E E P O R T 



Mr. President : 



The Committee ou Internal Improvements, to whom was referred the memo- 

 rial of Wra. Nea^e Walton on the subject of introducing camels and dromedaries 

 into California, and employing them for transportation across the deserts inter- 

 vening between California and the Eastern States. 



Also, Senate bill No. 229, An Act to encourage immigration and to facilitate 

 inter-oceanic communications, have had the same under consideration and ask 

 leave to report as follows: 



The object designed to be attained by the memorial and the bill, is one which 

 eminently merits the fostering care of the Legislature. Although, to some 

 minds, it may seem to be surrounded with such obstacles as to make it appear 

 impracticable, yet this should not deter us from the attempt when we reflect 

 that our most common and useful domestic animals, especially the horse and the 

 ox, were not natives of this continent, but accompanied the colonists of Spain 

 and England in their immigration. The Aztecs who had arrived at a high de- 

 gree of luxury and civilization in Mexico, were strangers to the horse until they 

 encountered it and dreaded it as a demi-god in their battles with Fernando 

 Cortez . 



There are two kinds of camel, the camel proper, which has two bunches, and 

 is more extensively used in the desert steppes of Central Asia, between the 

 Caspian Sea and China, and between latitude of 35° and 45*^ north latitude; 

 and the dromedary camel, which has only one bunch, is more light and fleet than 

 the other, and is in extensive use throughout Arabia, Syria, Persia, and the 

 north of Africa. 



Cuvier says the camel with two bunches succeeds best in humid soils; it is 

 larger and stronger than the other. The camel with one bunch is most remark- 

 able for its sobriety. The dromedary is i)roperly a lighter variety and more 

 fitted for expedition. 



There is a great similarity between the physical formation of Central Asia, 

 where the camel is used, and that of the interior of our o^^ u continent, from 



