MARCHING AND CARRYING POWER 193 



convoy, thereby adding considerably to the duties and 

 responsibilities of its escort in protecting it. 



Biding camels of good breeds undoubtedly have Paces of 



riding 



great speed and endurance, and are said to do 100 camels 

 miles and even more in a day. Burckhardt, in his 

 work on Nubia, relates an instance of an Egyptian 

 camel which travelled 115 miles in eleven hours, be- 

 sides being carried twice over the Nile, an operation 

 which occupied about twenty minutes each time. I 

 can quite believe that an exceptional camel would do 

 this, for I have known even average specimens cover 

 forty-five to fifty miles in six hours, and ninety to 

 ninety-five miles in twelve to thirteen hours, without 

 being specially pushed or pressed. The great feature 

 about either class of camel is, that so long as you do not 

 drive them beyond their normal pace, they can keep it 

 up for hours at a stretch, eight to ten in the day, and 

 they can maintain this day by day (as we have seen) for 

 an indefinite period ; but in a long journey it is always 

 wiser to halt every fifth or seventh day, even if you 

 have to increase the daily distance, and always select a 

 place where there is good pasturage for the halt. In 

 fact, make your halts subservient to the grazing, and 

 not merely to routine ; for it is little use stopping at a 

 bare sterile spot where the animals can get nothing to 

 eat, and it is far wiser to overstep the limit, go a 

 longer distance and make forced marches in order to 

 arrive at good pasture, rather than keep up a fixed 

 routine at the risk of starving your animals. It is 

 more or less a case of, in the choice of two evils, choose 

 the lesser. Naturally, in a hostile country, where 

 grazing is not always practicable, you are obliged to 



o 



