110 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF, 



fresh ; but this is not confirmed by other authorities, and I have seen 

 them, when parched with ihitst, rush to the sea, wade into it, and turn 

 from it with evident disappointment on finding the water sah. 



The rate of travel of the burden camel is exceedingly uniform, and 

 varies little in the different species and breeds of the animal. Rennelle, 

 Robinson, and other inquirers, have very carefully investigated this 

 subject, with a view to the use of the camel's pace in geography as a 

 measure of distance. His speed is naturally modified by the nature of 

 the ground, but as all irregularities of this sort are usually compensated 

 in long journeys, it may be safely averaged at two miles and one third 

 per hour. Over a smooth and level surface, I have found his ordinary 

 length of step to be six feet, and the number of steps of each foot thirty- 

 seven to the minute. This gives a speed of two miles fifty-two hun- 

 dredths to the hour, under the most favorable circurastailces ; but upon 

 rougher ground it was proportionately retarded, and I believe Robin- 

 son's estimate lo be a very exact average. 



The length of the caravan day's journey, when there is no special 

 motive for haste, is regulated by the distance between wells and pas- 

 ture grounds ; but it is seldom less than ten, and more frequently twelve 

 or fourteen hours, and in most countries the entire day's journey is 

 accomplished without a halt. Averaging the hours of travelat twelve, 

 the distance performed would be twenty-eight miles, and this rate may 

 be kept up any number of days in succession. 



This is the estimate for animals with full burdens, and left to their 

 natural gait ; but in case of emergency, and especially under lighter 

 loads and fleeter camels, both the rate of travel and the length of the 

 day's journey may be very much increased. 



Bergmann states the ordinary day's journey of the loaded Bactrian 

 camel at forty miles, and without burden at from fifty to sixty-five 

 miles ; and my correspondents in Bessarabia and the Crimea agree in 

 stating that upon a good dry road a pair of Bactrians will draw a load 

 of 3,000 to 4,000 pounds a distance of fifty miles without eating, drink- 

 ing, or halting. These authorities, which I beUeve are entirely rehable, 

 show that for transportation the Bactrian camel is superior to the Ara- 

 bian ; and it appears that when properly trained he is also capable of 

 attaining a considerable speed under the saddle, though in this respect 

 he cannot compete with the Arabian dromedary. Some of the Arab 

 accounts of the fleetness of the maherry are no doubt fables, and one 

 may well question whether Johnson's story of the dromedary that bore 

 his master on an errand of love from Morocco to Mogador and back, a 

 distance of 200 miles, in a single day, is not exaggerated. But the 

 numerous well authenticated evidences of this animal's great speed 

 and power of endurance, leave no doubt that in the union of these two 

 qualities he far surpasses the horse, as well as all other domestic quad- 

 rupeds. 



Mchemet Ali, when liastening to his capital to accomplish the de- 

 struction of the Mamelukes, rode without changing his camel, fi-om 

 Suez to Cairo, a distance of eighty-four miles, in twelve hours. A 

 French officer in the service of the Pasha performed the same feat in 

 thirteen hours, and two gentlemen of my acquaintance have accom- 

 phshed it in less than seventeen. Labordc travelled the distance in the 



