THE CAMEL IN AUSTRALIA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 42, 24 May 1907, Page 7

THE CAMEL IN AUSTRALIA.

Take him all round, there are few queerer quadrupeds than the camel. He has been very justly described by Dr. Russell as “an abominably ugly necessary animal.” Of his indispenaability for desert travelling his remarkable power for storing water, arid his inimitable stupidity, every schoolboy is aware. He has other points, however, which are less generally known.

One of the oldest, if not the pioneer of all domesticated animals—he was such in the time of Abraham—he is peculiar in having no wild pro-i totypes. Of most domestic animals, such as the dog, cat, and horse, there are plenty of wild types, from which the modern animal has evidently been' domesticated. There are no wild camels ; and the nearest known type, the llama, is confined to South America, He is probably, however, of desert origin, since to this day it is the hardest, thing possible to make him cross a stream of water.

The world-famous hump of the camel is merely a mass of fat. Contrary to general belief, there is absolutely no spinal curvature or bony framework upholding its outlines. It ip. in effect, the camel’s emergency ration. When cut off from all ordinary means of sustenance, he lives upon his fat. The native driver knows this full well, and before starting on a long journey is careful to ascertain that his beast has a full aHlowance of hump. A first-class burthen camel will cross twenty-five miles of desert per diem for three days on end, under a load of from 5001 b. to I,ooolb. ; whilst the racing camel will carry its rider and his store of water fifty miles a day for five days on end. A racing dromedary has been known to cover as much as 100 miles in a single day. In neither case will the (leasts require any water between the start and the conclusion of their journey. The knowledge of these wonderful powers has upon several! occasions led to his deportation for burthen purposes. During the sixties ten camels wore successfully landed at New York, eight of which speedily showed their ingratitude by .dying. The remaining two being transported to Nevada, where the sterile and sandy soil product's nothing but prickly shrubs which other animals will not touch, immediately testified their appreciation of the change by settling down to family life in the orthodox manner. .It is. however, with the Australian j importations that Britishers are I most concerned. Despite its huge j sandy wastes, camels were but little i known in Australia until twent.v----j seven were imported from India into : Victoria to assist in the disastrous exploring expedition of Burke and Wills, which left Melbourne on August 20th, 1 S()0, Six years later Sir Thomas Elder introduced the first big load, 109 in number, into South Australia.

Despite decimating attacks of mange and scabies, which have since been got under by the use of sulphur and carbolic ointment, the employment of the animals gradually extended. The celebrated Warburton gave a convincing proof of their adaptability to Australian requirements by crossing the great, central desert with their aid. Nevertheless, for a longtime the prejudice was against them. The British colonist looked on them as an Oriental vagary, only fit for the use of niggers, and continued to use the horse and ox of Ids ancestors over a country for which they were utterly unfit. It was reserved for the Australian contingent (composed of unprejudiced native-born colonists), which fought under Lord Wolselcy in the Soudan, to recognise their real utility as beasts of burthen—a fact which was forced upon them by the remarkable success attending the operations of the Hamel Corps. The results of their observations were soon made manifest. in 1884 some GGI animals were imported into Australia, the average price per head being £GO and £GS for pack bulls and cows, £65 and £7O for harness animals, and £7O to £75 for riding animals. Meanwhile the native-born descendants of Hie earlier importations were fast outdistancing the Indian and African varieties in point of wind, limb, and endurance.

During the Lindsay exploring, expedition of 1885-1 6 they cut out the remarkable records of twenty-one and twenty-three days without water, and showed themselves all round superior to the imported article. Their victory over both horses and bullocks was still more pronounced. The horse is far too expensive for transport purposes in a semi-desert country, the bullock is far too slow.

A team of ten bullocks will, by dint of constant urging, draw a stock waggon ten miles a, day, and upon a long journey a relay team has to be driven, fed, and watered in order to replace possible losses and tamings. An Australian bred camel will transport a load of HOOlb over this distance in a couple of hours ! Roughly speaking, he is about six ( to eight times as fast over a long distance.

Small wonder, then, that considerably over 10,000 of his species are already employed in transportation across the arid plains, which separate the sheep stations of the far interior, where his wonderful water endurance, and his ability to dine off a handful of scrub and twigs, at which any self-respecting hillock would turn up his nose, gives him the indisputable position of the carrier of Central Australia.