THE CAMEL. 179 



Indian army; SmitMeld Market alone can rival it!" On tlie 

 effects of the camels being overloaded, he continues : " Down — 

 down — down the poor animals go, one after another, under their 

 crushing loads, all along the march. Their ears and their tails 

 are immediately cut off by the drivers, to prove that they are dead 

 or useless ; a cruel precaution, but said to be requisite to prevent 

 the cheating tricks played by the contractors, who get paid for 

 the camels that die, on producing the ears and tails. The 

 animals are often not quite dead, but are unable to stand ; and 

 where the camel falls, there this ill-treated, patient creature lies, 

 bleeding, and without food or water, till death puts an end to its 

 sufferings. If there happen to be trees or other forage for him 

 near where he falls, and that in despite of the mutilation and 

 fatigue, he recovers a little, he may live ; but he is of course stolen 

 by the country people, who find him afterwards, and without 

 a master. However, camels when overworked rarely recover, as 

 horses and other animals do, by rest ; they are generally observed 

 to become daily weaker till they die, and when a camel dies the 

 loads of his survivors increase, as I have stated, and the more 

 they are laden, the slower they move ; and the slower they move, 

 the more they are beaten ; and the more they are beaten, the 

 faster they perish. Sticks, stones, butts of muskets, points of 

 bayonets, are all vigorously put into action to urge the overloaded 

 camels on their weary march, which is tracked by their dead 



bodies." ^ 



History in some of its phases keeps repeating itself. The 

 Soudan campaign resounds with cruelty to these animals, some 

 of it unavoidable, but a great deal of it that could have been 

 prevented. The habits of the beasts were not taken into account, 

 and they died like sheep with the murrain in consequence, and 

 still the telegrams kept pouring in to headquarters from the front : 

 " More camels wanted — more camels wanted ! " 



Despite their ungainly, stupid-looking appearance, the events 



connected with these animals cast a certain reverence around them, 



even when we see them shambling along with their burden of 



children in the gardens of the Zoological Society. In the coun- 



1 « Letter to Sir J. Hobhouse," by General Sir Charles James Napier. 



N 2 



