ADAPTABILITY TO OUR FAR WEST.' 



31 



large tracts of country closely resembling the deserts of Africa 

 and Arabia. None of our mountain passes are more rugged or 

 steeper, or more subjected to the obstacles of snow and ice, 

 than those of China, Tartary, or northern Africa. Some have 

 suggested that the greater humidity of portions of our con- 

 tinent, giving more of an alluvial character to the soil, would 

 be found objectionable. Mud is always an impediment to 

 travel, but I think the extracts which I have read from Major 

 Wayne's Reports show that the camel is by no means thrown 

 hors de combat from this cause ; at all events, we may safely 

 affirm that even under these conditions, least favorable to his 

 character and capacity — which are, by the way, the exception 

 and not the rule— the camel will be found to possess many ad- 

 vantages over the loaded team as a means of transportation. 



That this useful and valuable animal has not hitherto been 

 introduced into our continent, may be attributed partly to the 

 fact that our population has been made up almost exclusively 

 from peoples not familiar with the uses of the camel — the over- 

 flow, as it were, of the denser countries of Western and Central 

 Europe. No great territorial nation has sent us any contribu- 

 tion to speak of; and, besides, our previous requirements may 

 not seem to have imperatively demanded the use of any other 

 means of conveyance than those which we found ready pro- 

 vided to our hands. But with the gold discoveries in California, 

 and the subsequent discoveries of the precious metals in our in- 

 land Territories, the aspect of the case is changed : other and 

 better facilities are called for, and must be had. In this view 

 of the question, I think I hazard little in repeating a prediction 

 which I made in a work published in Boston in 1851, that " the 

 camel will yet be domesticated and bred in our Western States 

 and Territories as the horse, the mule, and the ox now are, and 

 will doubtless do more towards extending the outskirts of our 

 civilization than all other appliances to boot." 



There, in the golden wake of sunset, lies the peerless West, 

 offering us with lavish hand her priceless treasures. There she 

 stands like a queen, flushed and proud, arrayed in garments of 

 . silver with ornaments of gold, waiting to be crowned with the 

 glory of human population, like Memnon's statue in the wilder- 

 ness, waiting for the dawn of human industry to become musical 

 with its hum. Macaulay, at the close of his essay on Mitford's 



