134 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOE MILITAEY PUEPOSES. 



CAMEL JOURNAL— Continued. 



Date. 



ilay. 



Water. 



Oats. ! P ea Meal 



Medicines 



Remarks. 



1856. 

 Feb. 3 



Bales. 

 1 



Galls. 

 30 



Ba«s. Galls.' Lis. 

 20 



20 



30 



60 



60 



20 



25 



20 



Half pint 

 sweet oil. 



Gamels continue in good health ; have them all 

 blanketed, as the weather is none too warm: 

 feed as usual. 



Received from this place (Smyrna) this day 

 seven camels, two of them very large male 

 Bactrian camels, five females, and one of 

 them with a calf by her side; secured them 

 and disposed them in their places ; fed hay 

 and oats, of wliicli they eat lightly. 



Tried to put Said to Ayesha, (both of them fast 

 dromedaries,) but Said took no notice of the 

 lady ; camels all well, and mother and calf 

 seem quite at home ; this day eiriployed in fit- 

 ting harness, &c., preparatory for sea. 



Received this day 33 sacks peas (crushed ;) — 

 sacks of crushed barley or meal, and three 

 sacks ground oats, for use on the voyage home; 

 Bactrian camel on the port side eats nothing ; 

 gave him salt; employed fitting gear, &c., for 

 sea. 



Bactrian camel still sick or sulky; gave him 

 more salt and made him some balls of barley 

 meal and water, of which he eat about one 

 gallon; fitting gear tliis day; clean, &c.,as 

 usual ; whitewashed where necessary ; rub- 

 bed sulphur ointment on Gourmal (for show- 

 ing signs of itcli ;) weather cold, and animals 

 blanketed. 



This day receiving camels and securing them : 

 nothing to note. 



Received ihis day the last of our lot of Smyrna 

 camels, making in all 31 full grown camels 

 and two calves, one a year old, and the other 

 15 days ; no further signs of itcli on Gourmal ; 

 Bactrian camel eats better and seems to be 

 more reconciled to his change of habitation. 



Bactrian camel still seems out of sorts ; the fe- 

 male dromedary, Ayesha, appears to have a 

 delicate chest, coughs at night; Gourmal, a 

 fine Alexandrian camel, seems out of sorts 

 ajso. 



One or two of the Smyrna camels do not seem 

 to take to their feed as kindly as they might :, 

 no change in the camels nfientioned on the 

 10th ; fitted hobbles to each camel. 



Gourmal this day sick; gave him a drench of 

 sweet oil, and Arabs bled him a little; Bac- 

 trian remains the same ; ditto, Ayesha ; Said 

 coughs at night also, but not so badly as his 

 mate, Ayesha ; continue to litter with hay. 



Gourmal this day reUeved a little ; do not allow 

 him any hay ; found a female camel this day 

 with a gathering over the left eye ; applied 

 blue-stone ointment after extracting the mat- 

 ter and core, and washing with castile soap ; 

 reduced the feed, and issue to sick camels, 

 &c., barley meal balls. 



Bactrian camel still seems not to care for feed ; 

 one of the female camels, No. 22, from Smyr- 

 na, shows signs of her time for delivery ap- 

 proaching ; sore on the eye of the camel 

 improving ; gave to the Bactrian half pint 

 sweet oil ; worked him very little ; Gourmal 

 better. 



The evening of this day No. 22 gave birth to a 

 young camel; the camel is delivered as the 

 cow, with the exception ihat it is necessary 

 after delivery to breathe innnediately into the 

 nostrils of young animals, and to swaddle it 

 in warm wrappers, having also a man to watch 

 by it day and night, who, the day after partu- 

 rition, has to milk the mother himself, and 

 dipping his fingers into the warm milk, puts 

 one of them in the calf's mouth, and tlius it 

 is gradually learnt to recognize ilie odor of 

 milk, the use of the teat, and its own require- 

 ments ; the mother for a day or two hardly 

 notices it ; and perhaps vvere her udder not 

 to becom'e uneasy to her for want of milking, 

 would not let it suck her; the calf lies con- 

 stantly before her, and is fed as above men- 



