700 CAMELS WITH SOUTH AFGHAN EXPEDITION, 1878-9. 
avoidable in the elucidation of my subjects, and even then 
such as shall be made clearly intelligible to the reader. 
Perhaps on no previous occasion has there been so ample 
a field for gleaning information relative to the camel as 
used for transport purposes. The enormous losses, as a 
matter of course, attracted my notice, and even had I then 
been indifferent, the appeal to my olfactory senses at almost 
every step of the distance from Jacobabad to Candahar 
would have been irresistible. Had I been deficient in ordi¬ 
nary observation, and denied by nature the most useful sense of 
smell, the emotion of pity must have stimulated my inquiries 
as to whether my professional training could not devise 
some means of investigating the subject, and bringing 
forward suggestions which might relieve the poor animals 
from the effects of ill treatment, the result of inexperience 
in their management, and the most revolting cruelties prac¬ 
tised upon them by inhuman attendants. 
My remarks are founded upon notes made during many a 
long hour’s trudge through the Kutchee desert, the Bolan 
Pass, the Kojuk; over the different plains en route to Can¬ 
dahar ; the many times slippery passage of the Bori Valley, 
interspersed with those nullahs so well known as impeding 
camel progress ; the difficult passes through the chains of 
mountains on the road back from Kush del Khan Ka Killa 
to the Indus ; many times calculating the distance travelled 
by counting the number of paces taken by the animal 
during an hour; seeing camels under almost the extremes of 
temperature; with deficiency and uncertain quality of forage 
when there was frequently dearth ; and, at times, almost 
poisonous condition of water. 
My subject comes under so many heads that perhaps it 
would be better to introduce it in separate paragraphs, 
rather than to attempt any preliminary adjustment to be 
carried out by arrangement; these, for the convenience of 
consideration, shall be kept as distinct as possible, so that, 
if a reader is particularly interested in any one branch, he 
may not be embarrassed by collateral matter. 
General Characteristics of Camel . 
The camel may fairly be included under the head of 
domesticated animals, for seldom is he found in a wild state. 
So patient and docile is he in our service, so tolerant of 
abstinence on an emergency, by his arched spine (the hump 
is not here alluded to) and flat sides so well adapted for the 
imposition of loads, and by his elastic, cushion-like feet to 
traverse loose, sandy ground, that but little observation or 
