I. The Camel and the Dromedary. dromedary. immemorial? HESEnames do not make two diftinct Camel. kinds, but are only given to a variety of the fame animal, which has, however, fubfifted time immemorial. The principal, and perhaps the only fenfible difference, by which thofe two races are diftinguifhed, confifts in this, that the camel has two bunches apon his back, whereas the dromedary has but one; the latter alfo, is neither fo large nor fo ftrong as the camel. principal. patient. indefatiga ble? 2. Thefe two races, however, produce with each other, and the mixed breed formed between them, is confidered the best the most patient, and the most indefatigable of all the kind. Of the two varieties, the dromedary is, by far, the most numerous: the camel be- Turkey. ing fcarcely found, except in Turkey, and the countries of the Levant, while the other is found fpread over all the deferts of Arabia, the fouthern parts of Africa, Perfia, Tartary, and a great part of the eastern Indies. Indies. 3. Neither, however, can fubfift, or propa- travel. gate, in the variable climates towards the north; they feem formed for thofe countries where fhrubs are plenty and water fcarce; impeded ? where they can travel along the fandy def ert, without being impeded by rivers, and find food at expected diftances; fuch a coun- adapted? try is Arabia, and this of all others, feems the most adapted to the fupport and produc tion of this animal. 4. The camel is the most temperate of all temperate ? animals, and it can continue to travel feveral days without drinking. In thofe vaft deferts, where the earth is every where dry and fandy, where there are neither birds nor beafts, nei- vegetables ? ther infects nor vegetables, where nothing is to Pafture. fuflenance? travelling. animal? conveyance? propagate? to be feen but bills of fand and heaps of bones there the camel travels,, pofting forward, without requiring either drink or pafture, and is often found fix or feven days without any fuftenance whatsoever. 5. Its feet are formed for travelling upon fand, and utterly unfit for moist or marfhy places; the inhabitants, therefore, find a moft ufeful affiftant in this animal, where no other could fubfift, and by its means, cross those deferts with fafety, which would be unpaffable by any other method of conveyance. 6. An animal, thus formed for a fandy and. defert region, cannot be propagated in one. of a different nature. Many vain efforts transported have been tried to propagate the camel în Spain; they have been tranfported into America, but have multiplied in neither. changeableness. degenerate? patience. traffic. clothe. moult? 7. It is true, indeed, that they may be brought into thefe countries, and may, perhaps, be found to produce there, but the care of keeping them is fo great, and the accidents: to which they are expofed, from the changeablenefs of the climate, are fo many, that they cannot answer the care of keeping. In a few years alfo, they are feen to degenerate; their ftrength and their patience forfake them; and, inftead of making the riches,they become the burden of their keepers. 8. But it is very different in Arabia, and' thofe countries where the camel is turned to ufeful purpofes. It is there confidered as at facred animal, without whofe help, the natives could neither fubfift, traffic, nor travel; its milk makes a part of their nourishment; they feed upon its fleth, particularly when young; they clothe themfelves with its hair, which it is feen to moult regularly once a year, and if they fear an invading enemy, their camels ferve them in flight, and in a fingle day, they are known to travel above a hundred miles. Thus Pursuit. refuge? interposes? 9. Thus by means of the camel, an Arabian finds fafety in his deserts; all the armies upon earth might be loft in the purfuit of a flying íquadron of this country, mounted upon their camels, and taking refuge in folitudes, where nothing interpoles to stop their flight, or to force them to await the invader.. 10. Nothing can be more dreary than the dreary? afpect of thele fandy plains, that feem entirely forfaken of life and vegetation: wherever the eye turns, nothing is prefented but a fterile effect?" and duty foil, fometimes torn up by the winds, and moving in great waves along, which, when viewed from an eminence, refembles lefs the earth than the ocean. firide? 11. Here and there a few fhrubs appear that only teach us to with for the grove, that grove? reminds us of the thade in thefe fultry climates, without affording its refreshment;: the return of morning, which, in other places, fultry? carries an idea of cheerfulnefs,here ferves on ly to enlighten the endless and dreary waste,, forlorn ?. and to prefent the traveller with an unfinith ed profpect of his forlorn fituation; yet, in. 12. Thus thefe deferts, which prefent the: ftranger with nothing but objects of danger fterility? and fterility, afford the inhabitant protection,, food and liberty. The Arabian lives independent and tranquil in the midst of his fol- tranquil ?' itades; and inftead of confidering the vaft fol itudes fpread around him as a restraint upon his happiness, he is, by experience, taught to ramparts ? regard them as the ramparts of his freedoin.. 13. The camel is eally inftructed in the methods of taking up and supporting his bur den; their legs, a few days after they are pro- weight. duced, are bent under their belly; they are in this manner loaded, and taught to rife their burden is every day thus increased, by infen Adequate? patient. thirfi. Juflaining? fomach. abftinence? refervoir? eapacity. refource? infenfible degrees, till the animal is capable of fupporting a weight adequate to its force. 14. The fame care is taken in making them patient of hunger and thirit : while other animals receive their food at ftated times, the camel is reftrained for days together, and thefe intervals of famine are increased in proportion as the animal feems capable of sustaining. them. 15. By this method of education, they live five or fix days without food or water; and their ftomach is formed moft admirably by nature, to fit them for long abftinence: befides the four stomachs, which all animals have, that chew the cud, ( and the camel is of the number) it has a. fth ftomach, which ferves as a refervoir, to hold a greater quantity of water than the animal has an immediate occafion for. 16. It is of a fufficient capacity to contain a large quantity of water, where the fluid remains without corrupting, or without being adulterated by the other aliments: when the camel finds itself preffed with thirst, it has here an eafy refource for quenching it; it adulterated? throws up a quantity of this water by a fimple contraction of the muscles, into the other ftomachs, and this ferves to macerate its dry and fimple food. aliments? macerate? travellers. Araitered? carriage. Speedy. 17. In this manner, as it drinks but feldom, it takes in a large quantity at a time; and travellers, when ftraitened for water, have been often known to kill their camels. for that which they expected to find within them. 18. In Turkey, Perfia, Arabia, Barbary and Egypt, their whole commerce is carried on by means of camels, and no carriage is more fpeedy, and none lefs expensive in thefe countries. Merchants and travellers unite themfelves into a body, furnished with cam els, els, to fecure themselves from the infults of Infeft? 19. This affemblage is called the caravan, affemblage? in which the numbers are fometimes known to amount to above ten thaufand, and the number of camels is often greater than thofe caravan? of the men; each of these animals is loaded according to his ftrength, and he is fo fenfible of it himself, that when his burden is too pafture. great, he remains ftill upon his belly, the pofture in which he is loaded, refufing to rife, till. his burden be lessened or taken away. journies. regulated? 20. In general, the large camels are capa weight. ble of carrying a thousand weight, and sometimes twelve hundred; the dromedary from fix to feven. In thefe trading journies, they travel but flowly, their ftages are generally regulated, and they feldom go above thirty, or at most, above five and thirty miles a-day. 21. Every evening, when they arrive at a ftage, which is ufually fome fpot of verdure, where water and fhrubs are in plenty, they are permitted to feed at liberty; they are then feed. feen to eat as much in an hour as will fupply them for twenty-four. verdurs? thistle. 22. They feem to prefer the coarfeft weeds prefer. to the fofteft pafture: the thistle, the nettle, the cafia, and other prickly vegetables, are their favourite food; but their drivers take care to fupply them with a kind of paste com- permanent ? ́ pofition, which ferves as a more permanent nourishment. 23. As thefe animals have often gone the fame tract, they are faid to know their way precifely, and to purfue their paffage when their guides are utterly aftray; when they come within a'few miles of their bating-place, in the evening, they fagaciously scent it at a distance, and, increafing their speed, are often feen to trot, with vivacity, to their stage. The precisely ? baiting. fagaciously? vivacity. |