XV1IL THIRSTY ANIMALS 



AMONG the questions asked in relation to the diffi- 

 culties of the latest Indian Frontier War was the reason 

 why the difficulty of obtaining water blocked our 

 advance, but did not hamper the hillmen. The answer 

 is that our troops had in one camp upwards of twenty- 

 five thousand baggage animals. There were oxen, 

 mules, donkeys, and camels. The former are always 

 thirsty creatures, and even the camels are credited with 

 vastly larger powers of sustaining thirst than they 

 possess. Major A. G. Leonard, after seventeen years' 

 experience as a transport officer, is convinced that 

 camels should, if possible, be watered every day, that 

 they cannot be trained to do without water, and that, 

 though they can retain one and a half gallons of water 

 in the cells of the stomach, four or five days' abstinence 

 is as much as they can stand, in heat and with dry food, 

 without permanent injury. 



It is very doubtful whether the majority of the 

 various ' desert animals ' willingly go without water, 



'3i 9 2 



