Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-07-29
SHIP OF THE DESERT.
What the Arab Calls tho Most
Useful of Beasts.
Tho Land OF the Camei-iils Speed and
tho Load Hc Carries Ills Powers OF
Endurance In the Service of
WarIlke Sovereigns.

The camel, whose area of serv-
itude extends over wide range,
embracing Ara bia, 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 II is impossible to guess,
but that 1t was at very early period is
plain from the fact that 5000 camels
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
roal land of the camels, the peculiari-
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. untiring, sure-footed and
capable of subsisting where vegetation
qualifications are combined i'm the
camel. The pads of it's spreading feet,
divided into two toes without being ex-
ternally separated, prevent Its sinking
in the sand, over which it moves so
noiselessly that it has been POLITICALLY
and appropriately termed "the ship of
tho desert" The callosities on the
Hexures 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
SIMEON sweeps across the desert, while
the peculiar contraction of the stomach
enables the camel to go without water
for several days. Ho is as easily salts
fled in the way of eating, delighting in
the tough plants he passes on his
march, which his strong, nipper-like
teeth enable him to mastcato with COM
fort. These good qualities arc not,
however, unalloycd. The camel il
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 loft to tho jackal and vulture. Even
if he should recover he becomes poor,
weak object, piteous to behold, burden
to himself and Of little use to his
master.
How many days the camel can go
without drinking has never perhaps
been exactly ascertained in fact, the
power OF endurance varies greatly in
different individuals, but il has been
stated on very good authority that the
dromcdary 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 Il stock for week or so, and has
even been X own to swallow seven
gallons and a half ut one time. This
allows three quarts day for ten
days, which, though not sufficient
properly to quench the thirst of
SO large nm animal, may yet bc able to
keep him alive. Comparative anatomy,
which hes INDUCED in legion of
experiments on the structure of much
inferior animals, has not extended a
proper degree of attention to the camel.
| Ii has, no doubt, been ascertained that
this extraordinary creature possesses
one stomach more than other nam
MALTA, but curiosity has not been suiii.
cicntly busy with that immense. bladder,
strcakel with sanguinc veins, which the
animal sometimes blows out OF its mouth
in spring. In strings Of thirty or forty
have noticed, during the greatest heat
| IF hn Aax "a pei,
selves after this fashion. On such occa.
SONS they will raise their heads, look
around wildly and then, with strange,
offensive noise, draw up the bag from
their throats and blow il out inflated tc
its fullest extent rs il to cool it by the
touch Of the external air. In a few
minutes they would suffer it to collapse
and suck it back with ruckling noise
into their throats. Is not this bag in
tended TO contain, in addition to tn,
fifth stomach, supply of fresh waters
And Is il not in this that travellers, wher
compelled to kill their dromcdaries t.
preserve their own lives in the Sahara
find the pure transparent Iluid spoken
of on such occasions?
IL is during a sandstone, or on tn,
approach of the simeon, that the came
displays tho most striking proofs o
sagacity. Before the human eye car
detect the swiftly approaching column
of yellow or lurid gas which Instant,
strikes dead all creatures that breath,
it, the camel disccrns the danger and
uttcring wild roar, turns round ant
plungcs his nose into the sand. Tn,
traveller also. who springs instantly {,
the earth, presses his face against thu
face of the desert, tightly closes hi
lips and protects his nostrils with boil
hands. What signs OF suffering or agi
tation the poor dromedary exhibits, tn
traveller is too much terrificdto observe
but he himself experiences Throughout
his frame, first quivering, shooting
pain, then a numbness and paralysis o
all the limbs and vital functions, whicl
prolonged for many seconds would b
death. But the mysterious vapor, whicl
comes almost like lightning, in the sam
manner departs. In many cases tn
sudden death of the beast and hi
rider reveals the fatal power of tn
simeon; but whom they escape wit
life the process of reviving from th
stroke resembles that experienced b
patients after q long illness-languor
fecblencss, prostration OF tho Who'll
system. giddiness of the head. dimnes
Of sight, q partial loss of memory an