Arizona republican., 1894-12-09
CAMELS IN AUSTRALIA.
As Useful There as in the Des-
 erts of Arabia.
A Splendid Race of Animals Being Raised in the Australian Colonies The Beasts of Great Service in
 the Gold Fields.

Some interesting particulars con- corning the part which the camel is playing in the development of the Aus
 tralian colonies are given in a special
 issue of the British Australasian deal
 ing with the gold-felds of western Aus
 tralia. The great central depot for the animals imported from India is Port Augusta, two hundred and ffty-nine miles northwest of Adelaide. Here a camel quarantine station has been es- abolished, and the arrivals are kept in it and carefully watched for the first three months to guard against out breaks of a certain deadly mango which carried off most of the earliest animals. Once acclimatized the camels are not liable to the complaint, and they thrive wonderfully upon the natural shrubs of Australia-salt bush, wattle. nulga, acacia and other varie- ties. The imported animals, however, are not nearly so valuable as the Aus tralian-bred camels. The pastoralist breeds his camels as he does his sheep, on scientific principles, so that al ready, within twenty-five years, there has been produced in Australia a race of camels larger in frame, sounder in wind and limb and possessed of greater weight-earrying capacity than the h. dian animals originally imported. By means of camel caravans-there are now close upon ten thousand camels at work in Australia-the pastoralists have been enabled to take up and stock new country which was formally incapable of being utilized because broad belt of land that is either waterless or li- able to long periods of drought inter vened between the good country and settled regions, whence all supplies have to be drawn and where all prod ucts must be marketed It is only within the last few years that mining men have awakened to the utility of camels in their industry, and large numbers of the animals have recently been drafted to western Australia. On the older gold fields of that colony the camel caravan has already knocked out the bullock team by reason both of econ omy and efficiency. But, more inn portant still, the camel is enabling new gold fields to be reached and worked which were previously, if not absolutely inaccessible, incapable of being permanently occupied and util- ized Mining machinery is being made in sections convenient for singing across the back of the pack animal. Camel wagon transport, unknown both in Asia and in Africa. has also been developed in Australia, the animals be- ing yoked in teams of eight, just like bullocks. Well-sinking machinery is likewise being sent out into the water less country on camelback, and after the magnificent results achieved by ar tesian boring in the arid region of Queensland, where some of the bores yield two million gallons day and have caused rivers to run where water was never before seen except in the form of an all too scanty rainfall. There is no saying but that by this means the West Australian gold fields, now worked with difficulty owing to the scarcity of water, may be converted into regular oases. During the Lind say expedition, it is added, the camels had spells of twenty-three and twenty one days without drink of water