126 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



up with an enemy, they lie down and form a rampart with their 

 bodies, and are not like horses, subject to "stampede." 



If the camel of one year be introduced into Texas, in two years 

 more it will be fit to use with light burdens, and certainly fit to be 

 trained as a dromedary and carry a rider. To get them brought 

 rapidly into use this is the only plan ; breeding is a much slower 

 process. 



Among the female camels that were purchased ten were large with 

 young, and were expected to give birth in from two to six weeks. 

 Though a hazardous experiment in so long a voyage, it was deter- 

 mined to try if we could not raise the young on board ; at all events, 

 they would take up but little room, and if we lost them we considered 

 that we would be no worse off than before ; if we succeeded, there 

 would be so many more added to our stock, and we would gain some 

 experience in the matter by which others might be benefitted. Those 

 that were not with young were covered by the Bactrians before leaving 

 Smyrna, and may be expected to calve in February next. 



The female is said to be very delicate when with young, and a 

 slight thing, it is said, will cause a miscarriage. I do not think this 

 can be so, for with all the tumbling and tossing they have experienced 

 on this voyage, and the fright they exhibited while getting them on 

 board, nothing of the kind has happened, and the report may be set 

 down as one of the many fables told about camels by travellers, who, 

 passing merely through the countries where camels abound, know 

 little or nothing of the habits of the animal. A female camel with 

 young is worked to the last moment, though lightly, and when trav- 

 elling in a caravan where they cannot stop she is often obliged to 

 carry the young one on her back, where it is slung in a blanket by 

 the driver. We had one case, it is true, where we lost a fine camel 

 in giving birth to her young, but that was owing to the great size of 

 the calf, which had evidently been dead in the womb three or four 

 weeks ; the female, nevertheless, preserved her health all that time, 

 and ate as heartily as the rest. Two or three times she gave indica- 

 tions of " prolapsus of the uterus," and was treated accordingly _, until 

 her complaint became so bad that half of her inside seemed to be 

 coming from her. I exerted every bit of energy I had to save her, 

 and felt quite as anxious as if I had a human being in the same situa- 

 tion. As I did not succeed in my endeavors to save her life, it will 

 be unnecessary to go into the details. Suffice it to say, that with 

 such information as I could obtain from medical books, and whicii I 

 found applicable to the purpose, I succeeded in so far restoring her to 

 shape that she was enabled to bring forth her young, assisted by ten 

 men, who were hauling on it with ropes. The surprise was that any 

 animal could stand so painful an operation ; but the one 1 am men- 

 tioning seemed to suffer very little, and after she was bound up with 

 proper appliances she looked as usual. That night she had a pro- 

 lapsus of the uterus again, of which, unfortunately, 1 was not in- 

 formed until next morning, though it is doubtful if I could have 

 relieved such a case. It was very distressing to behold, and to relieve 

 the poor animal, I had an end put to her life. I looked upon the loss 

 of this female as quite a serious calamity; but in two or three hours 



