Part of the transport was hired--and as in
the case of the Brahuis camels--with the services of the owners, who
were easily offended and likely to decamp with their property in a
night. During the first year the system was under the direct control
of the commissariat department; but as this proved unsatisfactory,
in the subsequent campaign it was entirely reorganized and
superintended by an officer of engineers, with a large number of
officers from the Line to assist. This gave better satisfaction.
Immense numbers of camels died from heat, [Footnote: Of a train of
eighteen hundred unloaded camels on the road from Dadur to
Jacobabad, for six days in June, six hundred died of exhaustion. In
March, 1855 Col. Green, C.B., lost one hundred and seventeen horses
out of four hundred, from the heat, during a march of thirty miles.]
overwork, irregular food, and neglect. Owing to the dryness of the
climate and intense heat of the summer the bullock-carts were
perpetually falling to pieces. The mules, donkeys, and ponies gave
the best results, but do not abound in sufficient quantities to
enable an army in Afghanistan to dispense with camels.
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