New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-01-02

Washington, D. c., Jan. 2.-The
news that the British forces operating
near the Suez Canal have employed
camels in some CT their charges
against Turkish trenches gives special
interest to a communication to the
National Geographic society concern
ing these desert beasts Of burden and
war mounts. A portion of the COM
munication is issued as the following
bulletin. g.. .-
There: are almost as many varie-
ties Of camels as horses. The Arab
name for camel Is djemel. Those Of
Tunisia, Tripolitania and Algeria have
one hump and are really dromedaries
Certain breeds Of camel can withstand
the great heat Of the Sahara Desert,
and others that of the zero weather
Of Tibet and China.
The ordinary camels of northern
Africa (dromeda.ries) cost from $50 to
$50 apiece and they live on almost
anything that they can find to eat by
the roadside; hence. It costs next to
nothing for their native Arab owners
to keep them. Should European
own camels and attempt to feed them
with hay and grain he would find that
they ate a great deal. and that 1t
would cost a dollar day for each
one.
During the italian war in Tripoli
the usual price for hiring a camel
and it's driver to take food supplies
from Rem Garden to the Turkish
camp was from sixty to seventy cents
day.
"Tt is amazing to see the rapidity
with which a herd of 500 camels will
eat to the ground a large pasturage
Of prickly pear from eight to ten feet
high. Leaves, stems, prickles and all,
disappear like magic.
I'm many parts of Africa the ma
tives keep all their date stones and
give them to exhausted camels, weary
from their long Sahara march. The
camel resists at first, and the date
stones, moistened in little water. are
pushed forcibly by the handful. down
the cameps throat, after it has been
made to kneel and then securely fast
ened. In two or three days the camel
learns to eat them of its own accord.
The natives say that these date stones
make the hump of the camel strong
and stiff.
1.-The camel in its long march across
the Sahara frequently finds very lit
tie 90 eat and lives on the fat of its
own hump. When this continues dur
ing a long time the hump becomes
| fabby and almost disappears. The
African broad tailed sheep lives in the
same way on the fat of its own tail.
THE aesh Of the camel is eaten by
the natives. The greatest delicacy is
the hump, which contains great
deal of fat.
'"rhe usual weight OF the burdens
carried by q camel varies from $50 to
o.. Ia, fy0v INV
town or on the border of the desert;
soing across the desert the burden Is
less. When q camel Is being laden 1t
keeps up q continual snarling, and
should l. be overwhelmed It's refuses
to arise. Most camels are vicious and
their bite Is dangerous. Hardly
! week passes at the large native hospi-
tai in Tunis but some unfortunate
camel driver, dies Of blood poisoning
! caused by q camel's bite. The grind
ing motion of a camels jaw crushes
to pulp whatever it bites; so that the
arm or leg has to be amputated, ana
blood poisoning usually sets in before
the patient can reach the hospital.
"In the interior Of northern Afrt-
ca is a. superb race of oamels known
as the mehara (singular, mehari), or
racing camels. The mehara owe a
great deal to the care taken IN tnelr
| breeding during the past 1000 years
Ancient writer's speak of camels USED
by the army of xerxes, more tnan
1000 years ago, that had the speed
Of the fastest horses; these were
doubtless mehara.
when a baby mehara Is born IT Is
swathed in bandages to prevent the
stomach from getting too large and
| is taken into the family tent. where II
! is nursed and watched over with care
| and tenderness. When year old II
! Is sheared and Is known from then on
AZ a. bou-keutaa, which means the
| father Of the shearng.'
For the first year 1t is allowed tc
wander at will and follow Its moth.
err. The bou-keutaa is weaned by
pointed stick being run through one
| nostril and left in the wound. Wher
the young camel tries to suckle its
mother the stick pricks her and she
kicks the baby camel away 1t soor
leaves the mother and learns to ea'
fresh green shrubs. In the spring II
Is sheared again and the name OF heus
replaces that of bou-keutaa.
when it Is two years old it's train.
| ing begins A halter is placed around
! the head and a cord tied to one of The
fore feet 1t Is kept quiet first by ges'
lures and the voice: later by the voice
alone. Then the cord is loosened. bu