188 PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



War Department, 

 Washington, June 26, 1856. 



Sir : After fulfilling the orders of the Navy Department, you will 

 proceed^ as authorized^ with the ship Supply to procure an additional 

 numher of camels for the military service of the United States. 



It is desirable to procure ten dromedaries, of the swift kind, from 

 Egypt. Mr. Edwin De Leon, consul general at Alexandria, has 

 already been written to on the subject, and has been requested to give 

 such aid as he may render, and you may require, in obtaining them. 

 After procuring the dromedaries, you will complete your cargo at 

 Smyrna with such specimens of the burden camel as seem best adapted 

 to the soil and climate of the United States, and, especially, you will 

 avail yourself of any opportunity which may offer to obtain fine 

 animals of the Bactrian variety, and complete your list by selecting 

 young camels of the approved crosses. 



It is desirable that you should expedite the matter as much as pos- 

 sible, so as to reach the United States in the early part of December. 

 Inform me through the mail of your proceedings, particularly when 

 you leave for the United States, so that due preparations may be made 

 for the arrival of the camels. 



You will receive, for the purpose of carrying out this experiment, 

 ten thousand dollars, which will be charged to you on the books of 

 the treasury, and, as the War Department is not prepared at this 

 moment to furnish you with letters of credit abroad, you will have to 

 draw the amount here, and make arrangements with some banking 

 house in the United States to furnish you with letters of credit on 

 England, taking certificafps at the time of the difference of exchange, 

 so that it may be allowed in the settlement of your accounts. If you 

 cannot make any such arrangement and find it necessary to turn your 

 funds into such money as will pass current at the places to which you 

 are going, you will exchange for French money at New York, taking 

 certificates of the premium you pay, and the amount will be allowed 

 in the settlement of your accounts. The latter is the least expensive 

 though not, perhaps, the most convenient mode of arranging the 

 matter. 



Very respectfully, you obedient servant. 



JEFF'N DAVIS, 



Secretary of War. 



Lieutenant David D. Porter, 

 United States Navy. 



Quartermaster G-eneral's Office, 



Washington City, July 14, 1856. 



Sir : On the 12th instant you were addressed by telegraph, and 

 authorized to employ Mr. Heap at a compensation of two thousand 

 dollars a year and his oecessary expenses. 



