The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-05-02
SHIP OF THE DESERT.
What the Arab Calls the Most
Useful of Beasts.
The Land of the Camel-IIis Speed and
the Load He Carries His Powers of
Endurance in the Service of
Warlike Sovereigns.


The camel, whose area of serv-
itude extends over wide range,
embracing Arabia, India Persia and
the largest portion of Africa, unlike
the rest of mans four-footed friends and
servants, seems-to be total stranger
to the pleasures of freedom. At what
era men first enlisted the camel into
their service it is impossible to guess,
but that 1t was at a very early period is
plain from the fact that 5000 camcls
formed part of the wealth which the pa
tIent patriarch was awarded after his
terrible trial The Moors during their
rule in Granada introduced the camel
into Spain but the East was always the
real land OF the camels the peculari-
ties of the animal being especially
adapted for the vast deserts for which
that quarter of the globe is famous. To
carry men and merchandise across the
arid waste an animal was needed at
once speedy, untirihg, sure-footed and
capable of subsisting where vegetation
was scanty and water scarce; all these
qualifications are combined in the
camel. The pads of its spreading feet.
divided into two toes without being ex
ternally separated, prevent its sinking
I'M the sand, over which it moves 50
noiselessly that it has been POLITICALLY
and appropriately termed ''the ship of
the desert The callosities on the
fleXures of the limbs and chest
upon which the animal rests or kneels
to receive its load, prevent the skin
from cracking from contact with the
hot sand. The nostrils, closing at will,
exclude the burning grains when the
SlmoOn sweeps across the desert, while
the peculiar contraction of the stomach
enables the camel to 90 without water
for several days. He is as easily salts
fled in the way of eating, delighting in
the tough plants he passes on his
march, which his strong, nipper-ibe
teeth enable him to masticate with COM
fort. These good qualities are not,
however, unalloyed. The camel is
liable to slip in sloppy places and dis
joint his hips bears cold and wet
weather but i'll, and has so little re-
Operative power that when tagged out
he generally succumbs altogether and
is left to the jackal and vulture. Even
if he should recover he becomes a poor,
weak object, piteous to behold, burden
to himself and of little use to his
master.
How many days the camel can 90
without drinking has never perhaps
been exactly ascertained; in fact, the
power of endurance varies greatly in
different individuals, but it has been
stated on very good authority that the
dromedary can subsiSt nine days with
out water, though exposed the whole
time to heat resembling that of fur
mace. 1t is certain that when the camel
does drink he always appears to be lay
ing in stock for week or so, and has
even been known to swallow seven
gallons and half at one time. This
allows three quarts a day for ten
days, which, though not sufficient
properly to quench the thirst of
so large an animal, may yet be able to
keep him alive Comparative anatomy,
which has INDUCED in a legion of
experiments on the structure of much
inferior animals, has not extended a
proper degree of attention to the camel
1t has, no doubt, been ascertained that
this extraordinary creature possesses
one stomach more than other MAN.
malia but curiosity has not been sufli-
GENTLY busy with that immense bladder
streaked with sapguine veins, which tn,
animal sometimes blows out of its mouth
in spring. In strings of thirty or forty
have noticed, during the greatest heat
of the day, majority amusing them
selves after this fashion. On such occa-
sions they will raise their heads, look
around wildly and then, with strange,
offensive noise, draw up the bag from
their throats and blow It out inflated to
its fullest extent, as if to cool it by the
touch of the external air. In few
minutes they would suffer it to collapse
and suck it back with a ruckling noise
into their throats. Is not this bag in.
tended to contain, in addition to the
fifth stomach, a supply of fresh water!
And is it MOTH this that travellers, when
compelled to kill their dromedaries to
preserve their own lives in the Sahara,
find the pure transparent fluid spoken
of on such occasionsP .ssr
1t is during sandstone, or on the
approach of the simeon, that the came