12 



estimating as a camel load 4 cwt. (448 lbs.) for a long march to 

 be increased up to 9 or 10 cwt. for a shorter one — for a four or 

 five year old animal. It is contrary to regulation to purchase a 

 camel under 6 years of age, be it remembered for tlie information 

 of the authors. The Turcoman camel seems to be a valuable 

 weight carrier ; Burnaby found that " although a strong beast 

 will carry 800 lbs. day after day for a short journey, he very 

 soon breaks down if you should increase the march. Even with 

 so light a load as 400 lbs. I had great dijB&culty in making 16 

 miles per diem/' and Potto in his '' History of the Steppe Cam- 

 paigns" says that the load, should be limited to 700 lbs. — which 

 is to be diminished in spring, when the animals are changing 

 their coats, and increased when there is plenty of forage and no 

 great speed required, to 800 or 880 lbs. which is about what is 

 carried in traders' caravans. " In the case of trade caravans the 

 load is a fixed one amounting to 16 puds (lbs. 576), or for the 

 one humped Khivan camel {nar or dromedary) as much as 18 2>uds 

 (lbs. 648). During the movement of troops the several loads are 

 reduced to 12 puds (lbs. 432)" (Kostenko). The ordinary camel 

 load of the Arabs is about 550 lbs. (2 tellis of wheat). 



(6) The camel, although a slow and deliberate worJier, can traverse 

 much ground daily and lisep up with an army. His average rate of 

 marching is 2 miles per hour, and varies from 3 miles on a good 

 road to 1 mile per hour in a close country. This rate of progress 

 can, if the animal be allowed to browse as he walks, be sustained 

 in case of emergency for 10 or 12 hours — a march of 17 or 20 

 miles per diem is not too much for a reasonably-loaded, well-fed 

 camel but it must be remembered that as a rule after arrival at 

 the halting place these animals have to collect their own fodder."^ 

 Halts during the day's march are a mistake, they are not required 

 for camels and the animal is only the longer kept under the load 

 and the arrival in camp delayed. On the other hand camels 

 must not be hurried — the nose rope should be kept neither slack 

 nor too tight to prevent browsing. The camel of the desert 

 travels, at his fastest, 5 miles per hour for 8 to 10 hours per diem 

 (Warren). The French found that the large Algerian Camel 

 will do 25 miles (40 kmrs.) as a maximum daily journey, whereas 



* Priiigle advocates halting for two days per week when inarching with 

 camels to give them grazing (Report in No. 13 of Q. J. V. S. in India). 



