Dromedary

drum'e-da-ry, a kind of camel. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning a runner. Like our words race-horse and saddle-horse, it has a relative meaning and may be applied to any camel trained to carry riders with speed. More properly, however, the dromedary is a variety of the one-humped Arabian camel noted for lightness of build and fleetness of foot. A well bred dromedary will trot nine miles an hour for a day and a night without signs of distress and, in case of need, can carry a messenger six hundred miles in five days with no other refreshment than a few quarts of water from a leathern water-bag and a few pounds of cake made of barley meal and powdered dates. The natural gait of a dromedary is a swinging trot. Both feet on one side are moved at the same time, then the feet on the other side are swung forward, after the manner of a pacing horse. The jolt is less than that of an ordinary camel; but it is terribly rough, and can be endured only by a practiced rider. If forced from his untiring pace into a gallop, the dromedary is soon exhausted. Consult the opening chapters of Lew Wallace's Ben Hur for a picture of the "Wise Men of the East" traveling and camping with their dromedaries. See Camel