Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-11-28
CAMEL CARAVANS.
10000 Camels Now at Work in
Australia.
UTILIZED TO OPEN NEW REGIONS.
Australia Produces Race ofCamels Pos
sesssd Of Greater weight-carrylng
Capacity than the Imported.

Some interesting particulars concern
ing the part which the camel is playing
in the development of the Australian
colonies are given in the British Au-
stralasian" dealing with gold fields of
Western Australia. The great central
depot for the animals imported from
India is Port Aug usta, 259 miles north
west of Adelaide. Here camel quar-
antine station has been established, and
the arrivals are kept in it and carefully
watched for the first three months to
guard against outbreaks of certain
deadly mango which carried off most
of the earliest animals. Once acclima-
tized, the camels are not liable to the
complaint, and they thrive wonderful
ly upon the natural shrubs of Australia
salt bush, waffle, mulga, acacia, and
other varieties. The imported ami
mails, however, are not nearly so val
liable as the Australia bred camels.
The pastoralist breeds his camels, as he
does his sheep, on scientific principles,
SO that already, within 20 years. there
has been produced in Australia race
Of camels larger in frame, sounder in
wind and limb, and possessed of greater
weight-carrying capacity than the In
dian animals originally imported. :"
The British Australasia" continues:
''By means Of camel caravans-there
are now close upon 10000 camels at
work in Australia-the pastoralists
have been enabled to take up and stock
new country which was formerly in
capable of being utilized, because a
broad belt of land that is either water
less or liable to prolonged periods of
drought interviewed between the good
country and the settled regions. whence
all supplies have to be drawn, and
where all porducts 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
lately been drafted to Western Aus
tralia. On the older gold-fields of that
knocked out the bullock team by reason
both of economy and efficiency. But,
more important 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
utilized. Mining machinery is being
made in sections convenient for sling
ing 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
being yoked in teams of eight, just
like bullocks. Well sinking machin-
cry is likewise being sent into the
waterless country on camel-back, and
after the magnificent results achieved
by artesian boring in the arid region
Of Queensland, where some of the bores
yield 100000 gallons a 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 ow-
ing to the scarcity of water, may be
converted into regular cases." Dur
ing the Lindsay expedition, it is added,
the camels had spells of 90 and 81
days without drink of water
Scientific American.