MARCHING AND CARRYING POWER 203 



ought not to be, as the chances in recent years, within the 

 last fifteen notably, to study him and learn his ways and 

 peculiarities have been innumerable. On the contrary, 

 those who have studied him and know him best, who 

 have marched and ridden with him under all con- 

 ditions heat and cold, wet and dry, plenty and star- 

 vation, adverse and favourable will tell you that, in 

 proportion to his bulk, he is not up to great weight, 

 and that he is very delicate, easily liable to cold (unless 

 Bactrian, and born in a cold climate, and then great 

 heat will affect him), and unable to stand excessive 

 heat ; and that, taken altogether, he is not nearly so 

 strong or so hardy as was formerly supposed. But do 

 not misunderstand me, and do not misconstrue my 

 meaning, and run away with the idea that I am de- 

 preciating him. On the contrary, no one more fully 

 appreciates the full worth of a camel, and no one, I 

 think, knows it better than I do ; and so I repeat that 

 he is not the infallible wonder that he has been repre- 

 sented ; but all the same, in proper hands, he is per- 

 fectly invaluable, and can perform and endure what no 

 other animal can. 



Camels should be loaded, not evenly, but according judgment 

 to their strength, power of carriage, and endurance, weight of 

 Breadth, not height, is the surest sign of these powers. loads 

 Thus a camel may be tall and big, but deficient in 

 muscle, bone, and stamina as compared with a shorter 

 or smaller one who is thick-set and deep. It is these Best 

 short, muscular, deep camels that are the best; yet, Carriers 

 because he is tall and big, a greater weight is shoved 

 on him, and sooner or later he collapses. Camels, like 

 horses, should be specified as only up to a certain 



