300 THE CAMEL 



CHAPTEE XIV 



PURCHASING 



To purchase camels for transport purposes is not so 

 easy a task as might be supposed. On the contrary, 

 it is an operation that on the part of the purchaser 

 requires great practical experience and knowledge of 

 the animal, as well as plenty of tact and discrimination 

 in dealing with the wily native. It most certainly 

 ought not to be entrusted to anyone, and yet invariably 

 you will find this to be the case ; during the late 

 Afghan war, for instance and especially in the Nile 

 expedition where many an officer had never seen a 

 camel, except perhaps in the days of his youth, at the 

 Zoological Gardens in Eegent's Park. 



Purchas- Officers veterinary surgeons, if available under 



present arrangements should be specially selected for 

 tne i r knowledge and experience of transport and trans- 

 port animals in general, but camels in particular, and 

 the deeper their knowledge, and the wider their expe- 

 rience, the better. It is self-evident that an army can- 

 not make war without an efficient transport. The com- 

 missariat has been very truly called the ' belly of the 

 army ' equally so the transport is the ' legs.' With- 

 out its legs no army can move. It is crippled, helpless 

 in fact. Even when the legs are only shaky in other 

 words, when the transport is inefficient the mobility of 



