PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 127 



she was replaced by a fine young one from another female, and the 

 next day by another. 



The loss of such a camel to a poor Turk would have been a great 

 misfortune ; to a poor man a female camel is the greatest blessing ; 

 there is no end to their endurance; their usefulness is beyond com- 

 parison. She supplies his family with milk far richer than that of 

 the cow ; he clothes his children with the wool which she yields in 

 abundance, and which is as fine and as warm as that of the sheep ; 

 she carries his produce to market, and is satisfied with nibbling the 

 dried grass she can pick up on the roadside ; it costs but little to feed 

 her, and she continues her usefulness to an age which the cow or 

 horse scarcely ever reach. 



If (it will be asked) the camel is so useful an animal, why is it not 

 left to private enterprise to introduce them and reap the benefits 

 arising from them? I simply answer, because the subject is not fully 

 understood and appreciated in the United States. People form their 

 opinions of the camel from the diminutive and sickly looking speci- 

 mens they give a shilling to see in a menagerie ; as well might they 

 form their opinions of the great monarch of beasts from the half 

 starved and listless animal crouching meekly in his cage ; if some of 

 the specimens brought over in the '"Supply" could be seen by those 

 who have only seen a menagerie camel, or the ill drawn picture of 

 them in '^'Bufibn," they would be very much struck with the differ- 

 ence. Private individuals do not care to undertake an enterprise 

 about the details of which they know so little, and about which here- 

 tofore there lias been such a variety of opinions of the ultimate cost ; 

 it is one of those cases where government must take the lead — private 

 individuals will follow the moment they see the experiment successful ; 

 besides, at present, government is the most interested party, and will, 

 in the end, derive all the benefit. How invaluable would a "Tulu" 

 be to a southern planter who could not get his cotton to market on 

 account of bad roads or the absence of steamboats? whereas, if he 

 was provided with a few of these powerful animals, that could carry 

 their twelve hundred pounds each twenty miles a day, he would have 

 a great advantage over his neighbors who were not so well off as 

 himself. This is one of the many advantages to be derived from the 

 importation of the camel into the United States, and it is an im- 

 portant one. 



On the 14th of February I sailed direct for the United States, hav- 

 ing made everything comfortable for the camels before weighing 

 anchor. Before leaving New York I had been furnished with the 

 best of oats and hay, and had tanks on board sufficient to hold thirty 

 thousand gallons of water. It is best to lay in the food for the camels 

 in the United States, as it is much cheaper and better than can be 

 purchased in the East, particularly the hay ; twenty pounds of hay 

 and two gallons of oats should be calculated on as the daily average for 

 each animal on the voyage ; this will allow for any loss by waste or 

 damage. 



Before leaving Smyrna we took on board two Turkish saddle makers, 

 the same who were employed in making saddles for our camels, one 



