Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-10-26
From the New York Tribune.
The Camel I'm the United States.

ern p0rtlOnS OF the United StateSj 10 pc ehi-
| ployed as beast of burden in regions almost
destitute of water, and offering but scanty
supply of heritage Of very inferior quality, has
been viewed by many far-seeing individuals as
an object of much national importance since
the discovery of the Great Basin, and the estab-
lishment of overland routes from the Atlantic
/ States to the coast of the Pacific.
Having recently had access to a manuscript
by General Harlan, of Cochranville, Chester
county, Penn, narrating his career and expe-
| riences in Asia, we have derived from it and
| from the perusal of statements Of its author the
] following information with regard to the camel
and the practicabity of its introduction into the
United States.
As to the authority of the evidence upon
which these facts depend, it will be recollected
! that General Harlan resided nineteen years in
| the east during part of which period he was
actively involved in the military operations OF
Dost Mohamed, Ameer of Cabul, and Rungeet
Sing, Prince Of Punjaub, prior to the conquest
OF Cabul by the British. As general of the staff
of the former, he commanded division of the
army of Cabul, destined to the invasion OF
Bulkh, the ancient Bactria. On this expedi-
ton he was accompanied by caravan OF six
| teen hundred canels of northern stock in adj
dition to four hundred attached to his own COM
mand. Being compelled to cross the highest
range of the Indian Caucasus, and to superin-
tend his own commissariat, he enjoyed the most
ample opportunity for becoming practically fa-
miliar with the capacities of the northern or
Bactrian camel, as he had been previously with
those of the dromedary of the plains. He was
also able to estimate the relative value of the
cross resulting from their admixture, and known
as the Booghdee by the Affghans and other
northern tribes.
i q &c tba ,olo Gaparo1
| Harlan remarks that, when selected for burden,
he is loaded with ease and safety, and will
carry, on an average, four hundred pounds in
level country. On long journeys his daily
march is about eighteen miles, and his rate
about two and half miles per hour. The
more delicate-blooded and highly trained ami
mails bear much the same relation to their
laboring compeers that the racer holds to the
dray-horse. They are used exclusively by
couriers and express riders. Their ordinary
days journey is sixty miles but a fine speci-
men will travel one hundred miles daily, for
several days in succession. His utmost speed
is about ten miles per hour.
| The dromedary Of the plains isyery ill-adapt-
ed to mountain travelling, having but feeble
power in climbing, and still less in descending
steep. His chief usefulness is confined to
sandy soils; for, when the ground is wet and
slippery, as it is usually in clay ground, his hind
feet are exceedingly apt to slide apart and rup-
ture or sprain the iigaments Of the pubs; the
thighs being very deficient in abductive power,
and the legs being very long. This accident
is usually fatal, and if it occurs on a journey,
the animal is generally killed or left to starve.
As preventive, the hind legs are hoppled
above the gamble joint, by means of cord,
when travelling over treacherous ground. When
thrown down or swamped in mire, the drome-
Diary makes no attempt to rise. The elephant
or the horse will roll upon the side on such
occasions, and will await or assist the efforts
made to relieve him but the dromedary resigns
himself to despair. Heisa very noisy creature,
and is constantly roaring and braying while
being handled and loaded by his driver. In
deed, the slightest disturbance calls forth his
obstreperous lamentations
The Bactrian camel is stouter-limbed,
heavier bodied, and much more bulky animal
than the dromedary of the plains. He might
be useful as beast of burden, but for the great
| size of his two humps, and their peculiar posi-
| ton, which render it impossible to adopt such
saddle to his irregular back as would accom-
modate respectable load for much weight
upon the back between the humps is inadmissi-
BILE. The hump, in all the camel family, is in
tolerant of pressure, and their burdens are borne
upon the shoulders and hips, chiefly the former.
This species is, therefore, seldom used, even for
| light carriage yet is invaluable as the parent
of a hybrid race, formed by crossing the male
Bactrian camel with the female dromedary of
the plains. This is the Booghdee, of which we
have already spoken. Consequently the blood
of the Bactrian canal is extensively diffused
among the dromedaries of the mountains and
plains Of Central ASIA Syria, and Egypt
| The Booghdee, or cross Just mentioned bears
/ ,pob h1o 10 tba oil iy,fr
eral figure, being short-limbed, heavy-bodied,
and possessed of great muscular power, but he
inherits from his mother the popularity Of the
single hump, and becomes merged into drome
dairy He is not employed by couriers or ex-
| press riders, his speed not being remarkably
| great
The average load for Booghdee is six hun
dred pounds when traversing plains, and four
hundred pounds on ordinary mountain roads.
His greatest advantage over the ordinary drome-
diaries, as mountain carrier arises from the
strength and complete development of the claw
which forms the termination Of each toe, in the
camel tribe In this particular the animal
follows his paternal parent; for this appendage
is feeble and short in the dromedary of the
plains rendering him less secure in treading
among rocks and on wet ground, Moreover,
the strength and length Of the claw decline
Tdpluty III the WlAeu race, dS tIe DlOOu vi tue
Bactrian camel becomes less dominant in the
progeny. In the true Booghdee it is so strong
that he is nearly as sure footed as the horse.
The comparative shortness Of his hinder ex-
tremities also secures him from disablement by
the sliding apart Of the thighs, and, being bred
among the mountains of the north, his consti-
tuition is adapted to colder regions, without I'M
fitting him for labor under the burning sun Of
the plains. He Is q much quieter animal than
the Indian dromedary, and makes scarcely any
noise on the march.
1t is obvious, then, that the dromedary of the
plains is the proper animal for express riding
on the sands or saline dust Of the Great Basin,
and perhaps in some parts Of middle California,
but that he would be uselessfor allotherpurposes,
except for breeding in the prairie and other re-
gions of the west where not only arid deserts but
alsosnowclad mountains requires to be traversed.
The introduction and rearing of the Booghdee
should be regarded as the great national object,
the importation of the Bactrian camel and the
dromedary of the plains being incidentally ne
,,..o 49,, Co.. tho prnd ot,on and