"The mixed stones and sand of the desert would ruin the foot of almost any animal, and it is necessary that the animal should be furnished with a foot that cannot be split by heat, like the foot of a horse, that is broad enough to prevent the creature from sinking into the sand, and is tough enough to withstand the action of the rough and burning soil. Such a foot does the camel possess. It consists of two large toes, resting upon a hard elastic cushion, with a thick, heavy sole."* This foot makes a sandshoe. It spreads as the pressure comes on it; it contracts and easily sheds the sand as the weight is removed. Its elasticity preserves it from the bruises of blows so severe against the stones lying loose and hidden in the sand.

(3) The mouth of the camel is so tough and its digestion of so vigorous a character, that it can find food in the driest and most thorny plants. " It feeds abundantly on the thorn-bushes which grow so plentifully in that part of the world, and though the thorns are an inch or two in length, very strong and as sharp as needles, the hard, horny palate of the animal enables it to devour them with perfect ease. It manages to browse as it goes along, bending its long neck to the ground and cropping the scanty herbage without a pause. Camels have been known to travel for twenty successive days, passing over some eight hundred miles of ground without receiving any food except that which they gathered for themselves by the way."+

* Bible Animals, p. 239.

+ Ibid, p. 238.