Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-06-08
characteristics OF the Camel.

Our CORRESPONDENT with the Soudan
expedition sends the following reflections
on the camel:
overrated beast There is a great deal
of him. but he is not for his size nearly
so strong as the useful, unpretentious
donkey. Then, too, his anatomy is SO
strangely conceived. His legs are at
tached to his great unwieldy carcass
with seemingly so little consideration for
the uses to which (merely viewed as
legs. he might be expected to put them.
And his neck and tail are SO obviously
disproportionate to the rest of him, and
both so useless, that one cannot avoid
the thought that the camel is somehow
incomplete, or, owing to some mistake,
was never finished off at all.
Even the qualities he possesses tend to
strengthen one in this bewildering sus-
picion. For instance, he can kick him
self violently in the-let us say the front
it constantly. Time and again have |
devoted long hours (fruitlessly. l must
admit to an attempt to win the conf
dence of my favorite camel-my favor
tie because he is less cruel to me than
the others. | have Wooed him with the
soft notes of my Kourbash, l have
tempted him with the thorniest of Mi
smoke into his supercilious nOstrlis.
And, then, just as | have fancied | saw
the light of sympathy daWning IN his
long-lashed eye he has risen all of one
movement to his feet, grinned at me IN
frightful manner, disclosing forest OF
green ad broken teeth and gazing ar me
full, with more vindictiye contempt than
/ have ever marked in any human eye.
has kicked himself violently in the stom-
ach and lain down again, as who should
say, Now, go away and don't bother,
like a good boy
Then he can gnaw his own tail-hls.
absurd useless little rag of tail that
isn't even worth biting. But is that an
object worth living for? Or. again; he
has, to be sure, seven stomachs, of which,
vain beast, he is so inordinately proud
(as though he had anything to do with
it,, that he is constantly fetching up one
of them to show you, and blows it out
from his great, ugly throat in horrid,
glittering, transparent bulb,. Tor you to
admire. A more nauseating practice
could hardly be conceived, but the low
brute will do it. One accomplishment,
indeed. | can give him credit for. He
can flick fly from the top of his head
with his hind toe. Now, this in the age
we live in might, were he luckier
beast, and the rest of his bulk conducive,
have served him in good stead. But as
things are l fear he will make nothing of
it. His shape is fatally against him, and
he will never become fashionable as
step dancer.
But with all his faults, defects and dis
abilities the camel has, so far as this
country is concerned, not yet been SUI
perseded by any more practical inven-
ton, and despite the fact that his temper
is bad, his appetite vast and sordid. his
capacity for prolonged existence without
water a giddy fiction, his carrying capa-
bilities mean and his locomotive powers
exasperatingly meager, yet he is all we
have and on him must we largely de-
pend throughout this Dongola expedition,
DR.. Conan Doyle, who is one of our par
ty, believes, after a week or so of ac-
quaintance with him, that he has dis
covered in his riding camel great deli
cacy Of sentiment and much dignity Of
demeanor. But then, DR.. Conan Doyle
is man of so wide charity that he
actually believes in. and even admires-
well, no, | will not say who it is. Let
everyone guess for himself. But if that
person, why not the camel? Why not,
indeed? Perhaps | may have some day
something pleasant to say about my
camels. Time must decide. Is it long
lived beast, l wonder ?-London News.