(2) Arabian. The Arabian camel or drome dary (camclus dromedaries or Arabicus of nat uralists, bcker, and female and young, bikrah, Is. lx :6; Jer. ii :23) is properly the species having naturally but one hunch, and considered as of Western Asiatic or of African origin, although no kind of camel is figured on any monument of Egypt, not even where there are representations of live stock, such as that found in a most an cient tomb beneath the pyramid of Gizeh, which shows herdsmen bringing their cattle and domes icated animals to be numbered before a steward and his scribe, and in which we see oxen, goats, sheep, asses, geese and ducks, but neither horses nor camels. That they were not indigenous in the early history of Egypt is countenanced by the mythical tale of the priests describing 'the flight of Typhon, seven days' journey upon an ass.' We find, however, camels mentioned in Gen. xii, but being placed last among the cattle given by Pharaoh to Abraham, the fact seems to show that they were not considered as the most important part of his donation. This can be true only upon the supposition that only a few of these animals were delivered to him, and therefore that they were still rare in the valley of the Nile, though soon after there is abundant evidence of the na tions of Syria and Palestine having whole herds of them fully domesticated. These seem to im ply that the genus Camelus was originally an inhabitant of the elevated deserts of Central Asia, its dense fur showing that a cold but dry at mosphere was to be encountered, and that it came already domesticated, toward the south and west, with the oldest colonies of mountaineers, who are to be distinguished from earlier tribes who subdued the ass, and perhaps from others still more ancient, who, taking to the rivers, de scended by water, and afterwards coasted and crossed narrow seas.
(3) Two Arabian Speeies. Of the Arabian species two very distinct races are noticed—those of stronger frame but slower pace used to carry burdens, varying from goo to 70o weight, and trav eling little more than twenty-four miles per day, and those of lighter form, bred for the saddle with single riders, whereof the fleetest serve to convey intelligence, etc., and travel at the rate of 200 miles in twenty-four hours. They are designated by several appellations, such as Deloul, the best coming from Oman, or from the Bisha reens in Upper Egypt; also Hadjeens, Ashaary, Maherry, Reches. Badees at Herat, Rawakel and Racambel in India, all names more or less imply ing swiftness, the same as apop.ds, swill.
3. Uses. All camels, from their very birth, are taught to bend their limbs and lie down to receive a load or a rider. They are often placed circularly in a recumbent posture, and together with their loads form a sufficient rampart of de fense against robbers on horseback. The milk of she-camels is still considered a very nutritive cool ing drink, and when turned it becomes intoxicat ing. Their dung supplies fuel in the desert, and in sandy regions where wood is scarce; and occa sionally it is a kind of resource for horses when other food is wanting in the wilderness. Their flesh, particularly the hunch, is in request among the Arabs, but was forbidden to the Hebrews, more perhaps from motives of economy and to keep the people from again becoming wanderers than from any real uncleanness.
Camels were early a source of riches to the patriarchs, and from that period became an in creasing object of rural importance to the several tribes of Israel, who inhabited the grazing and border districts, but still they never equaled the numbers possessed by the Arabs of thit desert. In what manner the Hebrews derived the valuable remunerations obtainable from them does not directly appear, but it may be surmised that by means of their camels they were in possession of the whole trade that passed by land from Asia Minor and Syria to the Red Sea and Egypt, and from the Red Sea and Arabia toward the north, and to the Phoenician seaports.
It is likely the word achashterastim (Esth. viii: so), rendered 'young dromedaries' (though Bo chart regards it as meaning mules), implies the swift postage or conveyance of others, the whole verse showing that all the means of dispatch were set in motion at the disposal of government.
Figurative. 1. The Jews are compared to "a swift dromedary traversing her ways." Like the dromedary hurried on by the impetuous call of nature, and while it lasts scorning all control, so the Jews scorned to be controlled in their pursuit of idols. 'Multitudes of camels and dromedaries of Midian, Ephah, Shebah, and flocks of Kedar and Nebaioth' (Is. lx :6-8), most evidently refers to the future restoration of Israel, "when they shall bring the Jews for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to his holy mountain Jerusalem" (Is. lxvi :20).
2. With regard to the passage in Matt. xix :24, 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,' etc., and that in Matt. xxiii :24, 'Ye strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel,' it may be sufficient to observe that both are proverbial expressions, similarly applied in the kindred lan guages of Asia. Some, claiming a knowledge of the East from birth or long residence, have said that this latter comparison had its origin in the custom of stripping a camel—belated until the great gate of a city was closed for the night, so that it could no longer enter in the usual way— of its load, and pulling or pushing it through the small gate which is made in the panel of the larger one. They have alleged that the force of the comparison is to be sought in the fact that a rich man must be stripped of his wealth to enable him to squeeze through the narrow gate of heaven, as the camel is stripped of his load that he may be forced through the panel gate of the city. Some have even gone so far as to say that this small gate is known in the East by the name of the 'needle's eye.' In reply, we would say—(t) That this small gate is known by the name khau khah, but no one of the many whom we have asked ever heard the name needle's eye applied to it. NVe believe this to be a fabrication. (2) No camel could be forced through the klraukhah. It is a gate from three to four feet in height, and from eighteen inches to two feet in breadth, and its bottom is from one to two feet above the ground, and by no possibility could a camel be got through it. (3) Could we suppose a khau khah so exceptionally large that a camel could be forced through it, the hyperbole would be quite lost. (G. E. Post, Hastings' Bib. Dict.)