286 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



ment in which David routed the Amalekites. 

 The first general of modern times to see its 

 possibilities was Napoleon, whose flying camel 

 columns were imitated by Napier in Sind, 

 where he had at one time no fewer than twenty- 

 five thousand. The Gordon Highlanders rode 

 on camels in the Indian Mutiny, each trooper 

 with a native driver, and the Scots Greys had 

 their camel corps in 1885, each beast carrying 

 two men and their kit. The French, who, with 

 their Algerian experience, have had unrivalled 

 opportunities of testing the camel in war, use it 

 on their punitive expeditions in combination 

 with horses. The camels are led with the 

 horses until the moment when the enemy is 

 sighted. Then the men are transferred to the 

 camels and are thus able to charge on fresh 

 mounts. In these African wars the hardy 

 character of the camel makes it simply invalu- 

 able. It is no fair-weather friend. It goes day 

 and night. It eats and drinks if there are food 

 and water; if there are not, it goes without. Its 

 feet are impervious to the heat of the burning 

 sand. If the hot wind blows up from the 

 desert, the camel simply shuts its eyes and 

 nostrils, just as we might close the windows of 

 a house to keep out the dust. The swiftest 

 camel will easily cover a hundred miles in ten 

 or eleven hours, though it should not be ex- 

 pected, when travelling at that pace, to carry 



