Camel

In the hot dry desert regions the camel is the horse, the cow, and the sheep of the herders and traders. He carries all the burdens, he furnishes flesh and milk for food, and his hair or wool furnishes material for weaving cloth. At night in camp the little children of the chief drink cups of the camel's thick cheesy milk, mixed with water. On the chief's table is cooked camel flesh. The herders wear robes and turbans of brown camcl's-hair cloth. The master sleeps under a camel's-hai- tent. Without this stupid, useful beast, the hot, deserts of the Old World would lie un peopled and un known. But the camel knows nothing of his value and cares less. Like thedesert itself, he submits to be used but remains un tamed, sullen, and forbidding.

There is just one thing for which the camel has a soft feeling. The mother camel shows affection for her baby. Although the baby camel is three feet high, and heavier than a calf when he is born, he is so weak and wobbly on his legs that he can scarcely walk. Without his mother's milk he would die. The mother perhaps has to zo with the Asia. The feet of both are provided with spongy pads which spread somewhat as the animal walks on the yielding sand. The hair of the Arabian camel is sandy in color, that of the Bactrian camel reddish brown or black. A baggage camel is expected to carry 500 or 600 pounds and travel 25 miles a day; while a trained riding camel or " dromedary" can go from 50 to 75 miles a day.

There are no records of wild camels, so domestica tion must have been accomplished early. In the Bible we read that Abraham took on his journey " sheep and oxen and camels." Job had at one time 6,000, and the Amalekites possessed " camels without number as the sands by the seashore for multitude." In modern times some Arabian and African tribes own hundreds of thousands of these animals. Before the railroad from Cairo to Suez was opened, 600 camels a day were employed for transportation pur poses between these two places. The free camels which roam the wastes of northern Turkestan and are hunted for their flesh, hides, and wool are descended from a few domesticated ones which survived the terrible sand storms that overwhelmed the villages of the Gobi plateau 200 years ago. About 1857 the United States army tried to introduce the camel into the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico but with little success.

used are agates, onyx, sardonyx, and chalcedony.

Cameos have been used not only for personal jewelry but for adorning cups, vases, and even furniture.

A great number of cameos of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans are preserved in museums.