58 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



and unmanageable, and not unfrequently dangerous to all but his 

 keeper. This excitement is often marked by a peculiar projection 

 from his mouth of a loose, membranous lining of the throat, in the 

 form and with the appearance of a bladder, accompanied by a loud, 

 bubbling noise from the passage of the air with which it is inflated. 



Barrenness among camels is rare, but miscarriages are not un- 

 frequent, owing usually to overloading and roiigh treatment while 

 breeding. 



WHERE CAN THE BURDEN C^MEL AND DROMEDARY BE BEST PROCURED, 



AND AT WHAT PRICES? 



These questions must be answered now with deference to more en- 

 larged, precise information, to be derived from future direct inquiry, 

 or importation from various places, and with reference to the coast of 

 America, whether the Atlantic or Pacific, which is considered in con- 

 nexion with the inquiry. 



If the Atlantic coast is in contemplation, importation should be 

 from Morocco, or from some point on the Mediterranean, in Africa, or 

 Asia. Burden camels may be procured of the relative qualities pre- 

 viously mentioned on the coasts of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, 

 and Egypt, and in the country back of them, but the restrictions 

 upon trade in Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt, require that the 

 permission of the sovereign or viceroy should be obtained for their 

 exportation. This, unless previously procured by treaty or special 

 agreement, would be apt to embarrass, if not prevent, any attempt to 

 carry out many, as the naturally suspicious temper of the east and 

 despotic sway have a tendency to induce the arbitrary exercise of 

 power. Of Algiers, I can give no information^, as I have not ascer- 

 tained the mind of the French government in regard to the matter. 



Erom the Asiatic ports on the Mediterranean or Black seas, or on 

 the channel between them, all of which are immediately under the 

 control of the Porte, and from Constantinople, exportation is permitted. 

 It only remains, then, to be seen where the animals can be best pro- 

 cured and shipped. Eor vessels bound up the Black sea or to Con- 

 stantinople, burden camels, but no dromedaries^ can be had at any 

 point almost of the coast, or by penetrating into the interior, from 

 Samsoun westward to the castles of Europe and Asia. But as at 

 Smyrna, or from the country back of it, the same quality of burden 

 camels are to be readily procured, there would be no object in sending 

 a vessel beyond it upon the longer and uncertain voyage through 

 the Dardanelles ; uncertain from the strength of the current flowing 

 through that strait into the Mediterranean, at the rate of two and a 

 half to three miles an hour, against which a vessel cannot beat, and 

 which, in consequence, not unfrequently causes a d'etention at its 

 mouth of days, and sometimes of weeks. 



At Smyrna^ or from the country around it, in any direction, as 

 far as it may be desirable to go, every variety of burden camel known 

 in Asia Minor — Loks, Pehlavans, Arvanas, Tiulus, or Mayas, and 

 Bactrian males for breeding — can be purchased, but not dromedaries. 



From Smyrna, along the coast, southward and eastward, towards 



