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Five centuries ago, Leo wrote about the Camel in quite a flattering
way:
"
Camels are a peaceful domestic animal. They are quite numerous in Africa,
mostly in the deserts of Numidia, Libyia and Barbary. They are the wealth
of all Arabs. When one refers to the fortune of a prince, one says: "He
has so many thousands of camels" ; and not "He has so much money,
or so many posessions".
Every Arab who owns a camel is a free man, for these animals allow him
to live in the desert where neither prince nor king can go due to the
aridity.
African camels are of the best quality, for they can carry their load
for up to 40 or 50 days without being fed: every day, you unload them
and let them roam about for wild grass, pines and branches. Before you
start on a trip, the camel needs to be fat.
After
5 days travel without food, the camel first starts to lose the fat in
his hump; 5 days later he loses the fat around his stomach, and 5 days
after that the fat in his legs. Once he has lost all his fat he can
no longer carry his load.
Africain merchants who travel to the Sudan do not worry about the return
trip, as their camels come home with a much lighter load, given that
Sudanese goods are much lighter than those brought from the Maghreb.
As a result, camels coming into the Sudan are very skinny and
are sold for a few dinars to locals who nurse them back to health"
(Leo, 556)
friendly
bird plucking flees from camel's head
Today,
people still talk about camels with flattering words, and it is not unusual
to hear flirting men offer to buy your beautiful blond friend for a few
thousand camels (they say one camel is worth nearly $1000).
Click
here to learn about my experiences with camels..oops dromaderies.
Cause everyone knows that camels have TWO humps and dromaderies only ONE.
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