Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1917-01-01
AS MANY VARIETIES
OF cAMELs AS OF HORSES
Faithful Animals Though They Get
None Too Good Care-6easts of
Burden and War Mounts.
(snecial to !The Bulletin

news that the British forces operating
near the Suez Canal have employed
camels in some of 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:
There are almost as many varieties
of camels as horses. The Arab name
Tripolitania and Algeria have one
hump and are really dromedaries- Ger
tain 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 (dromedaries) cost from $50 to
$50 apiece and they live on almost
anything that they can find to eat by
the roadside; hence 1t 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 it would cost
. a dollar a day for each one.
During the Italian war in Tripoli
the usual price for hiring a camel and
its driver to take food supplies from
Ben Garden to the Turkish camp was
from so to 20 cents day.
1T is amazing to see the rapidity
with which a herd of 500 camels will
cat to the ground large pasturage OF
pricl<iy pear from to 10 feet high.
Leaves, stems, prickles and all. dis
appear like magic.
In many parts of Africa the natives
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,
roistened in a little water, are pushed
forcibly by the handful, down the cam
els throat after it has been made to
kneel, and then securely fastened.
N Irrn &fra learns
to eat them of it's own accord. The
natives say that these date stones
makes the hump of the camel strong
and stiff.
sThe 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 dur
ing long time the hump becomes
fiabby and almost disappears. The
African broad-tailed sheeplives in the
same way on the fat of its own tail.
The flesh of the camel is eaten by
the natives. The greatest delicancy is
the hump, which contains a great deal
of fat.
1.-The usual weight of the burdens
carried by a camel varies from $50 |
to 900 pounds, for journeys from town |
to town or on the border of the des- |
ert; going across the desert the bur- |
den is less When a camel is being |
laden it keeps up a continual snaIing, |
and should it be overwhelmed it re-
fuses to arise. Most camelS are vic
ious and their bite is very dangerous. |
Hardly a week passes at the large |
hospital in TuniS but some unfortunate /
camel driver dies of blood poisoning /
caused by camels bite. The grind
ing motion of a camers jaw brushes |
to pulp whatever it bites; so that the /
arm or leg has to be anputated, and |
blood poisoning usually sets in before /
the patient can reach the hospital.
In the interior of northern Africa
is superb race of camels known as
the mehara singular, mehari), or rae
ing camels. The mehara owe a great
deal to the care taken in their breed
ing during the past 1000 years. An
cient writer's speak of camels used by
the army of Xerxes, more than 1000
years ago, that had the speed of the
fastest horses; these were doubtless
uehara.
When a baby mehari is born it is
swathed in bandages to prevent the
stomach from getting too large and is
taken into the family tent, where it is
nursed and watched over with care
and tenderness. When a year old it is
sheared and is known from then on as
a bou-keutaa, which means the father
Of the shearing.
For the first year it is allowed to
wander at will and follow its mother.
The bou-keutaa is weaned by a loint-
ed stick being run through one nostril |
ard left in the wound. When the
young camel tries to suckle its mother
the stick pricks her and she kicks the
baby camel away. 1t soon leaves the
mother and learns to eat fresh green
shrubs In the spring it is sheared
again and the name of heug replaces
that of bou-keutaa.
when it is two years old it's train
ing begins A halter is placed around
the head and cord tied to one of the
fore feet. It Is kept quiet first by
gestures and the voice; later by the
voice alone. Then the cord is Ioos-
ened, but should it make a step it is
tied again. Finally it Understands
" hfTf |
only. terminated when it will stand in
one place without moving for an en-
tire day.
ITO make the camel fast runner
the rider whips it on both tanks with
a rhinocerOs-hide whip and cries out
IN Arabic to excite it. A young me-
hari is very fond of it's own skin, and
on being struck starts on a gallop.
The whipping keeps up and the camel
tries to get away by running faster
The long legs seem like wings and it
Ties past with the speed of an os-
Ir1ch. 1t will stop instantly at a pull
on the rein, no matter what speed it
has been making.
When the rider jumps off, or should
he happen to fall, a well-trained me-
hari will stand quite still and wait,
while should the master happen to be
injured the faithful beast will never
leave him
"a mehari Is never used as a beast
Of burden; all it ever carries is a sad
die (something like a Mexican saddle,
made of gazelle-skin, dyed red, with
a high pommel and a cross in 'front.'
two saddle-bags and a rider. The
rider is buckled into the saddle by two
belts. His feet are crossed in front
of the saddle and rest on the neck of
the mehari. His slippers are usually
s1ung across the pommeI, and the me-
hari is guided by the wriggling Of the
riders toes.
AN iron ring passes through one
nostril of the animal and a rein of
camel's hair is attached.
THE mehara are used entirely by
the Arabs when on the war-path, or
ra zzia. A mehari on the war-path can
save three men. Two ride it and the
third takes hold of its tail and is pull
along. The latter changes places with
the rider at intervals. When a war
party has lost so many camels that
b ralrz ra1zs. ret. -. L :.