THE CAMEL: 
ITS INTRODUCTION AND ACCLIMATION IN THE UNITED STATES BY 
MAJOR HENRY C. WAYNE, U. S. A., FOR ARMY TRANSPORTATION 
PURPOSES IN TEXAS AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES. 
By Major Sidney Herbert. 
[From The Southern Culitvator and Dixie Farmer for May.] 
A news telegram to the Southern press, 
dated Baltimore, April 14th, announcing that 
great interest was manifested in the birth of 
an infant camel in Forepaugh’s menagerie, 
follows upon the heel of a paragraph which 
refers to the introduction of camels into this 
country, as beasts of burden, some few years 
before the late war. 
The paragraph referred to states that a 
movement is on foot to renew the experi- 
ment, if it may still be called an experiment, 
and bring into general use, in the mountain- 
ous regions of the far West, the camel as a 
beast of burden. 
Now that the subject of camels is before 
the public, and a proposition is being consid- 
ered to secure further importations of these 
useful animals into the United States, it may 
not be uninteresting to the readers of the 
Southern Cultivator to know something of 
the origin and results of the first experiment 
of introducing camels into this country for 
transportation purposes. 
ORIGIN OF THE EXPERIMENT. 
Under the treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, in 
February, 1848, which closed the war with 
Mexico, the United States acquired Upper 
California and the whole of New Mex- 
ico for the equivalent of fifteen millions 
of dollars, and thereby became possessed 
of vast territory, which, in connection with 
our claims bordering on British America, 
and known as Oregon, extended from 32° 
to 49° north latitude, and from the Atlantic 
ocean to the Pacific coast. 
Most of this country was terra incognita, 
unexplored, or, at most, only so meagerly de- 
scribed as to be somewhat mythical in its 
character and resources. But enough was 
known of it to establ ish the fact that it con- 
tained vast plains without water or herbage, 
and almost without vegetation of any kind, 
except the worthless wild sage, that no species 
of live stock could eat. It was also known 
that in many parts there were large districts 
likewise without water or grass, over which 
men, horses and cattle could not travel with- 
out injury to their feet and hoofs, and dan- 
ger of starvation. 
At that early period of our country rail- 
roads were “fewr and far between,” and were 
confined mostly to great centres of popula- 
tion. It would have been considered a dar- 2 
ing thing in those days to construct a rail- 
road through a long stretch of undeveloped 
country for the purpose of connecting two 
widely separated centres of population. Cali- 
fornia and all that section of country could 
be reached overland only by laborious, ex- 
pensive, tedious, and, sometimes, dangerous 
journeys in wagons drawn by horses, mules 
or oxen. And yet tides of immigration were 
thus early turned in that direction, which 
suggested that some provision should be 
made for a safer and better means of trans- 
portation. 
In the protection of immigrants moving 
into this wild country, the government 
of the United States was compelled to 
establish and keep up stationary military 
posts and moving detachments, for which all 
the supplies of food, forage, clothing, equip- 
age, building materials for quarters, and, in 
some instances, even the fuel used for cook- 
ing purposes, had to be slowly and expensively 
transported by army wagons from Fort 
or St. Louis to Fort iK*ti»< or 
Fort Laramie, or Salt Lake City and Santa 
Fe, or from Indianola to San Antonio and 
the western and southern confines of Texas, 
and to South New Mexico and Arizona, and 
* posts in that region. 
The expense of this laborious service, al- 
though our army was then small, was so 
great that Congress, in considering the Quar- 
termaster-General’s estimates for its continu- 
ance, discussed the subject in a vigorous, and 
not at all times sensible, manner, the op- 
ponents of the administration charging that 
the method was an extravagant one. Of 
course these debates led to the practical ques- 
tion : “How can the expense of this kind of 
transportation be reduced?” Plan after plan 
was suggested in the War Department, yet 
without the desired success, and still the 
question was repeated and the subject dis- 
cussed in both congressional and army circles. 
A SKETCH OF THE ORIGINATORS. 
In the midst of all this discussion, it ap- 
pears that Col. George H. Crosman, then 
Deputy Quartermaster-General of the army, 
in a letter to Major Henry C. Wayne, of the 
Quartermaster-General’s department, sug- 
gested the introduction and use of camels as 
an efficient means of transportation on the 
frontier, and asked that officer to give the 
suggestion due consideration, and report the 
main points of his conclusions on the sub- 
ject. 
Col. Crosman was a native of Massachu- 
setts, and graduated at West Point Military 
Academy in 1823. As a Lieutenant in the 
Sixth Infantry, he served on the frontier, 
and was connected with the Yellowstone Ex- 
pedition in 1825. Later in his career he was 
assigned to duty as Commissary and Quarter- 
master, and during the Florida war of 1836-7 
he was the efficient Chief Quartermaster of 
that department. Capt. Crosman held the 
same responsible position during the mili- 
tary occupation of Texas, in 1845 and 1846, 
and was made Major by brevet for gallant 
conduct at the battle of Palo Alto. As 
Deputv Quartermaster-General, with rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel, he served in the Depart- 
ment of Utah. In 1863 Col. Crosman was 
promoted to be Assistant Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral, and in 1866, being over sixty-two years 
of age, he was placed on the retired list, with 
the brevet rank of Major-General, conferred 
for “faithful and meritorious services” dur- 
ing the late war. 
Having seen active and varied service on 
the frontier as a soldier, and later as a quar- 
termaster, Col. Crosman knew exactly what 
kind of a country was to be operated in, and 
the character of the supplies to be trans- 
ported. He was an accomplished and expe- 
rienced officer, one whose career in the Quar- 
termaster’s Department had been eminently 
efficient and meritorious. A suggestion from 
such an officer to a subordinate, even upon a 
subject of which scarcely anything was 
known, was worthy of the most respectful 
consideration. And when Col. Crosman 
made his suggestion in regard to the impor- 
tation and use of camels, he wisely addressed 
it to one of his most capable, efficient and 
scholarly subodinates, Captain Henry Con- 
stantine Wayne, an Assistant Quartermaster, 
who had won the then high brevet of Major 
for “gallant and meritorious conduct in the 
battles of Contreras and Cherubusco,” dur- 
ing the Mexican war. 
Major Wayne was a native of Georgia, and 
graduated with high rank at West Point, in 
the class of 1838, being assigned to the First 
Artillery, with which he served for several 
years. He was then ordered to duty as an 
assistant instructor at the West Point Mili- 
tary Academy, after which he was made as- 
sistant to the Quartermaster-General, in for- 3 
warding supplies to the army during the 
Mexican war. Capt. Harry Wayne, as he 
was then called, was one of the most efficient 
and popular officers in the service, and worth- 
ily won his brevet of Major by his gallantry 
on the field. 
At the close of the war Major Wayne was 
assigned to duty in the office of the Quar- 
termaster-General at Washington, in charge 
of the Clothing Bureau, which position he 
occupied in 1848, the time at which Col. 
Crosman made his suggestion in regard to 
the importation of camels. At the close of 
his connection with this project, in 1858, 
Major Wayne resumed his connection with 
the Quartermaster-General’s office, where he 
remained until December 31, 1860, when he 
resigned and entered the service of his na- 
tive State. Georgia was one of the first to 
move in the matter of secession, and Major 
Wayne’s valuable services were speedily se- 
cured, and with the rank of Major-General 
he took an active part in organizing and pre- 
paring the State-troops for their movements 
in the field. He proved himself a most ac- 
complished Adjutant-General, and made a 
good record in all his operations. He is now 
a distinguished citizen of Savannah, and fre- 
quently uses his cultured pen in the discus- 
sion of important public questions. 
INAUGURATING THE EXPERIMENT. 
Major Wayne replied to Col. Crosman’s 
letter in a somewhat humorous strain, and 
treated the suggestion with considerable lev- 
ity. This called forth a response from the 
Colonel, who evinced much earnestness in 
his effort to convince the Major that his prop- 
osition was a serious one, and entitled to se- 
rious consideration. Yet, more to please his 
superior officer than because of his faith in 
the success of the proposed plan,Major Wayne 
promised to give the subject of the camel, 
and the project of introducing the animal 
into America, careful and studious consider- 
ation, and in due time report the result of his 
labors and the conclusion reached. This 
promise, however, was made without “count- 
ing the cost” of such a new and novel un- 
dertaking, and at the very start Major 
Wayne found his investigations blocked by 
many and difficult impediments. His first 
failure was in finding ready at hand some re- 
liable treatise on the camel. In no library 
within his reach could he put his hand on any 
information of value as to the camel’s powers, 
qualities and habits, as a beast of burden, 
for service in a foreign land. The most noted 
writers failed to touch upon this important 
branch of the subject. 
Major Wayne, therefore, set himself to 
work to gather from all available sources 
whatever information could in any way be 
applied to the promotion of the project in 
view. Every book mentioning the camel 
was sought out and carefully studied, and the 
scraps of information thus secured were con- 
densed and consolidated in proper shape for 
future use. 
At that time the Comte de Sartiges was the 
French Minister at Washington, and having 
been at an earlier period attached to the 
French Legation in Persia, he very kindly 
gave Major Wayne much valuable informa- 
tion about the camel. His residence for 
several years in their midst enabled the 
Comte to give reliable and practical informa- 
tion, based upon his own experiences in Per- 
sia, in Tartary and in Central Asia generally. 
The Comte de Sartiges also procured for Ma- 
jor Wayne, from France, a number of valu- 
able pamphlets on the subject under investi- 
gation by the most eminent writers of that 
day. These, with the official reports of 
British army officers in India, especially 
such as had served in Afghanistan, and 
chance observations of intelligent travelers 
in the East, furnished the Major a stock of 
camel literature from which to draw the de- 
sired information, but it required months of 
hard work to gather this stock of material 
and put it in proper shape for practical use. 
col. crosman’s suggestion endorsed. 
As Major Wayne slowly studiously pro- 
gressed in his investigations, the force and 
wisdom of Col. Crosman’s suggestion became 
more clear and manifest, and he felt con- 
vinced that if he could get a sufficient num- 
ber of animals into the United States, the 
camel would thrive and be as useful in this 
country as in Asia, the true home of the 
camel and the field of his greatest usefulness. 
Having fortified himself with indisputable 
facts and crushing arguments he prepared a 
report on the subject which he respectfully 
laid before the Hon. C. M. Conrad, then Sec- 
retary of War, in which he asked for thirty 
thousand dollars with which to make the ex- 
periment of introducing the camel from 4 
Asia and Africa into the United States—no 
small undertaking when the distances were 
considered, and that never before had an at- 
tempt been made to introduce and acclimate 
this animal on so large a scale. Secretary 
Conrad held several interviews with Major 
Wayne, and after a thorough examination 
adopted the report, and submitted the mat- 
ter to Congress, asking an appropriation of 
thirty thousand dollars to make the proposed 
experiment. 
No sooner was the subject brought to the 
notice of the public generally than ridicule 
was heaped upon all who had advocated the 
experiment. But, fortunately for the pro- 
jectors of the proposed enterprise, the Hon. 
George P. Marsh, Ex-Minister to Constanti- 
nople, published a small treatise on the camel, 
and Col. J. Ross Browne, the well-known ex- 
plorer and author, with others who had lived 
or traveled in the East, and were thoroughly 
acquainted with the camel, his habits, capac- 
ity and desirability as a beast of burden, 
promptly came to the defense of the scheme, 
and the Senate passed the appropriation by 
a good majority. 
Ridicule, however, was more successful in 
the lower branch of Congress, and despite 
the endorsement of the eminent authorities 
quoted and the favorable action of the Sen- 
ate, the bill was defeated. But Major Wayne 
and his friends did not become disheartened 
and abandon the measure. Secretary Con- 
rad was soon after succeeded in office by the 
Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, who 
graduated at the West Point Military Acad- 
emy in 1828, and spent several years in ser- 
vice on the frontier, and who knew from ex- 
perience the importance of the experiment. 
With his usual energy and earnestness he 
championed the measure and again brought 
it to the notice of Congress in 1853 and 1854. 
The Senate invariably voted the asked for 
appropriation, but the House, led by a few 
members who could not comprehend the 
value of the experiment, as often defeated it. 
THK THIRD APPEAL SUCCESSFUL. 
The session of 1854r-5 was a short one, and 
on the 3d of March the bill was again lost in 
the House. Major Wayne, who had been 
watching its fate with deep anxiety, went 
home defeated but not despondent, and re- 
tired as usual. Between two and three 
o'clock he was aroused by a call from the 
street under his window, which proved to be 
from his comrade and friend, Gen. Thomas 
W. Sherman (now deceased) who was then 
Major of the Third Artillery, who gladly in- 
formed him that the House had finally passed 
the appropriation. Major Wayne expressed 
doubts as to the correctness of this informa- 
tion, but Major Sherman assured him that 
through the action of a committee of confer- 
ence on the army appropriation bill, the 
camel clause had been re-inserted and passed. 
It appears that Major Sherman was some- 
what instrumental in securing this reconsid- 
eration and favorable action. Passing through 
the rotunda of the capitol an hour or two 
after the defeat of the bill, he met Senator 
James Shields, who was hurrying to a com- 
mittee of conference on the army bill, and 
appealed to him to get Wayne’s camel appro- 
priation re-instated in the bill. Being friendly 
to Wayne and his measure, Gen. Shields 
cheerfully promised to attend to the matter, 
which he did with his characteristic energy 
and success. So elated was Major Sherman 
over the final result that he proceeded to Ma- 
jor Wayne’s quarters and aroused him at 
dead of night to tell him that his half-dozen 
years spent in patient working and waiting 
had at last, after many defeats and discour- 
agements, been rewarded with successful re- 
sults. 
As soon as it became generally known that 
a large appropriation had been made for the 
purpose of securing and importing camels, 
scores of applicants for the carrying out of 
the experiment, beseiged the War Depart- 
ment. But Secretary Davis sent for Major 
Wayne and entrusted the carrying out of the 
experiment to his well-known skill and en- 
ergy. The trust was promptly accepted, but 
not until the Secretary had consented to give 
the Major the selection of the necessary of- 
ficers to accompany and aid him in his haz- 
ardous expedition. The responsibility of 
the undertaking was too great to allow him 
to make any serious mistake in the composi- 
tion of his corps of assistants, and he, there- 
fore, resisted successfully all attempts to di- 
vide the appointing power. 
Major Wayne wisely selected Lieut. David 
D. Porter, of Pennsylvania, (now Admiral 
Porter) an experienced and trusty officer of 
the Navy, to take charge of the ocean trans- 
portation of the camels. The Navy Depart- 5 
ment granted the use of a vessel, which Lieut. 
Porter fitted up for the purpose, and selected 
the necessary corps of naval officers to ac- 
company and assist him in his important 
part of the great and still doubtful experi- 
ment. Major Wayne had given careful 
thought to the water transportation of the 
camels to be imported, and desired to entrust 
that part of the experiment to the sole man- 
agement of a skilled sailor, one who believed 
in the success of the project and would enter 
heart and soul into the details of the enter- 
prise. Without any particular acquaintance 
with Lieut. Porter, the Major knew his re- 
cord as a distinguished naval officer, and was 
satisfied that he was the right man for the re- 
sponsible position—a man of varied resources 
and indomitable courage, who grappled hope- 
fully with difficulties when he encountered 
them, and did not permit himself to be over- 
come by them, if they were surmountable 
by human skill and energy. 
Major Wayne, after arranging all the mat- 
ters in which Lieutenant Porter was interest- 
ed, on May 19, 1855, sailed for England and 
France, (in advane of the expedition), where 
he proposed to study the habits and hygiene 
of the camel, and his management as observed 
by English and French experiences. In Lon- 
don he received every attention from the au- 
thorities, and was encouraged by Prof. Owen, 
jheCuner of England, by the Secretary of 
th(TZoological Society and by all the British 
army officers he met who had served with 
camels in India. But in France delay and 
discouragement met the Major at every step. 
At a seance of the Societe Geographique the 
Nestor of science, M. Jomard, read a paper 
he had prepared to prove that the proposed 
experiment could not succeed. It is worthy 
of special and honorable mention, however, 
that after the then doubtful experiment had 
become a success, and was no longer an ex- 
periment, the Societe Imperiale Zoologique 
d’Acclimatation, with true French chivalry, 
made the amende honorable by voting Major 
Wayne a first-class gold medal for the suc- 
cessful introduction and acclimation of the 
camel in the United States. 
Nothing daunted by the discouragement 
met with in France, and firmly convinced 
that his mission was to be crowned with final 
success, Major Wayne proceeded on his jour- 
ney to “Camel land,” where active opera- 
tions were commenced, and on February 
15th, 1856, his party sailed from Smyrna with 
thirty-three camels on board their vessel. 
Strange as it may appear, they landed thir- 
ty-four in good condition at Indianola, on 
May 14th. Three were lost during the voy- 
age by accidents resulting in death, but the 
birth of four young camels more than sup- 
plied the deficiency. Major Wayne, who 
had preceded Lieutenant Porter to Europe, 
was absent five days less than a year, and the 
entire expense of the first importation was 
hardly eight thousand dollars. So well pleas- 
ed was the Secretary of War with the success 
of this trip, that he allowed a second trip to 
be made by Lieutenant Porter and Mr. Heap, 
who left Smyrna on November 18, 1856, with 
forty-four camels, and landed forty-one in 
good condition at Indianola, on February 
10,1857, having lost three on the rough, win- 
try passage of unusual severity. In the mean 
time Major Wayne had been busily engaged 
in Texas in the delicate work of acclimating 
the first cargo. On the arrival of the second 
importation he found himself in possession 
of seventy-five choice and well selected cam- 
els as the first step in the experiment. It 
now devolved upon him to make the second 
step equally as successful by the acclimation, 
and use of these camels for army transporta- 
tion purposes in Texas and on the frontier 
generally, a task which he accomplished in 
a manner that won for him unstinted praise 
from the scientists of Europe and America, 
and the hearty commendation of the Secre- 
tary of War. 
Thus the experiment first suggested by 
Col. Crosman, was carried out by Major 
Wayne, who has modestly given great credit 
for its full success to Lieutenant Porter and 
his cousin, Mr. G. H. Heap, who was ap- 
pointed Secretary of the Commission. This 
gentleman had lived many years in Tunis 
during his father’s consulship, and was quite 
familiar with the habits, manners, customs 
and languages of the East, which enabled 
him to render most valuable service in the 
selection and purchase of the camels secured, 
and in other important details. 
Such, and very briefly sketched, are some of 
the leading facts connected with the introduc- 
tion and acclimation of camels in the United 
States for army transportation purposes in 
the frontier territory of the far West. Of the 
habits, characteristics and uses of the camel, 
viewed from a critical and practical stand- 6 
point, I am indebted to Major Wayne for 
the following interesting sketch, which is the 
substance of an address delivered by him re- 
cently before the Georgia Historical Society 
at Savannah: 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAMEL. 
Although among the domestic animals 
earliest mentioned in the history of man (see 
Genesis, Ch, xii : v, 16—“And he entreated 
Abraham well for her sake: and he had 
sheep and oxen, and he asses, and men ser- 
vants, and maid servants, and she asses and 
camels”), yet from its limited use to a small 
zone of the earth, but little is known in the 
world at large of the nature, qualities, diseas- 
es and anatomy of the camel, and we find 
many vague and erroneous ideas in regard 
to it prevailing, even among those classes 
generally well informed in Zoology. The 
limits of “Camel land”—that is, where the 
camel has been known and used—are said by 
Johnson in his Physical Atlas, to lie between 
the 15th and the 52nd degrees of north lati- 
tude, and the 15th degree of longitude west 
of Greenwich to about the 120th degree east 
of it. The animal then, is not of the torrid 
zone as is often supposed, but rather of the 
North temperate. Indeed it suffers as much, 
if not more from great heat than it does from 
intense cold. 
LIMITS OF “CAMEL LAND.” 
According to Johnson, “ Camel land ” em- 
braces, the Canaries, Morocco, Algiers, Tu- 
nis, Tripoli, The Great Desert south of these 
countries, and Egypt, on the continent of 
Africa: Arabia, Turkey in Asia, Persia, Ca- 
bool, Beloochistan, Hindoostan, Burmah, 
Thibet, Mongolia, a small portion of the 
southern part of Siberia, and Independent 
Tartary, in Asia; the Crimea, and a small 
tract of country around and near Constan- 
tinople, in Europe. For two hundred years 
the camel has existed in Tuscany, not in gen- 
eral use, but on the private estate of the 
Grand Duke, at Pisa,as we are informed by 
Graeburg de Hemso, who has written an in- 
teresting pamphlet on their introduction in- 
to, and use in Tuscany. To this limited 
portion of the earth has the use of the camel 
been confined ; and though efforts have been 
made, as stated by several writers, to extend 
its usefulness to the Western world, even to 
our own Virginia, as reported by J. Ross 
Browne in the Patent Office Report, part 2nd 
Agriculture, for 1853, p. 61, as early as 1701, 
they have all proven unsuccessful; either 
from a want of knowledge of their care, or 
from neglect, or superstition, or jealousy on 
the part of those whose peculiar avocations 
it was thought they would interfere with. 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CAMEL. 
The English word camel (Latin camelus) is 
without doubt originally derived from the 
Hebrew gamel, or Arabic djmel or djemel, or 
gimel, meaning, according to Carbuccia, and 
other writers, “ the riches, or the wealth, or 
the gift of Heaven.” Our science has class 
ified the animal into “the camel” or two 
humped species, and “the dromedary” or 
one humped groups. This division as Linant 
Bey justly observes in his “ Notes on the 
Camel,” would exclude “ the camel ” or “ gi- 
mel” altogether from Africa, and from all 
of Asia except a small region about Tarta- 
ry. Yet throughout “ Camel land ” the one 
humped animal is universally known as gi- 
mel or gamel, the word dromedary or anything 
like it being entirely unknown. Moreover, 
the word dromedary, from the Greek dromeus, 
meaning “ a runner,” “aracer,” “acourser,” 
is applicable to but one variety of the camel, 
that devoted to riding purposes, and is only 
so applied by the Europeans living in the 
countries where that variety is known and 
used. The Europeans there, recognize with 
the natives of Camel land, the generic term of 
camel or gimel, and add the word dromedary 
to the Arabic and African terms delool, devi- 
deh, hagine, herie, etc., to distinguish the par- 
ticular variety used as the saddle or riding 
animal, without regard to its blood, whether 
it be fine or common. 
Guided, then, by the actual nomenclature 
of Camel land rather than by what is appa- 
rently an arbitrary and erroneous distinction 
of our hitherto accepted science, I shall use 
the word camel as generic, including both the 
two humped and the one humped species 
which I-shall distinguish from each other by 
the qualification of the countries from which 
they are said to have originally come, Bac- 
tria and Arabia. I shall call the two 
humped animal “ The Bactrian” camel; and 
the one humped “ The Arabian ” camel ; lim- 
iting the term dromedary to the saddle or rid- 
ing variety of the Arabian camel; there be- 
ing no riding animals, as far as I have been 
able to ascertain, of the Bactrian species. 7 
This camel is found only on the southern 
border of Siberia ; in a portion of Tartary : 
and in the Crimea; and is a much heavier 
built, stouter limbed, and stronger animal 
than the Arabian. From the difficulty of 
loading it, because of its two humps, its use- 
fulness as a beast of burden is limited. It is 
sometimes, however, used for draught, 
yoked to a wagon as oxen are. Its 
great value is as a breeder, for cross- 
ing the male Bactrian upon the female 
Arabian, the product being a powerful one 
humped hybrid, and for this purpose it is 
kept throughout Asiatic northern “Camel 
land ” as breeding stallions are with us, 
where it is called bouhoum or bouhour. It is 
altogether unknown in Africa ; and a Bactri- 
an camel there would be as great a curiosity 
as it is with us in the United States. 
THE ARABIAN CAMEL. 
This is the species with which we have par- 
ticularly to deal. It is found throughout 
Camel land and furnishes varieties for both 
burden and riding; and is one of the most 
useful, if not the most useful, of 
the domestic animals of the East. Its 
powers and hardiness vary with climate and 
breeding, and as a general rule, its strength 
and endurance are greater the farther north it 
is found. With the many unmixed varieties 
of this species may be classed the cross of the 
Bactrian male upon the Arabian female, be- 
fore mentioned, and which always follows the 
mother in the number of its humps. This 
hybrid known in Persia as the booghdee, and in 
Turkey in Asia, the male as tiulu and female 
as the maya is, like the mule, incapacitated 
from continuing its race, or should it pro- 
duce, its offspring is but feeble and worthless; 
but combining, as it does, the power of the 
Bactrian with the quicker movement of the 
Arabian, it is peculiarly valuable as an ani- 
mal of burden. 
The name of the different varieties, and of 
the sexes, of the Arabian camel vary with 
the dialects of the several countries and 
provinces in which it is found. 
TEMPER. 
Meek and docile as the camel is usually 
represented to be, it will hardly be supposed 
that many are trained for the arena. Yet so 
it is; and one of the amusements of Oriental 
life is contests between pehlarans or fighting 
camels, in which one or the other is general- 
ly seriously hurt, and not unfrequently kill- 
ed by a dislocation of the cervical vertebrae. 
The females are often vindictive nursing for 
months the remembrance of an injury which 
they will promptly resent on the first oppor- 
tunity to do so; and the males, especially at 
the rutting season, are rather savage and ob- 
streperous. For these reasons camel drivers 
always carry, slung over their shoulder, fOT 
convenient use, a heavy club of from two oP 
three feet in length. 
NATURE AND DISEASES. 
The camel belongs to the class of ruminants, 
and in its general character and diseases re- 
sembles more the ox than any other division 
of animals. Its four stomachs as a rumi- 
ant are distinctly recognized, doubt has 
hitherto existed as to his possession of a fifth 
attributed to it by some writers, to account 
for its ability to carry within itself a supply 
of water to meet the exigencies of desert life. 
On this point I give briefs of the autopsies 
made by Dr. S. Allen Engles, U. S. N., on 
shipboard; and by Dr. Joseph It. Smith, U. 
S. A., at the camel ranch in Texas; both 
agreeing with those made by French Medical 
officers in Algeria. 
ANTERIOR WALL OF THE ABDOMEN. 
The anterior wall of the abdomen of the 
camel is much stronger than that of other 
animals; the white line which divides it into 
two parts in the middle is very prominent. 
The muscles of that region cross each other in 
the most solid manner. 
COMPARTMENTS OF THE STOMACH. 
The ox has his stomachic apparatus com- 
posed of four stomachs; it is the same with 
the camel; those of the last, although having 
different and better defined forms, can re- 
ceive the same names. We will, nevertheless, 
designate them by their numbers of order. 
THE PAUNCH, OR FIRST STOMACH, 
Contains a great number of pockets, closed 
by fibres or longitudinal bridles, which do not 
communicatewith each other; these pockets, 
or which give to the interior of that 
part of the paunch the appearance of a melon 
with very prominent slices, were filled with 
from 50 to 60 pounds of grass drowned in a 
considerable quantity of greenish water, and 
are more developed than in the paunch of 
the ox. 8 
THE SECOND STOMACH. 
The camel will wade streams, even up to the 
hump, but reluctantly, and it is said by ma- 
ny writers to be unable to swim. Mr. Ayrtoun, 
(agent for the estates of II Hamid Pasha, 
son of the late Viceroy) told me, though, 
that it can swim. He is the only authority 
for this assertion I have met with. 
The camel belongs also to the class of re- 
tromigents. 
THE HUMP. 
This particular characteristic of the camel 
viewed, when its purpose is understood, in 
connection with its ability to carry its own 
supply of water for several days, exhibits one 
those wonderful adaptations by the Almighty, 
of animals to country, that excite our admi- 
ration and reverence. Composed of gelatin- 
ous fat it contributes a stock of provision that 
by re-absorption, furnishes the animal with 
sustenance when the nature of the country, 
or other unfortunate contingency, deprives it 
of a supply of food sufficient for its exer- 
tions. Stored thus by the wise arrangement 
of Providence with water and with food to 
meet, for several days, should necessity or 
misfortune require them, the exigencies of 
an arid and ipiproductive country, the camel 
has not inaptly been called the “ Ship of the 
Desert.” So well is the hump understood in 
the East, that the condition of the animal is 
judged of, and its improvement, after a long 
and severe journey, measured by it. It is 
not uncommon to see camels come in after 
long and painful journeys with backs almost 
as straight as those of cows, exhibiting but lit- 
tle, if any, hump. Beyond this supplying with 
food by re-absorption, the hump does not 
seem to be intimately connected with the 
animals vitality. 
USEFULNESS OF THE CAMEL. 
The usefulness of the Bactrian, as far as 
known to me, has been already mentioned. 
That of the Arabian will be considered—first, 
generally; and then separately, as an animal 
of burden and of the saddle. From its form- 
ation, the Arabian camel is calculated for 
burden, and not for draught, though it is 
used occasionally for plowing, and has been 
harnessed by the English in India to their 
batteries. Its deep chest and strong forelegs 
enable it to support well a load placed over 
them; but its narrow loins and long, ungainly 
hind legs, deprive it of the force necessary for 
longitudinal strain. Its additional joint, too, 
The second stomach of the camel is composed 
of a number of tendinous bridles forming a 
great many small cells divided among them- 
selves by the membrane of the stomach; the 
passage from the second to the third stomach is 
an opening of about one and one-tenth inch- 
es in diameter, formed in a very strong mus- 
cular bridle. 
THIRD AND FOURTH STOMACHS. 
These two stomachs present membranous 
partitions forming very numerous compart- 
ments in the third stomach, which parti- 
tions are held by strong bridles of a muscular 
character, the walls being furnished with 
thin laminae close together or parallel; 
whilst in the fourth stomach the interlacing 
of the blood vessels takes place through sim- 
ple membranes. 
EXISTENCE OF A FIFTH STOMACH. 
The appendix to the paunch designated 
by naturalists under the name of reservoir of 
water, and which occupies the position of 
the “bonnet” in the ax, to which, however, 
it offers a different interior structure, has 
long been considered by some of them as 
forming the fifth stomach. This distinction, 
established wrongfully, between the two 
parts composing the first stomach, has been 
abandoned. Other naturalists, renouncing 
the design of making a special stomach of 
the appendix to the first stomach, but pre- 
occupied also with the thought that there 
ought to be five stomachs in the camel, have 
counted as a stomach a dilatation of the di- 
gestive canal placed at the beginning of the 
duodenum. We believe this to be equally 
incorrect. To sum up, by an attentive com- 
parison between the stomachic apparatus of 
the ox and that of the camel, it appears that 
the the fifth stomach cannot be admitted to 
exist. 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH. 
Naturally hardy, the camel will undergo 
much exposure and fatigue without serious 
inconvenience ; and beyond the ordinary ail- 
ments of the ox tribe, it has but two diseases 
of consequence, the mange, and a violent 
pneumonitis or inflammation of the lungs, 
which is apt to carry it off in two or three 
days. The first proceeds too often from neg- 
lect and dirt; the last from exposure to ex- 
treme cold, or chilly dampness when over- 
heated. 9 
in the hind legs, by which it is enabled to 
kneel down and take a position particularly 
suited to the packing of burdens upon its 
back, and of readily rising with them, indi- 
cate unmistakably its especial qualifications 
for that kind of service. Unfitted by the 
formation of its nostrils and lungs for violent 
exertion, its long and regular strides, how- 
ever, with its capacity for continuous labor, 
enables it to make extensive journeys in com- 
paratively good time. It is said, and I be- 
lieve it, that the camel will, in emergency, 
travel at its regular gait for sixty successive 
hours without stopping. 
Formed for level rather than a broken 
country, the camel meets, though without 
inconvenience, a fair amount of mountain 
and valley, and is not distressed in ascending 
or descending moderate slopes, though they 
be long. Those of Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, 
Cabool, Northern Hindostan and Tartary, for 
instance, cross in their journeys, continually, 
ranges of mountains and high hills, and fre- 
quently at seasons of the year when they are 
covered with snow and ice. 
THE FOOT OF THE CAMEL, 
clothed with a thick, tough skin of true horn, 
enables it to travel with facility over sand, 
gravel or stones. It will also stand a tolera- 
ble degree of volcanic aebris, or rocky soil; 
and, aided by art, (provided with a shoe of 
hide, iron shod at the bottom, and which is 
fastened around the fetlock joints,) it traverses 
these impediments without difficulty, and 
also ice and snow. In wet, clayey and muddy 
soils, the camel moves with embarrassment, 
as it is apt to slip and slide in it (unless shod), 
without the ability to gather itself quickly, 
and is often, it is stated, split up by the strad- 
dling of its hind legs, for which there is no 
cure, death soon following the accident. It 
should be driven cautiously over them; and 
the straddling of the hind legs is sometimes 
prevented by hobbling above the gamble 
joint. 
FLESH OF THE CAMEL. 
The flesh of the camel is good for food, re- 
sembling beef, and esteemed by many as more 
delicate and tender. Its resemblance to beef 
is such that it can be readily imposed for it 
upon the unsuspecting without detection. Its 
milk is good to drink, and is not distinguish- 
able from that of cows. I have used it in my 
tea every morning for some weeks, knowing 
it to be camel’s milk, without perceiving any 
difference in color or taste. 
The pile of the camel, though coarse, is ap- 
plied to the manufacture of many useful 
articles, such as carpets, coarse cloths and 
ropes, hut not to any of fine texture, not even 
to that particular commodity, the desire and 
pride of the fair sex, the shawl, to which it 
has falsely given its name, but which is really 
made from the fine, delicate hair of a partic- 
lar kind of goat. 
FEEDING OF THE CAMEL. 
A recommendatory characteristic of the 
camel is its pasturing upon almost every shrub 
and plant that grows, even upon the thistle, 
prickly pear, and other thorny vegetables, 
thereby reducing materially the cost of pro- 
viding it with food. A little, besides, thanks 
to its hump, goes a great way; so that, in 
comparison with other animals of burden or 
draught, it requires less provision of forage— 
an economy at any time, and especially an 
advantageous arrangement for a journey. The- 
camel can also, on emergency, travel three,, 
four, even seven, days without water or food ;• 
and it is serviceable from four to twenty-five 
years of age. 
Barley, wheat, and beans ground, made into 
a thick paste or dough, with other grains of 
the East, and cut straw, form the usual nour- 
ishment of the camel; to which, in this coun- 
try, we add oats and corn, both ground; and 
it takes, also, readily and kindly to good hay 
(timothy and clover). It takes, however, to 
the coarser articles of food by preference, as I 
noticed, and being a ruminant, requires less 
at a feed than a horse or a mule. 
THE LUKDEN CAMEL. 
The power of the camel for burdens de- 
pends upon its stock, and, measurably, upon 
climate, those of Central Asia being, ordina- 
rily, stronger and more vigorous than those 
of Africa or India. A very strong camel will 
carry, for short distances, from about 1,000 to 
1,200 pounds. On long journeys the loads for 
the strongest camels range from 450 to 600 
pounds, and of the common kinds, from 300' 
to 450 pound; and these they will carry from 
eighteen to thirty miles a day, according to- 
the character of the country, whether broken 
or level, over which they travel, and moving 
for the usual daily traveling time of from eight 
to ten hours. With lighter loads they will 
travel somewhat faster. The average traveling 10 
oads of camels of different countries and prov- 
inces may be stated as follows: of Morocco, 
Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, from 300 to 400 
pounds; of Egypt, from 350 to 550 pounds; 
of Syria, Asia Minor, and other portions of 
Turkey in Asia, of Persia and of Tartary, the 
strongest, including loks, or males, and the 
hybrid booghdee, or viulus and mayas, from 500 
to 600 pounds, and the common stock, includ- 
ing the arvanas, or breeding females, from 
300 to 450 pounds; of Cabool, Beloochistan, 
Hindoostan, Burmah, Thibet and Mongolia, 
from 300 to 400 pounds; around Constantino- 
ple, imported into Europe almost altogether 
from Asia Minor, not bred there, from 300 to 
600 pounds, according to quality. 
THE RIDING CAMEL OR DROMEDARY. 
The capacity of this camel for burden is 
little, its conformation to qualify it for riding 
being necessarily lighter, but it compensates 
by speed for its comparative want of power. 
The average load for a dromedary ranges from 
200 to 350 pounds, and this it will carry con- 
tinually, traveling from eight to ten hours a 
day, about fifty miles a day. On emergen- 
cies, dromedaries can make from seventy to 
ninety miles a day, but only for two or three 
days and over a level country. Instances*of 
greater speed being kept up for several suc- 
cessive days are related, but they are few and 
far between. Wonderful stories are told by 
the Arabs of the speed of their maharis, el heries, 
delools, etc., but they are held by M. Linant 
de Bellefonds (Linant Bey), chief engineer of 
roads and bridges in Egypt, to be exaggera- 
tions. He told me, though, that he had rid- 
den a dromedary once ninety miles in eleven 
hours, and had gone twelve miles in forty min- 
utes. 
THE PRICES OF CAMELS. 
The prices of camels vary, as do those of 
horses and mules with us, according to stock, 
size, training, soundness, etc., and range from 
$15 to $1,000. In Egypt, sound burden camels, 
capable of carrying from 400 to 600 pounds, 
may be purchased for from $50 to $100 and 
$130; and dromedaries for from $45 to $1,000; 
common stock, from $45 to $150. Blooded 
animals sell for from $150 to any fancy price 
within the limits stated. In Arabia prices 
are about the same, with perhaps a trifling 
diminution. In Asia Minor, the prices of 
burden camels may be set down as follows : 
Males and tiulus and mayas, at from $75 to 
$200; females at from $50 to $120, Bactrian 
breeders at from $300 to $600. In Morocco, 
Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, the prices of bur- 
den camels and of dromedaries are about the 
same as those of Egypt, in some instances a 
little lower. 
TRAINING OF CAMELS. 
The training of camels for burden is begun 
at four years of age. They are taught to 
kneel for their loads by raising one of the 
fore feet and binding a leg in a bent position, 
when the halter is jerked downward, which 
brings the animal to his knees, when the other 
leg is bound, and he is thus compelled to sit. 
The jerking or bearing down of the halter is 
accompanied with a peculiar sound of “ khrr” 
“ khrr” “khrr” as if hawking to spit, and af- 
ter a few lessons the camel learns always to 
kneel when he hears the “khrr” and feels 
the jerk of the halter. 
Dromedaries are not broken to riding until 
they are between two and three years old. 
To put it off longer would be to risk their 
becoming restive. The training of a young 
dromedary is first begun by saddling him 
for several days without mounting him. 
When accustomed to the saddle he is then 
mounted and ridden only at the pace, being 
constantly kept up to it, and restrained from 
exceeding it. Afterwards, he is taught to 
run, and is urged and excited to pass other 
dromedaries that may run with him. In 
the first stages of training the dromedary 
should not be made to lie down, for the rider 
to mount or dismount but should be mount- 
ed standing. Without this precaution a 
young dromedary will acquire the habit of 
lying down without orders whenever a little 
fatigued. 
MILITARY USES OF THE CAMEL. 
For ages the camel has been used in mili- 
tary operations for artillery and infantry 
purposes, and for transportation. For a de- 
tailed account of “ the zembourek” or camel 
light artillery of Persia, its equipment, arm- 
ament, and drill, see part iii, page 201—243, 
inclusive of the Senate Document No. 62, 
hereafter mentioned. 
In the Crimea I was fortunate enough to 
meet with Colonel McMurdo, Deputy 
Quartermaster General of British Army, who 
had been Quartermaster General to Gener- 
al Napier on his expedition against Scinde. 11 
On that expedition the Colonel informed me 
he had in service about twenty-five thousand 
camels, and that from his experience he es- 
teemed them highly; so much so, that he 
had then at Sinope three thousand of them, 
in addition to those then in use in the Cri- 
mea, in readiness for the coming spring cam- 
paign. The loads they will carry depend 
much, he said, upon the service on which 
they are employed, rapid movements natu- 
rally requiring light burdens; but their 
average loads under favorable circumstances, 
he stated to be about 600 pounds, and these 
they will carry easily without pushing, twen- 
ty-five to thirty miles a day. He mentioned 
the interesting fact that during the expedi- 
tion against Scinde, General Napier organi- 
zed a most efficient corps of one thousand 
men mounted upon five hundred dromeda- 
ries, two men to each dromedary, the men 
sitting back to back, one facing the head the 
other the tail, and both armed with rifles 
and sabres. The man facing the head was 
the animal’s groom and driver, and the man- 
ner of using the corps was as follows : Upon 
arriving upon the scene of operations the 
dromedaries were made to kneel “in square,” 
under the charge of their five hundred dri- 
vers, forming as it were a base of operations 
from which the other five hundred men act- 
ed as light infantry. As the advanced body 
moved the square, or squares, if more than 
one was formed, were also moved if required 
to do so; in case of extremity the square 
offered a cover under which the one thou- 
sand men could find comparative shelter be 
hind the animals, who were prevented from 
rising by a hopple on the fore leg, and used 
their rifles most effectively. This corps, 
Colonel McMurdo informed me, could be 
readily marched seventy miles in any direc- 
tion, in twelve hours (5 5-6 miles per hour), 
and rendered throughout the campaign most 
efficient service. 
General Simpson, the commander of the 
British forces in the Crimea, told me that he 
also was in the same campaign, with General 
Napier, against Scinde, and found the camel 
so serviceable, that he procured five or six 
for his own personal use, and that with them 
he frequently went seventy miles between 
sunset and sunrise. To a direct question, 
whether he would not have preferred the 
best English horses to camels, could he have 
obtained them ? the General answered, no! 
that he would have preferred the camel, as 
packing his baggage upon them in light 
loads he could move more quickly and con- 
tinuously. 
GAIT OF THE DROMEDARY. 
Contradictory accounts are given of the 
gait of the dromedary, some describing it 
as smooth and pleasant, while others repre- 
sent it to be rough and disagreeable, not un- 
frequently producing nausea. This discrep- 
ancy proceeds from the habit of generalizing 
from single instances. The gait of the drom- 
edary like that of the saddle horse, depends 
upon breeding, the structure of the individ- 
ual animal, and upon training. 
As the above is but a brief synopsis of the 
subject, any reader of The Southern Culti- 
vator who desires to more fully study the 
camel question, will find much additional 
valuable information in Major Wayne’s re- 
port to the Secretary of War, under date of 
April 10,1856, and published, with many in- 
teresting illustrations furnished by Mr. Heap, 
in Senate Executive Document, No. 62, of 
the thirty-fourth Congress, third session. 
Markham House, Atlanta, Ga. JAS. P. HAERISON & GO. 
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