SPEED AND GAIT. 123 



and excellent facilities for observation in Bess- 

 arabia and the Crimea, where the Bactrian is 

 used principally for draught with wheel carriages, 

 agree in saying that upon a good dry road, a 

 pair of these animals will draw a load of from 

 three thousand to four thousand pounds a dis- 

 tance of fifty miles without eating, drinking, or 

 halting^. It would certainly be entirely safe to 

 average the day's journey of both species at ten 

 hours, or twenty-three miles per day, and there 

 is very little doubt that, with due care and at- 

 tention, thirty miles per day can be averaged 

 by caravans for any desirable length of time. 

 This is the estimate for animals with full bur- 

 dens, and left to their natural gait, but in case of 

 emergency, and with lighter loads, both the rate 

 of travel and the length of the day's march may 

 in all probability be much increased, at least for 

 moderate distances. There can be no doubt, 

 therefore, that on soils and in climates adapted 

 to his organization, the camel, as a beast of 

 draught or burden, is decidedly superior to the 

 horse, the ox, or any other domestic animal. 



The value of the camel as a beast of the 

 saddle for general use, is more questionable, but 

 he may be advantageously employed for personal 

 transportation under many conditions, and in 

 many localities where neither the horse nor the 

 mule can be used. Many of the Arab accounts 



