PURCHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 237 



for we have seen that in several battles the Persians, with forces in- 

 ferior to those of the enemy, gained, with the assistance of the zem- 

 boureks, brilliant successes over the Ottoman army, which left upon 

 the field of battle several of its generals-in-chief, among them, those 

 who had fought against Prince Eugene, of Savoy, Moncenigo, Panin, 

 Koumianzoff, &c. This Ottoman army, moreover, was the same that 

 gained the famous treaty made with the Czar by Balladji-Mohammed- 

 Pasha, on the banks of the Pruth ; and some years later the treaty 

 of Belgrade, one of the most glorious ever concluded by the Porte 

 with the Russians and the Austrians. 



We know that the Ottomans, in their campaigns, have always had 

 superabundance of arms and ammunition, and that they spare no ex- 

 pense in adopting the inventions and improvements made in Europe. 

 The toptchis (artillerists) and the koumbaradjis (bombardiers) have 

 always been in Turkey regular corps, (see the memoirs of Napoleon 

 at the siege of St. Jean cV Acre,) instructed by European officers, such 

 as the Baron de Tolt, and others like him, whilst the Persians, cen- 

 tered in Asia, have had only such teachers as chance brought to them. 

 They have been able_, then, themselves not only to quell intestine 

 wars, but more, to reconquer their usurped provinces, and to preserve 

 over Turkey the preponderance which has lasted to the present time. 

 All these results were obtained by troops badly armed and inferior in 

 numbers to their enemies, but which had the inappreciable advantages 

 of extreme mobility and means of rapid transportation. 



Most of these wars were surprises, in which the Persian army fell 

 unexpectedly upon the enemy, at a time when he was overcome by 

 long marches, or by heat or cold, in a country where the elevation of 

 the sun causes extreme changes of temperature. In consequence, the 

 Zembourek has been called upon to play among them an important 

 part ; it is an invention purely Asiatic, peculiar to and suited to the 

 regions of Asia. It is for this reason that it has been maintained in 

 spite of its defects, which are, however^ in great part remediable. 



I have mentioned the eagerness with which the Persians sought for 

 an artillery transportable on the backs of animals. In 1846, Marshal 

 Soult, at the request of the Count de Sartiges, minister of France to 

 Persia, sent to his excellency the Hadji, a mountain howitzer. Im- 

 mediately a number were cast like it ; but although they may be found 

 very useful in the mountainous regions of the country_, they are not 

 all that is necessary for the plains. The Zembourek will fulfil very 

 much better both of these conditions, particularly with the improve- 

 ments that may be made in it. 



