in a country where there are also many miles
of desert, but where it is very hot in the summer and very cold in the
winter. So the Two-Humps camel has to guard himself from the _hot
burning sand in the summer_, and from the _cold and snow in the
winter_.

The Two-Humps camel has in winter a coat of long, shaggy hair on his
back to guard him from the cold; and in summer the shaggy hair comes
off his back, just as if he were to cast off his thick coat. But the
One-Hump camel has only short hair, as the country is too hot all the
time to need a thick coat.

[Illustration: Bactrian Camel--with Two Humps]

[Illustration: Arabian Camel--with One Hump]

Now I must tell you how camels are used. First, they carry goods for
trade. In those countries there are hardly any railroads, so the
merchants carry their packages on camels. Of course they could not put
a package right on a camel's hump, as it would fall off; so they
always join two packages together with a band or belt, and sling the
band across the camel's back, so that there is a package on each side
of the camel.

When a One-Hump camel is used, the band or belt has two parts, like a
loop; and the loop rests over the hump, so that the band cannot slip
backward or forward. When a Two-Humps camel is used, the band of
course rests in the gap between the two humps, so that it cannot slip
at all; and then the two packages can be made very big. That is why
people like the Two-Humps camel better for carrying goods, and like
the One-Hump camel better for riding. But in some places the One-Hump
camel is used both for riding and for carrying goods.

In this way merchants carry their goods for many hundred miles across
desert and country. Then sometimes they come to the sea and send the
goods in ships to different countries. That is how you get many of the
figs, dates, and grapes you eat; so the next time you eat them, think
of the patient camel that brought them for you across the desert. That
is why the camel is called the _Ship of the Desert_.

The beautiful carpets and rugs and shawls which you see in rich homes
have also been brought by the patient camels; and some of the lovely
vases and ornaments that rich people have were also carried by camels.
And not only across the desert, but even over ordinary land camels
carry these goods. The camel is such a large animal that he can carry
packages as heavy as four men.

Of course when he carries such a heavy load, he cannot