The two species of Camel, and the mode of distinguishing
them--Value of the Camel in the East--Camels mentioned as
elements of wealth--Uses of the Camel--The Jews forbidden to eat
its flesh--The milk of the Camel--Thirst-enduring
capability--The internal reservoir--The hump, and its use to the
animal--The Camel as a beast of draught and burden--How the
Camel is laden--Knowledge of its own powers--Camels for
riding--Difficulty of sitting a Camel--A rough-paced
steed--Method of guiding the Camel--The mesh'ab, or Camel-stick
of office--The women's saddle--Rachel's stratagem--Ornaments of
the Camel--The swift dromedary, Heirie, or Deloul--Its ungainly
aspect--Speed and endurance of the Deloul--The Camel-posts of
Bornu--Camel-drivers and their conduct--The driver's song--Young
Camels and their appearance--The deserted Camel.
Before treating of the Scriptural references to the Camel, it will be
as well to clear the ground by noticing that two distinct species of
Camel are known to zoologists; namely, the common Camel (_Camelus
dromedarius_), which has one hump, and the Bactrian Camel (_Camelus
Bactrianus_), which has two of these curious projections. There is a
popular but erroneous idea that the dromedary and the Camel are two
distinct animals, the latter being distinguished by its huge hump,
whereas the fact is, that the dromedary is simply a lighter and more
valuable breed of the one-humped Camel of Arabia, the two-humped
Bactrian Camel being altogether a different animal, inhabiting Central
Asia, Thibet, and China.
The Camel is still one of the most valued animals that inhabit
Palestine, and in former times it played a part in Jewish history
scarcely inferior to that of the ox or sheep. We shall, therefore,
devote some space to it.
In some parts of the land it even exceeded in value the sheep, and was
infinitely more useful than the goat. At the very beginning of Jewish
history we read of this animal, and it is mentioned in the New
Testament nearly two thousand years after we meet with it in the Book
of Genesis. The earliest mention of the Camel occurs in Gen. xii. 16,
where is related the journey of Abram: "He had sheep, and oxen, and
he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and
camels."
Belonging, as he did, to the nomad race which lives almost wholly on
the produce of their herds, Abram needed Camels, not only for their
milk, and, for all we know, for their flesh, but for their extreme use
as beasts of burden, without which he could never have travelled over
that wild and pathless land. The whole of Abram's outer life was
exactly that of a Bedouin sheikh of the present day, in whom we find
reproduced the habits, the tone of thought, and the very verbiage of
the ancient Scriptures.
Many years afterwards, when the son of his old age was desirous of
marrying a wife of his own kindred, we find that he sent his trusted
servants with ten of his Camels to Mesopotamia, and it was by the
offering of water to these Camels, that Rebekah was selected as
Isaac's wife (see Gen. xxiv. 10, 19). In after days, when Jacob was
about to leave Laban, these animals are mentioned as an important part
of his wealth: "And the man increased exceedingly, and had much
cattle, and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and asses"
(Gen. xxx. 43). Then, in Exod. ix. 3, one of the severest plagues with
which Egypt was afflicted was the disease which fell upon the Camels
in common with the other cattle.
It is thought worthy of mention in the sacred narrative that Job had
three thousand, and afterwards six thousand Camels (Job i. 3, and
xlii. 12); that the Midianites and Amalekites possessed "camels
without number, as the sand by the seaside for multitude" (Judg. vii.
12); and that the Reubenites, when making war against the Hagarites,
took from them fifty thousand camels--exactly the very object of such
wars in the same land at the present time.
They were valuable enough to be sent as presents from one potentate to
another. For example, when Jacob went to meet Esau, he gave as his
present two hundred and twenty sheep, the same number of goats, fifty
oxen, thirty asses, and sixty camels, _i.e._ thirty mothers, each with
her calf. They were important enough to be guarded by men of position.
In 1 Chron. xxvii. 30, we find that the charge of David's Camels was
confided to one of his officers, Obil the Ishmaelite, who, from his
origin, might be supposed to be skilful in the management of these
animals. Bochart however, conjectures that the word Obil ought to be
read as Abal, _i.e._ the camel-keeper, and that the passage would
therefore read as follows: "Over the camels was an Ishmaelitish
camel-keeper."
We will now proceed to the uses of the Camel, and first take it in the
light of food.
By the Mosaic law, the Camel was a forbidden animal, because it did
not divide the hoof, although it chewed the cud. Yet, although the
Jews might not eat its flesh, they probably used the milk for food, as
they do at the present day. No distinct Scriptural reference is made
to the milk of the Camel; but, as the Jews of the present day are
quite as fastidious as their ancestors in keeping the Mosaic law, we
are justified in concluding that, although they would not eat the
flesh of the animal, they drank its milk. At the present time, the
milk is used, like that of the sheep, goat, and cow, both in a fresh
and curdled state, the latter being generally preferred to the former.
A kind of cheese is made from it, but is not much to the taste of the
European traveller, on account of the quantity of salt which is put in
it. Butter is churned in a very simple manner, the fresh milk being
poured into a skin bag, and the bag beaten with a stick until the
butter makes its appearance.
That it was really used in the patriarchal times is evident by the
passage which has already been mentioned, where Jacob is related to
have brought as a present to his brother Esau thirty milch Camels,
together with their young. So decided a stress would certainly not
have been laid upon the fact that the animals were milch Camels unless
the milk were intended for use.
Perhaps the use of the Camel's milk might be justified by saying that
the prohibition extended only to eating and not to drinking, and that
therefore the milk might be used though the flesh was prohibited.
There was another mode in which the Camel might be used by travellers
to sustain life.
The reader is probably aware that, even in the burning climate in
which it dwells, the Camel is able to go for a long time without
drinking,--not that it requires less liquid nourishment than other
animals, but that it is able, by means of its internal construction,
to imbibe at one draught a quantity of water which will last for a
considerable time. It is furnished with a series of cells, into which
the water runs as fast as it is drunk, and in which it can be kept for
some time without losing its life-preserving qualities. As much as
twenty gallons have been imbibed by a Camel at one draught, and this
amount will serve it for several days, as it has the power of
consuming by degrees the water which it has drunk in a few minutes.
This curious power of the Camel has often proved to be the salvation
of its owner. It has often happened that, when travellers have been
passing over the desert, their supply of water has been exhausted,
partly by the travellers and partly by the burning heat which causes
it to evaporate through the pores of the goat-skin bottle in which it
was carried. Then the next well, where they had intended to refill
their skins and refresh themselves, has proved dry, and the whole
party seemed doomed to die of thirst.
Under these circumstances, only one chance of escape is left them.
They kill a Camel, and from its stomach they procure water enough to
sustain life for a little longer, and perhaps to enable them to reach
a well or fountain in which water still remains. The water which is
thus obtained is unaltered, except by a greenish hue, the result of
mixing with the remains of herbage in the cells. It is, of course,
very disagreeable, but those who are dying from thirst cannot afford
to be fastidious, and to them the water is a most delicious draught.
It is rather curious that, if any of the water which is taken out of a
dead Camel can be kept for a few days, both the green hue and the
unpleasant flavour disappear, and the water becomes fresh, clear, and
limpid. So wonderfully well do the internal cells preserve the water,
that after a Camel has been dead for ten days--and in that hot climate
ten days after death are equal to a month in England--the water within
it has been quite pure and drinkable.
Many persons believe in the popular though erroneous idea that the
Camel does not require as much water as ordinary animals. He will see,
however, from the foregoing account that it needs quite as much water
as the horse or the ox, but that it possesses the capability of taking
in at one time as much as either of these animals would drink in
several days. So far from being independent of water, there is no
animal that requires it more, or displays a stronger desire for it. A
thirsty Camel possesses the power of scenting water at a very great
distance, and, when it does so, its instincts conquer its education,
and it goes off at full speed towards the spot, wholly ignoring its
rider or driver. Many a desert spring has been discovered, and many a
life saved, by this wonderful instinct, the animal having scented the
distant water when its rider had lost all hope, and was resigning
himself to that terrible end, the death by thirst. The sacred Zemzem
fountain at Mecca was discovered by two thirsty Camels.
Except by the Jews, the flesh of the Camel is eaten throughout
Palestine and the neighbouring countries, and is looked upon as a
great luxury. The Arab, for example, can scarcely have a greater treat
than a Camel-feast, and looks forward to it in a state of wonderful
excitement. He is so impatient, that scarcely is the animal dead
before it is skinned, cut up, and the various parts prepared for
cooking.
To European palates the flesh of the Camel is rather unpleasant, being
tough, stringy, and without much flavour. The fatty hump is
universally considered as the best part of the animal, and is always
offered to the chief among the guests, just as the North American
Indian offers the hump of the bison to the most important man in the
assembly. The heart and the tongue, however, are always eatable, and,
however old a Camel may be, these parts can be cooked and eaten
without fear.
The hump, or "bunch" as it is called in the Bible, has no connexion
with the spine, and is a supplementary growth, which varies in size,
not only in the species, but in the individual. It is analogous to the
hump upon the shoulders of the American bison and the Indian zebra,
and in the best-bred Camels it is the smallest though the finest and
most elastic.
This hump, by the way, affords one of the points by which the value of
the Camel is decided. When it is well fed and properly cared for, the
hump projects boldly, and is firm and elastic to the touch. But if the
Camel be ill, or if it be badly fed or overworked, the hump becomes
soft and flaccid, and in bad cases hangs down on one side like a thick
flap of skin. Consequently, the dealers in Camels always try to
produce their animals in the market with their humps well developed;
and, if they find that this important part does not look satisfactory,
they use various means to give it the required fulness, inflating it
with air being the most common. In fact, there is as much deception
among Camel-dealers in Palestine as with dog or pigeon fanciers in
England.
Here perhaps I may remark that the hump has given rise to some strange
but prevalent views respecting the Camel. Many persons think that the
dromedary has one hump and the Camel two--in fact, that they are two
totally distinct animals. Now the fact is that the Camel of Palestine
is of one species only, the dromedary being a lighter and swifter
breed, and differing from the ordinary Camel just as a hunter or racer
differs from a cart-horse. The two-humped Camel is a different species
altogether, which will be briefly described at the end of the present
article.
The Camel is also used as a beast of draught, and, as we find, not
only from the Scriptures, but from ancient monuments, was employed to
draw chariots and drag the plough. Thus in Isa. xxi. 7: "And he saw a
chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot
of camels." It is evident that in this passage some chariots were
drawn by Camels and some by asses. It is, however, remarkable that in
Kennard's "Eastern Experiences," these two very useful animals are
mentioned as being yoked together: "We passed through a fertile
country, watching the fellaheen at their agricultural labours, and not
a little amused at sometimes remarking a very tall camel and a very
small donkey yoked together in double harness, dragging a plough
through the rich brown soil." Camels drawing chariots are still to be
seen in the Assyrian sculptures. In Palestine--at all events at the
present time--the Camel is seldom if ever used as a beast of draught,
being exclusively employed for bearing burdens and carrying riders.
Taking it first as a beast of burden, we find several references in
different parts of the Scriptures. For example, see 2 Kings viii. 9:
"So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of
every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden." Again, in 1
Chron. xii. 40: "Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar
and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and
on mules, and on oxen." Another allusion to the same custom is made in
Isaiah: "They will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young
asses, and their treasures upon the bunches (or humps) of camels."
The Camel can carry a considerable load, though not so much as is
generally fancied. A sort of a pack-saddle of a very simple
description is used, in order to keep the burden upon so
strangely-shaped an animal. A narrow bag about eight feet long is
made, and rather loosely stuffed with straw or similar material. It is
then doubled, and the ends firmly sewn together, so as to form a great
ring, which is placed over the hump, and forms a tolerably flat
surface. A wooden framework is tied on the pack-saddle, and is kept in
its place by a girth and a crupper. The packages which the Camel is to
carry are fastened together by cords, and slung over the saddle. They
are only connected by those semi-knots called "hitches," so that, when
the Camel is to be unloaded, all that is needed is to pull the lower
end of the rope, and the packages fall on either side of the animal.
So quickly is the operation of loading performed, that a couple of
experienced men can load a Camel in very little more than a minute.
As is the case with the horse in England, the Camels that are used as
beasts of burden are of a heavier, slower, and altogether inferior
breed to those which are employed to carry riders, and all their
accoutrements are of a ruder and meaner order, devoid of the fantastic
ornaments with which Oriental riders are fond of decorating their
favourite animals.
[Illustration: CAMEL.
"They will carry their treasures upon the bunches of camels."--ISA.
xxx. 6.]
In the large illustration are represented two of the ordinary Camels
of burden, as they appear when laden with boughs for the Feast of
Tabernacles. The branches are those of the Hebrew pine, and, as may be
seen, the animals are so heavily laden with them that their forms are
quite hidden under their leafy burdens. The weight which a Camel will
carry varies much, according to the strength of the individual, which
has given rise to the Oriental proverb, "As the camel, so the load."
But an animal of ordinary strength is supposed to be able to carry
from five to six hundred pounds for a short journey, and half as much
for a long one,--a quantity which, as the reader will see, is not so
very great when the bulk of the animal is taken into consideration.
It is remarkable that the Camel knows its own powers, and
instinctively refuses to move if its correct load be exceeded. But,
when it is properly loaded, it will carry its burden for hours
together at exactly the same pace, and without seeming more fatigued
than it was when it started.
The riding Camels are always of a better breed than those which are
used for burden, and may be divided into two classes; namely, those
which are meant for ordinary purposes, and those which are specially
bred for speed and endurance. There is as much difference between the
ordinary riding Camel and the swift Camel as there is between the road
hack and the race-horse. We will first begin with the description of
the common riding Camel and its accoutrements.
The saddle which is intended for a rider is very different from the
pack-saddle on which burdens are carried, and has a long upright
projection in front, to which the rider can hold if he wishes it.
The art of riding the Camel is nearly as difficult of accomplishment
as that of riding the horse, and the preliminary operation of mounting
is not the least difficult portion of it. Of course, to mount a Camel
while the animal is standing is impossible, and accordingly it is
taught to kneel until the rider is seated. Kneeling is a natural
position with the Camel, which is furnished with large callosities or
warts on the legs and breast, which act as cushions on which it may
rest its great weight without abrading the skin. These callosities are
not formed, as some have imagined, by the constant kneeling to which
the Camel is subjected, but are born with it, though of course less
developed than they are after they have been hardened by frequent
pressure against the hot sand.
When the Camel kneels, it first drops on its knees, and then on the
joints of the hind legs. Next it drops on its breast, and then again
on the bent hind legs. In rising it reverses the process, so that a
novice is first pitched forward, then backward, then forward, and then
backward again, to the very great disarrangement of his garments, and
the probable loss of his seat altogether. Then when the animal kneels
he is in danger of being thrown over its head by the first movement,
and jerked over its tail by the second; but after a time he learns to
keep his seat mechanically.
As to the movement of the animal, it is at first almost as unpleasant
as can be conceived, and has been described by several travellers,
some of whose accounts will be here given. First comes Albert Smith,
who declares that any one who wants to practise Camel-riding in
England can do so by taking a music-stool, screwing it up as high as
possible, putting it into a cart without springs, sitting on the top
of it cross-legged, and having the cart driven at full speed
transversely over a newly ploughed field.
There is, however, as great a difference in the gait of Camels as of
horses, some animals having a quiet, regular, easy movement, while
others are rough and high-stepping, harassing their riders grievously
in the saddle. Even the smooth-going Camel is, however, very trying at
first, on account of its long swinging strides, which are taken with
the legs of each side alternately, causing the body of the rider to
swing backwards and forwards as if he were rowing in a boat.
Those who suffer from sea-sickness are generally attacked with the
same malady when they make their first attempts at Camel-riding, while
even those who are proof against this particular form of discomfort
soon begin to find that their backs are aching, and that the pain
becomes steadily worse. Change of attitude is but little use, and the
wretched traveller derives but scant comfort from the advice of his
guide, who tells him to allow his body to swing freely, and that in a
short time he will become used to it. Some days, however, are
generally consumed before he succeeds in training his spine to the
continual unaccustomed movement, and he finds that, when he wakes on
the morning that succeeds his first essay, his back is so stiff that
he can scarcely move without screaming with pain, and that the
prospect of mounting the Camel afresh is anything but a pleasant one.
"I tried to sit erect without moving," writes Mr. Kennard, when
describing his experience of Camel-riding. "This proved a relief for a
few minutes, but, finding the effort too great to continue long in
this position, I attempted to recline with my head resting upon my
hand. This last manoeuvre I found would not do, for the motion of the
camel's hind legs was so utterly at variance with the motion of his
fore-legs that I was jerked upwards, and forwards, and sideways, and
finally ended in nearly rolling off altogether.
"Without going into the details of all that I suffered for the next
two or three days--how that on several occasions I slid from the
camel's back to the ground, in despair of ever accustoming my
half-dislocated joints to the ceaseless jerking and swaying to and
fro, and how that I often determined to trudge on foot over the hot
desert sand all the way to Jerusalem rather than endure it longer--I
shall merely say that the day did at last arrive when I descended from
my camel, after many hours' riding, in as happy and comfortable a
state of mind as if I had been lolling in the easiest of arm-chairs."
A very similar description of the transition from acute and constant
suffering to perfect ease is given by Albert Smith, who states that
more than once he has dozed on the back of his Camel, in spite of the
swaying backwards and forwards to which his body was subjected.
If such be the discomfort of riding a smooth-going and good-tempered
Camel, it may be imagined that to ride a hard-going and cross-grained
animal must be a very severe trial to an inexperienced rider. A very
amusing account of a ride on such a Camel, and of a fall from its
back, is given by Mr. Hamilton in his "Sinai, the Hedjaz, and
Soudan:"--
"A dromedary I had obtained at Suk Abu Sin for my own riding did not
answer my expectations, or rather the saddle was badly put on--not an
easy thing to do well, by the way--and one of my servants, who saw how
out of patience I was at the many times I had had to dismount to have
it arranged, persuaded me to try the one he was riding, the Sheik's
present. I had my large saddle transferred to his beast, and, nothing
doubting, mounted it.
"He had not only no nose-string, but was besides a vicious brute,
rising with a violent jerk before I was well in the saddle, and
anxious to gain the caravan, which was a little way ahead, he set off
at his roughest gallop. Carpets, kufieh, tarbush, all went off in the
jolting; at every step I was thrown a foot into the air, glad to come
down again, bump, bump, on the saddle, by dint of holding on to the
front pommel with the left hand, while the right was engaged with the
bridle, which in the violence of the exercise it was impossible to
change to its proper hand. I had almost reached the caravan, and had
no doubt my humpbacked Pegasus would relax his exertions, when a
camel-driver, one of the sons of iniquity, seeing me come up at full
speed, and evidently quite run away with, took it into his head to
come to my assistance.
"I saw what he was at, and called out to him to get out of the way,
but instead of this he stuck himself straight before me, stretching
himself out like a St. Andrew's cross, with one hand armed with a huge
club, and making most diabolical grimaces. Of course the camel was
frightened, it was enough to frighten a much more reasonable being;
so, wheeling quickly round, it upset my unstable equilibrium. Down I
came head foremost to the ground, and when I looked up, my forehead
streaming with blood, the first thing I saw was my Arab with the
camel, which he seemed mightily pleased with himself for having so
cleverly captured, while the servant who had suggested the unlucky
experiment came ambling along on my easy-paced dromedary, and consoled
me by saying that he knew it was a runaway beast, which there was no
riding without a nose-string.
"I now began to study the way of keeping one's seat in such an
emergency. An Arab, when he gallops his dromedary with one of these
saddles, holds hard on with the right hand to the back part of the
seat, not to the pommel, and grasps the bridle tightly in the other.
The movement of the camel in galloping throws one violently forward,
and without holding on, excepting on the naked back, when the rider
sits behind the hump, it is impossible to retain one's seat. I
afterwards thought myself lucky in not having studied this point
sooner, as, from the greater resistance I should have offered, my
tumble, since it was _fated_ I should have one, would probably have
been much more severe. It is true I might also have escaped it, but in
the chapter of probabilities I always think a mishap the most
probable."
It may be imagined that a fall from a Camel's back is not a trifle,
and, even if the unskilful rider be fortunate enough to fall on soft
sand instead of hard rock, he receives a tolerably severe shock, and
runs no little risk of breaking a limb. For the average height of a
Camel's back is rather more than six feet, while some animals measure
seven feet from the ground to the top of the hump. Add to this a foot
or two caused by the saddle and its cushions, and a height is gained
equal to that of the ceiling of many rooms--say, eighteen inches above
the top of an ordinary door.
This height, however, is of material advantage to the traveller. In
the first place it lifts him above the waves of heated air that are
continually rolling over the sand on which the burning rays of the sun
are poured throughout the day; and in the second place it brings him
within reach of the slightest breeze that passes above the stratum of
hot air, and which comes to the traveller like the breath of life.
Moreover, his elevated position enables him to see for a very great
distance, which is an invaluable advantage in a land where every
stranger may be a robber, and is probably a murderer besides.
The best mode of avoiding a fall is to follow the Arab mode of
riding,--namely, to pass one leg over the upright pommel, which, as
has been mentioned, is a mere wooden peg or stake, and hitching the
other leg over the dangling foot. Perhaps the safest, though not the
most comfortable, mode of sitting is by crossing the legs in front,
and merely grasping the pommel with the hands.
Yet, fatiguing as is the seat on the Camel's back to the beginner, it
is less so than that on the horse's saddle, inasmuch as in the latter
case one position is preserved, while in the former an infinite
variety of seat is attainable when the rider has fairly mastered the
art of riding.
The Camel is not held by the bit and bridle like the horse, but by a
rope tied like a halter round the muzzle, and having a knot on the
left or "near" side. This is held in the left hand, and is used
chiefly for the purpose of stopping the animal. The Camel is guided
partly by the voice of its rider, and partly by a driving-stick, with
which the neck is lightly touched on the opposite side to that which
its rider wishes it to take. A pressure of the heel on the
shoulder-bone tells it to quicken its pace, and a little tap on the
head followed by a touch on the short ears are the signals for full
speed.
There are three different kinds of stick with which the Camel is
driven; one of them, a mere almond branch with the bark, and an
oblique head, is the sceptre or emblem of sovereignty of the Prince of
Mecca. Mr. Hamilton suggests that this stick, called the "_mesh'ab_,"
is the original of the jackal-headed stick with which so many of the
Egyptian deities are represented; and that Aaron's rod that "brought
forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds," was the
_mesh'ab_, the almond-branch sceptre, the emblem of his almost regal
rank and authority.
The women mostly ride in a different manner from the men. Sometimes
they are hardy enough to sit the animal in the same way as their
husbands, but as a rule they are carried by the animal rather than
ride it, sitting in great basket-like appendages which are slung on
either side of the Camel. These constitute the "furniture" which is
mentioned in Gen. xxxi. 34. When Jacob left the house of Laban, to
lead an independent life, Rachel stole her father's images, or
"teraphim," and carried them away with her, true to her affectionate
though deceptive nature, which impelled her to incur the guilt of
robbery for the sake of enriching her husband with the cherished
teraphim of her father. From the most careful researches we learn that
these teraphim were used for divining the future, and that they were
made in the human form. That they were of considerable size is evident
from the fact that, when Saul was hunting after David, his wife Michal
contrived to convey him out of the house, and for a time to conceal
her fraud by putting an image (or teraph) into the bed as a
representative of her husband. Had not, therefore, the camel-furniture
been of considerable dimensions, images of such a size could not be
hidden, but they could well be stowed away in the great panniers, as
long as their mistress sat upon them, after the custom of Oriental
travellers, and declined to rise on the ready plea of indisposition.
This sort of carriage is still used for the women and children. "The
wife and child came by in the string of camels, the former reclining
in an immense circular box, stuffed and padded, covered with red
cotton, and dressed with yellow worsted ornaments. This family nest
was mounted on a large camel. It seemed a most commodious and
well-arranged travelling carriage, and very superior as a mode of
camel-riding to that which our Sitteen rejoiced in (_i.e._ riding upon
a saddle). The Arab wife could change her position at pleasure, and
the child had room to walk about and could not fall out, the sides of
the box just reaching to its shoulders. Various jugs and skins and
articles of domestic use hung suspended about it, and trappings of
fringe and finery ornamented it."
This last sentence brings us to another point which is several times
mentioned in the Bible; namely, the ornaments with which the
proprietors of Camels are fond of bedizening their favourite animals.
Their leathern collars are covered with cowrie shells sewn on them in
various fantastic patterns. Crescent-shaped ornaments are made of
shells sewn on red cloth, and hung so abundantly upon the harness of
the animal that they jingle at every step which it takes. Sheiks and
other men of rank often have these ornaments made of silver, so that
the cost of the entire trappings is very great. Allusion is made to
these costly ornaments in Judges viii. When Gideon warred against
Succoth, he captured the two chiefs or kings of Midian, Zebah and
Zalmunna, and, after putting them to death, he "took away the
ornaments that were on their camels' necks,"--or, as the marginal
translation has it, their "ornaments like the moon," _i.e._
crescent-shaped; this form having been retained unchanged for three
thousand years. (Judges viii. 21.) The value of such ornaments is
evident from the fact that they are mentioned so conspicuously in Holy
Writ; and, as if to show that the Camel trappings were of very
considerable value, a further reference is made to them in the
following passage. After the battle, Gideon made a request to his
soldiers "that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey.
(For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
"And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a
garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And
the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and
seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and
purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains
that were about their camels' necks." Here we see that the ornaments
to the Camels were sufficiently costly to be classed with the golden
jewellery and the royal apparel that were worn by the kings of Midian.
We now come to the Swift Camel, sometimes called the Heirie, the
Maharik, or the Deloul, the last of these terms being that by which it
will be mentioned in these pages.
The limbs of the Deloul are long and wiry, having not an ounce of
superfluous fat upon them, the shoulders are very broad, and the hump,
though firm and hard, is very small.
A thoroughbred Deloul, in good travelling condition, is not at all a
pleasing animal to an ordinary eye, being a lank, gaunt, and
ungainly-looking creature, the very conformation which insures its
swiftness and endurance being that which detracts from its beauty. An
Arab of the desert, however, thinks a good Deloul one of the finest
sights in the world. As the talk of the pastoral tribes is of sheep
and oxen, so is the talk of the nomads about Camels. It is a subject
which is for ever on their lips, and a true Bedouin may be seen to
contemplate the beauties of one of these favourite animals for hours
at a time,--if his own, with the rapture of a possessor, or, if
another's, with the determination of stealing it when he can find an
opportunity.
Instead of plodding along at the rate of three miles an hour, which is
the average speed of the common Camel, the Deloul can cover, if
lightly loaded, nine or ten miles an hour, and go on at the same pace
for a wonderful time, its long legs swinging, and its body swaying, as
if it were but an animated machine. Delouls have been reported to have
journeyed for nearly fifty hours without a single stop for rest,
during which time the animals must have traversed nearly five hundred
miles. Such examples must, however, be exceptional, implying, as they
do, an amount of endurance on the part of the rider equal to that of
the animal; and even a journey of half that distance is scarcely
possible to ordinary men on Delouls.
For the movements of the Deloul are very rough, and the rider is
obliged to prepare himself for a long journey by belting himself
tightly with two leathern bands, one just under the arms, and the
other round the pit of the stomach. Without these precautions, the
rider would be likely to suffer serious injuries, and, even with them,
the exercise is so severe, that an Arab makes it a matter of special
boast that he can ride a Deloul for a whole day.
A courier belonging to the Sherif of Mecca told Mr. Hamilton that he
often went on the same dromedary from Mecca to Medina in forty-eight
hours, the distance being two hundred and forty miles. And a
thoroughbred Deloul will travel for seven or eight weeks with only
four or five days of rest.
Even at the present time, these Camels are used for the conveyance of
special messages, and in the remarkable Bornu kingdom a regular
service of these animals is established, two couriers always
travelling in company, so that if one rider or Camel should fail or
be captured by the Arabs, who are always on the alert for so valuable
a prey, the other may post on and carry the message to its
destination.
[Illustration: THE CAMEL POST.]
The swift dromedary, or Deloul, is mentioned several times in the Old
Testament. One of them occurs in Isa. lx. 6: "The multitude of camels
shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah." In this
passage a distinction is drawn between the ordinary Camel and the
swift dromedary, the former being the word "gamel," and the latter the
word "beker," which is again used in Jer. ii. 23: "See thy way in the
valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary."
There is a passage in the Book of Esther which looks as if it referred
to the ordinary Camel and the swift dromedary, but there is
considerable uncertainty about the proper rendering. It runs as
follows: "And he wrote in king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the
king's ring, and sent letters and posts on horseback, and riders on
mules, camels, and young dromedaries."
The Jewish Bible, however, translates this passage as follows: "And
sent letters by the runners on the horses, and riders on the racers,
mules, and young mares." Now, the word _rekesh_, which is translated
as "racer," is rendered by Buxtorf as "a swift horse or mule," and the
word _beni-rammachim_, which is translated as "young mares," literally
signifies "those born of mares."
The Camel-drivers behave towards their animals with the curious
inconsistency which forms so large a part of the Oriental character.
Prizing them above nearly all earthly things, proud of them, and
loving them after their own fashion, the drivers will talk to them,
cheer them, and sing interminable songs for their benefit. Towards the
afternoon the singing generally begins, and it goes on without
cessation in a sort of monotonous hum, as Dr. Bonar calls it. The same
traveller calls attention to a passage in Caussinus' "Polyhistor
Symbolicus," in which the learned and didactic author symbolizes the
maxim that more can be done by kindness than by blows. "The Camel is
greatly taken with music and melody. So much so, indeed, that if it
halts through weariness, the driver does not urge it with stripes and
blows, but soothes it by his songs."
Several travellers have mentioned these songs. See, for example, Miss
Rogers' account of some Bedouins: "Their songs were already subdued to
harmonize with their monotonous swinging pace, and chimed softly and
plaintively with the tinkling of camel-bells, thus--
"'Dear unto me as the sight of mine eyes,
Art thou, O my Camel!
Precious to me as the health of my life,
Art thou, O my Camel!
Sweet to my ears is the sound
Of thy tinkling bells, O my Camel!
And sweet to thy listening ears
Is the sound of my evening song.'
And so on, _ad libitum_."
Sometimes a female Camel gives birth to a colt on the journey. In such
a case, a brief pause is made, and then the train proceeds on its
journey, the owner of the Camel carrying the young one in his arms
until the evening halt. He then gives it to its mother, and on the
following day it is able to follow her without further assistance. The
young Camels are almost pretty, their hair being paler than that of
the adult animal, and their limbs more slender.
Although the young Camel is better-looking than its parents, it is not
one whit more playful. Unlike almost all other animals, the Camel
seems to have no idea of play, and even the young Camel of a month or
two old follows its mother with the same steady, regular pace which
she herself maintains.
In spite of all the kindness with which a driver treats his Camels, he
can at times be exceedingly cruel to them, persisting in over-loading
and over-driving them, and then, if a Camel fall exhausted, removing
its load, and distributing it among the other Camels. As soon as this
is done, he gives the signal to proceed, and goes on his way,
abandoning the wretched animal to its fate--_i.e._ to thirst and the
vultures. He will not even have the humanity to kill it, but simply
leaves it on the ground, muttering that it is "his fate!"
THE CAMEL.