128 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



of them was also said to be a professed M. D. of camels, and under- 

 stood all their diseases, the mode of providing for their young, &c. 

 Mr. Heap recommended them, and thought they would be useful in 

 Texas in fitting the camels, and no doubt they will be, for it requires 

 some ingenuity and practice to make a good camel saddle. The Turks 

 were not of as much use (at sea in bad weather) in taking care of the 

 camels as sailors, but got along very well in .fair weather ; they 

 seemed to accommodate themselves very easily to the Christian mode 

 of life, and were good, honest men ; they are much preferable to the 

 Egyptian and are of a higher order of intellect. I would not object 

 to taking Turks on a voyage to assist in the care of camels ; this kind 

 of help, if desirable, can be procured at ten to fifteen dollars a month. 



The day we left Smyrna one of the female camels presented us with 

 a fine young male, and it was turned over to the Turkish M. D., who 

 superintended all the arrangements for its birth ; as this is quite a 

 delicate operation, and as a knowledge of the manner in which it is 

 done may be useful to others hereafter, I will give my experience as far 

 as practicable, having had more (in a short time) on this subject than 

 most people. The first indication given by a female of bringing forth 

 is a swelling of the udder and a sinking in of the rump near the tail 

 on each side of the spine ; she also becomes cross and snappish a few 

 hours before the event takes place ; her eye-balls, also, seem to pro- 

 trude a little ; she begins by lying first on one side and then on the other, 

 when shortly after the young one makes its appearance, head and fore 

 feet foremost ; no doubt if they were left to themselves nature would 

 bring about a safe delivery, but the Turks think it necessary to assist 

 the mother, which they do by pulling the young one away from her 

 by the head and feet, and pressing on her sides. This unnatural pro- 

 ceeding is, no doubt, an injury to the young, (as the neck is subjected 

 to severe tension,) although the mother is speedily relieved during the 

 process of parturition ; the practioner blows into the young one's 

 nostrils, which is finally released, apparently in the last agonies of 

 death ; the navel string is then tied with a cord ; the young one is 

 cleansed and wrapped up in a blanket and presented to the female ; 

 (this is the Turkish mode of doing business ;) the latter suffers very 

 little from the operation_, but quietly eats her hay as if nothing had 

 happened, and takes but little notice of her progeny ; it is probable 

 that she does not recognize it so wrapped up in a bundle of colored 

 rags, or, if she does, is so disappointed with its appearance that she 

 does not care about owning it. In half an hour the young one begins 

 to show signs of liveliness ; the mother is then milked and a little is 

 poured down its throat, and it is taught to suck at the finger, after 

 which it is allowed to repose, if it can do so with such a mass of wrap- 

 pings around, and its limbs painfully compressed ; the mother passes 

 the afterbirth in half an hour, and needs no further care. In the case 

 alluded to, the young one was kept wrapped up for six days, during 

 all which time the mother refused to let it suck, except by force ; we 

 had to resort finally to a bottle, from which it fed voraciously. 



On the fifth day out another female brought forth young, and the 

 same treatment was observed ; as they both seemed to imjjrove slowly. 



