INTRODUCTION. 



The subject of this essay is the dromedary artillery, styled in Persian 

 Zembourek, from the word Zembour (a wasp.)* It has been used with 

 advantage for a long time in the Persian army, and has often contributed 

 to the achievement of signal victories over neighboring powers, and in 

 the civil wars which followed the fall of the Shahs Sophis, and which 

 continued until the accession of the reigning family of Kadjars. 



Kepairing, in 1838, for the second time, to Teheran, at the head of 

 a regiment of hehadercm khassa, (grenadiers of the guard,) to be pre- 

 sented to H. M. Mehemed Shah, I saw a detachment of the dromedary 

 artillery parading in a review. Struck with its singular appearance, 

 I made, on the spot, a few rough sketches of it. Up to that time I 

 had served only in the war in Kurdistan, a mountainous country, not 

 admitting the employment of dromedaries ; nor was it until subse- 

 quently, in 1841, when I became attached to the person of the king, 

 that I could measure exactly their usefulness. The prime vizier, wish- 

 ing to introduce reforms into the corps^ charged me with the reports 

 in relation to it, which gave me an opportunity of making numerous 

 investigations, and of thoroughly ascertaining everything relating to 

 the history of the zemboureks, and of their service since organized, a 

 period of one hundred and twenty years. The greater number of 

 Europeans who have described this artillery, and given sketches of it, 

 have done it in so incomplete and inexact a manner, that it is fair to 

 presume that they never saw it. We will not, however, pursue fur- 

 ther this criticism, as it would draw us beyond the limits we have 

 prescribed to ourselves. 



I have thought it best to give, first, a few particulars of the natural 

 history of the dromedary, which are little known, avoiding repetition 

 of those found in special treatises. f From the earliest ages, drome- 

 daries have been used in Asia for military transportation. Titus, 

 Livy, and Diodorus Siculus even, give accounts in detail of expedi- 

 tions in which the dromedary was used as an immediate auxilliary to 



■'' The name of this insect is given to the dromedary artillery, to indicate, by a metaphor 

 common in the East, the constant and incessant annoyance of this light artillery to tlie 

 troops it is ordered to pursue and attack. 



fWe cannot too liighly recommend the excellent work on this subject by General 

 Carbuccia ; a work as interesting as it is instructive. 



