48 THE MULE. 



how carefully he treats them. Yet, in spite of all his 

 skill, and with the best of shelter, fifteen of these ani- 

 mals died from mortification of their wounds and inju- 

 ries of the spine. The remainder were a very long time 

 in recovering, and when they did, their backs, in many 

 cases, were scarred in such a manner as to render them 

 unfit ever after for being used for a similar purpose. 

 The use of the American pack-saddle, and lack of 

 knowledge on the part of those in charge as to what 

 mules were suitable for packing, did this. The experi- 

 enced packer would have seen at a glance that a large 

 portion of these mules were utterly unfit for the busi- 

 ness. The experiment was a wretched failure, but cost 

 the Government some thousands of dollars. 



I ought to mention, however, that the class of mules 

 on which this experiment was tried were loose, leggy 

 animals, such as I have heretofore described as being 

 almost unfit for any branch of Government service. 

 But, by all means, let the Government abandon the 

 American pack-saddle until some further improvements 

 are made in it. 



!Now, as to the weight a mule can pack. I have seen 

 the Delaware Indians, with all their efiects packed on 

 mules, going out on a bufialo hunt. I have seen the 

 Potawatamies, the Kickapoos, the Pawnees, the Che- 

 yennes, Pi-Ute, Sioux, Arapahoes, and indeed almost 

 every tribe that use mules, pack them to the very 

 extent of their strength, and never yet saw the mule 

 that could pack what Mr. Skinner asserts. More than 

 that, I assert here that you cannot find a mule that w^ill 

 pack even four hundred pounds, and keep his condition 



