PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOE MILITARY PURPOSES. 131 



•whicli was in six days. They took cold, I think, from having too 

 thick covers on them while between decks, for they seemed to sweat 

 profusely under them, and were never troubled with coMs when I had 

 them removed. Contusions and sores in camels require very simple 

 treatment ; " British oil " is a certain cure for all bruises, and washing 

 sores with castile soap and tepid water will soon heal them up. Some 

 of those I took charge of were saddle galled ; but I found that the 

 sore places healed up immediately on the application of castile soap 

 and tepid water, and a small plaster of simple "cerate." I would 

 caution persons about to buy camels to examine carefully under the 

 saddle, to see if any saddle galls exist ; the Turks are very great 

 "jockies," and are very adroit in plastering the long hair down on 

 the sores, so that they cannot be seen unless very closely examined ; 

 this cannot happen with the dromedary, which has the body covered 

 with short hair, and every mark shows. The " Bactrian " camel, 

 the " Tulu," and the " Luk," are said to be very delicate when rut- 

 ting, and liable to take cold, from which they die. It is customary 

 with the Turks to keep their heavy saddles on (each weighing nearly 

 a hundred pounds) night and day ; the Bactrian is kept covered 

 with a thick blanket. As the rutting season commences in January 

 and ends some time in April, the camels are liable to be severely galled 

 with such a "weight on them all this time ; no doubt a covering is 

 necessar}^, but I am sure that the plan of keeping the saddle on all 

 the time is a bad one, as the humps of the camel dwindle away very 

 much under this treatment. 



I don't know, sir, that I can say any more on this subject, without 

 being guilly of plagiarism. My desire has been, in making this 

 report, to furnish as many practical hints as possible, and to enable 

 others who may undertake the transportation of camels to benefit by 

 my experience, and from facts that have come under my immediate 

 observation ; if the experiment is to be carried out on a grander scale, 

 I am sure that a close adherence to the rules laid down will, in most 

 cases, ensure success. 



As Jamaica laid in my route, I stopped there three or four days to 

 fill up with water, and obtain refreshments, which I afterwards re- 

 gretted, though it could not very well be helped ; the camels seemed 

 to suffer very much from the heat, in the absence of the sea breeze, 

 although I kept the ship swung broadside to the wind all the time ; 

 they were somewhat fretted also by the citizens of the place, who 

 visited the ship in great numbers, as many as four thousand coming 

 on board in one day. Camels were many years since used in Jamaica, 

 but owing to the " chiqua's " getting into their feet they soon became 

 useless. The chiqua is a very small iusect_, which oftentimes get into 

 the feet of the negroes, and without great care their toes and feet are 

 soon eaten off. 



I met a gentleman in Jamaica, who had had charge of some camels, 

 working the copper mines in " St. Jago do Cuba ; " he informed me 

 that they were very useful until the "chiqua" got into their feet, and 

 after that they were given up. As the " chiqua," it is to be hoped, 

 does not exist in Texas, there is no danger of their being afHicted by 



