INTRODUCTION 17 



and it has been used both for riding and carrying 

 purposes. But it is only within comparatively recent 

 years (with one exception), and notably since the 

 Afghan War (1878-80), that we have begun to under- 

 stand something about him, and to find out his intrinsic 

 worth. The exception I allude to is Sir Charles Napier, 

 whom I look upon as one of our best all-round com- 

 manders, not only because he was a fighting soldier, 

 skilled in the science and art of war, but he was his 

 own commissariat and transport officer (an accomplish- 

 ment which, as the Iron Duke said, every good general 

 should possess). And as such he knew of what vital 

 importance both branches were to an army, especially 

 in the kind of country (Sind and Beloochistan, sandy, 

 waterless wastes) in which he commanded countries in 

 which a force was absolutely dependent on its commis- 

 sariat and transport. His observations on the camel, 

 though few, are pithy and to the point, and well worth 

 reading. What is more, they show that he was per- 

 sonally acquainted with its ways and habits, and fully 

 recognised its extraordinary utility as a beast of burden 

 and locomotion if properly treated and managed. Judg- 

 ing from these remarks, and from his action in forming 

 a baggage and camel corps in Sind, he had a more 

 practical knowledge of the animal, and a completer 

 grasp of the subject, than any soldier we have ever 

 had in India ; and he, first of all British generals, fully 

 appreciated and gauged the true capacity of the camel. 

 And yet, in spite of the valuable lessons he inculcated, 

 the result of a wide and varied experience, we, in 1878 

 in Afghanistan, knew far less about the animal than he 

 had known some thirty years previous. 



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