Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1893 — A Queer Thing About Camels. [ARTICLE]

A Queer Thing About Camels.

Some yoars ago, when tho British troops were fighting against tho forces of the Mahdi in the Soudan, oppportunity was afforded to many of the correspondents accompanying the expedition to study the habits of the camel. Most of the transportation of the soldiers’ baggage was done by these “ships of the desert,” as they are called, and at night some of the newspaper men spent a .portion of their leasure trying to learn something new about the-:e strange creatures. One of them, who was»an inveterate smoker, discovered that tho camel is a great lover of tobacco. Let any one smoko a pipe or cigar in the camel compound, said he, and the camel willfollow the smoker about, place his nose close to the burning tobacco, inhale the fumes with a prolonged sniff, swallow the smoke, then throwing his head up, with mouth agape., and eyes upturned, showing the hLoodshot whites, will grunt a sigh pf. ecstasy that would make the foituneof a low comedian in a love scene. So if any of you have a pet camel who seems to be longing for something and refuses to be comforted until he gets it, you might give him a cigar. He is usually so intelligent that it would probably take very few lo .sons to teach him how to smoke in a most expert fashion. —Harper's Young People.