It is likely the word D'^S'in^nK, achashteraiAm'^ (Esth. viii, 10, 14), rendered " camels," more proper- ly signifies mtdes (being explained by the addition **sons of mares," mistranslated "young dromeda- ries"), and implies the swift postage or conveyance of orders, the whole verse showing that all the means of dispatch were set in motion at the disposal of govern- ment (see the dissertation on this word by Schelhom, in the MUc. Lipt. x, 231-44). On the other hand, ^3^, re'keth (translated "mules" in the above pas-
CAMEL
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CAMEL
nge^ and rendered ** dromedary** In 1 Elinge iv, 28 ; "swift beast" in Mic. 1, 18), vre take to be one of the manj names for nmning camels (as above), used to cany expresses ; or post-horses, anciently Atiandi or AMamSy now Ckupper or Chuppaw^ which, according to Xenophon, existed in Persia in the time of Cyras, and are still in use nnder different appellations over an Asia. The kirkaroth' (n'i^nS'13, rendered "swift beasts**) of Isa. Ixvi, 20, were probably also a kind of dromedary.
Camel f (Mr Baggage.
AH oamels, 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 recum- bent posture, and, togellier with their loads, form a foffident rampart of defence against robbers on horse- back. The milk of she-camds is still considered a
very nutritive cooling drink (Aristot ffUt, Amm, vi, 25, 1 ; Pliny, N, H, xi, 41 ; xxviii, 9), and when turn- ed it becomes intoxicating (such, according to the Rabbins [RosenmOller, Not, ad ffieroz, i, 10], was the drink offered [Judg. iv, 19] by Jael to Sisera [comp. Josephus, Ant. v, 5, 4]). Their dung supplies fuel in the desert and in sandy regions where wood is scarce ; and occasionally 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 (comp. Prosp. Alp. E. N. JEg. i, 226), although forbidden to the Hebrews, more perhaps from mo- tives of economy, and to keep the people from again becoming wanderers, than from any real unclean- ness. Camels were early a source of riches to the patriarchs, and from that period became an increas- ing object of rural importance to the several tribes of Israel, who inhabited the grazing and border dis- tricts, but still they never equalled the numbers pos- sessed by the Arabs of the desert. In what manner the Hebrews derived the valuable remunerations ob- tainable 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 sea-ports. On swift dromedaries the trotting motion is so hard that to en- dure it the rider requires a severe apprenticeship ; but riding upon slow camels is not disagreeable, on ac- count of the measured step of their walk ; ladies and women in general are conveyed upon them in a kind of wicker-work sedan, known as the takht-ravan of India and Persia. In some cases this piece of female equipage presents almost a formidable appearance.
A Shammar Lady on a CameL
The camels which carried the king*8 servants or guests, according to PhUostratus, were always distinguished by a gilded boss on the forehead. The camel, being a native of Asia, from the earliest ages to the present day has been the chief means of communication be- tween the di£rerent regions of the East, and from its vooderfbl powers of endurance in the desert has en- abled routes to be opened which would otherwise have been impracticable. ** Their home is the desert ; and they were made, in the wisdom of the Creator, to be the carriers of the desert The coarse and prickly stambs of the wastes are to them the most delicious food, and even of these they eat but little. So few are the wants of their nature, that their power of going
without food, as well as without water, is wonderful. Their well-known habit of l^ing down upon the breast to receive their burdens is not, as is often supposed, merely the result of training ; it is an admirable adap- tation of their nature to their destiny as carriers. This is their natural position of repose, as is shown, too, by the callosities upon the joints of the legs, and especially by that upon the breast. Hardly less won- derful is the adaptation of their broad cushioned foot to the arid sands and gravelly soil which it is their
lot chiefly to traverse As the carriers of the
East, the * ships of the desert,* another important quality of the camel is their sure-footedness*' (Robin- inson, HtsearcheSf il, 682-635). The present geograph-
CAMEL
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CAMEL
ical distribntioii of the camel extends over Arabia, Sjrria, Asia Minor to the foot of the Caucasus, the south of Tartary, and part of India. In Africa it is found in the countries extending finom the Mediterranean to the Senegal, and tram Egypt and Abyssinia-to Algiers and Morocco. A number of camels iiaye lately been imported into the United States, designed for trans- portation in the arid plains of the extreme southwest- em territories ; but the result of the experiment is yet doubtfhl (liarsh, 7Ae OniMf, etc. Boet. 1866). (^or a farther view of the natural history of the camel, see the Pemtjf Cyclopadia^ s. ▼.) See Dromedary.