In Colonel Stewart's 'Journey through North Eastern Persia,' he states that the load of the Khorasine camel is 600 to 700 lbs. A corre spondent of the Pioneer writes : 'I have fre quently seen Ilrahui camels go out of the fort at Dadur, in Southern Afghanistan, laden with 12 maunds, about 1000 lbs., the ordinary load being 8 maunds, or 650 lbs. I have also met them fre quently ou the line of march with these loads, and yet one rarely saw a dead Braliui camel.' They were used by the British in tho wars on the N.W. frontier of 1879-1881, but they died in great numbers.
Camels arc extensively bred in Murwut, Mee anwullee, and Esakhail, and are purchased by the Povinda and other itinerant traffickers. In Syria, the rutting season is in spring, and the males then become extremely unruly. The female carries twelve months, and breeds one at a time. The young camels are weaned at the beginning of the second year. Camels are known to attain to the age of 40 years ; but after 25 or 30 its activity begins to fail, and it is no longer able to endure much fatigue. In the northern districts of Arabia, the hair is not shorn from the camel, like wool from sheep, but is plucked off, about the time it is naturally shed by the animal, and seldom amounts to more than two pounds. It is woven into stuffs for clothing.
M. Hue, however, tells us that in Chinese Tar tary the fur of an ordinary camel weighs about ten pounds. It is sometimes as fine as silk. That which the entire camel has under its neck and along its legs is rough, tufted, and black, but the hair in general is reddish or grey. The Tartars do not take any care of it, but suffer it, when it falls off, to be lost. The milk of the camel is excellent, both for butter and cheese; the flesh is tough, ill-tasted, and little esteemed by the Tartars. They make use, however, of the hump,
which they cut in slices and take with their tea. It is said that the emperor Heliogabalus had camel's flesh served at his banquets, and that he was especially partial to the foot ; but to modern taste the flesh of the camel is detestable. Like the sheep and goat, their need for water to drink varies with the dryness or moistness of their food. A succulent grass, moist with rain or dew, and near the bank of rivers, of itself furnishes almost sufficient fluid for their wants; but a dry grass, an arid atmosphere, and a burnt-up soil render them very thirsty, and they then readily rush into water. Skinner mentions (ii. pp. 112, 113) that his camels had been 19 complete days with out drinking. But they can lay in a large store of food. Pottinger mentions that he allowed his camel 15 lbs. of flour daily, in addition to all the grass it ate. The camels eat the tamarisk and the camel thorn. In parts of the Panjab country, where camels are reared in great numbers, they delight especially in Lana, plants of the salso laceous tribe, which are also useful for burning to get soda. There is often quite a rivalry of interest over a patch of salsola land,—the camel-feeder wants it for his animal, and the soda burner for his furnaces.—Powell's Handbook; Dr. J. L. Stewart, 31.D.; Chesney's Overland Route ; Hue's Recollec tions of a Journey, p.130; Postans' Personal Obser vations, p. 108; Mignan's Travels, p. 27; Wellsted's Tra.; Burton's Pit. ; Pottinger's Beluch. and Sinde ; Fontaine's Egypt ; Robinson's Tra. ii. p. 183.