or Camel, in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of pecora. The characters of the camel are these. It has no horns; it has six fore-teeth in the under jaw; the lanaiarii are wide set, three in the upper, and two in the lower jaw; and there is a fissure in the upper lip, resembling a cleft in the lip of a hare. The species are,

I. The Dromedarius, or African camel, with one Pl. LXVIII. bunch or protuberance on the back. It has four callous fig. 2. protuberances on the fore-legs, and two on the hind ones. The hoof, or rather callous skin, of their feet, which is softer than the hoofs of other animals, enables the camel to walk along the sandy paths of warm climates with greater ease; as, by yielding to the pressure, it is not so subject to be injured by friction. The structure and constitution of these creatures is admirably adapted to the climate which produces them. In Africa and Arabia, where this animal is most frequent, and is employed in carrying all kinds of burdens, there is great scarcity of water. The camel has often been observed to travel longer than any other creature without drink. This it is enabled to do from a singular construction in its stomach. It is one of the ruminating animals, and has four stomachs. At the top of the second stomach there are several square holes, which are the orifices of about 20 cavities or sacks placed between the two membranes which compose the substance of this stomach. These sacks are so many reservoirs which they fill over and above what satisfies their present thirst, and serve for supplying them with water in long journeys thro' the dry and sandy deserts, where wells and rivers are seldom to be met with. Travellers, when much oppressed with drought, are sometimes obliged to kill their camels, in order to have a supply of drink from these reservoirs. By the above means camels are enabled to pass over unwatered tracts for seven or eight days, without requiring the least liquid; Leo Africanus says for 15. They can discover water by their scent at half a league's distance; and after a long abstinence will halten towards it, long before their drivers perceive where it lies. Their patience

(a) The reign of queen Elizabeth was so recent when the first volume of the annals was published, that many of the persons concerned, or their dependents, were still living. It was no wonder, therefore, that the honest historian should offend those whose actions would not bear inquiry. Some of his enemies were clamorous and troublesome; which determined him not to publish the second volume during his life; but that posterity might be in no danger of disappointment, he deposited one copy in the Cotton library, and transmitted another to his friend Dupuy at Paris. It was first printed at Leyden in 1625. tience under hunger is such, that they will travel many days, fed only with a few dates, or some small balls of bean or barley-meal, or on the miserable thorny plants they find in the desert. The camel carries very heavy burdens; and travels long, but with a slow pace. The largest kind will carry a load of 1000 or 1200 lb weight. They kneel down to be loaded, but rise the moment they find the burden equal to their strength; they will not permit an ounce more to be put on. They are most mild and gentle at all times but when they are in heat; during that period they are seized with a sort of madness, so that it is unsafe to approach them. They are not prevailed on to quicken their pace by blows; but go freely if gently treated, and seem enlivened by the pipe or any music. When fatigued, they lie on their breast.

II. The Bactrianus, or Bactrian camel, has two bunches on the back, the hindmost of which is by much the largest. It is a native of Africa, and is more rarely to be met with than the dromedary. It is also much swifter in its motions. Camels have been the riches of Arabia from the time of Job to the present; the patriarch reckoned 6000 camels among his pastoral treasures, and the modern inhabitants of these countries estimate their wealth by the number of camels they possess; without them great part of Asia and Africa would be wretched; by them the sole commerce is carried on through arid and burning tracts, impassable but by beasts which Providence formed expressly for the burning deserts. They do not differ in their nature or manners from the other kind. In winter they are covered with very long hair, which falls off in the spring, and is carefully gathered, being woven into stuffs, and also cloths to cover tents. In summer their hair is short. Before the great heats, the owners shear their bodies to keep off the flies. The Arabs are very fond of the flesh of young camels. The milk of these animals is their principal subsistence; and the dung of camels is the fuel used by the caravans in the travels over the deserts. Camels have been introduced into Barbadoes and Jamaica; but for want of knowledge of their diet and treatment, have in general been of very little service.

There are varieties among the camels. The Turkman is the largest and strongest. The Arabian is hardy. What is called the dromedary, maihary, and raguabat, is very swift. The common sort travel about 30 miles a day. The last, which has a less bunch, and more delicate shape, and is also much inferior in size, never carries burdens, but is used to ride on. In Arabia they are trained for running matches; and in many places for carrying couriers, who can go above 100 miles a day on them, and that for nine days together, over burning deserts uninhabitable by any living creature. The Chinese call these swift camels expressively feng kyo ts, or camels with feet of the wind. The African camels are the most hardy, having more distant and more dreadful deserts to pass over than any of the others, from Numidia to the kingdom of Ethiopia.

III. The Guama, Llama, or South-American camel-sheep, has an almost even back, small head, fine black eyes, and very long neck, bending much, and very protuberant near the junction with the body; in a tame state, with smooth short hair; in a wild state, with long coarse hair, white, grey, and russet, disposed in spots; with a black line from the head along the top of the back to the tail, and belly white. The spotted may possibly be the tame, the last the wild, llamas. The tail is short; the height from four to four feet and a half; the length from the neck to the tail, six feet. The carcass divested of skin and offals, according to the editor of Mr Byron's voyages, weighed 200 lb. In general, the shape exactly resembles a camel, only it wants the dorsal hump. It is the camel of Peru and Chili; and, before the arrival of the Spaniards, was the only beast of burden known to the Indians. It is very mild, gentle, and tractable. We find, that, before the introduction of mules, they were used by the Indians to plough the land; that at present they serve to carry burdens of about 100 lb.; that they go with great gravity; and, like their Spanish masters, nothing can prevail upon them to change their pace. They lie down to the burden; and when wearied, no blows can provoke them to go on. Teneille says, they are so capricious, that if struck, they instantly squat down, and nothing but caresses can make them arise. When angry, they have no other method of revenging their injuries than by spitting; and they can ejaculate their saliva to the distance of ten paces; if it falls on the skin, it raises an itching and a reddish spot. Their flesh is eaten, and is said to be as good as mutton. The wool has a strong disagreeable scent. They are very sure footed; therefore used to carry the Peruvian ores over the ruggedest hills and narrowest paths of the Andes. They inhabit that vast chain of mountains their whole length to the straits of Magellan; but except where these hills approach the sea, as in Patagonia, never appear on the coasts. Like the camel, they have powers of abstaining long from drink, sometimes for four or five days; like that animal, their food is coarse and trifling. As every domestic animal has, or had its stock or origin in a wild state, we believe the llama and guanaco to be the same. The llama is described as the largest of the two domestic animals the Peruvians have; for, except that, they know no other than the congenerous pacos. We find two animals similar to these, wild; the larger, or guanico, may be supposed to be a savage llama; the lesser, or vecuna, to be the paco, in a state of nature: the brief descriptions we have left us of each, give us little room to doubt but that the difference of colour and hair arises only from culture. In a wild state, they keep in great herds in the highest and steepest parts of the hills; and while they are feeding, one keeps watch on the pinnacle of some rock: if it perceives the approach of any one, it neighs; the herd takes the alarm, and goes off with incredible speed. They outrun all dogs, so there is no other way of killing them but with the gun. They are killed for the sake of their flesh and hair; for the Indians weave the hair into cloth. From the form of the parts of generation in both sexes, no animal copulates with such difficulty. It is often the labour of a day, antequam adum ipseve venerem incipiant, et abscindant.

IV. The Pacos, or sheep of Chili, has no bunch on the back. It is covered with a fine valuable wool, which is of a rose red colour on the back of the animal, and white on the belly. They are of the same nature with the preceding; inhabit the same places, but are more capable of supporting the rigour of frost and snow; they live in vast herds; are very timid, and excessively swift. The Indians take the pacos in a strange manner: they tie cords with bits of cloth or wool hanging to them, above three or four feet from the ground, cross the narrow passes of the mountains, then drive those animals towards them, which are so terrified by the flutter of the rags, as not to dare to pass, but, huddling together, give the hunters an opportunity to kill with their slings as many as they please. The tame ones will carry from 50 to 75 lbs; but are kept principally for the sake of the wool and the flesh which is exceedingly well tasted.

CAMERA obscura, a darkened room, or place into which a beam of light may be admitted through a small aperture; and wherein, by means of a proper apparatus, the images of external objects are exhibited distinctly in their natural colours; as is explained under the article DIOPTRICS.