86 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



The " metla" is a disease peculiar to the female, and is caused bj 

 lier being over loaded. It is a falling of the vagina. A few days' 

 rest suflfices for its cure. 



The " dedab/' a tormenting fly, peculiar to Arabia. 



WOUNDS. 



When a camel is lamed by a fall, the Arabs cauterize the wounded 

 part. Wounds are generally cured by the application of tar mixed 

 with the fat of fresh beef or mutton, or by the fat alone. The dressing 

 is renewed every day. Tar, tobacco, ashes, the leaf of the tree or 

 shrub caia, dried and powdered, is also used. Sulphate of copper is 

 used as long as the wound contains worms or maggots, but must not 

 be continued too long, as it has a tendency to burn the flesh, and 

 instead of healing may retard the cure. The final cure must be 

 affected by a compress, wet with brandy or alcohol, tincture of aloes, 

 or powdered charcoal. 



A judicious use of the above remedies will generally effect a cure, 

 even of a bad wound, in about twenty days. 



MEDICINES. 



Tar, sulphate of copper, bi-sulphate of mercury, and the cautery 

 are the only external remedies used by the Arabs. Oil^ rancid 

 butter, and garlic^ the only internal medicines. 



QUALITY OF THE TAR. 



The health of the animal depending much on the quality of the 

 tar, it must be carefully looked to in that respect, too free an applica- 

 tion causing vertigo, and sometimes death. The French, in Algiers, 

 in acquiring experience in the use of tar, have had to pay for it by 

 loosing many of their camels in consequence of the ill-will and jealousy 

 of the Arabs, who have always endeavored to disgust them on their 

 attempts to use the camel for military or other purposes. Sometimes 

 they have sold them pine-tree tar, which is of no effect against the 

 itch ; sometimes a compound of pitch, fish-oil, tallow, and oakum, 

 that literally burnt the beasts, and caused the deaths of a great 

 number. The Arabs have also sold them fir-tree tar, mixed with 

 that produced by the trees called " arar" and "tagar," thus saving 

 to themselves half the labor. The best tar is of a liquid aromatic 

 resinous quality. The French, in Algiers, have tried to substitute 

 sulphur ointment for tar. It appears, so far, to have succeeded, but 

 as yet they have not had sufficient experience to decide positively on 

 its merits. In places where sulphur ointment cannot be procured, 

 workmen from the military laboratory have been employed in manu- 

 facturing the tar. 



Abd-el-Kader has also a number of operatives engaged in the same 

 business. A goat-skin full, containing twenty pints, costs three 

 francs. Each animal requires forty pints per annum. This quantity 

 is necessary not only to keep the animal in health, but to keep it free 

 from the itch. 



