The late Colonel P. H. S. Barrow furnished a most interesting and
suggestive Report to the War Office on the Arabs which were used by his
regiment, the 19th Hussars, during the Nile campaign of 1885. This
report is published among the Appendices to Colonel John Biddulph's
work, _The XIXth and their Times_ (1899).
Experience, in the words of Colonel Biddulph, had shown that English
horses could not stand hard work under a tropical sun with scarcity of
water and desert fare. It was therefore decided before leaving Cairo to
mount the regiment entirely on the small Syrian Arab horses used by the
Egyptian cavalry. Three hundred and fifty of these little horses had
been sent up in advance and were taken over by the regiment on arrival
at Wady Halfa. Colonel Barrow thus describes these horses:
"Arab stallion. Average height, 14 hands; average age, 8 years to 9
years; some 15 per cent. over 12 years; bought by Egyptian Government in
Syria and Lower Egypt; average price, L18."
About half of the ponies had been through the campaign in the Eastern
Soudan with the regiment in February and March, 1884, and had returned
in a very exhausted state. In September of that year they were marched
up from Assouan to Wady Halfa, 210 miles; and when handed over to the
19th again in November, all except some 10 per cent. of the number were
"in very fair marching condition." From Wady Halfa the regiment
proceeded to Korti, a distance of 360 miles, at a rate of about 16 miles
per day, halts, one of one day and one of two days not included; their
feed consisted of about 6 lbs. of barley or dhoora[1] and 10 lbs. of
dhoora stalk; and on this rather scanty ration the horses reached Korti
in very good condition. Here they remained for eighteen days, receiving
8 lbs. of green dhoora stalk daily instead of 8 lbs. dry; the rest and
change to green food produced improvement in their condition.
[1] Dhoora is a kind of millet cultivated throughout Asia and introduced
into the south of Europe; called also Indian millet and Guinea corn.
While the main body rested at Korti, a detachment of fifty went to
Gakdul, 100 miles distant, on reconnaissance; they performed the march
in sixty-three hours, had fifteen hours rest at Gakdul, and returned in
the same time. Six of the party returned more rapidly, covering the 100
miles in forty-six hours, the last 50 being covered in seven and a-half
hours. During these marches the horses were ridden for eighty-three
hours, the remaining fifty-eight hours of the time occupied being
absorbed by halts.
The reconnaissance party having returned on the 5th, the regiment,
numbering 8 officers and 127 men, with 155 horses, started, on January
8, to march with General Sir Herbert Stewart's column across the desert
to Gubat. This march, 336 miles, occupied from January 8 to February 20,
4 miles only being covered in the hour they were moving on the last
date. They halted on the 13th at Gakdul; whereby the average day's
journey works out at nearly 26 miles per day, or, if we ignore the march
(4 miles in one hour) of January 20, at nearly 28 miles per day. The
hardest day was the 16th, when the regiment travelled 40 miles in 11-1/2
hours, from 4.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., the horses receiving each half-a-gallon
of water and 4 lbs. of food grain. Their ability to work on scanty diet
was put to the test on this fortnight's march. The average daily ration
for the first ten days was from 5 to 6 lbs. of grain and 2 gallons of
water; the horses covering an average of 31 miles per day exclusive of
the halt at Gakdul on the 13th.
When the final advance to the Nile was made, the horses went fifty-five
hours with no water at all, and only 1 lb. of grain; some 15 or 20
horses were upwards of seventy hours without water. During their halt at
Gubat from January 20 to February 14, they had received but one ration
of grain, 6 lbs. given them two days before they had to start for the
Nile. During this period they performed out-post and patrol duty
averaging about 8 miles daily.
On the return march, the journey between Dongola and Wady Halfa, 250
miles, was performed on an average rate of 16 miles per day, with one
two-days' halt. On this march the regiment usually travelled at night
for the sake of coolness, but the scanty shade available generally
compelled exposure to the hot sun all day.
Colonel Barrow remarks, "I think it may be considered a most remarkable
circumstance that out of 350 horses, during nine months on a hard
campaign, only twelve died from disease." Colonel Biddulph sums up the
work of the horses in a few words: "The performance of the small Arab
horses, both with the river and desert columns, carrying a heavy weight,
on scanty fare and less water, is a marvel of endurance." The former
officer attributes the small percentage of loss from disease to the
facts (1) that the climate of the Soudan is most suitable for horses,
(2) that the Syrian horse has a wonderful constitution, and is admirably
suited for warfare in an Eastern climate. Colonel Barrow's opinion on
the suitability of the Eastern climate for horses must not be read as
meaning for horses of all breeds. On the contrary, Colonel Biddulph, in
words quoted on a previous page, states that experience had shown that
English horses could not withstand the conditions of campaigning in the
Soudan.
Sir Richard Green Price, writing over the familiar pen-name of
"Borderer," in _Baily's Magazine_, has urged the formation of a regiment
of Lilliputian horse, to consist of men under five feet, or five feet
six inches, weighing not over eleven stone, of good chest measurement:
these he would mount on ponies not over 14.2 and equip with light arms
and accoutrements. As he points out, increase in our cavalry is an
admitted necessity, and this branch of it in particular appeals to the
common sense of the people as a quick and handy service:
"After many years of practical experience of what ponies can
and do accomplish, especially well-bred ones hardily reared, I
do not hesitate to say that they will beat moderate horses of
double their size, and that very few of our present cavalry
horses could live with them in a campaign--they are more easily
taught, handled and mounted than bigger horses, and with twice
their constitution and thrice their sense--with riders to suit
them, where are the drawbacks to their employment?"
Sir Richard, in brief, urges the creation of a regiment of scouts or
mounted infantry whose horses shall be of much the same type of those
described by Colonel Barrow.
The special correspondent of the _Times_ with the Modder River force, in
course of an article on this arm, which appears likely to play a large
part in the wars of the future, writes thus of the animals used by the
Colonists and Boers:--
"Here in South Africa the country-bred pony, tractable, used to
fire, and taught to remain where he is left if the reins be
dropped from the bit, is already a half-trained animal for
these purposes, and the work of training has been slight in
consequence; but in Afghanistan, and other places where the
mounted infantry man has been tried in a lesser degree, the
chief cause of trouble has been found in his mount."
The South African ponies ridden by the Colonial scouts and mounted
infantry have acquired their education as shooting ponies on the veldt
under conditions very similar to those prevailing in warfare. There is
radical difference between animals so trained and ill-broken Indian
country-breds whose tempers have been far too frequently spoiled by
rough usage in native hands. The mounted infantry in Afghanistan might
well find trouble with such ponies.
[Illustration: ONE OF REMINGTON'S HORSE.
_Showing type of horse used by mounted infantry and scouts in the South
African War._
(By permission of the Proprietors of the "Daily Graphic.")]