There are a few camels in Istanbul, but camels don’t belong in Europe. They have to be carried across the Bosporus from Asia, for a camel is said to be the only animal that cannot swim and cannot learn to swim. Most animals, like dogs, swim naturally; they don’t have to learn. The camel may not be able to swim, but he can cross deserts, which no other animal can do as well.

The camel is an animal of the desert, and when we see camels we know there must be deserts somewhere near. The camel loves heat and dryness, the sun and sand. Men and most animals, when it is hot, like the cool shade when they rest, but a camel when he rests lies down in the hot sun. He is often called “the ship of the desert,” for he is the only “boat” that can carry passengers across the sea of sands. His feet are made like cushions so that they do not sink into the sand. A camel has several pouches inside of his body in which to store up water, as in tanks, for in crossing desert lands he may have to go days at a time without a drink, so he fills up these tanks inside of him.

The camel in Asia has one hump and is called a Dromedary. There are other camels that have two humps. The hump is not a broken back, as it looks—it is made of fat, and when the camel can get no outside food, the fat in his hump helps to feed him as the food in his stomach feeds him.