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CAMDEN—CAMEL

sauces ($685,358 in 1900), and wooden ships and boats ($409,500 in 1900, and $361,089 in 1905, when the value of the iron and steel ship-building industry was $4,673,504). The first settlers on the site of Camden came in 1679, but for a century the settlement consisted of isolated farms and a small group of houses about the ferry by which travellers from the east crossed to Philadelphia. The early settlers were largely Quakers. About 1773 Jacob Cooper laid out a town near the ferry, and gave it the name Camden in honour of Lord Chancellor Camden, who had been one of the strongest opponents of the Stamp Act. The settlement, however, was known variously as “Pluckemin,” “The Ferry” and “Cooper’s Ferry” until about the time of the War of 1812. Until 1828 it was administratively a part of the town of Newton, Gloucester county, but in that year, with more than a thousand inhabitants, it was chartered as a city under its present name. During the British occupation of Philadelphia in the War of Independence, a British force was stationed here, and Camden was the scene of several skirmishes between the British troops and the New Jersey irregular militia. Camden was the home of Walt Whitman from 1873 until his death.

CAMDEN, a town and the county-seat of Kershaw county, South Carolina, U.S.A., near the Wateree river, 33 m. N.E. of Columbia. Pop. (1890) 3533; (1900) 2441; this decrease was due to the separation from Camden during the decade of its suburb “Kirkwood,” re-annexed in 1905; (1910) 3569. It is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line and the Southern railways. Camden is situated about 100 ft. above the river, which is navigable to this point. The town is a winter resort, chiefly for Northerners. Cotton, grain and rice are produced in the vicinity, and there are some manufactories, including cotton mills, a cotton-seed oil mill and planing mills. Camden, first known as Pine Tree Hill, is one of the oldest interior towns of the state, having been settled in 1758; in 1768 the present name was adopted in honour of Lord Chancellor Camden. The town was first incorporated in 1791; its present charter dates from 1890. For a year following the capture of Charleston by the British in May 1780, during the War of Independence, Camden was the centre of important military operations. It was occupied by the British under Cornwallis in June 1780, was well fortified and was garrisoned by a force under Lord Rawdon. On the 16th of August Gen. Horatio Gates, with an American force of about 3600, including some Virginia militia under Charles Porterfield (1750–1780) and Gen. Edward Stevens (1745–1820), and North Carolina militia under Gen. Richard Caswell (1729–1789), was defeated here by the British, about 2000 strong, under Lord Cornwallis, who had joined Rawdon in anticipation of an attack by Gates. Soon after the engagement began a large part of the Americans, mostly North Carolina and Virginia militia, fled precipitately, carrying Gates with them; but Baron De Kalb and the Maryland troops fought bravely until overwhelmed by numbers, De Kalb himself being mortally wounded. A monument was erected to his memory in 1825, Lafayette laying the corner-stone. The British loss in killed, wounded and missing was 324; the American loss was about 800 or 900 killed and 1000 prisoners, besides arms and baggage. On the 3rd of December Gates was superseded by Gen. Nathanael Greene, who after Cornwallis had left the Carolinas, advanced on Camden and arrived in the neighbourhood on the 19th of April 1781. Considering his force (about 1450) insufficient for an attack on the fortifications, he withdrew a short distance north of Camden to an advantageous position on Hobkirk’s Hill, where on the 25th of April Rawdon, with a force of only 950, took him somewhat by surprise and drove him from the field. The casualties on each side were nearly equal: American 271; British 258. On the 8th of May Rawdon evacuated the town, after burning most of it. On the 24th of February 1865, during the Civil War, a part of Gen. W. T. Sherman’s army entered Camden and burned stores of tobacco and cotton, and several buildings. (See American War of Independence.)

See also T. J. Kirkland and R. M. Kennedy, Historic Camden (Columbia, S.C., 1905).

CAMEL (from the Arabic Djemal or the Heb. Gamal), the name of the single-humped Arabian Camelus dromedarius, but also applied to the two-humped central Asian C. bactrianus and to the extinct relatives of both. The characteristics of camels and their systematic position are discussed under the headings Tylopoda and Artiodactyla. The two living species are distinguishable at a glance. It may be mentioned that the Bactrian camel, which is a shorter-legged and more ponderous animal than the Arabian species, grows an enormously long and thick winter coat, which is shed in blanket-like masses in spring. The Arabian camel, which is used not only in the country from which it takes its name, but also in North Africa and India, and has been introduced into Australia and North America, is known only as a domesticated animal. On the other hand, the Bactrian species, which is employed throughout a large tract of central Asia in the domesticated condition, appears, according to recent researches, to exist in the wild state in some of the central Asian deserts. From the examination of specimens collected by Dr Sven Hedin, Professor W. Leche shows that the wild Bactrian camel differs from the domesticated breed of central Asia in the following external characters: the humps are smaller; the long hair does not occupy nearly so much of the body; the colour is much more rufous; and the ears and muzzle are shorter. Many important differences are also recorded between the skulls of the two animals, and it is especially noteworthy that the last lower molar is smaller in the wild than in the tame race. In connexion with this point it should be noticed that, unlike what occurs in the yak, the wild animal is not larger than the tame one, although it is incorrect to say that the former is decidedly the inferior of the latter in point of stature. Dr Leche also institutes a comparison between the skeletons of the wild and the tame Bactrian camel with the remains of certain fossil Asiatic camels, namely, Camelus knoblochi from Sarepta, Russia, and C. alutensis from the Aluta valley, Rumania. This comparison leads to the important conclusion that the wild Bactrian Camelus bactrianus ferus comes much nearer to the fossil species than it does to the domesticated breed, the resemblance being specially noticeable in the absolutely and relatively small size of the last molar. In view of these differences from the domesticated breed, and the resemblance of the skull or lower jaw to that of the extinct European species, it becomes practically impossible to regard the wild camels as the offspring of animals that have escaped from captivity.

On the latter hypothesis it has been generally assumed that the wild camels are the descendants of droves of the domesticated breed which escaped when certain central Asian cities were overwhelmed by sand-storms. This theory, according to Professor Leche, is rendered improbable by Dr Sven Hedin’s observations on the habits and mode of life of the wild camel. The habitat of the latter extends from the lower course of the Keria river to the desert at the termination of that river, and thence to the neighbourhood of the Achik, the ancient bed of the Tarim river. These animals also occur in the desert district south of the Tarim; but are most abundant in the deserts and mountains to the southward of Kuruktagh, where there are a few brackish-water pools, and are also common in the barren mountains between Kuruktagh and Choetagh. Large herds have also been observed in the deserts near Altyntagh. The capacity of camels for travelling long distances without water—owing to special structural modifications in the stomach—is familiar to all. That the Arabian species was one of the earliest animals to be domesticated is evident from the record of Scripture, where six thousand camels are said to have formed part of the wealth of the patriarch Job. Camels also formed part of the present which Pharaoh gave to Abraham, and it was to a company of Ishmaelites travelling from Gilead to Egypt on camels, laden with spices, much as their Arabian descendants do at the present day, that Joseph was sold by his brothers.

The hump (or humps) varies in size according to the condition of the animal, becoming small and flaccid after hard work and poor diet.

During the rutting-season male camels become exceedingly