The dromedary is the most precious piece of property that the desert nomad has but it is not an easy animal to handle. It never becomes friends with its masters or anybody else. Every night, these animals have to be forced down to their knees on the ground and tethered firmly.

The dromedary is extremely strong. With one heave it can throw off all its load and gallop madly off, sweeping everything aside that lies in its path. To lead them the nomads use long reins tied to an iron ring driven through the right nostril of the animal.

Camels can flourish on thorny plants, leaves, twigs and dried grasses that other animals would refuse. When the feeding is good, they accumulate stores of fat in their humps which, in emergencies, they can use for sustenance and for the manufacture of water. They are thus able to fast and go without water for several days.

There is one variety of dromedary known as the mehari which is extremely swift and the Tuareg tribesmen often owe their lives to the speed of this light-colored camel. All dromedaries are fast and they are used whenever a journey is a matter of life and death, when a well runs out or when an important prey has to be caught.

A nomad can carry in the roomy saddlebag of his mehari everything he needs for his lonely desert life: food, clothing, tobacco, salt and the leather containers for butter and tea.

Every Tuareg tribe owns large herds of these camels. The young animals graze by themselves near the camp. When the mothers come together to feed them with their milk, the camels are milked by the tribe’s servants. Camel’s milk is rich and frothy and is best drunk immediately because it curdles easily and clots if it is heated. The Tuareg drink considerable quantities of this milk.