The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-08-17

detail by Lieut.. d. - orter, VINO was
in charge. Each ANIMAL was provided
with a competent chauffeur, wI-o was
caretaker, Interpreter and baggage
master in one. Mo,t of the ANNALS
got seasick, and sc did the drivers,
and both compla- Utterly OF the
arrangements. The lis wished they
hadn't come, and s--.ved it by kick
ing and biting pieces from various Oh
icers, w-o were not to blame.
After landing in Texas the canes
did not improve perceptibly in their
natures. Their particular aversion was
the army mules. Eien the younger,
inexperienced camels learned quickly
to kill a mule with one blow of the
mind foot and INDUCED in that pas
time frequently Their taste for army
officers remained undiminished and IT,
c-auffeurs got the blame every time
captain lost some of his anatomy.
The soldiers took to the camel with
reciprocal affection. In the first place,
they didn't like MS looks, contending
that tie soft faraway look in the
cemels eye indicated that his mind
was not on his business, but he was
dreaming of his relatives back in the
Sahara. Then the soldiers couldn't get
used to the odor radiated by tie ORR
entail beasts-circuses not being in
vogue, and many of them said that
Kipling was perfectly correct in his
opinion that a camel smelled most
awfully vile. Kipling hadn't said it
get, but soldiers are farseeing and
knew he was going to say it.
Besides, the camel was no good to
ride, the soldiers agreed. His ambling,
rapid stride made them seasfck, and
they wanted no animal which it took
ten minutes to awaken when the
Indians attacked them in the night. No
American had lived up to that period
who could tie cargo on one of the
seafaring beasts so it would stay on.
The camel is not constructed fiat on
top. it is remembered, and only a
cleve Arab Chauffeur could load one
to travel any distance without losing
the supplies.
The high record in dead mules was
made, it is said, by camel in San
Antonio whose name was Major. Ma
jor kicked sevtn valuable mules into
eternity, and one day some soldiers.
friend of the late mules, took Major
off up on high cliff and came back
and said he had fallen off accident
ally No exhaustive probe was made
Of Majors disappearance.
With all their faults, the came!s per-
formed some valuable services for the
country. They built some roads, and
often carried Supplies weighing 1850
pounds great distances. A caravan
loaded with supplies went into the city
of Switzerland Springs on one occas-
sion, and the camels were w&tered at
the town we'll. 1t was tie boast of the
city that the well d.never gone dry.
About half the camels took drink
and the we'll was dry. The disturbance
caused by the remaining thirsty camels
set the population into panic such as
usually follows the scape of a lion or
a mouse.
But the endless feud between the
.amels and the soldiers soon convinced
the government that railroads would
do just as well. The rush to Califor-
mia was we'll over, and frontier trou-
bles were we'll under control by the
time the civil war broke out. TIE gov
ernment withdrew the foreign camel
agents and closed the foreign Offices.
By the time the civil war was over the
camels had disappeared. So had the
Arabs. Some of the camels died, and
some were stolen. Others escaped to
the desert, and even today hoary
wild camel, white with age, occasion
ally terrifes Sunday newspaper feat
ure writer's into writing something
about it. Very likely the ones which
didn't go to the desert swamp back
to Egypt Both reports are authenti-
Gated in tie same degree.
Ernar6t Bersch's painting was
adopted by real estate agent as let
terhead some years later. In the fore
ground on the Preside before the bar
racks the Arabs fixed the trappings
on the spongy-footed steeds. Nearby, a