The Wonders of the Jungle, Book One

by Sarath Kumar Ghosh

In the same way the camel's padded foot is very useful to him even when he is not in the desert, but on hard ground; for he too is rather heavy, though of course not so heavy as an elephant.

Sand Storm in the Desert

There are other reasons why no other animal could cross a desert as easily as a camel. In the desert there are sometimes fierce storms; and as it is all sand there, the strong wind blows the sand about in every direction. As there is no place there where one could get away from the sand, any other animal would soon have a lot of sand blown into his nostrils; then he would be choked. But a camel's nostrils are made differently, so that whenever he likes he can close his nostrils, as easily as you can close your mouths, and that keeps away the sand. The camel is clever enough to lie down on the ground when a storm is blowing, and to lay his neck and chin along the ground; then his nose is quite close to the ground, where the storm is not quite so fierce as in the air.

Of course, when he wants to breathe, he opens his nostrils a tiny bit to take in a little air; then he closes the nostrils again, and holds his breath for a little while. He has to keep on doing that as long as the storm lasts.

But what does his master do, who has been riding on his back? He cannot close his nostrils; so the only thing he can do is to get off the camel and huddle against the camel's body on the side far from the wind; then he brings his face quite close to the ground and holds his nose with his hand. When he wants to breathe, he opens his fingers just enough to make a slit and let the air in, but not enough to let the sand in.

There is another reason why no other animal could cross a desert: his eyes would be blinded by the fierce glare of the sun. But a camel has very thick hair on his eyebrows, which hang over the eyes, and keep off the fierce rays of the sun. His eyelashes also are very thick, and help to keep off the sun in the same way.

But there is a still more wonderful reason why no other animal, except a camel, could cross a desert. In a desert water is very scarce, and a traveler crossing a desert on a camel may not find any water for a whole week. Of course, he carries on his saddle half a dozen bottles of water to drink; but after drinking some of the water each day, he has not much to spare for the poor camel. Then what is the poor camel to do?

Of course, you may say that his master should carry more water for the camel to drink. But the load of goods which the camel has to carry is already so heavy that there is not much room for any more water. Then what can the poor camel do?