File:Egypt (1898) (14595257198).jpg

Identifier: egypt00jame (find matches)
Title: Egypt
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: James Carlile McCoan
Subjects:
Publisher: Collier
Contributing Library: Gumberg Library, Duquesne University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
st the former, the camel ranks first as, next tothe date-palm, the most characteristic feature in thewhole natural panorama. From the sea to the cataract,this most eastern of animals meets the eye everywhere;stalking with long noiseless stride, cargo-laden, throughthe narrow streets of Alexandria near the harbour ; orinland, yoked singly with buffalo or even donkey to theplough; or yet again higher up, wending their way insolemn file along the high river-bank between Cairo andone or other of the stations at which the great southerncaravan routes strike the Nile. The common Egyptiancamel is the two-humped Bactrian variety, called by theArabs djemmel, and is much taller and stronger than the * The reader who cares for exhaustive information on this subject maybe referred to the chapters contributed by MM. Coquebert, Savigny, andGeoffroy Saint-Hilaire to vols, xix., xxiii., and xxiv. of the Description deVEgypte, and to Captain Shelleys beautiful Handbook to the Birds of Egypt(1872). 320
Text Appearing After Image:
GENERAL CHARLES GEORGE GORDON EsyJ>t. CAMELS AND ASSES. 321 more graceful hadjim, or one-humped dromedary, whichis only used to carry single riders on rapid journeysacross the desert. The chief breeders of the animal arethe Ababdeh Bedoween, who share with the Bisharis thegreat Eastern wilderness south of Kenneh, and providecattle for most of the caravans on both sides of the river.These djemmel camels usually carry a load of six hun-dredweight, and, though fed for three-quarters of theyear on nothing better than chopped straw and an occasional handful of beans, they are good for eighteen ortwenty years hard work. It is noteworthy that, al-though the camel was known in Egypt in the time ofAbraham, no trace of the animal is found in any of theantique paintings or sculptures. This does not, however,prove that it was even rare in the country, since fowlsand pigeons, which abounded from the earliest ages, areequally absent from the monumental records of farmyardstock. The ass is the ne

Note About Images