20 



admissible to keep the animal in fair health while shedding the 

 coat and to render superfluous the change of air which the 

 Afghans and Arabs seem to consider absolutely essential to 

 health. Grain should, generally, be prepared either by crushing 

 or soaking to render it digestible, otherwise much of it escapes 

 mastication. Even when the cool thee is prepared by soaking I 

 have observed that much remains unutilized not nearly so much, 

 however, as in the case of ox. Each camel in Madras carries a 

 hide (Chursali) in which the gram is soaked and which is carried 

 over the saddle and jhool on the march to protect them from wear. 

 The General Routine of Camel Management when on the march 

 consists : — in unloading immediately on arrival in camp. It 

 should be arranged, if possible, that this take place at about 

 8 — 9 A.M., so that the camels are not unnecessarily exposed to 

 the sun and are on the move during the cold time just before and 

 after dawn ; the day's march of 12 — 18 miles may have been com- 

 pleted before nine o'clock. Then a little bhoosa should be thrown 

 down before the animals or they may be turned loose to graze. In 

 any case the saddle should be removed in about an hour's time. 

 The natives have a prejudice in favour of leaving on the saddle 

 from one end of the journey to the other, but this is a very bad 

 plan to work on, it hides the falling off in condition of a camel 

 which is being robbed of its grain and mussauls, it prevents our 

 noticeing the hollowness of flank which denotes deficiency of 

 fodder, it hides galls as caused by bad saddling and sadly ag- 

 gravates them and increases their number by a part pressed upon 

 gaining no ease ; finally, it is quite enough for the camels to 

 carry their gear while at work. 



Before being brought in from grazing, at 4 p.m., they should 

 be watered. Much has been written about the tolerance of thirst 

 exhibited by the camel and his powers in this direction have been 

 exaggerated and it has been supposed that camels of all kinds can 

 rely on their internal accumulations of water. This is an import- 

 ant error to start with. Again, it seems, from Colonel Warren's 

 observations, that if the camel '' has for a month or two been em- 

 ployed where he can get water daily he will drink suflBcient for 

 only one day and nothing will persuade him otherwise. Conse- 

 quently some camels, although true desert ones, are apt to be lost 

 on first starting into the desert. They require to be trained to 



