152 MAMMALS

intended to designate an animal that takes an interest
_in its rider so far as a beast can, that in some way
understands his intentions, or shares them in a
subordinate fashion, that obeys from a sort of sub-
missive or half fellow-feeling with his master, like the
horse or elephant, then I say that the camel is by
no means docile—very much the contrary. He takes
no heed of his rider, pays no attention whether he be
on his back or not ; walks straight on when once set
agoing, merely because he is too stupid to turn aside ;
and then, should some tempting thorn or green branch
allure him out of the path, continues to walk on in the
new direction simply because he is too dull to turn
back into the right road. In fact, he is from first to
last an undomesticated and savage animal, rendered
serviceable by stupidity alone, without much skill on
his master’s part or any co-operation on his own, save
that of an extreme passiveness. Neither attachment
nor even habit impresses him; never tame, though
not wide-awake enough to be exactly wild.” And this
unfavourable opinion is shared in by all the explorers
and others who have had any experience of camel-
keeping and camel-riding. In short, the Oriental
made the most of the camel as being the only animal
available in the great sandy regions of Asia and Africa,
but was never enthusiastic in his praise ; and there is a
vast difference between the way in which he speaks
of his heavily lurching ‘ship of the desert’ and that
in which he speaks of his horse.

There are two species of Camelus, C. dromedarius,
with one hump, and C. dactrianus, with two. The
wild camels discovered by the Russians among the