Ships of the Desert Part I


We think of Dromedary or Arabian Camels (one-humpers) and Bactrian or Persian camels (two-humpers) as animals of Asia and North Africa and, yes I have seen them in both places, as well as in India where the Indian army has a working Camel Corps. Camels are really migrants from South America over the west to east land bridge of long ago over the Bering Sea. Their close relatives, Llamas and Guanaco, can still cross breed with camels and produce fertile progeny. The two types of these amazing Asian/North African animals can also cross breed but nowhere does it say whether you get a one-and-a-half-humper or a three-humper for your efforts!

The dromedary is basically a fast 'riding' camel and has a smaller freight capacity than the smaller, slower, but much stronger Bactrian camel. Both can go without water for several days and are so efficient with the water that they do get that their urine is like a high salt syrup and their dung is so dry that you can use it for campfire cooking fuel right from it's source. (What else is there to burn on the desert?) Would it not be great if Canadian (and USA) Troops in Afghanistan could use Camel Dung in their Zippo Lighters to light the Camel cigarettes in the USA ~ C rations! Maybe they do. John Wayne would be ecstatic, Pilgrim!

The American Army has a long association with Dromedary Camels and is now back in the Afgan, where camels were thought to have been domesticated some 3000 years ago. Prior to the American Civil War there was a Camel Corps in the Southwestern USA. This was an attempt to provide a replacement for horses and mules as freight carriers. The idea was sound, but their research was bad. They chose the dromedary instead of the Bactrian for freight. Had they been mounted and ridden, the dromedary camels could out run any horse and would have had the stamina to go all day and night in pursuit of renegades and bandits. Had Bactrian camels been brought in for freight, the Camel Corps would have been a success.

When the USA Camel Corps was demobilized, the camels and five Arab camel instructors were turned loose. The resulting feral camels have wandered the Southwest for many years. It is still illegal to hunt camels in Arizona. This being said, three strange thoughts pop into my twisted mind:

• "Tonto", imagine the Lone Ranger on his favorite dromedary Silver and you, his faithful Scout, mounted on a Bactrian. Both of you humping around bringing law and order on to the USA frontier!" (Jay Silverheels (Tonto) was a Canadian Mohawk and we Canadians like to get our humps straight (almost - stay tuned next week to read about it).
• We Canadians wanted Freight Camels so we brought in the very strong, but plodding (4 miles per. hr.) Bactrian camels for the gold rush freight to the Caribou country of BC.
• (Old Army Song) "Where Have All the Canadian Camels gone? ~ Turned to Players Every One ~ Oh Wont they Ever Learn"
  
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  More interesting stuff on USA Camel Corps: click here
  
  Camel Facts will astound you; do you know how many camels are in a box of Animal Crackers? Find out the answer to this important question click here No variation is allowed. If you find the wrong number, report it to the maker and you will get six or eight free boxes.
  
  How about this for Trivia Pursuit? Camel's milk does not curdle. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
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  Here is one version of a Campfire legend about a Canadian (i.e. Bactrian) camel that probably broke out of BC and wandered down through the Okanagan valley into the great American desert, which commences between Oliver and Ossoyoos BC.
  
  Big Red Many years ago, southwest of Yakima, Washington, USA, a woman was found trampled to death along a dusty track. On tree branches by the water hole there was red fur (not hair) left by some strange animal. Huge tracks were found nearby, but no one could recognize them. A few weeks later, some gold miners reported seeing a camel, at a distance, with something between the humps that looked like a human. Since this information was passed on in a local Saloon, it was discounted as just another of the miner's many DT yarns. Several more weeks past and a range rider came into the same bar with a desiccated human skull in a burlap sack. The long red hair and dried strips of skin identified it as probably a woman. The cowpoke said he saw a camel shaking and bucking violently to rid it self of it's load. He drew his saddle rifle to save the human, who he could see was tied on with several straps. As the camel bucked, something flew off and the camel disappeared into arroyo. The cowboy recovered the human skull and brought it to the bar. He was paid a bottle of rot-gut whiskey for it and the next day wished his head could be bucked off too. The camel and it's grisly load was never seen again and is said to still go up and down between Ossoyoos and Wenatchie, ridden by a headless Canadian girl who had run off from her Canadian beau to be with an American cowboy. The Canadian had captured them both, just outside of Orville WA, shot the Yank, and lashed her to a big red Bactrian Camel and ran them off to the south. No one knows any of their names, but a very old man in Three Fingers Jack's bar in Winthrope WA swore to me, after I bought him a few beers, that he's that very Canadian camel drover and is still on the run! The Bartender confirmed it too. He said he had the dried skull be hind the bar in a burlap sack and for $5.00 I could peak at it. My son was with me and was in a rush to get moving out of this desolate country, so I cannot say it is so. But would an old man or a Bartender tell a lie about a Big Red camel? Or for that matter, a red headed girl who keeps her head in a sack? I think not. Yanks basically tell the truth. Next time I go through Winthrope WA, I'm going to stop at Three Fingers Jack's again and take a peak at that there girl! I always liked red headed damsels. They are worth a $5.00 peek. Besides, the beer's real cold there. Enough, my friends. This first part is just to pique your interest in Camels so that you'll be ready to read about the strange Desert Ships that plied freight up and down the Caribou trail so long ago. For next week, Abdulha H. Brown is sending more of his research on Canadian camels to me.
  
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