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[Page 27]
camel and the camel himself smelling like the combined by-products of a tannery and a soap Factory.
A word or two about the camel may possibly be of use to some of those who, by way of expiation or from other motives, find themselves in the desert with one of these animals as the only means of transport.
He is beautiful to draw and paint but he is an animal one cannot love. Never attempt to caress a camel. If he should try to caress you, and he will if you are not watchful, hit him with anything that is handy and heavy; the butt of the rifle; an army boot hobnailed or the Colonel's best armchair. Hit him on the jaw and hit hard. When mounting screw his neck right round as if you were trying to dislocate it and snub him short so that he cannot bite. His bite is fatal. When on him much may be forgiven for with little urging he keeps up his not unpleasant shamble with regularity and persistence. On dismounting revert to the original antagonistic attitude. The common bond of man and camel is undying hate. A comprehensive treatise on the camel is yet to be written. There was an Australian trooper of exceptional literary and rhetorical accomplishment who went into the matter very thoroughly, describing the animal in detail with a flow of words and an intensity of meaning likely to make Saint Paul and the early saints turn in their honoured graves. I regret that he spoke in tongue almost impossible to translate.