Ashab Uddin Ahmad (also known as Ashabuddin Ahmad,[1] Ashab Uddin Ahmed[2] or Mohammed Ashabuddin Ahmad;[3] Bengali: আসহাব উদ্দীন আহমদ; April 1914-28 May 1994) was a Bangladeshi writer, educator and politician. He was a member of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly for the United Front, and a Communist activist. In 2005, he was posthumously awarded the Ekushey Padak, one of the highest civilian awards in Bangladesh, for his contributions to literature,[2] which include 24 published books in Bengali and English.
Early life and background
Ashab Uddin was born in April 1914, in Sadhanpur, a village in what is now Banshkhali Upazila of the Chittagong District of Bangladesh, which was then part of the British Indian province of Bengal. He belonged to a middle-class Muslim family. His father was a tea plantation manager named Munshi Safar Ali Chowdhury. Safar Ali had five children from his first marriage and six from his second marriage with Ashab Uddin's mother, Nasima Khatun. Among Safar Ali's sons, Ashab Uddin was the second-youngest. According to Ashab Uddin, his ancestors were from the Gaur region, and one of his ancestors had moved to Sadhanpur while serving the Mughal Empire, possibly under Shah Shuja.[4]
Education
Ashab Uddin's education began in a maktab, after which he attended a "minor school", followed by the Sadhanpur English Middle School and the Banigram High School, from which he graduated in 1932.[5] While studying at the Banigram High School, Ashab Uddin organised a library in Sadhanpur, which he named the Sadhanpur Rural Welfare Library. This was the first library in Sadhanpur, and one of the few in the area. One of his aims was to open a library in a Muslim-majority rural area, as all the rural libraries he knew of were located in Hindu neighbourhoods. Together with his friends, he raised money for the library by working as a waiter at weddings. Using this money, he purchased books for the library and subscribed the library to several periodicals. Ashab Uddin and his friends also staged an anti-moneylender play that they had read in one of these periodicals.[6]
In 1934, Ashab Uddin Ahmad obtained an IA degree from Chittagong College, securing a scholarship of Rs. 20 per month. In 1936, he graduated from Chittagong College with a BA. He obtained an MA in English from the University of Dhaka in 1939.[7]
Teaching and activism
Ashab Uddin Ahmad began teaching English in September 1939 at his alma mater, Chittagong College, buying his first suit and tie prior to starting work there, as wearing these was compulsory for professors at state colleges under the British Raj. He was forced to leave this position in April 1941 as a result of a conflict with the principal, Padmini Bhusan Rudra.[8]
In July 1941, he was hired by the Chittagong Islamia Intermediate College (now known as Government Hazi Mohammad Mohshin College), where he remained until 1945. One of his students there was Abdul Karim, who would later become the vice-chancellor of the University of Chittagong.[9][10] Abdul Karim reminisced later that Ashab Uddin Ahmad's lectures on prose and poetry were so engaging that listening to them was sufficient preparation for an examination. He also noted that Ashab Uddin had helped him as well as other students with advice, money and books as needed.[9]
In 1945, Ashab Uddin Ahmad joined Laksam Faizunnesa College, moving to Feni College in 1948, and Comilla Victoria College in 1950.[9]
Language Movement
Although Ashab Uddin had supported the Pakistan Movement ever since the Lahore Resolution of 1940, he became disillusioned with Pakistan within a few months of the creation of the state.[11] In his view, the Pakistani elite misused Islam as a way to promote its class interests at the expense of the country's "Sindhi, Baluch, Pathan and Bengali" peoples.[12] On 27 December 1948, the Pakistani minister of education, Fazlur Rahman, declared that the Arabic script should be used to write all the languages of Pakistan. In practice, this suggestion, if implemented, would only have affected Bengali, as all the languages of West Pakistan already used the Arabic script.[13] Ashab Uddin wrote to the Pakistan Observer in 1950 to protest against Fazlur Rahman's suggestion.[12]
Around the same time, Ashab Uddin, together with a fellow professor at Comilla Victoria College named Abul Khair, founded a cultural organisation named the Pragati Majlis (Progress Assembly). The organisation was headquartered in Comilla, in rented premises across the street from the town hall. The Pragati Majlis organised discussions on the future of Bengali culture and the Bengali nation in general, and drew an audience largely consisting of professors and students from the Comilla Victoria College. The activities of the organisation were viewed with suspicion both by the Muslim League and by the state. Nevertheless, it was shielded from persecution by the influential non-Bengali principal of Comilla Victoria College, Akhtar Hameed Khan, who was on friendly terms with Ashab Uddin.[14]
In 1952, following the killing of several people at a protest march in Dhaka demanding that Bengali be made an official language of Pakistan, a demonstration was held in Comilla to echo the demands made in Dhaka and express solidarity with the victims. Ashab Uddin and Abul Khair led a number of Comilla Victoria College to join the procession, which stretched out for a mile. The main slogan voiced by the protesters was, "We want Bengali to be a state language. We want Nurul Amin's neck." Prior to the Comilla protest, Ashab Uddin had talked to  local Muhajir leaders in order to persuade them not to oppose the Bengali Language Movement. As a result, after the demonstration, one Muhajir leader gave a speech in Urdu at the Comilla town hall in support of granting Bengali the status of a state language.[15]
Meeting with Ayub Khan
In October 1952, Ashab Uddin Ahmad joined a "Teachers' Goodwill Mission" to West Pakistan, organised by the East Bengal Non-Governmental College Teachers' Association. Among the places they visited was Saidu Sharif, the capital of the princely state of Swat. The members of the Teachers' Goodwill Mission were received on the day after their arrival in Swat by the ruler of the state, Abdul-Haqq Jahan Zeb. The dinner thrown in the teachers' honour by Jahan Zeb was also attended by Ayub Khan, then the Chief of Army Staff (whose daughter was married to Jahan Zeb's son), as well as several other federal government officials. During the meal, Ayub Khan happened to sit across the table from Ashab Uddin Ahmad. After dinner, Ayub engaged Ashab Uddin in conversation and told him that East Bengal was nothing but "water", "population" and "student trouble". He also suggested that if the Bengalis did not like Pakistan, they could "go to the Baboos", i.e. Indians. For his part, Ashab Uddin reminded Ayub that, in the provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League had attained its best results in Bengal. Given that the creation of Pakistan was the main electoral issue, it was in fact Bengali Muslims who had made Pakistan possible, in Ashab Uddin's view.[16]
Although Ayub Khan seemed to accept the above argument made by Ashab Uddin Ahmad, the latter was left sorely disappointed, and afterwards cited this as an example of the "ill will" the Teachers' Goodwill Mission had met with in West Pakistan. Ashab Uddin found it particularly surprising that Ayub Khan viewed the Bengali Language Movement as a separatist struggle at a time when the participants of this movement did not harbour separatist views. In Ashab Uddin's view, this prejudice against Bengalis on the part of Ayub and the rest of the Pakistani elite ultimately resulted in Ayub's words being prophetic, and Bangladesh becoming independent in 1971 with the help of the "Baboos" mentioned by Ayub.[17]
Literature Conference
In 1953, Ashab Uddin Ahmad and Abul Khair organised the first All-East-Bengal Literature Conference at the Comilla town hall, under the auspices of the Pragati Majlis. A number of noteworthy East Bengali writers and journalists attended this conference, including Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad.[18]
In December 1953, Ashab Uddin Ahmad quit his job at Comilla Victoria College to go into politics.
Political life
By 1953, Ashab Uddin Ahmad was a member of the Awami League, led by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, and put forward his candidacy for the Banshkhali seat in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly elections of 1954 on a United Front ticket, the United Front being an alliance of parties of which the Awami League was the most important part.
Dhar controversy
The election campaign began soon after the publication of Ashab Uddin's book Dhar (Loan). Some of his readers misinterpreted certain passages in that book as attacks against Islam. What caused particular consternation was his contention that it was useless to listen to a Friday prayer sermon if one could not understand its meaning. A rival candidate, Amirul Haq Khan Bahadur, bought up all the copies of Dhar that he could buy in the bookshops of Chittagong and had his canvassers carry copies with them on the campaign trail, damaging Ashab Uddin's chances of getting elected. Shortly before the election, a famous Islamic scholar, not named by Ashab Uddin in his recollections, visited Banshkhali. When some locals approached the scholar with objections to certain passages in Ashab Uddin's book, the scholar replied that he was not sufficiently well-versed in Bengali or English to judge the author's argument. Nevertheless, he promised to conduct an istikharah prayer to determine the author's level of faith. Ashab Uddin passed a sleepless night at home, feeling that he was being subjected to the whims of the Delphic oracle. To his immense relief, however, the scholar declared after the dawn prayer the following day that Ashab Uddin was a faithful and trustworthy man. Eventually, he was elected to the East Bengal Legislative Assembly with a majority of the votes in his constituency.[19]
Petition incident
As a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Ashab Uddin Ahmad was a member of the Awami League Central Committee. At the same time, he secretly cooperated with the Communist Party of East Pakistan, and would meet with its leaders, such as Moni Singh, in Dhaka.[20] As a result of his left-wing sympathies, Ashab Uddin was arrested in 1954, and imprisoned in Chittagong. His cellmate was Prof. Ekhlasur Rahman, who was working as a chemist at the Karnaphuli Paper Mills in Chandraghona. Rahman, along with several other people, had been charged with organising a riot between Bengali Muslim and non-Bengali Muslim workers at the factory. In Ashab Uddin's view, Rahman was innocent, and the riot had been organised by the Pakistani federal government, with the help of the director of the paper mill. When Ashab Uddin was released from prison, Rahman asked him to intervene with the government on behalf of the accused.[21]
Ashab Uddin then had a petition drawn up by a lawyer, and got it signed by 47 MLAs. The petition was addressed to the federal law minister, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Once the petition was ready, Suhrawardy informed the Awami League executive Abdus Samad Azad that Ashab Uddin could bring the petition to him. Thus, Ashab Uddin Ahmad and Azad duly visited Suhrawardy to deliver the petition. When they arrived, however, Suhrawardy pretended not to recognise them, astonishing Ashab Uddin. He took the petition from Ashab Uddin's hands and returned it to him, telling him in English that the "Law cannot be altered". In Ashab Uddin's view, Suhrawardy misunderstood the intent of the petition, as what the petition was asking for was not a change in the law, but rather that the law be applied correctly. Eventually, Ekhlasur Rahman was tried by the High Court of East Pakistan and acquitted. Ashab Uddin's view of Suhrawardy, however, never recovered from this incident.[21]
Autonomy resolution and opposition to Suhrawardy
On 27 March 1955, Governor-General Sir Ghulam Muhammad changed the name of East Bengal to East Pakistan.[22][23] Consequently, the erstwhile East Bengal Legislative Assembly came to be known as the East Pakistan Assembly. Meanwhile, the United Front collapsed due to its inability to implement the platform under which it was elected, known as the 21-point plan.[24] On 4 September 1956, the Awami League formed a provincial government headed by Ataur Rahman Khan, in coalition with five smaller parties.[25] Eight days later, on 12 September, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy of the Awami League became the prime minister of Pakistan, at the head of a coalition government. Thus, for the first time ever, the Awami League held the positions of prime minister of Pakistan and chief minister of East Pakistan simultaneously. Nevertheless, the 21-point programme remained largely unimplemented.[20] Abdul Hamid Bhashani, the president of the Awami League, convened the a five-day Kagmari Conference which was funded by Yar Mohammad Khan the treasurer of the Awami League also the founder and publisher of The Daily Ittefaq and Mirza Mehdy Ispahani in February 1957 to promote autonomy for East Pakistan and a neutral foreign policy for Pakistan. Bhashani was unhappy with the military alliance between Pakistan and the US and wanted Pakistan to withdraw from all military treaty relationships it had with the US.[26][27] At the conference, during a meeting of the Awami League Central Committee, Suhrawardy said to Ashab Uddin in English, "you do not want that I should remain Prime Minister of Pakistan". He added that Bhashani did not want him to keep the position either.[28] In response, Ashab Uddin said to him in Bengali, "people voted for me not in order for me to pawn Pakistan to American imperialism." The following day, the Awami League Council met and voted by a wide margin to cancel the Pakistani military alliance with the US. Bhashani, meanwhile, gave a speech in which he said if East Pakistan did not get autonomy, it would be forced to bid goodbye to West Pakistan.[29]
Finally, as a result of this pressure from left-leaning members of the Awami League, the provincial government allowed a private members' bill in support of provincial autonomy for East Pakistan to be brought before the East Pakistan Assembly.[20] Thus, on 3 April 1957, several members of the East Pakistan Assembly moved four different versions of a resolution in support of granting East Pakistan autonomy.[30] All members of the cabinet, other than Dhirendranath Datta and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, withdrew from the assembly chamber, so as not to appear to back the resolution.[20] During the ensuing debate, Ashab Uddin Ahman spoke in favour of the motion, alongside Muzaffar Ahmed, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Chitta Ranjan Sutar, Razia Banu and Ashutosh Singha.[31]
In his speech in Bengali in favour of the resolution, Ashab Uddin Ahmad said that "it was on the demand for autonomy that Pakistan was founded", as could be seen in the Lahore Resolution, and that consequently opposing autonomy for East Pakistan meant opposing Pakistan. He also argued that the 21-point plan, which, as he reminded the assembly, Suhrawardy was formally committed to, could not be implemented without the implementation of the 19th point, which called for regional autonomy.[32] Giving a detailed breakdown of Pakistani government expenditure in East Pakistan and West Pakistan between 1947 and 1956, Ashab Uddin showed that the federal government had spent Rs. 3,280,000,000 in East Pakistan and Rs. 20,760,000,000 in West Pakistan. Ashab Uddin argued that, given that Pakistan, like an eagle, had two wings, both wings had to be strong. Lastly, he stated that "full regional autonomy" was necessary "for our freedom".[33] At the end of the debate, a majority of the members of the East Pakistan Assembly voted in favour of one of the four versions of the resolution, calling for "full Provincial Autonomy for East Pakistan", with only currency, foreign affairs and defence to remain under the purview of the federal government.[34] Ashab Uddin Ahmad later stated that he saw his contribution to this resolution to be his most significant act as an MLA.[20]
On 13 June 1957, the Awami League Council was convened again, this time by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka. Ashab Uddin believed that Mujibur Rahman had inflated the membership of the council by issuing several hundred dubious membership cards. Moreover, there was intimidation used at the council meeting against the most left-wing members, such as Ashab Uddin and Mohammad Toaha. This council meeting voted to support the Pakistani-US military alliance.[29]
As a result, Bhashani decided to leave the Awami League and form a new party called the All-Pakistan National Awami Party (NAP). This party's main demands would remain the same as Bhashani's earlier demands within the Awami League: that East Pakistan be granted autonomy, and that Pakistan observe neutrality in foreign relations. Following Bhashani's lead, Ashab Uddin switched his allegiance from the Awami League to the NAP. Delegates attending the inaugural NAP convention were attacked with sticks by thugs allegedly hired by the Awami League, but ultimately the formation of the party could not be prevented.[35]
End of the East Pakistan Assembly
On 7 October 1958, President Iskander Mirza instituted martial law, which dissolved the federal parliament and provincial assemblies. Arrest warrants were issued against certain members of the East Pakistan Assembly, including Ashab Uddin Ahmad. He was able to leave his house 20 minutes before the police arrived to arrest him. Subsequently, he went into hiding, and took part in the underground anti-Ayub-Khan movement after Ayub replaced Iskander Mirza.[36]
Communist activism and the 1971 war
In 1966, as a consequence of the Sino-Soviet split occasioned by Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech of 1956, the Communist Party of East Pakistan split in two, with the East Pakistan Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist) separating as a pro-Chinese party. It was the latter party that Ashab Uddin Ahmad joined.[37]
When the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out in 1971, Ashab Uddin Ahmad and Sudhanshu Bimal Datta decided not to leave the country, as many other political leaders were doing, but rather to organise an armed unit to take part in the war. They recruited several former members of the army, navy and air force, and appointed Saleh Ahmad (previously of the air force) commander of the unit. The unit operated in Satkania and pursued a twofold short-term aim: to fight against bandits operating in the area, and to rescue non-Muslims in danger of being killed by Pakistani forces. Once they were successful on both fronts, Ashab Uddin and Datta decided to expand the activities of the force by attempting a march from Satkania south to Cox's Bazar via Banshkhali. Ashab Uddin hoped that thousands of peasants would join the unit, which would then be able to seize and hold territory, subjecting members of exploitative classes to popular trials and fomenting a wider revolution. This, however, was not to be. On 22 September 1971, upon reaching Banshkhali, all but two of the members of the unit were killed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's supporters (who did not wish independent leftist forces to operate outside their control), while the other two escaped and were soon killed by Pakistani and Al-Badr forces. When Ashab Uddin and Datta arrived in Banshkhali the following day to rendezvous with their unit, they immediately had to flee. Ashab Uddin spent some time hiding on a boat in the middle of a river but, afraid of being caught either by either Pakistani or pro-Mujib forces, he proceeded to Chittagong, where he spent the rest of the war in hiding, growing a beard as a disguise.[38]
Politics in the Bangladesh era
After the war, the Communist Party led by Toaha, which Ashab Uddin was a member of, was in opposition to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's government.[39]
In 1979, Ashab Uddin stood for election to the Bangladeshi parliament from Banshkhali. Although he did not wish to take part in the election so long as Ziaur Rahman was in power, he was persuaded to do so by the party leadership. However, he did not win the seat this time.[40]
In 1980, Ashab Uddin, Toaha and another Bangladeshi Communist leader named Dr. Khayr were invited by the Communist Party of China (CCP) to visit the country.[41] Before leaving China, the Bangladeshi delegation was hosted for a luncheon by Yang Shangkun, the mayor of Guangzhou. Yang stated during the gathering that "We have established socialism in the country. Now there is no longer a need for class struggle. It is enough to increase production." Ashab Uddin objected that Lenin and Mao had said that class struggle had to continue until full-fledged communism was established. He warned Yang that, with the import of capital from capitalist countries, China may also end up importing CIA plots. After this lunch, Ashab Uddin sent a letter of similar import to the Central Committee of the CCP.[42]
Ashab Uddin quit active politics in 1981, disillusioned by the factionalism of Bangladeshi Communists (there were six or seven pro-China Communist parties in Bangladesh, not to mention the pro-Soviet ones), as well as the corruption of some Communist leaders.[37]
When discussing the 1991 election, Ashab Uddin Ahmad expressed the view that parliamentary democracy was unsuitable for Bangladesh, given that most of the population at the time was illiterate, which exposed them to exploitation and communalism. In his view, "Ministers and MPs do not represent the general public in any way. They are only the representatives of money and strength."[43] In his view, Indian democracy had not been able to solve the problems of "poverty, landlessness, homelessness, unemployment, the lack of education, untouchability and communalism." He believed that, looking at India, Bangladeshis should draw the conclusion that, instead of democracy, what was needed was a popular revolution led by a revolutionary party.[44]
Literary works
Ashab Uddin Ahmad's bibliography includes the following published books:
Poth Cholite (While Walking on the Path) (1942, in Bengali)
Badoler Dhara Jhore Jhor Jhor (The Rain Keeps Falling) (1949, in Bengali)
Made Very Easy (1949, in Bengali)
Dhar (Loan) (1950, in Bengali)
Jan o Man (Life and Honour) (1950, in Bengali)
Sher Ek Ana Matro (A Ser for Just an Anna) (1968, in Bengali)
Bande Votaram (1969, in English)
Aoyami Liger Mir Jafori Oitijjo (The Awami League's Mir Jafar-Like Heritage) (1970, in Bengali)
Hater Panch Angul (The Five Fingers of the Hand) (1970, in Bengali)
Dari Shomachar (Beard News) (1971, in Bengali)
Lekhok o Pachok (The Writer and the Cook) (1971, in Bengali)
Bansh Shomachar (Bamboo News) (1974, in Bengali)
Bhater Bangla Kaporer Bangla (The Bengali for Rice, the Bengali for Clothes) (1974, in Bengali)
Biplob Bonam Oti Biplob (Revolution vs. Super-Revolution) (1974, in Bengali)
Lathi Lathi o Gonotontro (Sticks, Kicks and Democracy) (1974, in Bengali)
Dipod Bonam Chotushpod (Two-Legged vs. Four-Legged) (1975, in Bengali)
Indira Gandhir Bichar Chai (I Demand that Indira Gandhi Be Put on Trial) (1975, in Bengali)
Uddhar (Rescue) (1978, in Bengali)
Amar Shahitto Jibon (My Literary Life) (1980, in Bengali)
Danger Signal (1980, in Bengali)
Ghush (Bribes) (1986, in Bengali)
Ujan Srote Jiboner Bhela (Upstream on Life's Raft) (1990, in Bengali)
Dam Shashon Desh Shashon (Ruling Prices, Ruling the Country) (1991, in Bengali)
Bhumihin Krishok Korihin Lekhok (Landless Peasant, Penniless Writer) (1992, in Bengali)
Ashabuddin Ahmoder Shera Rommo Rochona (Ashab Uddin Ahmad's Best Satire) (1994, in Bengali)
In addition to the above, Ashab Uddin Ahmad also wrote 15 unpublished books in Bengali and English.[45]
Establishing educational institutions
Ashab Uddin Ahmad is the founder of the Banshkhali Degree College, Chittagong City College, the Sadhanpur Rural Improvement High School, the West Banshkhali High School, Satkania College and Ratnapur High School.[46]
Personal life
Ashab Uddin got married the first time after taking his BA examinations in 1936. He had four children with his first wife, of whom the elder two (a son and a daughter) died in childhood, while the younger two (also a son and a daughter) survived into adulthood. Ashab Uddin's second wife died within a year of their marriage.[47]
Ashab Uddin Ahmad died on 28 May 1994 of cardiovascular disease at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital in Dhaka.[48]
Awards
In his lifetime, Ashab Uddin Ahmad received a number of awards from various organisations, including the Bangladesh Freedom Struggle and Liberation War Research Centre, the Chittagong Baisakh Celebration Council, the Lawyer Aid Society, the Chittagong College Alumni Council and the Chittagong Women Writers' Union.[49]
In 2005, Ashab Uddin Ahmad was posthumously honoured with an Ekushey Padak by the government of Bangladesh.


"The Dorcons" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of Space: 1999 (and the forty-eighth and final overall episode of the programme).  The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Tom Clegg.  Original titles were "Last of the Psychons"[2] and "Return of the Dorcons".  The final shooting script is dated 17 November 1976.  Live-action filming took place Tuesday 7 December 1976 through Thursday 23 December 1976.[3]
Story
It is 2409 days after leaving Earth orbit, and Moonbase Alpha is tracking an unidentified powered object following the Moon.  Sensors detect no life forms and the craft is emitting an energy field highly sensitive to matter.  The Alphans conclude the object to be a robot survey device.  The object continues to close, the energy field making contact with the Moon surface.  The instruments suddenly register a tremendous energy surge.  As John Koenig orders defensive measures, the object projects a ray at Alpha that not only penetrates the defence screens, but underground into Command Centre.
As the light-beam appears in the room, all personnel are immobilised...with the exception of Maya.  The ray's first action is to short-out the Main Computer input terminal.  It then roams the room, briefly pausing on each person's face.  When it encounters Maya, it focuses on her and the Psychon woman experiences horrible pain.  With an agonised shriek, she collapses.  Its goal achieved, the light disappears and the others are released from their paralysis.
As attempts to contact the now-inert survey device fail, technicians examining Computer discover damage to its data-bank.  Helena Russell tends to the unconscious Maya.  The doctor's preliminary diagnosis is shock due to neurological trauma.  To everyone's relief, Maya soon comes to.  She tells them the ray was a mind-probe; after singling her out, it intensified and almost tore her mind apart.  Concerned, Koenig questions the doctor about the possibility of brain damage.
Sensors detect activity from the alien object—it is losing molecular cohesion, transforming into a gaseous mass of raw matter.  As they watch, the mass expands and solidifies, becoming an impressive spacecraft.  Maya is terrified at the sight of it, sobbing that the light was a Dorcon probe and that the ship is after her.  She explains the Dorcons are the most powerful race in this galaxy...and her people's most feared enemy.  A scan of the vessel reveals a meson converter, a power system that can convert matter to energy, restructure it into any form and shift it through space instantaneously.
Maya is correct.  Aboard the Dorcon capital ship, a heated discussion over the best means to catch the Psychon is underway.  In the presence of the Imperial Archon, supreme ruler of the Federated Worlds of Dorcon, His Excellency Malic—the Archon's unstable nephew and heir apparent—proposes an armed invasion of the alien base to capture her.  The Archon's chief advisor, Consul Varda, disagrees, arguing the Psychon might be killed in such a campaign.  Knowing Maya's death would suit his ambitious nephew's desire to ascend to the throne, the Archon supports Varda's recommendation to employ diplomatic methods.
Maya relates that, with their technology, the Dorcons can control of all the forces of nature...except death.  They have hunted her people for centuries as, through Psychons, they can achieve immortality.  Her tale is interrupted by a signal from the Dorcon ship.  It is Varda, presenting her credentials.  Koenig is angered by the attack on Maya and the Dorcon woman offers a gracious apology.  Varda officially requests, in the name of the Imperial Archon, that Maya be delivered into her custody.  Koenig declines, but a hysterical Maya warns him "Resistance is futile."  Varda's final words are to heed the Psychon—Koenig may be willing to die for his principles, but is everyone on Alpha equally inclined?
Alpha is at red alert.  Combat Eagles rise on the launch pads, laser batteries are deployed, non-combatants move to underground shelters and security forces guard the airlock stations.  As they wait, Koenig asks Maya to explain how her people provide Dorcons with immortality.  She informs him Dorcons do not die in the manner of most humanoid races: their brain-stems cease to function at an advanced age.  They discovered Psychons possess brain-stems with regenerative properties that can last forever.  If a Psychon brain-stem is surgically grafted to a Dorcon brain, the result is virtual immortality.
On the Dorcon ship, Malic and Varda bicker over her failure.  Outraged, the Archon silences them, then orders Varda to obtain the Psychon at any cost.  The Dorcon crew selects targets for the assault and, with reluctance, Varda gives the order to fire.  A fusillade of energy bolts lay waste to perimeter buildings of the Alpha installation.  Alpha's main batteries return fire, but the laser beams bounce off the Dorcon ship's hull.  The next Dorcon volley destroys the gun emplacements.  Alan Carter's combat Eagle group lifts-off and converges on the alien battlewagon.  Their weapons are also ineffective and they withdraw, though not before Eagle Four is picked off by Dorcon fire.
As the bombardment continues, two hysterical operatives demand Koenig turn over Maya, one threatening him with a stun-gun.  The man is disarmed, but a desperate Maya pleads with Helena to use the weapon to kill her—if taken, the surgery will leave her nothing more than a living husk.  The doctor briefly considers euthanising Maya, but is unable to fire and passes the gun to Koenig.  Pressing it to Maya's temple, he contacts Varda.  Unless the attack is cancelled immediately, he will kill the last of the Psychons.  Varda cannot risk calling his bluff and ceases fire.
Moving fast, the Dorcons activate the meson converter.  Varda and her personal guard transport into Command Centre.  When the Dorcon stormtroopers effortlessly subdue all resistance, Koenig is forced to surrender.  Maya is nowhere in sight (having disguised herself in the form of a co-worker) and Varda resorts to using the mind-probe ray to flush her out.  They take the metamorph into custody and depart.  Koenig leaps into the still-active transporter beam, arrives on the ship and is stunned on sight.  The Archon is on hand to congratulate Varda on the success of her mission.  He orders Maya taken to the medical unit, where she is placed under a paralysing beam while the Imperial surgeon prepares for the brain-stem transfer.
The Archon orders Koenig killed, but a guilty Varda persuades the ruler to spare his life.  As the Archon withdraws, the Commander is secured in a force-field until the meson converter's antimatter coils recharge; the attack has temporarily drained its power.  Malic approaches Varda with a sly proposal: allow his uncle to die and, when he is named Archon, she may have anything she desires.  The Consul's reply is blunt.  The Archon fosters peace and stability, while Malic's ambitions will plunge the empire into war and misery.  Now that Malic has shown his treasonous intent, she bars him from the Archon's presence.
Returning to the operations area, she finds Koenig conscious and hostile.  Varda reasons the security of thousands of worlds outweighs the life of one Psychon.  He asks if this justification is for his benefit—or her own?  The medical officer interrupts, stating she is ready for surgery.  Varda leaves, ordering Koenig be transported when the converter is recharged.  He resists and makes a break for the door—to be stopped by an armed Malic.  Koenig is amazed when the Dorcon aristocrat shoots his own men, more so when he allows the Commander to go free.  Once Koenig is out of sight, the scheming youth raises the alarm.
Unaware of this intrigue, Varda escorts the Archon to the surgical transfer unit.  Looking down at Maya, he reflects on who is the greater victim: she, destined to living death, or he, to eternal life.  Unfamiliar with the layout of the vast Dorcon ship, Koenig has difficulty evading the stormtroopers.  When the Commander is finally cornered, Malic again appears to gun down his own soldier.  Koenig is suspicious, but Malic taunts him with Maya's impending fate and directs him to the surgical area.  Malic then contacts Varda, telling her the escaped alien commander has gone berserk, killing multiple soldiers in his search for her.  Varda leaves the Archon unattended to lead the hunt for Koenig...just as Malic planned.
Koenig's trail is soon picked up by Varda and her troops.  When trapped in a blind alley with pursuers just around the corner, he pulls open a grille and hides in a ventilation duct.  He realises the ducts will make travelling easier and he crawls off in search of Maya.  Malic, meanwhile, enters the surgical unit and guns down the medical officer.  After waking his uncle to gloat on the end of his reign, he activates a surgical instrument that projects an intense energy beam on the Archon's forehead.  The sociopathic youth enjoys watching his uncle beg for mercy as the beam slowly fries his brain.
After the Archon expires, Malic releases Maya from her paralysis (intending to hide her until he can make use of her himself).  Just then, Koenig jumps out of the air vent; in the ensuing scuffle, Maya transforms into a lizard beast to subdue Malic.  After they leave in search of the transporter, the Dorcon heir recovers and announces the death of the Archon.  As the new Archon, he orders the human murderer to be killed on sight—but his Psychon accomplice must be captured alive.  He removes the badge of office from his uncle and places the medallion around his own neck, mocking the corpse with a sarcastic salute.
Arriving at the operations room, the Alphans are confronted by a vengeful Varda.  She pledges to kill not only them, but everyone on Alpha for their heinous crime.  Malic enters to observe the execution.  Koenig identifies the real murderer—the new Archon, who decoyed Varda away so he could assassinate their leader.  As the truth dawns on Varda, Malic orders the Consul placed under arrest.  An enraged Varda attacks the youth, who shoots her.  Her dying move is to fire her own weapon at the meson converter, intentionally damaging the magnetic shield to expose the antimatter coils.
With the ship disintegrating around them, the Alphans jump into the transporter beam and return home.  The insane Malic hysterically shouts for the converter to obey its Archon as the ship blows apart with a blast that seems to set space itself ablaze.  On Alpha, repairs are well in hand and all casualties off the critical list.  Resting after their ordeal, Koenig reflects that, all things considered, Consul Varda was quite a woman. Helena suggests taking care of Koenig's bandaged hands, and he asks if they should do that in his quarters or hers.  She seductively says "medical center" and the two share a gentle laugh. Tony Verdeschi jokingly asks Maya if there is anything else in her Psychon past they should know about.  With an air of mock pretension, she replies that is a highly improper question to ask any lady.
Cast
Starring
Martin Landau — Commander John Koenig
Barbara Bain — Doctor Helena Russell
Also Starring
Catherine Schell — Maya
Featuring
Tony Anholt — Tony Verdeschi
Nick Tate — Captain Alan Carter
Guest Stars
Patrick Troughton — The Archon
Ann Firbank — Consul Varda
Gerry Sundquist — Malic
Also Featuring
Alibe Parsons — Alibe
Laurence Harrington — Stewart
Kevin Sheehan — Dorcon Operative
Michael Halsey — First Dorcon Soldier
Hamish Patrick — Command Centre Operative
Hazel McBride — Dorcon Medical Officer
Uncredited Artists
Maxwell Craig — Airlock Security Guard
Peter Brayham — Corridor Security Guard
Jenny Cresswell — Maya/Woman Operative
Roy Scammell — Maya/Creature
Music
The score was re-edited from previous Space: 1999 incidental music tracks composed for the second season by Derek Wadsworth and draws primarily from the scores of "The Metamorph" and "Space Warp".
Production Notes
The episode carried the working title "Return of the Dorcons" on a shooting script dated 19 October 1976.  With much of the same scene structure and dialogue, several differences exist:  (1) The script notes the title 'Archon' should be pronounced the same as 'march on' to avoid confusion with the episode title "The Mark of Archanon"; (2) Helena is relegated to the underground shelters with her patients before the attack and is not seen until the epilogue; (3) Maya transforms into a potted plant to hide from Varda and threatens to shoot herself with Verdeschi's gun when outed.  Koenig talks her out of committing suicide; (4) A different epilogue was scripted where the six regular characters relax in Koenig's quarters.  The question of her Psychon past caused Maya to recollect an encounter with a handsome Psychon boy during a holiday to her planet's Southern Flora Region.  Jealous, Verdeschi sweeps her off her feet and out of the room.  When left alone, Koenig and Helena reflect that 'What's in the past has gone...fate has played us some strange hands but we've won through in the end.  As for the future...that starts right here and now,' and would close the scene with a kiss.[4]  (This seems to acknowledge the staff's awareness this would be the programme's final installment.)
Many of the changes from the above version of the script would be motivated by the budgetary restrictions of this being the series' last episode.  Scenes set in Medical Centre and Koenig's quarters would take place in Command Centre in the re-write.  The scene showing Helena in an underground shelter was cut.  Carter would have been shown coordinating Bill Fraser and the Eagle attack force on the Dorcon ship from Command; in the final draft, Fraser went unmentioned, and Carter himself was seen via TV monitor in the pilot's seat, leading the strike.[4]  The Dorcon vessel's sets were constructed out of pre-existing flats and set-dressings from previous episodes.  Attentive viewers would recognise actor Laurence Harrington (playing Stewart) from his previous role as Tom Jackson in "Journey to Where".
This installment would fulfill first-season script editor Johnny Byrne's three-script commitment to producer Fred Freiberger.  After seeing his scripts "The Biological Soul" and "The Face of Eden" (later "The Metamorph" and "The Immunity Syndrome") extensively re-worked (for the worse by his reckoning) for new series format, he gave the man a 'Freddie Freiberger/Johnny Byrne' action adventure story which would revolve around Maya, but done in such a way she would be rendered helpless.  Tired of Maya being used to get out of every perilous situation, he created a race that hunted Psychons—as they would be able to control them.[3]
Byrne would have preferred Freiberger to use his script "Children of the Gods" as the series finale.  In it, the Alphans are terrorised by a pair of sociopathic children with formidable mental powers.  The children are revealed to be their distant descendants, brought back in time by an alien race.  The aliens have caused these children to be raised alone, without any human contact), to prove that Mankind in inherently amoral.  They intend to destroy Alpha in the present to prevent the birth of these future Alphans.  Koenig then must prove Mankind's worthiness to survive.[5]
Novelisation
The episode was adapted in the sixth Year Two Space: 1999 novel The Edge of the Infinite by Michael Butterworth published in 1977.  This novel was not released in the United Kingdom and only as a limited edition in the United States and Germany.  The adaptation was based on the earlier version "Return of the Dorcons".[6]

Last produced:
 "The Immunity Syndrome"List of Space: 1999 episodesNext produced:
 NoneLast transmitted:
 "The Immunity Syndrome"Next transmitted:
 None

On what network did Space: 1999 originally air?


A camel is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from hair). As working animals, camels—which are uniquely suited to their desert habitats—are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up the remainder. The Wild Bactrian camel is a separate species and is now critically endangered.
The word camel is derived via Latin: camelus and Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Hebrew or Phoenician: gāmāl.[4][5] Used informally, "camel" (or, more correctly, "camelid") refers to any of the seven members of the family Camelidae: the dromedary, the Bactrian, and the wild Bactrian (the true camels), plus the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña[6] (the "New World" camelids).
The dromedary (C. dromedarius), also known as the Arabian camel, inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, while the Bactrian (C. bactrianus) inhabits Central Asia, including the historical region of Bactria. The critically endangered wild Bactrian (C. ferus) is found only in remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia. An extinct species of camel[7]
in the separate genus Camelops, known as C. hesternus,[8] lived in western North America until humans entered the continent at the end of the Pleistocene.
Biology
The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years.[9][10] A full-grown adult camel stands 1.85m (6ft 1in) at the shoulder and 2.15m (7ft 1in) at the hump.[11] Camels can run at up to 65km/h (40mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40km/h (25mph).[12] Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000kg (660 to 2,200lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600kg (660 to 1,320lb). The widening toes on a camel's hoof provide supplemental grip for varying soil sediments.[13]
The male dromedary camel has an organ called a dulla in its throat, a large, inflatable sac he extrudes from his mouth when in rut to assert dominance and attract females. It resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth.[14] Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind.[15] The male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session.[16] Camelids are the only ungulates to mate in a sitting position.[17]
Ecological and behavioral adaptations
Camels do not directly store water in their humps; they are reservoirs of fatty tissue. Concentrating body fat in their humps minimizes the insulating effect fat would have if distributed over the rest of their bodies, helping camels survive in hot climates.[18][19] When this tissue is metabolized, it yields more than one gram of water for every gram of fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water.[20][21]

Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water.[19]  The dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every 10 days even under very hot conditions, and can lose up to 30% of its body mass due to dehydration.[23] Unlike other mammals, camels' red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration[24] and makes them better at withstanding high osmotic variation without rupturing when drinking large amounts of water: a 600kg (1,300lb) camel can drink 200L (53USgal) of water in three minutes.[25][26]
Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other animals. Their temperature ranges from 34°C (93°F) at dawn and steadily increases to 40°C (104°F) by sunset, before they cool off at night again.[19] In general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1.3 liters of fluid intake every day while the other livestock lose 20 to 40 liters per day (Breulmann, et al., 2007).[27] Maintaining the brain temperature within certain limits is critical for animals; to assist this, camels have a rete mirabile, a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other which utilizes countercurrent blood flow to cool blood flowing to the brain.[28] Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49°C (120°F).[9] Any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat; the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat. Camels can withstand losing 25% of their body weight to sweating, whereas most other mammals can withstand only about 12–14% dehydration before cardiac failure results from circulatory disturbance.[26]
When the camel exhales, water vapor becomes trapped in their nostrils and is reabsorbed into the body as a means to conserve water.[29] Camels eating green herbage can ingest sufficient moisture in milder conditions to maintain their bodies' hydrated state without the need for drinking.[30]

The camels' thick coats insulate them from the intense heat radiated from desert sand; a shorn camel must sweat 50% more to avoid overheating.[31] During the summer the coat becomes lighter in color, reflecting light as well as helping avoid sunburn.[26] The camel's long legs help by keeping its body farther from the ground, which can heat up to 70°C (158°F).[32][33] Dromedaries have a pad of thick tissue over the sternum called the pedestal. When the animal lies down in a sternal recumbent position, the pedestal raises the body from the hot surface and allows cooling air to pass under the body.[28]
Camels' mouths have a thick leathery lining, allowing them to chew thorny desert plants. Long eyelashes and ear hairs, together with nostrils that can close, form a barrier against sand. If sand gets lodged in their eyes, they can dislodge it using their transparent third eyelid. The camels' gait and widened feet help them move without sinking into the sand.[32][34][35]
The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at reabsorbing water. Camels' kidneys have a 1:4 cortex to medulla ratio.[36] Thus, the medullary part of a camel's kidney occupies twice as much area as a cow's kidney. Secondly, renal corpuscles have a smaller diameter, which reduces surface area for filtration. These two major anatomical characteristics enable camels to conserve water and limit the volume of urine in extreme desert conditions.[37] Camel urine comes out as a thick syrup, and camel faeces are so dry that they do not require drying when the Bedouins use them to fuel fires.[38][39][40][41] The camels are able to live in difficult conditions without drinking water due to their ability to produce small and dry droppings as well as they use the water to maintain their body's temperature to fit with the region surrounding them (Breulmann, et al., 2007).[42]
The camel immune system differs from those of other mammals. Normally, the Y-shaped antibody molecules consist of two heavy (or long) chains along the length of the Y, and two light (or short) chains at each tip of the Y. Camels, in addition to these, also have antibodies made of only two heavy chains, a trait that makes them smaller and more durable. These "heavy-chain-only" antibodies, discovered in 1993, are thought to have developed 50million years ago, after camelids split from ruminants and pigs.[43]
Genetics

The karyotypes of different camelid species have been studied earlier by many groups,[44][45][46][47][48][49] but no agreement on chromosome nomenclature of camelids has been reached. A 2007 study flow sorted camel chromosomes, building on the fact that camels have 37 pairs of chromosomes (2n=74), and found that the karyotype consisted of one metacentric, three submetacentric, and 32 acrocentric autosomes. The Y is a small metacentric chromosome, while the X is a large metacentric chromosome.[50]

The hybrid camel, a hybrid between Bactrian and dromedary camels, has one hump, though it has an indentation 4–12cm (1.6–4.7in) deep that divides the front from the back. The hybrid is 2.15m (7ft 1in) at the shoulder and 2.32m (7ft 7in) tall at the hump. It weighs an average of 650kg (1,430lb) and can carry around 400 to 450kg (880 to 990lb), which is more than either the dromedary or Bactrian can.[51]
According to molecular data, the New World and Old World camelids diverged about 11 million years ago.[52] In spite of this, these species can hybridize and produce viable offspring.[53] The cama is a camel-llama hybrid bred by scientists to see how closely related the parent species are.[54] Scientists collected semen from a camel via an artificial vagina and inseminated a llama after stimulating ovulation with gonadotrophin injections.[55] The cama is halfway in size between a camel and a llama and lacks a hump. It has ears intermediate between those of camels and llamas, longer legs than the llama, and partially cloven hooves.[56][57] Like the mule, camas are sterile, despite both parents having the same number of chromosomes.[55] The wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) separated from the domestic Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus) about 1 million years ago.[58][59]
Evolution

The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the Eocene).[16] It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.[60][61] By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.[62][63] The hoofed Stenomylus, which walked on the tips of its toes, also existed around this time, and the long-necked Aepycamelus evolved in the Miocene.[64]
The direct ancestor of all modern camels, Procamelus, existed in the upper Miocene and lower Pliocene.[65] Around 3–5 million years ago, the North American Camelidae spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange via the newly formed Isthmus of Panama, where they gave rise to guanacos and related animals, and to Asia via the Bering land bridge.[16][60][61] Surprising finds of fossil Paracamelus on Ellesmere Island beginning in 2006 in the high Canadian Arctic indicate the dromedary is descended from a larger, boreal browser whose hump may have evolved as an adaptation in a cold climate.[66][67] This creature is estimated to have stood around nine feet tall.[68]
The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus, which vanished along with horses, short-faced bears, mammoths and mastodons, ground sloths, sabertooth cats, and many other megafauna, coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia.[69][70]
Domestication

Like horses before their extinction in their continent of origin, camels spread across the Bering land bridge, moving in the opposite direction from the Asian immigration to America. They survived in the Old World, and eventually humans domesticated them and spread them globally. Along with many other megafauna in North America, the original wild camels were wiped out during the spread of Native Americans from Asia into North America, 12,000 to 10,000 years ago.[69][70]
Most camels surviving today are domesticated.[41][71] Although feral populations exist in Australia, India and Kazakhstan, wild camels survive only in the wild Bactrian camel population of the Gobi Desert.[10]
Humans may have first domesticated dromedaries  in Somalia and southern Arabia around 3,000 BC, and Bactrian camels in central Asia around 2,500 BC,[16][72][73][74] as at Shar-i Sokhta (also known as the Burnt City), Iran.[75]
Discussions concerning camel domestication in Mesopotamia often reference mentions of camels in the Hebrew Bible. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J, for instance, mentions: "In accord with patriarchal traditions, cylinder seals from Middle Bronze Age Mesopotamia showed riders seated upon camels."[76][77]
Martin Heide's 2010 work on the domestication of the camel tentatively concludes that humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium somewhere east of the Zagros Mountains, with the practice then moving into Mesopotamia. Heide suggests that mentions of camels "in the patriarchal narratives may refer, at least in some places, to the Bactrian camel", while noting that the camel is not mentioned in relationship to Canaan.[78]
Recent excavations in the Timna Valley by Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones yet found in Israel or even outside the Arabian Peninsula, dating to around 930 BC. This garnered considerable media coverage, as it was described as evidence that the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time.[79][80]
The existence of camels in Mesopotamia - but not in the eastern Mediterranean lands - is not a new idea. The historian Richard Bulliet did not think that the occasional mention of camels in the Bible meant that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time.[81] The archaeologist William F. Albright, writing even earlier, saw camels in the Bible as an anachronism.[82]

The official report by Sapir-Hen and Ben-Joseph notes: The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the southern Levant ... substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112–116; Jasmin 2005). This ... has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558–584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler-Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age (not before the 12th century [BC]) and concludes: Current data from copper smelting sites of the Aravah Valley enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates. The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century [BC] and most probably during this time. The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region—attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I—raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade.[80]
Textiles

Desert tribes and Mongolian nomads use camel hair for tents, yurts, clothing, bedding and accessories. Camels have outer guard hairs and soft inner down, and the fibers are sorted by color and age of the animal. The guard hairs can be felted for use as waterproof coats for the herdsmen, while the softer hair is used for premium goods.[83] The fiber can be spun for use in weaving or made into yarns for hand knitting or crochet. Pure camel hair is recorded as being used for western garments from the 17th century onwards, and from the 19th century a mixture of wool and camel hair was used.[84]
Military uses

By at least 1200 BC the first camel saddles had appeared, and Bactrian camels could be ridden. The first saddle was positioned to the back of the camel, and control of the Bactrian camel was exercised by means of a stick. However, between 500 and 100 BC, Bactrian camels came into military use. New saddles, which were inflexible and bent, were put over the humps and divided the rider's weight over the animal. In the seventh century BC the military Arabian saddle evolved, which again improved the saddle design slightly.[85][86]
Military forces have used camel cavalries in wars throughout Africa, the Middle East, and into the modern-day Border Security Force (BSF) of India (though as of July 2012, the BSF planned the replacement of camels with ATVs). The first documented use of camel cavalries occurred in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.[87][88][89] Armies have also used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules.[90][91]
The East Roman Empire used auxiliary forces known as dromedarii, whom the Romans recruited in desert provinces.[92][93] The camels were used mostly in combat because of their ability to scare off horses at close range (horses are afraid of the camels' scent),[17] a quality famously employed by the Achaemenid Persians when fighting Lydia in the Battle of Thymbra (547 BC).[51][94][95]
19th and 20th centuries

The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps, stationed in California, in the late 19th century.[17] One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal in Benicia, California, where they nowadays serve as the Benicia Historical Museum.[96] Though the experimental use of camels was seen as a success (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in 1858, recommended that funds be allocated towards obtaining a thousand more camels), the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 saw the end of the Camel Corps: Texas became part of the Confederacy, and most of the camels were left to wander away into the desert.[91]
France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara[97] in order to exercise greater control over the camel-riding Tuareg and Arab insurgents, as previous efforts to defeat them on foot had failed.[98] The Free French Camel Corps fought during World War II, and camel-mounted units remained in service until the end of French rule over Algeria in 1962.[99]
In 1916, the British created the Imperial Camel Corps. It was originally used to fight the Senussi, but was later used in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Imperial Camel Corps comprised infantrymen mounted on camels for movement across desert, though they dismounted at battle sites and fought on foot. After July 1918, the Corps began to become run down, receiving no new reinforcements, and was formally disbanded in 1919.[100]
In World War I, the British Army also created the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which consisted of a group of Egyptian camel drivers and their camels. The Corps supported British war operations in Sinai, Palestine, and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops.[101][102][103]
The Somaliland Camel Corps was created by colonial authorities in British Somaliland in 1912; it was disbanded in 1944.[104]
Bactrian camels were used by Romanian forces during World War II in the Caucasian region.[105]
The Bikaner Camel Corps of British India fought alongside the British Indian Army in World Wars I and II.[106]
The Tropas Nómadas (Nomad Troops) were an auxiliary regiment of Sahrawi tribesmen serving in the colonial army in Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara). Operational from the 1930s until the end of the Spanish presence in the territory in 1975, the Tropas Nómadas were equipped with small arms and led by Spanish officers. The unit guarded outposts and sometimes conducted patrols on camelback.[107][108]
Food uses
Dairy

Camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is sometimes considered a meal itself; a nomad can live on only camel milk for almost a month.[17][38][109][110] Camel milk is rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins, and immunoglobulins;[111] compared to cow's milk, it is lower in fat and lactose,[112] and higher in potassium, iron, and vitamin C.[11] Bedouins believe the curative powers of camel milk are enhanced if the camel's diet consists of certain desert plants.[17][113] Camel milk can readily be made into a drinkable yogurt, as well as butter or cheese, though the yields for cheese tend to be low.[17][112]
Camel milk cannot be made into butter by the traditional churning method. It can be made if it is soured first, churned, and a clarifying agent is then added.[17] Until recently, camel milk could not be made into camel cheese because rennet was unable to coagulate the milk proteins to allow the collection of curds.[114] Developing less wasteful uses of the milk, the FAO commissioned Professor J.P. Ramet of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires, who was able to produce curdling by the addition of calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet.[112] The cheese produced from this process has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest, even for the lactose intolerant.[115][116] The sale of camel cheese is limited owing to the small output of the few dairies producing camel cheese and the absence of camel cheese in local (West African) markets.[112] Cheese imports from countries that traditionally breed camels are difficult to obtain due to restrictions on dairy imports from these regions.[117]
Additionally, camel milk has been made into ice cream in a Netherlands camel farm.[118]
Meat

They provide food in the form of meat and milk (Tariq et al.,2010).[119] A camel carcass can provide a substantial amount of meat. The male dromedary carcass can weigh 300–400kg (661–882lb), while the carcass of a male Bactrian can weigh up to 650kg (1,433lb). The carcass of a female dromedary weighs less than the male, ranging between 250 and 350kg (550 and 770lb).[16] The brisket, ribs and loin are among the preferred parts, and the hump is considered a delicacy.[120] The hump contains "white and sickly fat", which can be used to make the khli (preserved meat) of mutton, beef, or camel.[121] On the other hand, camel milk and meat are rich in protein, vitamins, glycogen, and other nutrients making them essential in the diet of many people. From chemical composition to meat quality, the dromedary camel is the preferred breed for meat production. It does well even in arid areas due to its unusual physiological behaviors and characteristics, which include tolerance to extreme temperatures, radiation from the sun, water paucity, rugged landscape and low vegetation (Aleme, 2013).[122] Camel meat is reported to taste like coarse beef, but older camels can prove to be very tough,[11][16] although camel meat becomes more tender the more it is cooked.[123] The Abu Dhabi Officers' Club serves a camel burger mixed with beef or lamb fat in order to improve the texture and taste.[124] In Karachi, Pakistan, some restaurants prepare nihari from camel meat.[125] In Syria and Egypt, there are specialist camel butchers.[126]
Camel meat has been eaten for centuries. It has been recorded by ancient Greek writers as an available dish at banquets in ancient Persia, usually roasted whole.[127] The ancient Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel.[38] Camel meat is mainly eaten in certain regions, including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and other arid regions where alternative forms of protein may be limited or where camel meat has had a long cultural history.[16][38][120] Camel blood is also consumable, as is the case among pastoralists in northern Kenya, where camel blood is drunk with milk and acts as a key source of iron, vitamin D, salts and minerals.[16][120][128] Camel meat is also occasionally found in Australian cuisine: for example, a camel lasagna is available in Alice Springs.[127][128]
A 2005 report issued jointly by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details cases of human bubonic plague resulting from the ingestion of raw camel liver.[129]
Religion
Islam
Camel meat is halal (Arabic: حَـلَال, 'allowed') for Muslims. However, according to some Islamic schools of thought, a state of impurity is brought on by the consumption of it. Consequently, these schools hold that Muslims must perform wudhu (ablution) before the next time they pray after eating camel meat.[130] Also, some Islamic schools of thought consider it haram (Arabic: حَـرَام, 'forbidden') for a Muslim to perform Salat in places where camels lie, as it is said to be a dwelling place of the Shaytan (Arabic: شَـيْـطَـان, 'Devil').[130] According to Abu Yusuf, the urine of camel may be used for medical treatment if necessary, but according to Abū Ḥanīfah, the drinking of camel urine is discouraged.[131]
The Islamic texts contain several stories featuring camels. In the story of the people of Thamud, the Prophet Salih miraculously brings forth a naqat (Arabic: نَـاقَـة, 'she-camel') out of a rock. After the Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, he allowed his she-camel to roam there; the location where the camel stopped to rest determined the location where he would build his house in Medina.[132]
Judaism

According to Jewish tradition, camel meat and milk are not kosher.[133] Camels possess only one of the two kosher criteria; although they chew their cud, they do not possess cloven hooves: "But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you."[134]
Depictions in culture

Bowl depicting Bahram Gur and Azada, c. early 13th century, Brooklyn Museum
Vessel in the form of a recumbent camel with jugs, 250 BC–224 AD,  Brooklyn Museum
Maru Ragini (Dhola and Maru riding on a camel), c. 1750,  Brooklyn Museum
The Magi journeying (Les rois mages en voyage) - James Tissot, c. 1886, Brooklyn Museum

Distribution and numbers

There are around 14 million camels alive as of 2010, with 90% being dromedaries.[135] Dromedaries alive today are domesticated animals (mostly living in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East and South Asia). The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world,[22] where the dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life. They provide nomadic people in Somalia (which has the largest camel herd in the world)[16] and Ethiopia with milk, food, and transportation.[110][136][137][138]

Around 700,000 dromedary camels are now feral in Australia, descended from those introduced as a method of transport in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[128][135][139] This population is growing about 8% per year.[140] Representatives of the Australian government have culled more than 100,000 of the animals in part because the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers.[141]
A small population of introduced camels, dromedaries and Bactrians, wandered through Southwestern United States after having been imported in the 19th century as part of the U.S. Camel Corps experiment. When the project ended, they were used as draft animals in mines and escaped or were released. Twenty-five U.S. camels were bought and imported to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush.[91]
The Bactrian camel is, as of 2010, reduced to an estimated 1.4million animals, most of which are domesticated.[41][135][142] The Wild Bactrian camel is a separate species and is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) camel in the world. The wild camels are critically endangered and number approximately 1400, inhabiting the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.[10][143]
See also

Dromedary
Bactrian camel
Wild Bactrian camel
Camel howdah
Camel racing
Camel train (caravan)
Camel wrestling
Camelops (Walmart camel)
Australian feral camel
Camel farming in Sudan
Camelus moreli
Xerocole

Notes

Further reading


This is a list of state symbols for the U.S. state of Georgia

Notes

 at the Library of Congress Web Archives(archived 2008-11-27)