Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-07-21
loading the Camel.

much as the elephant as beast Of bur.
den. He is not so powerful as the ele
phant, bat he can carry an enormou:
lead on his back. He does not do Sc
willingly, however, and is by no means
the patient, docile servant that the ele
phant soon becomes under proper train
ing When first went to India as 1
young man l was connected with {
mercantile firm in the northwest pro
vinces, and while there had abundant
opportunity of studying the camel, fol
means of carriage In that part of the
country in those days was confined tt
elephants, camels, bullocks and men
Horses were not used as beast of bur.
den. Every day csmels and elephant:
were driven up to our Office door and
loaded with wine and beer cases fol
far away customers. The elephant
would go clumsily down on his great
knees and allow himself to be loaded
without an Indication of discomfort.
have no doubt that he would have per-
mitted himself to be loaded until he
was crushed to the earth beneath the
weight of his load, had his driver seen
| fit 10 pile on the boxes. But the
camels receiving their burdens was a
spectacle never to be forgotten. They
never varied in their behavior, and
every one that ever saw loaded-and
[ have seen thousands-acted in pre-
cisely the same manner. The camel,
when loaded, is invariably chewing the
cud. His long, crooked jaw is in per-
petual motion, ard when he is told to
lie down to receive his burden he does
so without varying this incessant mas
ticatory process. He awkwardly bends
his fore knees, drags his hind legs un-
der him, anil comes to the ground with
a curious kind of flop. All this time
his long, melancholy face shows not
the slightest indication that he knows
what he is lying down for; and this
unmistakable hypocrisy, think stamps
the camel as an animal of very high
order of intellect. But in few seconds
the expression Oh the camel's face un-
dergoes striking alteration. As he
sees the driver approaching him with
a box on his shoulder he seems at last
to understands the indignity and torture
10 which he is about TO be submitted,
and the astonishment, virtuous indig-
nation, and dismay on the ill-used
animals eountenance ought certaingly
to make some impression on the stony
heart of the driver. They never have
the slightest effect. The man binds the
first box on the wretched animals back,
and goes awsy to get another. Then
the camel, wisely abandoning his efforts
to move man to compassion, points his
hairy nose upward, and howls his
wrongs to the skies. "Never in circus,
pantomime or show have 1 seen any
thing half so ludicrous as the camel's
appearance at that moment. His upper
lip is curled back from the teeth, his
under lip doubles up and drops down
as though he had no further use for il,
his great mouth opens so wide that one
car see about half yard down his throat,
and out of the cavern thus revealed
came a series of the most astonishing
howls that ever startled the air-howls
of such subject misery that it is diff
cult to avoid the conclusion that the
camel's heart is breaking, and this i'm
preston is strengthened by the tears
that flow copiously down the wailing
animel's elongated cheeks and drip
from the end of his nose. In the utter
ance of each note of woe the camel
seems to be eXerting the utmost power
of his lungs, but he is all the time hold
ing large force In reserve, and, as the
driver adds box after box to the pile on
his back, howl more resonant and
heart-rending than the last testifies to
each addition TO the creatures misery,
and never, except when he Is absolute
ly engaged in trumpetIng his agonies
into space, are the great watery eyes
of the camel removed from the person
of his prosecutor; they follow him
wherever he goes, and express through
their tears contempt, indignations, as
constituent and dismay. i think it
must have been this extraordinary
habit on the part of the ship of the
desert that gave rise to the well-kno yn
expression: 'It's the last that straw
breaksthe camel's back. But the Eastern
driver has no fear of any such catas-
trophe, and piles up the load until it
reaches almost the proportions of an
elephants burden. Then the cases
being bound fast with ropes, the camel
is told to rise, and the animel, feeling
that he has conscientiously done his
whole duty by entering his protest at
every stage of the work, contentedly
accepts the unavoidable results, stops,
his tears, suppresses his cries, gets up
on his feet and resuming his occupa-
ton of chewing the cud, is ready for
the weeks march that usually lies be-
fore him."