[Illustration: DROMEDARY.]
The Dromedary, which is less massive in form and smaller in size than
the Camel, has a coat of brownish-grey. Its hair is soft, woolly, and
moderately long, more especially about its hump and neck.
The Camel is a native of ancient Bactria. It principally lives in Asia,
where it has been used, from antiquity, for domestic and military
service. In Africa, where it is acclimatised, it has doubtless existed
since the time of the conquest of that country by the Arabs.
The Dromedary is distributed all over a great part of Northern Africa,
and a portion of Asia. It seems originally to have been a native of
Arabia.
The faculty which the Camel possesses of being able to dispense with
drinking for a considerable time, has generally been attributed to the
fact that it carries internally a reservoir of water, which it uses in
case of necessity. Its digestive organs, like those of other Ruminants,
are composed of four different stomachs.