Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-02-12

eially in Arabia, embraces almost ~ Vrlas
4 variety rs the domestcated ksrse. The
word dromedary, In camel-land, II applied
p. designate an animal uDod for riding
purposes only, and 10 from . Greek word
meaning q runner or racer. OF the twd
varieties the Arabian 10 admirably adapt
ed for carrying burdens. The Bactrian
camel 10 less common and IL found chiefly
In Tartary and Southern Siberia. The
Arabian variety 10 sometimes seven fest
high and ten feet long, and often weighs
Z ton. Oriental poets frequently alluds
to the camel and appear to And grace and
beauty in the ungainly animal A use and
study of the creature in Syria and Egypt
never revealed to us any beauty In its
form or features. When well fed and
groomed he exhibits a tawny silken coat,
quite In contrast with the NANCY hides Of
the stunted varieties carried about with
American caravans. Because obliged to
do 30. he obeys his bosses, but with no
more intelligence than q caravan Of ig.
norant New York voters do the bidding
D. Piatt and Croker. In Persia a spe-
ries of camel is trained to fight and wres-
tie; these animals bite each other, and
strike quickly and viciously with their
fore feet. In ancient times camels were
used In armies as by Semiramis, Xerxes
and Alexander the Great: and even in re-
cent years they have been so employed in
Egypt and In Arabia and other parts Of
Asia. The flesh of the camel has the
havor OF good beef, and, dried and salted,
It serves to provision caravans. The
animal Ii of as much use to the poor Arab
as the reindeer is to the Laplander. Its
milk IL as pleasant to drink as that Of
the cow and cannot be distinguished from
It In coffee. The long hair on the hump,
Jaws and neck IL mixed with wool and
woven into cloth, carpets, rugs and tent
cloths. The skin, too, makes excellent
leather. The camel may be said to clothe.
feed and shelter the Arab and his family
Personal Experience.
At an earlier period in the writer's life
when he had more money than sense, he
saw fit to spend some months in the desert
regions of Egypt, Syria and Northern
Arabia, and he will never cease to wonder
why any sane man will voluntarily sub
ject himself to the discomforts and annoy
ances Of caravan journeys. with their
flies, heas and filth, both animal and hu-
man. The dark blue skies Of the long,
clOudless days, and the marvellous moon
light and starlight of the nights are almost
everything he recalls with pleasure con-
corning Syrian journeyings. Over the hot
and desolate sands, especially at any dis
tance in the interior, the camel is the only
means of transportation. On the borders
of the deserts the ass, the Quadrupedal
variety, not the Arab, Is in cODmOn use.
There can be little doubt that the pa
tience with which Job il credited was
wholly derived from initiating that quality
in his six thousand camels. Many a time
have we seen a camel patiently carry his
Ieavy load till he was just ready to die
with exhaustion. and then fall. Too often
he fell to die, when a little delay was
caused to transfer his load and to take
off his skin. A halt of this kind under
the cloudless azure of a Syrian desert is
evidently seen at a very great distance
by vnltures, for soon dark specks are WIS.,
ible everywhere on the sky and in a few
hours the bones of the dead camel arS
Invested by them of every trace Of flesh.
Longfellow thus describes such q feast
by these birds of prey:
Never stoops the soaring vulturs
On his quarry in the desert,
Cn the sick or dying camel,
But another vulture watching
From his high aerial lookout,
Sees the downward plunge, and follows;
And a third pursues the second,
Coming from the invisible ether,
First a speck, and then a vulture,
Till the air is dark with pinions.
We have never seen a camel carry moro
than half a ton, and that not for a great
distance, but he will carry from 500 to
600 pounds fifty miles in a day. and for
many successive days. A friend tells us
that he once saw a camel rise from the
ground with a load weighing 100 pounds
Good riding camels will so one hundred
miles a day for ten or twelve days in
succession and not seem to mind it. Cam
els nave made forced journeys Of
Sv0 miles in twenty-four hours. Cam
els, like horses, will bring from $75 to
$1,000 apiece. Their food upon a jour
ney is very simple. They crop almost any
dry herbage, and especially delight in q
diet Of thistles. On long journeys they
are often fed a dough or coarse bread
made Of meal and beans. and seem to be
satisfied with three or four pounds of it
for a meal. The camel will go from three
to Eve days without drinking. his stomach
storing up water and supplying it as hi'
digestion needs 1t.
An American Experiment.
In 1853 Congress appropriated $4,000
for the purchase of camels to be used IN
carrying army freight in the arid regions
Of TEXAS and the Southwest. Animals
were purchased in Asia Minor and Egypt
and brought to Indianola, Texas. An in
auiry at tho War Department as to the
result Of this experiment brings the fol
lowing answer:
"It was demonstrated, after several
years. trial by the quartermaster' depart.
ment, that the camels pe7chased under
authority of law wene -. adapted for
military transportation. and the entire
herd was sold at anction on March s
1885," DUANE DOTY.