MAECHING AND CARRYING POWER 201 



Asiatics and the inhabitants of northern Africa get 

 far more out of a camel than we do ; in fact, there is no 

 comparison, because not only do they depend on him 

 for a living, but for their lives ; consequently they take 

 care of him, and do not override, overdrive, or over- 

 pace him. Better far to get 1,000 miles out of him in 

 80 to 100 days, in good condition at the finish, than 

 1,000 miles in forty to fifty days, with a total and irre- 

 coverable wreck, the probability being that you do not 

 get through that distance. Overweighting and over- 

 pacing mean slow but certain death to the camel. 

 Some wiseacres imagine from his size that he is up to 

 much greater weight than he can really carry. Looking 

 to his points to see if he is up to a certain weight is a 

 matter that never strikes them. Possibly they are not 

 aware that he has any points. He is a great, tall, raw- 

 boned, apparently powerful-looking animal. He is 

 already well loaded say 400 Ib. There are no spare 

 animals available, and our wiseacres wish to push on to 

 a station in front. Get there they must, by hook or 

 crook. They are suffering from a disease most common 

 on service the 'get-to- the- front fever,' so an extra 100 

 or 150 Ib. is shoved on to the wretched animal. On 

 they must go. What do they care if this overweighting 

 eventually kills the poor brute or not, so long as he 

 struggles along and gets them to their destination ? 

 Care ? Why, not a rap as to the animal's patient suffer- 

 ing ; no thought of it ever enters their heads for a 

 moment. Shove on the weight, crush his spirits, let 

 him suffer, kill him ! After all, he is only a camel, 

 they say, and what do a few extra deaths matter ? 



I am not now speaking so much from a humanitarian 



