Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1888 — About Camels. [ARTICLE]

About Camels.

A writer says: “The cafnel is the most perfect machine on four legs that we have any knowledge of.” A s .cred treasure, indeed, to the Arab is this “pudding-footed pride of the desert.” The expression on the face of a camel is rather pathetic. His eyes are 1.-.rge and liquid, and above them are d> ep cavities large enough to hold a hen's egg. The aquiline nose, with long, slanting nostrils that he can close tightly against the sand storm--; and hot, burning winds of the desert, give a vry sorrowful expression to the face. Th* under lip is pouting and puckering, . nd you are not at all surprised when the poor beast bursts into tears ami cries long and loud like a vexed chil I. The feet of the camel are of very singular construction, with a tough, elastic sole, r f* and spongy as they fall noi■■elessly en the earth and spread out under his tottering weight. Thia form of the foot prevents the animal from sinking in the sand, and he is very sure-looted on all sorts of ground. The average rate of travel for a caravan is between two and three miles an hour; and the camel jogs on, hour after hour, at the same pace, and seems to be almost as fresh at night as iu the morning when he started on his travels. The Arabians say of the camel: “Job’s beast is a monument of God’s mercy.” The camel sheds his hair regularly ance a year, and carpets and tent-cloths ore made from it; it is also woven into cloth. Some of it is exceedingly fine .Ad soft, though it is usually coarse afe rough, and is used for making coata set the shepherds and camel-drivers; huge water bottles, leather sacks, sandals, ropes, and thongS are TM.de of its skin.