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(iii) That where military requirements will allow it, the rest period of the
corps camels should be adjusted so as to cover more fully the
worst part of the surra season, which in the Punjab is the rains
and the following 6 weeks. In some corps the rest-period begins
on 1st June and ends on 31st August, and in these cases, from the
surra standpoint it would be much better if the rest period were
made to begin about 30 days later.
(iv) The surra season will even then slightly overlap the rest-period. As
far as possible no concentrations or parades of camels should
therefore be made which would cause them to march through
irrigated or riverine areas or the foothills of the Himalayas before
the 15th October. If movements are necessary before that date,
double marches are desirable through extensive irrigated districts,
or night marching across narrow belts of irrigation (such as occur
in Shahpur or Lahore districts) or (where possible) across belts of
land subject to inundation from rivers and nullahs (such as the
Deg Nullah) ; the camps should be made on highlying land well
away (½ mile) from standing water but protected from cold wind
and in the foothills it would be safer, before about 15th October,
to give rations than to send out to graze, provided the camping
ground is well chosen. (These rations however should include a full
missa bhusa ration).
(v) In May and June, before the true " surra season ", a fair number of
Tabanus are to be found in some surra-zones where there is a
constant supply of standing water ; the worst instances of this are
to be found here and there in the foothills below the Himalayas,
and certain localities on the North-West Frontier. In a corps
containing much surra, these flies may spread infection and cause
new cases and precautions similar to those given in paragraph (iv)
are advisable when working camels there, for as a rule it is
impracticable to avoid these zones in May and June.
(vi) The examination of the blood of camels for surra should be part of
the routine of a camel corps. The best time theoretically for this
routine would be the rainy season; but owing to the conditions
this is as a rule hardly practicable, The next best time is at the
inspections at the end of the rest period; at this time every camel
(in those corps which have a high mortality) should have its blood
examined irrespective of its " condition " or temperature; most of
the cases are of a few months' or weeks' duration and are showing
trypanosomes pretty often. There is not the same ease in picking
out cases after the end of the year because as the surra cases get
older they do not show trypanosomes so often.
This routine should be as far as possible repeated at inspections through-
out the year. In these routine examinations, two things are of
vital importance :—
(1) Thorough disinfection of the scissors between the testing of each
camel (for the disease is easily spread by inoculation).
(2) The Commandant himself should see that when trypanosomes are
found, the blood containing them has been taken from the right
camel.
All cases of fever, mange or debility on the sick list should have their
blood tested daily.
To do this work, each corps should have at least two microscopes (about
80 rupees each) instead of one and each regiment to which camels
are attached should have one.
(vii) In my opinion there is room for improvement in the matter of using
the microscope when purchasing camels. The method of diag-
nosis is of course an imperfect one as sometimes the blood is free