is but little
variation in his mental qualities. As a whole, the creature appears to
be innately the dullest and least improvable of all our servitors.
The fact is, this animal belongs to an ancient and lowly type of
mammals characterized by relatively small brains, and therefore of weak
intelligence; but, for its singular serviceableness in drought-ridden
countries, it would probably have been hunted off the earth by the
early men, as have been many other remnants of the ancient life.

[Illustration: Camels Feeding]

It is somewhat characteristic of the older forms of animals, those
which took shape in the earlier Tertiary periods, that they are less
variable than those which acquired their characteristics in times
nearer our own. It is a fact well known to the students of
paleontology, that species and genera which have been long on the
earth are apt to become in a way rigid as regards their qualities of
body and mind. It is an interesting fact that, although the camel can
readily be transplanted to many other parts of the world, where the
physiographic conditions are similar to those of the realm where he has
served man so well, he has never been thoroughly successful except in
the regions where he has been in use for ages. In the desert regions of
the Cordilleras of America, in South Africa, and in Australia, various
experiments go to show that the creature could be perfectly reconciled
to its environment. Many years ago a lot of camels were brought to the
valley of the Rio Grande with a view to their utilization in that
region, which closely resembles the desert countries about the
Mediterranean. These animals were thoroughly successful in meeting the
climatal conditions of the region. They proved as strong and as fertile
as in their natural realms. Although it is said they survive to the
present day, they have never been of any service to the people.

[Illustration: Carrying the Sugar Cane in Harvest--Egypt]

Although, as before noted, the camel has a certain value for other
purposes than conveying burdens, these subsidiary uses are so far
limited that the creature is not likely to retain a place in the world
after his service in caravans is no longer called for. The rapid
recivilization of northern Africa, leading as it does to the development
of a railway system in that region, promises to displace this creature
from his most trodden ways. It seems likely that the other portions of
the desert lands in the ol