298 THE CAMEL 



as compared with 1,500/.) ; so that, roughly speaking, 

 camel transport is both in initial and yearly expen- 

 diture half as cheap as mule. The loss by death I 

 have not taken into consideration, as this is difficult 

 even to approximate. It would be in favour of the 

 latter ; but remember that, even were the rate to be 

 double, the comparative original cost of each animal 

 would minimise if not equalise this. Nor have I gone 

 into the extra amount of kit and rations that would 

 have to be carried for 800 drivers and 1,600 mules, as 

 against 200 drivers and 800 camels ; but I think I 

 have sufficiently examined the question to show that 

 camel transport has been unnecessarily despised and 

 underrated, and I must again reiterate what I have so 

 frequently stated in these pages, that a camel in his 

 own country and climate is second to none, while in 

 proper hands he is invaluable anywhere. 



Camels Camels can be and are used for draught. In parts 



draught of Central Asia they are harnessed to wagons, and em- 

 ployed by the Eussians to carry heavy loads. And in 

 the Kara -Kum desert, along the Orsk Kazala high road, 

 they take the place of the post horses, and as such 

 carry both mails and passengers. The Kirghiz yoke 

 their camels to a kind of cart, and in Orenburg or 

 elsewhere yokes of four camels are used for ploughing. 

 In winter, when the steppes are thickly covered with 

 snow, they are employed in drawing sleighs. In 

 Central India, also, and the North-West Provinces they 

 are in use all the year round. I have seen them in 

 Agra and Muttra between which places four-wheeled 

 carts carrying native passengers and goods run regularly 

 the carts are covered, and are long, low and clumsy. 



