MARCHING AND CARRYING POWER 207 



disparity there is between the muscular developments 

 of his fore and hind quarters, the latter being very defi- 

 cient as well as in the nervous supply anatomists 

 will tell you. For this reason, also, he is unable to jump, 

 and at his best jumbles over a tiny obstacle in the clum- 

 siest way possible. Hence it is that in the Bolan, 

 Kurram, and Khyber passes a far greater proportion of 

 camels succumbed at the foot of all the ascents than 

 down hill or along the general level of the road 

 a loss of life which frequently might have been 

 avoided by an occasional judicious halt and rest at 

 the base of the hills or rising ground. 



If marching in a mountainous country, it is a wise Precau- 



. tiontobe 



precaution to halt for a few minutes only on the top of taken 

 a rise, or at the base of an incline, so as to give the camels marching 



time to regain their wind, and to pull themselves to- 

 gether. But on no account stop half way up or down c 

 an incline, no matter how slight. In fact, avoid halts in 

 a day's march, and the fewer you have the better. If 

 possible, and there is nothing to prevent it, it is better 

 still to keep camels always on the move in a tolerably 

 level or slightly undulating country from one camp to 

 the other. For, as already pointed out in chapter viii., 

 both standing and kneeling under loads is a perni- 

 cious and injurious habit. 



It has been asserted that the camel travels equally 

 well either up or down hill, if taken slowly which is 

 decidedly a matter of difficulty going down and if the 

 incline is not very steep. This is not so. In fact a 

 really steep slope is out of the question, and even a 

 moderate one is difficult. For the matter of that all 

 animals the camel most certainly ascend a hill far 



