Item 01: William Sparkes diary, 9 June 1915-5 January 1916 - Page 68
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[Page 68]
means of transport. Speaking about camels reminds me of a criticism I read one time of these animals. It was something to the effect that camels on sunlit sand – and at a respectable distance are I think always decorative. From an artistic point of view it is always advisable to keep them there – namely on sand and at a distance because nearness to the workaday camel quite takes the enchantment from the view of him. To begin with he is mangy from his [Indecipherable] deck to his splay feet and out of every ten square inches that ought to be covered with hair he wears nine square inches [Indecipherable]. He emits evil noises and an evil smell. When he bites - which he does with his lips, not teeth – the effect is very much the same as having one's finger slammed into the hinge side of a railway carriage door. He is as ungrateful as a Greek and as trecherous as a Turk. A horse will not drink after him; sheep avoid the pasture he has fouled and even a Jackal will not eat him when he is dead