952 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



The attention required is constant ; one pace should be 

 maintained, all trotting to make up intervals should be 

 prohibited ; the infantry protecting the convoy are certain 

 to ride on the already overloaded waggons unless prevented ; 

 breaks put on going downhill are often forgotten to be taken 

 off on the level ; easy watering places are passed without 

 taking advantage of them ; temporary halts are not utilized 

 for grazing when such is available, though to do this does 

 not necessitate unhooking a single animal. The non-com- 

 missioned officers with the convoy continue to sit on their 

 horses at every stoppage instead of dismounting ; obvious 

 galls are not immediately rectified by simple altera- 

 tion in the harness ; creaking wheels are not greased 

 though grease is available, these and other matters are 

 what should be looked for to insure the transport animals 

 — the backbone of an army witliout which it cannot move — 

 are kept in as fit condition as possible. 



Here, for example, may be seen a pack mule loaded up in 

 the dark with much more weight on one side than the other, 

 causing the saddle to heel over and damage the withers ; 

 another carrying a few rifles, cooking-pots, and other im- 

 pedimenta in addition to its legitimate load, in order to save 

 trouble. There, perhaps, may be seen a mule with a portion 

 of a machine gun so placed as to grind a hole in the withers, 

 while another has some of the pack-saddle straps lying 

 between the back and the pommel. 



In a team may probably be seen a small willing mule in the 

 wheel pulling his heart out, while a big one in the lead is not 

 pulling an ounce. Here, perhaps, may be a string of camels, 

 tied so closely head to tail that the rope does not admit of 

 the naturally jerky movements of the head and neck, and 

 the piece of wood to which it is attached in the nose is 

 painfully pulled on by his fellow in front, and may even be 

 torn out of the nose. Here may be seen a batch of sick 

 or wounded animals tied up in groups of four or five, with a 

 rope passing from head to head so short that all freedom of 

 action is denied, and they lean on each other for support. 

 Fig.' 217, ;A shows the position, looked at from above, of 



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