SPEED AND GAIT. 121 



and fifty-two hundredths to the hour, under the 

 most favorable circumstances. 1 Upon rougher 

 ground, it is of course proportionately retarded. 

 Robinson has investigated this subject with his 

 usual care, and upon an examination of the best 

 authorities, adopts, as the result for the caravan 

 of loaded camels, an average speed of two and 

 one third miles per hour. The speed is of course 

 greatly modified by the nature of the ground, 

 and other contingencies, but all irregularities of 



1 Carbuccia, p. 21, says, " The walk of the camel on level 

 ground is eighty-five steps of l m - 25 to the minute." This 

 would give a speed of four miles the hour, which is much 

 beyond the truth, and it will be observed, that the number of 

 steps to the minute is nearly twice that stated by Col. Ches- 

 ney, although the length of step is much less. (See post in 

 this chapter.) In p. 132, he tells us that the camel marches 

 more slowly than the infantry, but as he does not halt, he ar- 

 rives earlier at the bivouac. A report by Capt. Aubac of 

 the French army, Carbuccia, p. 200, states, that on a march 

 of 30,000 metres, the camels gained four hours and a quarter 

 upon the infantry, and upon a march of 28,000 metres, they 

 gained three hours. On these occasions, they carried burdens 

 of nearly three hundred pounds, a fagot of wood and a goat- 

 skin of water, besides a rider, weighing in all certainly five 

 hundred pounds. During a part of the march they trotted 

 and even galloped, and Capt. Aubac adds, that the camel 

 if pressed, will gain upon the infantry fifteen minutes the 

 hour. Carbuccia can be reconciled neither with this report 

 nor with himself. His facts and his opinions must always be 

 received with caution, and I have seldom quoted him, except 

 where he is supported by other authority. 



