602 Documents relative to the application of [July, 



Extracts from Mr. Walne's letter oflSth June, 1839. — Dromedary 



Carriages. 

 I now proceed to the question of Dromedary carriages. My attention 

 has for sometime been seriously turned to this subject, and though 

 observation has quite convinced me that the Camel is a most useful 

 animal for draught, and may be turned to great account in taking across 

 the desert trucks loaded with coals, and other heavy articles, I have 

 hitherto felt rather less sanguine as to adapting Dromedaries (i. e. light 

 Camels) to vehicles calculated to combine comfort with expedition. 

 The difficulty attaches principally to the carriage, and the peculiar road 

 over which it has to pass, and is one, after all, which will doubtless be 

 overcome by the ingenuity of the coach maker. Though a considerable 

 portion of the Suez desert is a hard gravelly plain, there are here and 

 there broad bands of deep sand, over which an ordinary carriage 

 cannot readily pass, whilst in other spots the road is so strong and 

 rough as to defy the best springs, and put ease out of the question. It 

 is, in short, as nature has made it ; and though art may do something to 

 improve its condition, this line can never acquire the properties of a 

 good carriage road. To overcome these obstacles it is necessary that 

 the wheels should have a much greater diameter than those usually 

 employed, and in my proposals forwarded by the last steamer to the 

 Honorable Court of Directors, I suggested, for the conveyance of coals 

 a truck, or cart, with two wheels of nine feet diameter, the weight 

 being suspended from the axle, and the pole resting by a bar on the 

 necks of two Camels. A carriage however for the conveyance of 

 passengers, obviously requires four wheels, and as their diameter must 

 be not less than six feet, and should if possible be more, the whole 

 vehicle will be apt to acquire rather an unwieldy form. The height 

 however of the body from the ground may be diminished (though a 

 little at the expense of strength) by giving a dip or bend a to the axles 

 which, as well as the wheels, must be of wrought 

 iron, and by placing the suspension (not curricle) 

 springs at the sides, 6 6. The pole must be 

 adapted not only to the height of Dromedaries 

 as they stand, but also to their habit of occasion- 

 ally lying down, and the draught be on the hump and ribs of the animals, 

 the harness being similar to that of Major Pew's Artillery. The body 

 should of course be as light as is consistent with the requisite strength, 

 have good arrangements for ventilation, and might contain comfortable 

 sitting room for eight persons, four inside, and two in a cabriolet divi- 

 sion at either end. For a carriage of this kind, four Dromedaries will be 

 necessary, and the journey being divided into four stages, each ve- 



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