80 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



is used here instead of soap, and which the camelier says is the best 

 food in the world for camels ; if this is found on the desert plains the 

 camels there will become the finest in the world. (This specimen did 

 not reach me. It would have been desirable to have compared it with 

 the soap plant of the North American continent. H. C. W.) 



Question 1. " Indee," from the Arak id est, the plains of the Tigris 

 and Euphrates, from Bagdad to the Persian Grulf, and the Khoo-war, 

 from upper Mesopotamia, (that is Mesopotamia north of fifty miles 

 above Bagdad, called El Tezereh.) 



The " Indee " has a long thin nose and is usually a trifle larger 

 than the Khoo-war, but the chief and probably only difference is that 

 the latter will die from the effects of marsh grasses and insects, which 

 have no injurious influence on the former, which are nourished and 

 brought up in a marshy region, while those of El Tezereh in an in- 

 tensely dry district ; briefly, the '' Indee " are " raised " in El Arak_, 

 and the Khoo-war are raised in El Tezereh, and really this is the 

 whole of the difference. 



Question 2. As to burdens they are equal, say 400 to 600 pounds, 

 average load 600 pounds, which they will carry year in and year out, 

 daily, if well protected from cold, and well fed ; six to eight hours a 

 day's journey. 



A caravan of camels once came in 13 days from Aleppo via Orfa 

 and the desert, but ordinarily caravans are 25 to 45 days "en route." 

 Ordinarily the loads are loosed every night, but on " emergency " the 

 camels will travel three or four days without unloading or resting ex- 

 cept to eat, provided he has all the food he needs ; this without kill- 

 ing him. Pack saddles are removed only when the camels are turned 

 out to grass in the spring. 



Question 3. Climate most intensely hot and dry. Journeys are 

 made to Aleppo, Scanderoon, Mecca, Egypt, and with the "Indee" 

 to Busrah. The flies and marsh gnats about and below Bagdad kill 

 the Khoo-war. They of course travel best in a level country, but can 

 and do at times pass through rocky and mountainous localities. 



Question 4. None, but difficult, and occasionally or frequently one 

 will get lame, but rarely so as to disable it. 



Question 5. Nine months of the year do not feed them ; they browse 

 on what they can pick up on the plains as they travel, and when 

 turned out at night. The Bedaween never feed their camels. Cara- 

 van camels are fed three months, (winter) once a day. Seven pounds 

 of ground barley or " backuly," (a large bean) kneaded into cakes, 

 and cut dry straw always before them. When for three months in 

 spring they are out at grass they do not drink at all, the rest of the 

 year they are watered morning and evening. Are never stabled here ; 

 but if the country is cold and snowy they need open sheds or stables. 



Question 6 None. When the road is very slippery they some- 

 times with an adze cut out the road, track it so as to make it rough. 



Question 7. From the middle of December to the middle or end of 

 January. For the three winter months the sexes are kept separate, 

 except when it is desired to breed. Rest of the year the sexes travel 

 together or not, as convenient. As to copulation, the cameliers put a 

 male to 10, 15, or even 30 females ; though it is known of one male 



