MILITARY USES OF THE CAMEL. 187 



work on Egypt, and a late paper by Jomard, 

 one of the savans who accompanied the expe- 

 dition. Without entering into minute detail, it 

 must suffice to say that this regiment, which 

 numbered something less than five hundred 

 men, was organized in the main like a regiment 

 of cavalry, and performed the same general 

 service, with the most brilliant success. Al- 

 though the men were taken from the infantry, 

 a very short time was required to teach them 

 the new discipline and drill, and the animals 

 were habituated to the necessary evolutions in 

 an incredibly short space of time. The services 

 rendered by the corps were of a most important 

 character, and its performances, according to 

 Pretot, were quite unprecedented in military 

 annals. 



I abstain from particulars with reference to 

 the services of this regiment, because the evi- 

 dence on which they rest is not entirely conclu- 

 sive ; but there is no doubt that Napoleon himself, 

 and all the military authorities of the time, con- 

 sidered them to have been of great value. 



The recent experiments in Algeria, have proved 

 altogether satisfactory to the officers charged 

 with them, and their reports seem decisive with 

 respect to the utility of the camel as an animal 

 of war, though the apparent results have cer- 

 tainly not been so brilliant as they are alleged 



