The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-02
CAMELS AS ssWAR HORSES''

NH WASHINGTON, January 1.-(Spe- wv cialo-rhe news that the v V British forces operating near the Suez canal have employed camels in some of their charges against Turkish trenches gives special interest to a com munication to the National Geograp phic society concerning these desert beasts of
 burden and war mounts. A portion of the communication is issued as the following
 bulletin:
 "There are almost as many varieties of camels as horses. The Arab name for camel ..s djemel Those of Tunisia, Tri-
 politania 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 Afri-
 ca (dromedaries) cost from $9O to $6O 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 a 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 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 Ben to 70 cents a day.
 'Tt is amazing to see the rapidity with which a herd of 500 camels 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 natives keep all their date stones and give them to exhausted camels, weary from their long Saraha march. The camel resists at first. and the date stones, moistened in a little water, ares pushed forcibly by the handful down the cameps throat after it has been made to kneel, and then securely fastened. In two or three days the camel learns to eat them of it's own accord The natives say-that these date stones ,mdk6 the Auiiip ol eH0 SoiAiS' strong and stiff.
 "The camel in it's long march across the Sahara frequently finds very little to eat and lives on the fat of it's own hump. When this continues during long time the hump becomes flabby and almost dis appears. The African broad-tailed sheep lives in the same way on the fat of it's own tail.
 "The flesh of the camel Is eaten by the natives The greatest delicacy is the hump, which contains a great deal of fat. "The usual weight of the burdens car ried by camel varies from $50 to 600 pounds, for journeys from town to town or on the border of the desert; going across the desert the burden is less. When a camel is being laden it keeps up con tinual snarling, and should 1t be over burdened it refuses to arise Most cam els are vicious and their bite is very dan- gerous. Hardly week passes at the large native hospital in Tunis but some unfortunate camel driver dies of blood poisoning caused by camers bite. The
 
 to pulp whatever it bites; so that the arm or leg has to be amputated. and blood poisoning usually sets in before the pa tient can reach the hospital.
 ''In the interior of northern Africa is 2 superb race of cameIs known as thu
 mehara Singular. meharD, or racing cam |. els. The mehara owe great deal to thu
 care taken in their eeding during thu
 past 2oO0 years. Ancient writers speak oi
 camels used by the army of Xerxes, more than 2000 years ago. that had the speed of the fastest horses. These were doubt.
 less mehara.
 1 .'When a baby mehari is born 1t Il swathed in bandages to prevent thu stomach from getting too large and il taken into the family tent. where 1t Il
 nursed and watched over with care anc tenderness. When a year old it is shearet
 and is known from then on as bou
 keutaa. which means the father of thu ] shearing.'
 For the first year it is allowed tt wander. at will and follow it's mother l ThS ~bou-keutaa la weaned by . pointst
 stick being run through one nostril ant
 left in the wound. When the youni
 camel tries to suckle its mother the sticl
 bricks her and she kicks the baby came away. It soon leaves the mother an, l learns to eat fresh green shrubs. In th' spring 1t is sheared agnip and the nam jof heug r&pIaces that of hou~heutaa.
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