The Camel and Heavy Weapons.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Ibrahiim, thank you so much for posting "Gunga Din" in full by Kipling.
Kipling's work is quintessant in describing the wonderful color and pageantry of the British Raj, its diversity, as well as the dramatic contests between cultures and their challenges.

It was said that the British soldier would never bother gathering souveniers or trophies from an enemy he did not respect and admire. While Gunga Din was of course not an enemy, but ally in the British ranks, and this poem just shows the great respect the British Army learned to hold for so many of these people.
In most cases, the cultures in India were not really subdued by the British, but came to become allied with them in a carefully orchestrated accord, in my opinion of course.

Getting back to the camels, I really am intrigued by knowing more firsthand on their behavior from someone who has actually dealt with them. It seems they are far more phenomenal and perplexing than I imagined.

Good notes on Lawrence, another favorite topic, and it seems there was a recent discovery of a .45 pistol (Lawrence was the only one present with a M1911 Colt at the site of the famed railway ambush). This is said to be proof of Lawrences account of the raid, which had been strongly debated.

Thank You Jim, I feel that the essence of ethnographics is contained in some of these anecdotes and more so in the poetry especially about soldiers exploits... where it brushes shoulders with the weaponry of the day.

Camels of course are part of the story of exploits across the regions not only as logistic long haul beasts of burden but in carrying up ammunitions and bringing back casualties from the battlefront...even though the journey for an injured soldier would be hellish in such conditions.

It is odd that they have peculiar feet that make plodding in sand quite pleasant and oddly once they start into a trot it is as if they are hydroplaning and though it looks hairy the ride is not unpleasant and you feel the magic carpet experience ...Oddly they can run in a sort of jailhouse walk method or bound along like rabbits...They are said to have come from an animal that was like a big hare originally from the USA. They are related to Lama and also the one humper is of the same family and can breed with two humpers !!

The meat is almost free of cholesterol as is the milk though straight from the camel it goes through Europeans like lightening thus not recommended unless you are used to it.

Strangely they can see in a sandstorm as they have special see through eye lids .. Whats more is they can small water miles away..and can make a beeline for it. This is useful in the desert where you may be no further away than 30 feet from running water but unfortunately it is straight down...

They are built with very strange reproductive organs ...and some people wonder how such small equipment originate and how can people make gunpowder flasks out of these? It is said that when Moses was doing the Ark that the parts of the Donkey..somehow got mixed up with those of the camel !! so now we have donkeys with massive equipment and camels with tiny gear. Camels in the middle east need to be put to the business of reproduction as they seem to have forgotten how to do it... It is one of the funniest procedures ...

Camels here are all owned by someone ..When an imported beast comes in fro Australia they come equipped to do everything. Arabian camels dont jump...Australian ones do... very high. They can also kick a handler in the face on the way up and down...Much to the handlers amazement.

When running camels can go and go... The heart rate hardly moves ... They have massive capacity to carry heavy weights and only get tetchy if after a week they haven't been able to access water...which can be pretty brackish...If you have no water you die after losing only a relatively small amount of body weight... Camels don't... They get a bit angry... but they can lose 25% of their weight to the extent you cant identify which is your camel...they change shape that much... but on getting to water they act like vacuum cleaners and hoover up all that weight loss in about 15 minutes and whats more.. they carry on like nothing just happened...!! The big camel trains of an age gone by didn't stop ...they watered and fed on the move... and could be thousands strong...

On being asked how much weight it can carry the Bedouin will just smile at you ...You just keep putting on the weight... You will know its too much when the beast refuses to stand up!!

To end on a male female note... Female camels don't come into season...(they are actually in season all the time).. Males do. Beware these gigantic Galaisa (lead Camel) males with teeth like those of a two ton lion... they use these gigantic jaws to tear down the branches of desert thorn trees to eat the tiny leaves...They can easily bite off a human arm or leg...and head...if as a handler you get between a female and a male camel in season... usually the colder months.