Camel's milk

“ The use of camel’s milk is confined chiefly to Africa and to China, that of mares to Tartary and Siberia, and that of goats to Italy and Spain. The milk of the cow is universally esteemed.
Milk is an opaque fluid, generally white in color, having a sweet and agreeable taste, and is composed of a fatty substance, which forms butter, a caseous substance, which forms cheese, and a watery residuum, known as serum, or whey, in cheese-making. The fatty or butyraceous matter in pure milk varies usually from two and a half to six and a half per cent. ”

“ DIET. If in the Sahara ewe's or camel's milk is frequently given to horses, it must not be supposed that that is their only drink. It is more generally a substitute for barley, which is a scarce commodity, than for water, which is not usually difficult to find. The Arabs are convinced that milk maintains health and strengthens the fibre, without increasing the fat. It is needless to add that the rich who possess many she-camels are less sparing of milk than the poor, who have hardly enough to satisfy the wants of their families. ”

“ The sour milk, or sheneena, an universal beverage amongst the Arabs, is either buttermilk pure and diluted, or curds mixed with water. Camel’s milk is drank fresh. It is pleasant to the taste, rich, and exceedingly nourishing. It is given in large quantities to the horses. The Shammar and Aneyza Bedouins have no cows or oxen, those animals being looked upon as the peculiar property of tribes who have forgotten their independence, and degraded themselves by the cultivation of land. The sheep are milked at dawn, or even before daybreak, and again in the evening on their return from the pastures. ”

“ The Saharene gives his horse camel's milk to drink which has the particular property of imparting speed, so that a man—according to what is said by reliable persons who guarantee the truth of the statement—if he takes nothing else for a sufficient time, will attain to such a degree of swiftness that he may vie with the camels themselves. In fact, camel's milk strengthens the brain and the tendons, and does away with fat, which produces a relaxation of the muscles. ”

“ Elephant's milk is used in eye diseases, and mare's milk in rheumatism. Ass's milk is saltish, and is supposed to relieve cough in children. Camel's milk is laxative, and is used in dropsy, asthma, and scrofulous diseases. The properties of milk are said to vary according to the colour of the animal and the qualities of the pasture. The chief preparations of milk are Daclhi (curds) , a favourite remedy for diarrhoea ; Takra (whey) , which is refrigerant ; Navanita (butter) , used in constipation ; Ghrita (clarified butter) , is tonic, emollient, and cooling ”

“ The true Bedouins think it is a disgrace to sell milk, and that it is only right that they should give it freely to any stranger who may ask for it.
When the children got back with the milk, [64] Zubaydah was frying dates in butter, and soon they were all sitting in the shade of the tent eating heartily of them and the cold meat and rice and cakes.
"The camels are glad to rest, too," said Rashid, watching them as they slowly knelt down one by one. It is one of the funniest sights in the world to see a camel lay down on the ground. ”

“ The camel is not only of greater value than the elephant but perhaps not of less than the horse, the ass, and the ox, when all their advantages are united. He carries as much as two mules, and not only eats less, but feeds on herbs as coarse as the ass. The female furnishes milk longer than the cow; the flesh of young camels is as good and wholesome as veal; their hair is finer, and more sought after than the best wool. ”

“ Some of the young foals were so small that they could not endure the march; these were slung in nets upon the backs of camels, while the mother followed behind. We revelled in milk, as we had not been able to procure it since we left Cassala. Some persons dislike the milk of the camel; I think it is excellent to drink pure, but it does not answer in general use for mixing with coffee, with which it immediately curdles; it is extremely rich, and is considered by the Arabs to be more nourishing than that of the cow. ”

“ They are capable of travelling many days without food or water, and are used extensively in the desert regions of the East not only as beasts of burden but for their milk, which is an important article of diet in those countries where the camel is at home. ”

“ Cheese cannot be made from the milk of animals which have teeth on either jaw, from the circumstance that their milk does not coagulate. The thinnest milk of all is that of the camel, and next to it that of the mare. The milk of the she-ass is the richest of all, so much so, indeed, that it is often used instead of rennet. ”

“ The milk of the camel serves as food not only for the children, but also for the colts, which grow thin but strong like our horses when they are in training. Camel meat is tasty and wholesome, and even the skin and the bones of a camel are good for something. The most wretched feed, dry grass, thistles and brambles, satisfies this patient, strong, helpless and most useful of all animals. Next to the camels, which even the poorest Arab owns in almost incredible numbers, the horses represent the chief wealth of these children of the desert. ”

“ They make their own roads, and they require practically no food. Wherever there is desert, and a little cacti, or anything like that, the camels will eat it; and they will go for seven days without water. They are excellent food ; and as Doctor Irwin says, they are fine milkers. The natives of the desert in Africa and Asia not only milk the camel, but they make butter of its milk, just the same as we do of cow's milk. ”

“ When the first part of their religious exercise is performed, their next business is the milking of the flocks. They begin with the she-camels, giving them a great many blows with their feet, until they make them rise. As soon as they are on their legs, they take off from their udder a kind of [Pg 284] covering made of ropes worked together, which is intended to prevent the young camel from sucking. The young one then runs up to its mother, and, by its caresses, prepares her to yield her milk in greater abundance. ”

“ The use of the camel to the various peoples of the East is almost incalculable. Many an Arab finds his chief sustenance in the cheese, butter, and milk of the mother camel. The flesh of young camels is also often eaten. ”

“ The master and the keeper of the flock watch the moment when the lips of the young camel are covered with a white foam: they then separate it from its mother; and each resting his head on different sides against the animal's belly, they press the udder, from which they sometimes draw five pints of milk, when the rains have rendered the earth fruitful. ”

“ If there was any mistake or the weight was unfairly heavy, the camels would gurgle angrily and refuse to rise. Then some fresh adjustment was necessary for Abd el Karim knew better than to waste his time in trying to force an ill-loaded or over-strained animal to his feet. Once a camel had risen and started he would go until he dropped, but no animal would rise before being satisfied that he was being fairly handled. In those early hours the beasts would be fed with cakes made of crushed grain and dates, mixed for choice with camel milk or, failing that, with water. ”

“ A foal is worth ten dollars when a year old. Most she-camels have a foal every other year, but some few every year. The foal remains a whole year with its mother. None of these camels give milk, because there is not sufficient herbage in our way. In cases of extremity, when the herbage is scarce and the camels give little milk, the Touaricks of Ghat will drive their camels to graze as far as Aheer, or even to Soudan. Milk is an essential portion of their means of existence. The reader must not be surprised to find so frequent a mention of the Camel-Ship of The Desert. ”

“ Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized. The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. ”

“ Milk forms the principal diet of this Arcadian race; and they deride the dwellers in cities for eating birds or fowls, declaring that the flesh must have travelled upon four legs during life to be at all palatable. An ancient camel, a buck goat, or a bull calf, is occasionally slaughtered with a Bismillah, and the flesh not immediately consumed cut into long thin collops, and dried in the sun to be stuffed again into the skin for future use. ”

“ Alive or dead, almost every part of the camel is serviceable to man: her milk is plentiful and nutritious: the young and tender flesh has the taste of veal: a valuable salt is extracted from the urine: the dung supplies the deficiency of fuel; and the long hair, which falls each year and is renewed, is coarsely manufactured into the garments, the furniture, and the tents of the Bedoweens. ”

“ Cow's milk differs from human milk in that it contains nearly three times as much casein, but only two thirds as much fat and three fourths as much sugar. Cow's milk is usually slightly acid, while human milk is alkaline. The casein of cow's milk forms large, hard curds, while that of breast milk forms fine, soft curds. These facts make it important that some modification be made in cow's milk to render it acceptable to the feeble stomach of an infant. Cases are rare where it is safe to feed a child under nine months of age on pure, undiluted cow's milk. ”

“ It is a matter of great importance that the dairy should not be situated near a pig-stye, sewer, or water-closet, the effluvia from which would be likely to taint the milk. It is surprising how small a quantity of putrescent matter is sufficient to taint a whole churn of milk; and as it has been demonstrated that the almost inappreciable emanations from a cesspool are capable of conferring a bad flavor on milk, it is in the highest degree important to remove from the churn and milk-pail every trace of the sour milk. ”

“ But it is uncommon to find such pasturage, and they are contented with the coarsest fare, and even prefer it to more delicate plants. Breeding and milk-giving camels are exempted from service, and fed as well as possible, the value of their milk being greater than that of their labour. ”

“ In the eastern part of Europe, milk has always been looked upon as one of the principal kinds of food, but not necessarily the milk of cows, as, from ancient times to the present day, the milk from 2 camels, buffaloes, sheep, and goats has been used indiscriminately throughout the East.
According to Layard,1 "the Bedouins do not make cheese. The milk of their sheep and goats is shaken into butter or turned into curds; it is rarely or never drunk fresh, new milk being thought very unwholesome, as soon by experience I found it to be, in the desert. ”

“ We retired into a tent to breakfast, where we found an immense bowl of delicious fresh camels' milk, with thin hot cakes of unleavened bread, baked upon the ashes, ready prepared for us. The principal food of the Bedouins consists of flour and some camels' milk made into a paste, boiled, and eaten swimming in melted grease and 6butter; boiled wheat and beans dried in the sun and prepared with butter are a favourite dish. They are all remarkably fond of butter and grease ”

“ First and foremost, we believe a great mistake is often made in using too heavy cream mixtures; babies as a rule do not stand the use of too high a percentage of cream. Formulas that call for whole milk should contain four per cent fat or cream; and while babies often gain rapidly on the higher percentage of cream found in a rich Jersey milk, nevertheless, sooner or later serious disturbances of digestion usually occur. Herd milk is, therefore, better for the babies because in the "whole milk" of the herd of Holsteins we have only about four per cent fat. ”

“ The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be permitted to have the first milk that comes from the cow, which is of a turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but somewhat purgative or medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in them after birth. ”

“ The camels intended for killing are as white as snow, and are never either worked or fatigued; the meat is red and very fat. The female gives great abundance of milk; the Bedouins drink it continually, and give the rest to their horses of pedigree, which greatly [Pg 87] strengthens them: in this way they consume all the milk, as it is not suited to make into butter. We came at last to think the taste preferable to that of goat’s or sheep’s milk. ”

“ Cream contains about 40 per cent. of fat and 55 per cent. of water; SKIMMED MILK is water, with sugar and caseine. Whey is merely a solution of milk sugar with a little albumen. Milk is best and most plentiful in spring, and richer but less abundant in dry seasons. The last milk drawn from the cow contains most cream. Koumiss, the use of which is rapidly increasing, is well skimmed milk, treated with a lactic ferment for 30 or 40 hours. It is very easy of digestion. Condensed milk is ordinary milk evaporated so that three pints are reduced to one. It soon spoils unless the air is excluded. ”