15
Frontier work for the 3 Corps which draw their men from north
of the Salt Range and would set free a large number of camels
to help to remount other corps and to check the increasing
prices.
"(ii) That as the camel grazing country of the Punjab is by extension
of canals in certain districts, becoming so limited, and as this
is acting so injuriously to the health of camels in the plains,
sacrifices should be made in the healthier districts in which
sufficient grazing is available, so that corps camels may remain
in safety from Surra during the dangerous season; this would
cause a greatly decreased death-rate in the camels, and relieve
the strain on the camel supply. These sacrifices would be the
opening of some of the rakhs in and to the north of the Salt range
which have been closed for years to camel browsing. The closure
of these rakhs has resulted in a great decrease in the breeding
and supply of hill camels from healthy districts, and an enhanced
price. It is a matter of great urgency.
"(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 six 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 foot-hills of the Himalayas before
the 15th of 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 high-
lying land well away (1/2 mile) from standing water but protected
from cold wind and in the foot-hills it would besafer, 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 foot-hills 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 condi-
tions 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.