Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-30
Leading the Camel.
FECULLARITIEs IN HIS BEHAVIOR IN

FECULIARITIES IN HIS BEHAVIOR IN STRIK-
ING CONTRAST TO THE ELEPHANTS.
In India, said gentleman who had
recently returned to this country after All
absence Of many years in the East, ''the
camel is used fully as much as beast of
burden as the elephant He is not so
powerful cs the elephant, but he can car
~ an enormous load on his back. He
does not do so willingly, however, and is
bv no means the patient docile servant
that the elephant soon becomes under
proper training When first went to
India as Young man was connected
with a mercantile firm in the Northwest
province, and while there / had abund-
ant opportunities for studying the camel,
for means Of carriage in that part of the
country il those days was confined to
elephants, camels, bullocks and men.
Horses were not used as beasts of bur-
den. Every day camels and elephants
were driven up to our Office door and
loaded with wine and beer cases for far
away customers. The elephant would go
clumsily down on his great knees and
allow himself to be loaded without an in
dication of discomfort. l have no doubt
that he would have permitted himself to
be loaded until he was crushed to the
earth beneath the weight of his load, had
his driver seen fit to 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 l
have seen thousands, acted in precisek
the name manner.
The camel, when he is not eating or
drinking or being loaded, is invariably
chewing the cud. HIS long, crooked jaw
is in perpetual motion, and when he is
told to lie down to receive his burden he
does so without varying this incessant
masticatoTy process. He awkwardly
berds his fore knees, drags his hind legs
under him, and 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 unmistake-
able hypocrisy, l think, stamps the camel
as IN animal of a very high order of in
Ateiic t. But in a few seconds the express
A. %sion on the camels face shows q striking
talteratiCn As he sees the driver ap-
6roaching him with a box on his shoul-
kr, he seems at last to understand the
iignity and torture to which he is about
be submitted and the astonishment,
tuous indignation and dismay Of the
Sused animals countenance ought GER
iEinly 10 make some impression Oh the
tony heart Of the driver They never
wave the slightest effect. The man binds
i'll. first box on the wretched animal s
~ and goes away to get another
s. en- the camel, wisely abandoning his
h3 PIT to move man to compassion, points
th5 hairy nose upward, and howls his
baoongs to the skies.
ThSever III circus pantomilne or show
eff,Ee / seen anything so ludicrous as the
hispels appearance at that moment
wr.s upper lip is curled back from the
eeth, his under lip doubles up and drops
blown, as though he had no further use
cair it, his great mouth opens SO wide that
Hine can see about half yard down his
tthroat, aud ont of the cavern thus reveal
ed comes a series Of the most astonishing
howls that ever startled the air-howls
of such abject misery that it is difficult to
avoid the conclusion that the camels s
heart is breaking; and this impression is
Strengthening by the tears that flow
copiously down the wailing animals
elongated checks to drip from the end of
his nose la the utterance of each note
of woe the camel seems to be utmost
power Of his lungs, but he is all the time
holding large force in reversed, and as
the driver adds box after box TO the pile
on his back, howl more resonant and
beartrending than the last testlfies to
each addition TO the creatures misery
and never, except when he is absolutely
engaged in trumpetlng his agonies into
space, are the great wntery eyes Of the
camel removed from the person Of his
persecdtqr they follow Ian wherever he
go,s. and express through their tears
contempt. Indignation astonishment and
di5rnay. / think it must have been this
extraordinary habit on the part Of the
ship Of the desert that gave rise to the
we'll known expression: Its the last
straw that breaks the camels back. But
the Eastern driver has no fear of any catas
trophe and piles up the load until II
reaches almost the proportions OF an ele-
plants burden. Then. the cases beng
bound iast with ropes, the camel is told
to rise, and the animal, feeling that he
has conscientiously done his whole duty
by entering his protest at every stage OF
the work, contentedly accepts the una
yoidable result, stops his tears, sup
presses his cries, gets up on his feet, aud,
resuming his occupation of chewing the
cud is ready for tie weeks march that
usually lies before him"