404 CAMELS AND WATER. 



pace of the baggage camel never exceeding 2 to 2| 

 miles per hour, which cannot be increased without risk 

 of serious injury to the animals; all the authorities 

 agree upon these points, and the animals also require to 

 be watered more frequently than is generally supposed 

 that is, if they are to be kept in good condition. 

 British military experiences on this point are ample, 

 both in Asia and in Africa, with every sort of camel 

 and Lord Wolseley's Soldier's Pocket Book tells us 

 that, when worked for three days without water, a 

 camel's condition runs down rapidly, and after long 

 journeys of five or six days without water, it requires 

 several days to regain its strength, while if it is allowed 

 to go down in strength below a certain point, it will 

 take weeks, perhaps months, to pick up again. * 



Count D'Escayrac de Lauture appears to have come 

 to substantially the same conclusions, for he states 

 "that according to the season, camels can go from three to 

 seven days without drinking, and two days without food " 

 and also that after a trying journey of this kind " the animal 

 is almost done up and could not start again immediately it 

 requires some days, and often two or three months to re- 

 cover; if he is old he will probably never recover, and from 

 that moment has lost nearly the whole of his value." f 



The Count then proceeds to cite instances which 

 prove the accuracy of these facts. Shall we therefore 

 conclude that stories of camels passing weeks without 

 drinking are mere fabrications of tricky natives to " take 

 a rise " out of the foreigner ? or inventions made for 

 the purpose of wilfully deceiving him? 



* The Soldier's Pocket Book for Field Service^ by General Viscount 

 Wolseley, Adj. Gen. to the Forces, 5th Edit., 1886, p. 79. 



f Le Desert et Le Soudan, par M. le Comte D'Escayrac de Lauture> 

 Paris, 1853, p. 612. 



