132 THE CAMEL 



camels, of which they are careful, they pay no heed to 

 class, quality, or any of the points above enumerated. 

 There is no doubt that such details, small as they may 

 appear to be in themselves, eventually exercise a 

 marked effect, as I have endeavoured to show ; and on 

 the attention or neglect paid to them depends entirely 

 the improvement or deterioration of breeds. On the 

 other hand, I do not accuse the natives of neglect in the 

 general management of their animals and caravans, and, 

 as I point out later on, we can learn a gre at deal from 

 them. But in this one question of improvement of 

 breed we might teach them many valuable lessons if 

 we only chose to do so. Indeed, science has a splen- 

 did field before it to assist Nature, as it has done so 

 successfully in other directions. 



This is a question the careful examination of which 

 I cannot too strongly impress on our Government, and 

 the most practical way to do so is by the establishment 

 of breeding depots in Egypt, India, Australia, South 

 Africa, and last, but not least, England. If it is to be 

 adopted at all, let the adoption be purely practical, and 

 not simply theoretical. In the long run practice is 

 economy, theory is extravagance. The history of our 

 transport has always been summed up in one word, 

 6 failure,' while the less said about its financial aspect 

 the better. Why ? Because (in a sentence) experience 

 has been despised, and experiment in other words, 

 theory has reigned supreme. No transport in the 

 world can be worked except on a broad and solid basis, 

 a foundation built on the rock of hard practical expe- 

 rience, and not on the loose and shifting sand of theory. 

 Then when the fierce flood of war breaks on it with 



