112 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



a day or a year with success ; it is necessary to feel our way, especially 

 in the transportation and in the choice of animals, otherwise we should 

 meet with a mortifying failure, and those persons who have ridiculed 

 the project as impracticable would rejoice over our want of succgss, 

 and attribute it both to our unfitness for the duty and the unsuitable- 

 ness of the camels for what they are intended to do in Texas. 



In the selection of camels and dromedaries, my idea has been to 

 procure those suitable for breeding rather than purchase those that 

 were only fit to be used as burden camels ; on the same principle that 

 I would buy the best stock of cattle, sheep, or horses, if I wanted to 

 introduce them into a new country. It is a very foolish idea to pur- 

 chase the ordinary stock to carry out such an experiment; is opposed 

 to common sense, and is not, in my opinion, what was anticipated by 

 the government. I do not suppose it is the intention to set the present 

 lot of animals immediately to work, for it would most likely frustrate 

 all the objects originally intended ; the small number of camels would 

 at present render it unadvisable to pursue that course. What, by 

 breeding with those on hand, and a more rapid system of importation, 

 the government would, in three years, have a stock of three or four 

 hundred to commence operations with, and in the meantime they 

 could be trained either as dromedaries or burden camels. Taking 

 these things into consideration, I have not been anxious to hurry the 

 matter through unnecessarily, though I believe I have always been 

 ready to sail when there was no further necessity for remaining in port. 

 On the , the four dromedaries from Cairo arrived, and I ob- 

 tained a permit from the government of Alexandria to ship them ; 

 in presenting the permit at the custom-house the dromedaries were 

 stopped, and I was treated with so much disrespect that I complained 

 to the consul, Mr. De Leon, and requested him to lodge a complaint 

 against the custom-house authorities, which he promptly did ; the 

 " amende honorable " was as promptly made, and at the same time I 

 received a notification from Mr. De Leon that his highness the vice- 

 roy of Egypt intended presenting the United States government with 

 six of his finest dromedaries ; he has many fine ones belonging to him- 

 self, and was at that time engaged in drilling a dromedary corps on 

 the Persian system, each dromedary to carry two men armed with 

 carbines. I was all ready for sea when I heard this news, but was 

 requested by Mr. De Leon to wait three or four days until the drom- 

 edaries could be brought down from the interior, wliich I did. In 

 the meantime Mr. Heap had been despatched to Smyrna to purchase 

 what camels he required, so that we might lose no time on our arrival 

 there, and be ready to sail by the 1st of March. 



It was very gratifying to me to hear that we were to receive six 

 dromedaries from his highness the viceroy's own stock. Of course I 

 expectednothingbuttheverybestbloodof Oman or Nubia, knowingthat 

 the eastern potentates take a pride in making presents of the choicest 

 kind. I felt that you would be very much disappointed in our 

 bringing home so few dromedaries, and I was very glad to get the 

 six that were promised. The selection of the animals was placed in 

 the hands of the governor of Alexandria ; he passed the matter on to 

 the next in office, and he in turn passed it on still to a ''cavass," 



