The Mena weekly star., 1897-07-28
NOW A CAMEL FoUR-lN-HANo
i, British Officers Idea and 1t Seems
 to Have Good ResuIts.

.or of the coach horse and the under
 study of what our grandfathers used tr
 ean the spanking bay. Englishme,
 have taught him his new roles and in
 India he can now be seen any day. four
 of him, humping himself in front of
 regulation mail coach An English
 officer with bright ideas, Lieut.. Ralph Ponsonby, of the Twenty-eighth na- tive infantry, is the man to whom cred it is given for this decidedly new de- parture.
 II is a curious fact that the English army was the first to find what might be termed civilized occupations for beasts whom nature apparently never intended to play the roles they have been taught to assume. The elephant artillery is feature of the English army, and now they have camel four In-hand Almost everyone nowadays has seen a camel. One who has ever viewed the great, ungainly beast would at first ridicule the idea Of supplanting the stout wheelers and the equally at tractive leaders with an animal of that sort
 The first experiment. was tried about q month ago in Calcutta, and it proved a complete success. The wheel camels are attached to the tongue of the mail coach in the same manner that the horses were wont to be. There are the traces, and the names, the tongue straps and the various appurtenances which have become familiar to us on the backs of horses. not emitting the ever familiar collar. Upon the back of each of the wheelers is perched a regulation camel driver seated in a saddle, practic- ally the same as that which adorns the patient brute that rambles about the in- closure down at Coney island. The riders or drivers sit upon their respec- tive steeds in the same way as did the post boys of old tavern days, and that is the way the wheelers look when they are in trim for journey.
 The leaders must be the more intelli- gent beasts of the four. They are at tached to the tongue hook by means of one stout whiffletree. Their equipment is practically the same as that of the wheelers, only they must be more alert and ready to answer the pressure of their drivers heels than the wheel CTS. Never was there a stronger eXem- plification of the truth of that old say ing about follow my leader" than the case of the wheel camels.
 The only unfamiliar thing about the appearance of the four-in-hand in ac- tion is the absence of the driver on the box of the coach. This, however, is like ly to be remedied soon, as Lieut.. Pom sonby is practicing driving four camels just as he would drive four horses. He has kept the native drivers on the camels in ease of accident right along, but is meeting with excellent success in training the brutes. The camel has heretofore been credited with being rather unintelligent, possessing low cunning and violent temper. Lieut.. Ponsonby's experience has taught him, he says, that the camel is a beast which has been most unjustly criticised. While it is ugly, it is not unintelligent, its monumental stubbornness having gained for it that reputation.
 At the time of the first experiment with the camels, at which others than the trainers were allowed to ride in the coach, a drive of 20 miles was enjoyed. The party travelled at rattlng pace. and covered the necessary distance in less time than the ordinary coach and four would have made it-N. Y. Herald Our National Wealth in Gold DOIla.s.