284 THE CAMEL 



and timidity, but I can answer for his obstinacy. For 

 downright sheer obstinacy commend me to an Indian 

 bullock. The mule is not in it with him, and is a 

 paragon compared with him. You may have trouble in 

 loading a mule, but once loaded he will go until he can go 

 no further ; but the bullock will quietly lie down not 

 from weakness, but of his own accord and nothing on 

 earth will move him. To quote again from my Diary : 



' December 24, 1878. Here we had some trouble, as 

 the leading bullocks in one of the mortars lay down 

 and refused to budge an inch. After making every 

 effort to induce them to rise, we had to unyoke the 

 stubborn brutes and haul them out of the way with 

 drag ropes. Then the remaining pair would not pull 

 an ounce, so, putting all the men on the ropes, we 

 dragged the gun, bullocks and all, up the incline.' 



One more instance : 



4 December 26, 1878. We had not gone more than 

 two miles, during which we had crossed the river three 

 times and found the road very heavy, when we came 

 across four wagons belonging to the left half-battery, 

 which we literally dragged into camp the whole way 

 about seven miles because the bullocks would not pull. 

 One leading bullock, in particular, gave no end of trouble. 

 He lay down six times, and each time but the last we got 

 him up with the greatest difficulty, only to lie down again. 

 At last he would not move, and we were nearly out of our 

 wits. However, by dint of sheer force we got him up, 

 when, without a note of warning, this brute, whom we 

 had thought to be in the last stage of exhaustion, rushed 

 at Wardall (a private in my company), and tossed him 

 about ten feet in the air, then on to the next man who 



