Mexico Missouri message., 1917-01-18

ed camels in some of their charges
against Turkish trenches gives spec
ial interest to a communication to
the National Geographic society con-
corning these desert beasts of bur-
den and war mounts. A portion of
the communication is issued as the
following bulletin:
There are almost as many vari-
eties of camels as horses. The Arab
name for camel is djemel. Those Of
Tunisia, Tripolitania and Algeria have
one hump and are really dromederies.
Certain breeds of camels can with
stand the great heat of the Sahara
desert, and others that of the zero
weather of Tibet and China.
"The ordinary camel of northern
Africa (dromedaries) 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 own
ers to keep them. Should Euro
pean own camels and attempt to
feed them with hay and grain he
would find that they eat a great deal,
and that it would cost dollar a day
for each one.
During the Italian war in Tripoli
the usual price for hiring a camel
and itsdriver to take food supplies
from Ben Garden to the Turkish camp
was from 60 to 70 cents day.
''It is amazing to see the rapidity
with which herd of 500 cameIs will
eat to the ground large pasturage
of prickly pear from to 10 feet
high. Leaves, stems, prickles and all,
disappear like magic.
"In 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 a little water,
are pushed forcibly, by the handful,
down the camel's throat, after it has
been made to neel and securely fast
ened. In two or three days the cam
ell learns to eat them of it's own &C
cord. The natives say that these
stones make the hump of the camel
strong and stiff:
"The camel in it's long march across
the Sahara frequently finds very lit
tie to eat and lives on the fat of its
own hump. When this continues
during long time the hump becomes
flabby and almost disappears. The Az
rican broad-tailed sheep lives in the
same way on the fat of its own tail.
"The flesh of the camel is eaten
by the natives. The greatest delica-
cy is the hump, which contains a
great deal of fat.
"The usual weight of the burdens
carried by camel varies from $50 to
600 pounds, for Journeys from town
to town or on the border of the des-
ert the burden is less. When camel
is being laden it keeps up a continual
snarling, and should it be overbur-
dened it refuses to arise. Most camels
are vicious and their bite is very dan
gerous. Hardly aweek passes at the
large native hospital in Tunis but
some unfortunate camel driver dies
of blood poisoning caused by the
camel bite. The grinding motion o.
camers jaw crushes to pulp what
ever 1t bites; so that the arm or LEI
has to be amputated, and bloodpois
oning usually sets in before the pa
tient can reach the hospital.
"In the interior of Northern Afri
ca is a superb race of camels know
as the Mehara (singular mehari), o
racing camels. The mehara owe
great deal to the care taken in thei
breeding during the past 200,
years. Ancient writer's speak of cam
els used by the army of Xerxes, NOR
than, 1000 years ago, that had tn
speed of the fastest horses, thes
were doubtless mehara.
Babies Protected Carefully
"When a baby mehara is born it
swathed in bandages to prevent tn
stomach from getting too large an
is taken into the family tent, where
is nursed and watched over wit
care and tenderness. When a yea
old it is sheared and is known froI
then on as bou-keutaa, whic
means the father Of the shearing
For the first year it is allowed t
wander at will and follow its mother
The bou-k utaa is weaned by point
ed stick being run thru one nostr
and left in the wound When tn
young camel tries to suckle its mothe
the stick pricks her and she kici