Note 21 — BREEDS.

The mahari is much more slender in its proportions than the djemel, or common camel. It has the exquisite ears of the gazelle, the supple neck of the ostrich, the hollow belly of the slougui or greyhound. Its head is lean and gracefully attached to the neck; its eyes bright, black, and prominent; its lips long and firm, covering well the teeth; the hump is small, but the chest where it touches the earth when the animal couches down, is strong and protuberant; the dock of its tail is short; its legs, very lean in the upper part, are furnished with muscles from the ham and the knee down to the hoof, and the sole of its foot is neither broad nor thick: finally, it has very few hairs on the neck, and its coat, of a tawny colour, is as fine as that of the jerboa. See General Daumas' work on the "Great Desert." In the desert, the mahari is to the djemel what, with us, a race horse is to a draught horse.