320 THE CAMEL 



CHAPTEE XV 



GENERAL REMARKS 



Employ- HAVING practically finished my remarks, there is little 

 first line of m r e left to say, as I think I have discussed the camel 

 m a ^ * ts ^ earm g s as a transport animal. I have not 



cation Uni " treate d tne riding camel separately, because, with few 

 exceptions, which have been noted, its treatment and 

 management are exactly similar. Before concluding, 

 however, I should like to make a few remarks on the 

 employment of the first line of transport on the lines of 

 communication or, to be nearer the mark, making no 

 distinction between the two, owing to a paucity of 

 animals. To do justice to a subject of such vast and 

 vital importance as this, one should discuss it in all its 

 details and from every point of view ; but here it will 

 be sufficient to take only a cursory glance at it, and 

 condemn it as the most fatal error that can be committed. 

 We have seen in these pages, in one or two instances, 

 the terrible consequences of it. It is essential that 

 camels, when called upon suddenly to cope with any 

 unusual fatigue or exertion, should be perfectly fresh 

 and fit. Those that are stale in other words, that have 

 been worked off their legs on the way up may, as in 

 Stewart's march, get through, but with what result we 

 have seen. Immediate collapse ; final death. It was 

 manifestly unfair, to say the least of it, to make camels 



