The hair of these animals is of a soft and silky texture and their flesh forms a very palatable food.

In the lower jaw of the Camels there are six frontteeth, which are somewhat thin and broad. The canine teeth are at a little distance both from these and the grinders: in the upper jaw there are three, and in the lower two. The upper lip is cleft or

divided.

These animals, like all the other genera of their order, are furnished with four stomachs, in consequence of which they not only live solely on vegetable food, but ruminate or chew the cud. They swallow their food unmasticated. This is received into the first stomach, where it remains some time to macerate; and afterwards, when the animal is at rest, by a peculiar action of the muscles it is returned to the mouth in small quantities, chewed more fully, and then swallowed a second time for digestion.

THE ARABIAN CAMEL*.

This species is chiefly found, in a wild state, in the deserts of Arabia and Africa, and in the tempe

*SYNONYMS.-Camelus Dromedarius. Linn.-Dromadaire. Buff. -Dromedary. Smellie.-Arabian or One-burich'd Camel. Penn.Shaw's Gen. Zool. ii. tab. 166.-Bew. Quad, p. 140.

THE ARABIAN CAMEL.

3

rate parts of Asia. It is that, with a single hunch on its back, which we so frequently see exhibited in the streets in this country. In many parts of the East it is domesticated, and, in carrying heavy burthens over the sandy deserts, supplies a place which the horse would not be able to fill. The tough and spungy feet of these animals are peculiarly adapted to the hot climates, for in the most fatiguing journeys they are never found to crack. The sand seems indeed their element; for no sooner do they quit it, and touch the mud, than they can scarcely keep upon their feet, and their constant stumbling in such situations is exceedingly dangerous to the rider. Their great powers of abstaining from drinking enable them to pass unwatered tracts of country for seven, eight, or, as Leo Africanus says, for even fifteen days, without requiring any liquid. They can discover water by their scent at half a league's distance, and, after a long abstinence, will hasten towards it, long before their drivers perceive where it lies. Their patience under hunger is such, that they will travel many days fed only with a few dates, or some small balls of barley meal; or on the miserable thorny plants they meet with in the deserts*. M. Denon informs us, that during his travels in Egypt the Camels of the caravan had nothing in the day but a single feed of beans, which they chewed for the remainder of the time, either on the journey, or lying down on the scorching sand, without exhibiting the slightest signal of discontent.

* Penn. Quad. i. 118.

Denon, ii. 169.

A large Camel will bear a load of a thousand or twelve hundred pounds, and with this it will traverse the deserts. When about to be loaded, at the com-. mand of the conductor the animals instantly bend their knees. If any disobey, they are immediately struck with a stick, or their necks are pulled down; and then, as if constrained, and uttering their groan of complaint, they bend themselves, put their bellies on the earth, and remain in this posture till they are loaded and desired to rise. This is the origin of those large callosities on the parts of their bellies, limbs, and knees, which rest on the ground. If over-burthened, they give repeated blows with their heads to the person who oppresses them, and sometimes utter the most lamentable cries*.

They have a very great share of intelligence; and the Arabs assert that they are so extremely sensible of injustice and ill-treatment, that, when this is carried too far, the inflictor will not find it easy to escape their vengeance; and that they will retain the remembrance of an injury till an opportunity offers for gratifying their revenge. Eager, however, to express their resentment, they no longer retain any rancour when once they are satisfied; and it is even sufficient for them to believe they have satisfied their vengeance. Accordingly, when an Arab has excited the rage of a Camel, he throws down his garments in some place near which the animal is to pass, and disposes them in such a manner that they appear to

* Buff. Quad.

oover a man sleeping under them. The animal recognizes the clothes, seizes them in his teeth, shakes them with violence, and tramples on them in a rage. When his anger is appeased, he leaves them, and then the owner of the garments may make his appearance without any fear, load, and guide him as he pleases. "I have sometimes seen them, (says M. Sonnini,) weary of the impatience of their riders, stop short, turn round their long necks to bite them, and utter cries of rage. In these circumstances the man must be careful not to alight, as he would infallibly be torn to pieces: he must also refrain from striking his beast, as that would but increase his fury. Nothing can be done but to have patience, and appease the animal by patting him with the hand, (which frequently requires some time,) when he will resume his way and his pace of himself."-Like the Elephant, Camels have their periodical fits of rage, and during these they sometimes have been known to take up a man in their teeth, throw him on the ground, and trample him under their feet.

There is no mode of conveyance so cheap and expeditious as that by Camels. The merchants and other passengers unite in a caravan, to prevent the insults and robberies of the Arabs. These caravans are often very numerous, and are always composed of more camels than men. In these commercial travels their march is not hastened: as the route is often seven or eight hundred leagues, their motions

* Sonnini, ii. 102.

and journeys are regulated accordingly. The Camels only walk, and travel thus from ten to twelve leagues a day. Every night they are unloaded, and allowed to pasture at freedom.

When in a rich country, or fertile meadow, they eat, in less than an hour, as much as serves them to ruminate the whole night, and nourish them during the next day. But they seldom meet with such pastures, neither is this delicate food necessary for them. They seem to prefer wormwood, thistles, nettles, broom, cassia, and other prickly vegetables, to the softest herbage. As long as they find plants to browse, they easily dispense with water. This faculty of abstaining long from drink proceeds not, however, from habit alone, but is an effect of their structure. Till very lately the Camels have been supposed to possess, independently of the four stomachs common to ruminating animals, a fifth bag, which served them as a reservoir for holding water. From a preparation, however, in the collection of Mr. John Hunter, it appears that this fifth bag never existed but in idea. The second stomach is of very peculiar construction, being formed of numerous cells several inches deep, having their mouths uppermost, and the orifices apparently capable of muscular contraction. When the animal drinks, it probably has a power of directing the water into these cells, instead of letting it pass into the first stomach, and when these are filled the rest of the water will go into that stomach. In this manner a quantity of water may be kept separate from the food, serving occa