intermediate between horn and the pads on the feet of beasts of prey. The foot is large and round, and is thus peculiarly fitted for traversing the sandy deserts which form the place of the camel's habitation.

These characteristics, with the single exception of the humps, belong equally to both species; some difference, however, exists between the two, which it may be as well here to point out. The Arabian camel is taller than its more northern neighbour. Its feet are larger, and though its coat of hair is changed annually, its variations are not so marked. In the Bactrian camel the hair towards winter grows very long and shaggy, as if to shield it against the greater variations of the climate to which it is exposed. This when summer sets in falls off, and leaves it during this part of the year comparatively naked. Its feet are smaller, and better adapted for walking on hard surfaces; the occasional rains to which it is exposed rendering the soil firmer, and thus offering more resistance to the weight of the animal than the sandy deserts of the south. The prevailing colour of the Arabian camels is brown or black; farther to the

south, as in Egypt, the hue becomes of a somewhat lighter description; and towards Nubia they are mostly white.

It

The camel, though to the eye of a European a clumsy and unwieldy animal, is held in the highest estimation in the parched countries where, but for the assistance derived from this "ship of the desert," as it is called in the hyperbolic language of the East, man would be unable to exist. supplies the wandering Arab, especially in those parts of the desert in which neither sheep nor goats can be kept, with wholesome food; its milk is applied to the usual domestic purposes; its hair manufactured into clothing and covering for tents; and aided by it he is enabled to track his way through what had otherwise been an impassable desert. "No creature," says Volney, "seems so peculiarly fitted to the climate in which he exists, as the camel. Designing this animal to dwell in a country in which it can find little nourishment, nature has been sparing of her materials in the whole of its formation. She has not bestowed on it the fleshiness of the ox, horse, or elephant; but, limiting herself to

what is strictly necessary, has given it a long head without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh; has taken from its legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and, in short, bestowed upon its withered body only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together. She has furnished it with a strong jaw, that it may grind the hardest aliment; but, lest it should consume too much, has straitened its stomach, and obliged it to chew the cud; has lined its foot with a lump of flesh, which, sliding in the sand, and being in no way adapted for climbing, fits him only for a dry, level, and sandy soil like that of Arabia. So great, in short, is the importance of the camel to the desert, that were it deprived of that useful animal it must infallibly be entirely depopulated."

Buffon also speaks thus highly of this truly useful animal:-"The Arabians consider the camel as a gift sent from heaven; a sacred animal, without whose assistance they could neither subsist, traffic, nor travel. The milk of the camel is their common food; they eat its flesh, and of its hair they make garments. In possession of the camel

they want nothing, and have nothing to fear. In a single day they can perform a journey of fifty leagues into the desert, which effectually cuts off every approach from their enemies. All the armies in the world would perish in pursuit of a troop of Arabs. By the assistance of his camel an Arab surmounts all the difficulties of a country which is neither covered with verdure nor supplied with water. Nothwithstanding the vigilance of his neighbours, and the superiority of their strength, he eludes their pursuit, and carries off with impunity all that he ravages from them. When about to undertake a predatory expedition, an Arab makes his camels carry both his and their own provisions. When he reaches the confines of the desert, he robs the first passenger who comes in his way, pillages the solitary houses, loads his camel with the booty, and if pursued, accelerates his retreat. On such occasions he calls into operation all his own talents as well as those of the animal. He mounts one of the fleetest, conducts the troop, and obliges them to travel day and night, almost without either stopping, eating, or drinking, and in this manner he often

performs a journey of three hundred leagues in eight days."

It is said that the Arab rears, instructs, and exercises his camels with a view to such expeditions. A few days after their birth their education begins. They are taught to kneel to receive burdens, which are gradually increased; instead of allowing them to feed at pleasure and to drink when they are thirsty, they are by degrees trained to undergo the fatigue of long journeys, and to restrain their appetite. They are then trained to the course, and their emulation excited by the example of horses, which, in time, endows them with the swiftness and endurance so necessary for their future career.

The Arabian camel, in the largest breed, is about seven feet in height, but the smaller and swifter ones are lower. These larger animals are principally kept for carrying heavy burdens, and move at a rate proportionally slow. They seem to bear the same relation to the small and fleet breed to which the name dromedary properly belongs, that the heavy dray-horses do to the hunters and racers of our own country.