The Penn's Grove record., 1896-02-07
SHIP OF THE DESERT.
EVOLUTION OF THE CAMEL AND
HIS USES.
fecuiiarities Of the Remarkable Beass
and the Services He Renders to Man
An Desert Lands-Goss for Days
without Food or Drink.



-
Once Tried In America.
One early morning in June, 1873, the
writer saw . kingly Arab entering an
street Of Stout, Egypt, at the
head Of a small ravan of camels- His
followed with a firm and self
reliant step and swing which told of the
wide free life of the desert. The humps
Of the csmels were shrunken and covered
By large and loose flaps of skin, showing
the terrible draft a journey Of many hum
ared miles had made upon their vitality.
There Is a peculiar interest even In seeing
an Arab chief with his begrimed at
tendants right from the sands and the
wind storms Of the desert. AS a means
If transportation the camel has been plac-
I'd In a region where man would have
been helpless without him. he was no
ioubt the first animal domesticated. We
read of him as q burden bearer In Abra-
hams time, and as constituting the chief
wealth of Job, and find him in use 10Y
p the Canary Islands, Morocco, Algiers,
runis, Tripoii, the great Sahara, Egypt
Ind Nubia in Africa, and In Arabia, Per
ia, Cabooi, Beloochistan, Hindoostan,
Durmsh, Thibet, Mongolia, Southern 81
IBERIA and in Independent Tartary in Asia.
Hhere he endures severe cold; also In the
Crimea and a limited district around Con-
Itantinople. The animal has been In use
tor centuries In Tuscany and Its uss Is
sow rapidly increasing In Australia, In
which region he is extensively bred. No
animal can supply his place In the coun-
!ries named. Railroads alone will evsn.
.ually render his use as a common car
,ier unnecessary. The camel Is to Asiatic
ind the African what the dog is to the
.squimaux, the reindeer to the Laplander,
The vessel to the seaman and the ioccmo-
Ave to the American and European.
The most recent extension Of the s Of
he camel il found in Australia. These
tnimals were first taken there by the
Burke and Wells party in 1852. Besides
he importations from Asia, there ara now
several breeding stations In Australia
There are many Afghan and European
.arrying companies there using nothing
,ut camels, conveying passengers and
freight from one part Of the Interior to
mother. These camels carry from 400
o1,000 pounds. In some cases Europeans
lave learned to act as camel drivers, but
the Afghans understand and manage
The animals better. The distances made
by some Of the riding camels In Australia
lave been remarkable. A very fast camel
belonging to Sir Thomas Elder, a heavy
importer Of these animals, carried a doc
or and the Afghan rider over BOO miles
n t~wenty-four hours. Camels are now
Used In place Of horses by the South Aus
ralian and Queensland police troopers.
- q burden bearer and roadster the
iamel beats the horse In Australia as well
V everywhere else in desert regions.
The Cancels Origia.
The story Of q German philosopher who
evolved q camel from his inner con-
iciousness" Is not strictly In harmony
Rith the requirements Of exact science.
two things have adapted themselves to
he desert, the date palm and the camel,
and both are essential to any picture Of
I, and one who has seen and used THE
ihip Of the desert" in Africa ought to be
lble to tell of it with some accuracy, for
is story 10 full Of interest.
Considered historically and ~geologically,
he camel of the Great Indian, African
ind Bactrian deserts 10 not . product
II the old world, but the earliest evidence
" his ancestors Is to be found In Amer
ca, and the new world still contains the
,reater number Of species Of the family,
n such as the llama, the alpaca, the
uanaco and their relatives. The Asiatic
Ind African camels are merely the sur
diving Oriental members Of q family
wholly American in origin, but stranded
n a remote section Of the old world, where
hey have survived the competition Of
lever and higher types In virtue of some
pecial adaptations to their peculiar hab-
tat, their desert resisting qualitiea- Over
he Eocene and Miocene plains Of all the
continents camels and their allies once
anged In large numbers. They con-
nitute an undeyeloped ungulate form.
which has become extinct through the
Ierce competition Of higher uminants
Except in remote parts of the world, like
Africa, Arabia, Southern Asia, portions
u Australia and In the Andes. Camels,
Is a group, antedate the developmez< Of
formed or antlered ruminants, and they
IT'LL possess In full canine and incsof
eeth, which are partly obsolete or much
Uttered In shape In all the higher and
alter ruminants. The giraffe, too, another
,emnant Of an earlier age, shows In his
hort. blunt, sdn-covered horns, the low
tt surviving stage Of the frontal weapons
low common to the rumi1ants. The un-
,ainly and stumbling camel is simply q
fpecialized and adapted desert variation
rom the common ancestor Of the horse,
liz and hippipotamus. The horse 10 Of
title avail upon . sandy desert His
tset sink into this yielding sands and hs
quickly tires Of travel, while tho drome-
larry. with his peculiarly padded sole,
lakes a loose, shambling trot and seems
EASILY to accomplish a hundred miles q
lay for a week together, bearing q load
,oual to the weight Of two riders. On
.ills and rocks the camel Ia not 20 useful,
hut on the open, sandy deserts he IL q
master with which no other animal can
.orpete.
Camels, then, are really surviving speci.
mems Of the raw material from which,
~ natural and sexual selection, the higher
iuminants In diyerging lines have been
ilowly evolved during innumerable ages.
The hump Is an excrescence composed
4 gelatinous fat and Is In reality, a stock
# provisions which by ~reabscrption nour-
shes the animal when deprived of . sup
by Of food pr~oportionate to Its exertions.
It is not for camels to come
Dat of this old type the camel Is . modi.
led member. and a peculiarly adapted
lesert offshoot. 1t presents In external
pn~iguration and functional pscuiAri-
les q remarkable instance Of special
ld~aptajcn to . restricted environment.
The camel's Hump.
ack from an expedition with their backs
llmost straight. showing little II any
m for the bony framework Of the ami.
mai does not curve or conform to a hump.
writer Of Jingle gives the following
dew Of tie origin Of the hump:
cha rain looked near, the sky grew dark,
And ell the beasts made for the Arb
Except the camel he just stood
lni smiled and said. .Brins on souI
hoodf'
And he ambled on, a. you'u rsmarks
At a careless jog towards the Ark.
but whom lightning flashed and thundel
crashed,
And the downpour came emaiu--