TRAVELING WITH CAMELS AND ELEPHANTS.
Next to the horse the camel is the beast of burden available for
travelers, and in some parts of the world he is a most important
animal. He has long been known as "The Ship of the Desert," and
without his aid the sandy wastes of Asia and Africa would be well-nigh
impassable.
The regions where the camel is in use are practically comprised in
Persia, Tartary, Arabia, Northern Africa, and portions of China and
India. There are several varieties of camels that differ from each
other, like the various kinds of horses; the finest and best of the
race is the one called the dromedary, which bears the same relation to
the ordinary camel as the carefully-bred trotter does to the common
horse. The pace of the common camel is about three miles an hour, and
his day's journey is from twenty to thirty miles. At this rate he can
carry from five hundred to nine hundred pounds of burden, and for a
short journey a strong camel can be loaded with one thousand pounds.
The swift camel or saddle dromedary has been known to make ten miles
an hour, though his ordinary pace will not exceed seven or eight. He
will travel fifty miles a day for days together, and, on emergencies,
he will accomplish one hundred miles or more without resting. Mohammed
Ali Pasha, who ruled over Egypt in the early part of this century,
once rode on a dromedary from Suez to Cairo, eighty-two miles, in less
than ten hours. He made only a single halt of about half an hour; the
driver of the beast ran at his side for the entire distance, and died
the next day from the exertion.
The stomach of the camel is so arranged that it can hold water enough
for a week's supply; the animal is thus enabled to traverse the desert
where the wells are often several days' journey from each other. His
foot is a spongy mass that flattens to a great breadth when placed on
the ground, and enables him to walk on the yielding sand, and his hump
is a store of fat that sustains him in the privations of the desert.
Attempts have been made to employ the camel on the arid wastes of the
south-western parts of the United States, but none of them have been
more than experimentally successful.
The motion of a camel is far from agreeable to the novice; even the
slow walk is unpleasant and wearying, and when it comes to the
trotting camel, or swift dromedary, the exercise is like being tossed
violently in a wooden blanket, and allowed to fall heavily every other
second. The rider's head and shoulders are thrown forward and then
back with a jerk, and as the jerks average about thirty-eight to the
minute each way, they become monotonous after a while. The novice who
reads this book is advised not to try a trotting camel till he has
become thoroughly accustomed to the dignified walker; the latter will
give him all the amusement he wants for a week or so, and perhaps
longer; and if he accomplishes twenty-five miles a day on his
humpbacked steed he should be satisfied. The first day he will feel
somewhat shaken up, but unable to locate his pains; the next day he
feels as though his backbone had been removed, and the third day he
finds it has returned, but is converted into glass. After that his
pains will subside, and a week will find him acclimated.
The riding saddle for a camel is a sort of dish with a pommel, and the
practiced rider crosses his legs around this pommel, and thus holds
himself in place. Stirrups are sometimes added, but they do not
properly belong to the equipment of a camel. A very good seat may be
arranged by taking the common pack-saddle, slinging the saddle-bags
across, and then piling on rugs and wraps enough to form a soft and
wide seat. The whole should be firmly lashed to prevent slipping;
stirrups may be added either at the pommel or at the side, and when
thus arranged the rider may mount to his place. He may ride in any way
he likes, either astride or sidewise, and he soon finds that he can
change his position without difficulty or danger.
A gentleman who has had much experience in camel riding gives the
following directions:--
"Place a light box or package on either side of the pack-saddle,
sufficiently closely corded to form one wide horizontal surface. On
this lay a carpet, mattress, blanket, and wraps, thus forming a
delicious seat or couch, and giving the option of lying down or
sitting, either sidesaddle or cross-legged. Sheets, pillow, rug, etc.,
may be rolled up and strapped to the back of the saddle, and form an
excellent support to the back or elbow. The object of the light box or
package is to a certain extent answered by a pair of well-stuffed
saddle-bags."
The traveler on a camel in the hot regions of Africa should have a
good supply of white clothing and a pith hat, or _sola topee_, to
protect his head from the broiling sun. But he should always have a
suit of tolerably thick clothing, for the night-air is cold, even in
the tropics, and a heavy overcoat will often prove useful. Water is
carried in barrels, or goat-skins; of late years boxes of galvanized
iron have been used very successfully, the first man to try them being
Dr. Rohlfs, the celebrated explorer of Northern Africa. In addition to
this, every man carries a small water-skin, called a _zemzemeeyah_,
at his saddle-bow, for use during the day, and as a reserve in case
he strays from camp.
The outfit for a journey by camel will depend much on the locality to
be visited, and the time consumed, and consequently no general rules
for it can be laid down. Whether it be the African deserts of Lybia or
Sahara, or the desert of Arabia, the traveler must carry the most of
his provisions with him, and be prepared to rough it a good deal. With
an enormous train of camels it is possible to transport many of the
luxuries of life, including spacious tents, carpets, bedsteads, and
other furniture, but if you cannot be comfortable without all these
things you had better stay at home. The usual allowance for travelers
in the Arabian desert is a tent for every four or five persons, and an
extra tent for a dining and sitting-room. The expense varies from five
to eight dollars a day for each person, and depends a good deal on the
size of the party and the style of traveling. At all the
starting-points it is easy to find a dragoman who will undertake the
whole business, but his recommendations should be critically examined,
and the contract drawn with judicious care. The dragoman is too often
a slippery party, who seeks to enrich himself at the expense of his
employer. A good one is a treasure, but a bad one is a source of
never-ending trouble.
In Northern China the camel is largely used, especially on the desert
of Gobi. Travelers between Pekin and Kiachta, on the frontier of
Siberia, generally ride in camel carts, or at all events have them in
reserve, while they promenade on their saddle ponies. Formerly all the
tea that entered Russia was imported overland, and in the tea season
long files of camels, laden with the delicious herb, could be seen
entering Kiachta at any hour of the day. Since the opening of the
Russian ports to importations by sea the camel traffic has largely
diminished, but there are still a goodly number of these patient
animals traversing the desert of Gobi, and the regions to the west of
it. The camel is an important reliance of Russia in her military
conquests in Central Asia, and the failure of an expedition is often
chargeable to him.
For riding purposes the elephant is preferable to the camel, as the
motion is far less disagreeable, and the broad back of the beast
affords a comfortable seat. The driver sits on the neck of his steed
and manages him with an iron goad that has a hook at the end, as well
as a straight point. The traveler has nothing to do with directing the
elephant beyond giving his instructions to the driver before starting;
if the ground is wooded he must keep a sharp watch for the limbs of
the trees, or run the risk of being brushed from his place. The
writer's first experience with elephant riding was at Benares, in
India; a magnificent elephant, belonging to a native prince, was
furnished to him for an excursion, and he returned from the adventure
without any of the disagreeable aches that accompanied his novitiate
with the camel. The howdah, or saddle, was like a small carriage,
capable of seating four persons; it was held in place by several
thongs and cords, and was reached by means of a ladder placed against
the animal's side. A more primitive equipment is a pad-saddle, which
is described by its name; it is simply a broad pad, like a
well-stuffed mattress, and is held in position the same as the howdah.
An elephant can easily carry all the passengers that can cling to him,
as his ordinary load is anything less than two thousand pounds.
When troops are on the march they have a form of saddle that will
carry eight men, and some of the largest will hold ten. It consists of
two benches or settees placed back to back and resting on a small
platform that gives support to the feet. In riding in this way the
traveler looks to one side, the same as in an Irish jaunting car, and
if he wants to see anything on the opposite side he must give his neck
a twist, more or less inconvenient.
There are two species of elephant, the African and the Asiatic; the
former is much the more fierce and not often domesticated, though it
is pretty clearly demonstrated that the first elephants ever tamed and
used by man were from Africa. The Asiatic elephant is employed in
Siam, Ceylon, Burmah, and India as a beast of burden, and in a few
other countries. The traveler in India will often see dozens of these
beasts at the railway stations waiting to receive their burdens of
bales and boxes, and sometimes he sees them at work on the roads. The
great expense of feeding them makes them an expensive article of
luxury, and it is not likely they will ever come into general use. A
good elephant will carry a ton of cargo and march fifty miles a day
over ordinary roads; he gets along very well on level ground, but
sometimes topples and falls backward when trying to climb a steep hill
with a burden on his back.
One caution the elephant rider should bear in mind. It is a peculiar
trait of this animal to take fright from slight and often absurd
causes, and sometimes he gets beyond the control of his driver. In
such a case do not seek safety by slipping or jumping from his back;
you may escape injury from the fall but will be in danger of being
trampled to death by the elephant or pierced by his tusks. Even while
he is going quietly along the road you should be careful not to fall
by accident to the ground, or attempt to jump there, as he is very apt
to turn and attack you.
The most docile elephants are nearly as dangerous in this respect as
the ferocious ones; while the writer was in India an engineer officer
was one day riding a favorite elephant that had been in his possession
for years and was much attached to him. By some accident he slipped
from the saddle and fell to the ground; the elephant immediately
turned, and in spite of the efforts of the driver to stop him, pierced
his master with his tusks, killing him almost instantly.
Another peculiarity of the elephant is to become suddenly insane from
no apparent cause. The animal may be walking quietly along the road,
or standing in his stable, when, without a moment's warning, he raises
his trunk in the air, bellows loudly, and rushes upon the nearest man
or beast with an effort to annihilate him. The paroxysm may be over in
a few minutes or it may last for hours; while it continues, the beast
is full of malice, and it is dangerous in the extreme to approach him.