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Show HL ' AMERICAN CAMELS. HBVBW fncrcafilngr Dcsplto the Fact Tliat They Ar H Butchered and Sold as Beef. H L F. Campbell, who has been fci B some time at the famous Gnnsight mine, Rj near the line of southern Arizona, says Hf the camels of the desert are increasing H very rapidly, and that there are now bo B tweeu 3G0 and 400 of them. This is snr H prising, he says, considering the large 1 uumber that have been killed and palm- H ed off for beef in tho past few years anc H the inroads made upon the bands bj H passing showmen. Mr. Campbell gav H wmo interesting details of these tawny H denizens of the waste places, introduced B so many years ago by Ben Butterworth, H and now grown wild. H "These hulking animals," he Enid, B "roam mainly between the Gila and H Colorado rivers, in a stretch of the low Bj Eagle Tail mountains and the desert ad- H joining. There is very fine bunch grass H in that region, and the camels keep iii B good condition. I have several timet H seen as many as eight or ten in a band. B and most of them are very larga H "Different persons have been there H from time to time catching them for tin B circuses. That is the source of supply H now for all tho shows. The hunters go H out in bands of half a dozen on mules, B as horses would bo of no account Tho B camels, cumbersome as they look, run B very fast, and only mules are enduring B enough in that tough country to wear jB them out The hunters stretch out, snr- K round a band, and out of ten or a dozen B manage to cut cut and stay by a couple, B wearing thorn out and catching them m finally with lassos. The camels are very H wild at first, bnt speedily tame down, EH ar)tl tho showmen can do anything they B please with them. jH "I was for neaiy two years there iB mining, and myself and men wero fur- llB sished with camel meat right along H- nnd thought it very good. Wo paid 25 IH oents a pound for a good deal of it, and jH we thought it as good beef as we had !H' usually eaten. The old prospeotors, whe ;H bad turned to peddling meat, never said B a word to us, but took their pay regu- B larly to go away and come back again. H At tho last we found out it was nothing IB but tho camel's meat whioh they were jB furnishing us. Then wo began to draw H- the line. H "If tho meatsellers and circus people H would let the camels alone for awhile, H they would increase much faster. The H animals are interesting to see on the H . desert and do no harm. " San Franois- H co Examiner. |