GENERAL REMARKS 327 



that an ox can, and the more sterile the country, the 

 greater their advantage over the ox or horse. 



Of their relative weight-carrying capacity 1 have Relative 

 already spoken in chapter ix., while, slow as a camel ^ers^f 

 is, he can walk faster than an ox, either in draught, or the camel 

 under the pack. I can lay my hands on several breeds 

 of the former that will carry a minimum load of 400 lb., 

 and cover 25 miles a day. In proper hands, and in the 

 country stretching from Vryburg and Johannesburg up 

 to Salisbury, they could make eight journeys of 400 

 miles a month. Eest them for three or four months 

 during the rains, and they will be as fresh as ever for 

 the ensuing season. Should the herbage be scanty and 

 the water scarce in districts such as the Kalahari is 

 reputed to be, a monthly average of 300 miles would 

 be enough to expect. Or look at it in another way. A 

 baggager walks 2-J- miles an hour, and can be worked 

 10 hours in the 24, or 25 miles a day. Eest him every 

 fifth day, leaving 24 working days in the month, 

 which, multiplied by 25 miles (a day), equals 580 

 miles. 



Now compare this with an ox. Taking his average and of the 

 pace at 1-|- mile (in the shafts) an hour, and say he 

 can work 12 hours out of the 24, you get an average 

 of 18 miles per diem ; a most exceptional one too. Eest 

 every fifth day gives 24 working days, which, multi- 

 plied by 18 miles, equals 432 miles in the month. The 

 question, however, naturally rises, How long will the 

 same team of oxen keep up this rate ? Granted they 

 make a similar journey in the second month, could they 

 accomplish a third ? arid would it be possible for even 

 an exceptional team to make a fourth ? I say, most 



