112 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



them employed for transporting heavy stone on carts in Egypt, and 

 they have been not unfrequently used tor drawing heavy ordnance. In 

 general, however, the Arabian camel is employed altogether as a beast 

 of burden. In Bessarabia the Bactrian camel is used for the plough 

 and for draught, while in the Crimea he is used for draught alone, and 

 is seldom or never ridden in either of those provinces. Throughout 

 Chinese and independent Tartary, however, as well as in Siberia, the 

 Bactrian camel, though sometimes harnessed to w'heel carriages, is 

 much more generally employed for the saddle or burden ; and the pre- 

 judice which has extensively prevailed that the configuration and sen- 

 sitiveness of the humps forbids the use of the pack-saddle for this spe- 

 cies, appears to be without foundation. 



In whatever mode the camel is employed, his harness is very sim- 

 ple. In some regions he is guided by a plain halter, in others the sep- 

 tum or one of the aloe of the nose is pierced, an iron ring inserted, and 

 to tins is attached a cord to serve as a bridle ; and in the military ser- 

 vice it has been found convenient to use the halter and this rude bridle 

 in conjunction.* In the burden caravans the camels are not unfre- 

 quently tied head to tail, in files of about seven animals, the driver riding 

 ahead upon a donkey or a camel, and the last camel in the file carrying 

 a bell, so that the driver may be advertised by the ear if the chain by 

 an}'' accident is broken. 



The pack-saddle, whether for riding or for burden, is made by stuf- 

 fing a bag seven or eight feet long with straw or grass, doubling it and 

 sewing the ends together. This forms an oblong ring, which is fur- 

 nished with a rope crupper and placed upon the back so as to enclose 

 the hump. Upon this cushion rests a frame consisting of two pairs of 

 flat sticks meeting at top like a chevron or pair of rafters, and connected 

 at bottom by a couple of sticks two or three feet long, secured to the 

 others by thongs. The pad soon fits itself to the shape of the back and 

 sides, and the irame nestles into the pad, while the hump rising in the 

 centre of the whole apparatus keeps everything in place, so that no gir- 

 dle, or at most a loose rope, is needed to confine the saddle. The load 

 stowed in sacks, or better still in rope nettings, is balanced across the 

 saddle, and the v/ater-skins are suspended beneath. 



The gear of the dromedary is somewhat lighter, but of the same fash- 

 ion. The wooden frame is more neatly made, the uprights being 

 curved outwards and uniting at top in two conical pummels, one before 

 and one behind, six or eight inches high, and perhaps two in diameter 

 at the base, covered with figured brass plate or otherwise decorated, 

 and terminating in a knob. Over the saddle is thrown a large pair of 

 saddle-bags of striped goat's-hair cloth, ornamented with fringes and 

 cowrie shells, and upon this are laid blankets, cushions and carpets, 

 and perhaps a gay housing over all. The rider is perched at the sum- 

 mit of this pyramid, directly over or perhaps a little in advance of the 

 hump; and his stirrups, if he uses them, his w^ater-bottle, his gun, a 

 smaller pair of saddle-bags or a carpet-bag, or any other convenience 

 he may choose, are hung to the pommels. In riding the maherry, how- 



* Carbuccia, 44, 45, 50, 51, 133. According to Erman and Father Hue, the Northern Tar- 

 tars pierce the septum of the nose and insert a piece of wood or bone, to which they attach 

 the reins of the bridlo. 



