Top-loaded 
mule 
442, EASTERN AND WESTERN VIEWS OF MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY. 
the greatest possible power of fire of the gun together with the 
ammunition supply for war purposes, without entailing an unwieldly 
organization in matériel and personnel for the battery must be secured. 
Before passing to the consideration of the matériel for a Mountain 
Battery, he enters into a long dissertation on the pack-mules of the 
United States and those of their neighbour, Mexico. 
Although interesting there is nothing very novel in his remarks. 
He certainly proves the excellence of the Mexican mule as a weight 
carrier, which we might take a note of in India for future reference, 
when seeking for remount mules for our batteries there. He reckons 
that a good mule will carry of solid freight a load equal to 80 per cent. of 
his own service weight (trom 800 to 1000 lbs.), that is from 280 lbs. to 
360 Ibs. including pack-saddle, excepting in long and rapid marches 
when animals of this weight should not be loaded in excess of 240 lbs. 
The pace of the mule should be about 4 miles. If required to trot, 
the trot should be the “slow trot,” 7.e. 6 miles an hour. Captain 
Schenck now puts this equation before us :— 
Let d = the distance a mule can travel daily if unloaded. 
n w= the weight under which he could not travel at all. 
»  w' = some weight less than w, under which he could travel 
d’ miles per day. 
Then there obtains— 
w' d* = w (d—d)?’. 
Now the work or useful “effect” will be a maximum when w’ d' is a 
maximum, or when w' =4wandd’=4id. Or in other words, the 
mule will accomplish the most work when he transports 4 of the load 
under which he would stagger; and he will travel just 4 of the distance 
he could if he carried no load at all. 
If a mule is able to travel 20 miles per diem carrying a load of 256 
Ibs., and 50 miles per diem when he carries nothing, his best load will 
be 316 lbs. carried about 17 miles per day. 
I have personally after experience in our own Mountain Artillery, 
and from witnessing that of continental nations working under service 
conditions, arrived at the following conclusions, as to this knotty 
question of the weight-carrying powers of ordnance mules in different 
climates and conditions :— 
(a) A carefully selected mule can carry, throughout the vicissitudes 
of active service, a total load (including its harness) of 304 
Ibs. of which 5’, weight may be a top-load. But I consider 
that the mule must be “relieved” on long marches whether 
in hills or plains in a tropical climate. In a temperate 
climate the mule need not be “relieved” in marches in the 
hills, but there are circumstances in which it may be desir- 
able to do so in the plains. This is in accord with the 
French and Italian views, and is for this reason. In march- 
ing along the hill paths, the centre of pressure of the 
road is constantly shifting, the air is purer and cooler, and 
from the absence of macadamized roads, the mules do not 
