Arabia, Persia, the south of Tartary, some parts of India, and Africa, from Egypt to Mauritania, and from the Mediterranean to the river Senegal, appear to be the countries over which the Arabian Camel is principally distributed. It is also numerous in the Canary Islands. That it was a native of Asia from the earliest times, and the great oriental commercial vehicle of ancient as it is of modern days, cannot be doubted. We trace it repeatedly in the Scriptures. Thus when Joseplia brethren had cast him into the pit, and after the com mission of their prime had sat down to cat bread, "they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of lshmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt." (Genesis xxxvii. 25.) Again, in Judges, viii. 21, we read that " Gideon arose and slew Zebah and 7salmunnah, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks." In Genesis xxxii. 7, wo find that Jacob "divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands ;" and the domestic' state of the animal at this early period is further proved by.verso 15 of the Kama chapter, where we see, as part of the present sent by Jacob to propitiate Esau, "thirty lunch camels with their colts." In Leviticus, xi. 4, the camel is enumerated among the forbidden animals, "because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof : he is unclean unto you." Part of Job's "sub stance (Job i. 3.) consisted of three thousand camels ;" and the third messenger of evil informs him (i. 17) that "the Clialcheaua made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away." When, after his afflictions, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job nom then his beginning (xlii. 12) "six thousand camels" formed a sortion of the blessing. And here we may observe that though the nquiry him been the subject of much research, there is no satisfactory !I-Menet) of the existence of the Camel in an originally wild state at my period whatever. Diodorous and Strabo indeed mention its ixiatenco in such a state in Arabia; and Desmoulins, who has written sleet valuably on the subject, asserts that it so existed in the time of Hadrian ; the natives too of Central Africa maintain, it is said, that he animal is to be found wild in the mountains where Europeans have never penetrated. But it is far from improbable that these wild minds might, like the wild horses of the American prairies, have rived their parentage to camels which had escaped from the control sf man. Cuvier, in relating the report of Pallas upon the evidence of the Bucharians and Tartars that there are wild camels in the deserts sf the middle of Asia, well remarks that it must not be forgotten that the Calmucks give liberty to all sorts of animals from a religious principle.
In Europe, Pisa seems to be the only locality where the Camel is now bred. At San ltotisora, the arid plains and stunted bushes bear some distant resemblance to the Asiatic and African desert ; but most authors who understand the subject agree in considering that the race is fast degenerating. The time of their introduction into Tuscany is not accurately known.
The Arabian Camel was introduced into Spain by the Moore; and the southern districts possessed many of these animals for a consider able period after the conquest of Granada; but they are now no longer to be found as a species in the Spanish territory. After the conquest of Spanish America an attempt was made to introduce them into that country by Juan de Iteinega, a Biscayan ; and Acosta saw them towards the end of the 16th century at the foot of the Andes. But the intro duction of these animals was looked upon with no favourable eye by the ruling Spaniards, and they gradually dwindled away. They have
however been lately imported with greater success from the Canary Islands. Humboldt mentions them, and particularly some that he saw feeding under a palm-tree near New Valencia.
Ca nielus Baetrianes (Linn.), the .Mecheri, or Camel. It is the a Di tophus of Walther, C. Tureicus of Alpinus, the Bactrian Camel of Pen nant, Le Cluuneau of Buffon, the Tramupelthier of Knorr. It has two humps on the back. Length about 10 feet. Hair shaggy, particularly under the throat. Colour generally dark-brown. Localities, Persia, Turkey, &c.
This species is comparatively rare ; but in the middle zone of Asia, north of the Taurus and the I linialaya Mountains, it is found in com parative abundance. Not that it is not to be seen occasionally in other countries—in Arabia, for instance ; but such instances are said to be uncommon. The Bactrian Camel is stouter and more muscular than the Arabian species, and his strength is in proportion. "It varies from brown to white, and also greatly in size, strength, and quickness, according to the breed and climate." (Gray.) C. Dromedaries (Linn.), the Sghimel, or Dromedary. It is the a Lek of E'versmann, C. velyaris of Forskal, C. nionotoph us of Walther, C. Drones of Oesner, C. ?animus of Klein, C. reins of Frisch, the Arabian Camel of Pennant, and Lo Dromedaire of 13uffun.
It has one hump, situated on the middle of the back. Length about 8 feet. Hair Palo brown. Localities, Arabia, Africa, &c.
Purchas (book vi., c. 1, a. 9) says that of Camels there are three kinds; the first called Huguin, of tall stature and able to carry a thousand pounds weight ; the second less, having a double bunch, fit for carriage and to ride on, called Becheti, bred only in Asia ; the third sort, called Itaguahill, small, able to travel (for they are unlit for burdens) above an hundred miles in a day. The king of Tim buctoo can send messengers; on such camels to Segelmesse or Dube, 900 miles distant, in the space of eight days at the farthest. lie further states that such enduring swiftness would be almost incredible, were it not corroborated by the best authoritioe, who all agree in their accounts of the speed of the Heirie, El Heirie, or Maherry of the desert—Purchas'a Raguahill. " When thou shalt meet a heirie," say the Arabs in their poetical mode of expression, " and say to the rider `Salem Aleik,' ere he shall have answered thee 'Aleik Salem,' he will be afar oft; and nearly out of sight, for his swiftness is like the wind?' The Sabayee,' said to be the fastest breed of the swift Dromedary, will, it is asserted, perform a journey of thirty-five days' caravan tra velling (about 18 miles a day) in five days, performing 630 miles in that small period of time. Riley often travelled on a dromedary at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour for nine and ten hours a day ; and Lyon says that the Maherry of the Northern African Arabs will con tinue at a long trot of 9 miles an hour for many hours together.
Besides tho swift variety above alluded to, the species varies in colour, like the Bactrian, being sometimes cream-coloured or even white. There are specimens in the Gardena of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park.
The natural family of the Camelidee comprises also the South American form so well known by the name of Llama. [LrAms.] A fossil species, C. Siralensis, of this genus was discovered by Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley in the Tertiary deposits of the Sewalik Hine of Hindustan. The crania, jaws, and teeth of this species are to be seen in a fine state of preservation in the British Museum. It was nearly related to the existing species, but exceeded them by at least one-seventh in height.