'The views and opinions of Brigadier General John Jacob, CB. Aide-decamp to the Queen; Aide-de-camp to the Governor General of India, &c. &c. &c.; late commanding in chief the British forces in Persia; at present commanding the Sind Irregular Horse, and Political Superintendent of the North-West frontier of Sind.' [‎176] (207/481)

pwwwanrrnwuxii i \. ninrgWHHWCT
^r,.,
176
baggage animals, and provisions, implied in the presence
of a good camp bazar, have been matter of astonishment
and horror to officers not experienced in eastern cam
paigning ; and attempts have been made to remedy the
supposed evil by organising baggage corps, which, how
ever, only create the evil they are supposed to remedy. I
will give you an instance of such an attempt: in the hill
campaign of 1845, owing to the emptiness of the military
chests, and the absence of proper commissariat arrange
ments, operations were suspended ere well begun. The
failure was ascribed to the want of a baggage corps, and,
with a view to preventing similar failures in future cam
paigns, the embodying of a Camel Baggage Corps was
ordered by Government. The establishment of the corps
was ultimately fixed at 1000 privates and 1000 camels.
About three hundred camels were required to move a
regiment of native infantry, inclusive of tents, ammunition,
and the private baggage of officers and men, but without
any commissariat stores; and supposing but one-half of the
European officers to be present, two hundred of these
camels would be employed in the carriage of the private
baggage of the officers and men. When the camels of the
baggage corps were thus employed, they were paid for by
the men using them, at the rate of ten rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. each camel
per mensem.
The camels were attached to regiments, and paid for only
during actual service, which, for the period of the existence
of the corps, may have amounted on the average to one-
fourth of the whole time.
The baggage corps existed from the middle of the year
1845 till the end of 1851, or six and a half years. Its total
cost during that period amounted to Us. 14,87,855 per
thousand camels.