Editing Camel train (section)

==Camel caravan organization==
While organization of camel caravans varied over time and the territory traversed, [[Owen Lattimore]]'s account of caravan life in northern China in the 1920s gives a good idea of what camel transport is like. In his ''Desert Road to Turkestan'' he describes mostly camel caravans run by [[Han Chinese]] and [[Hui people|Hui]] firms from eastern China ([[Hohhot]], [[Baotou]]) or [[Xinjiang]] ([[Qitai County|Qitai]] (then called Gucheng), [[Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County|Barkol]]), plying the routes connecting those two regions through the [[Gobi Desert]] by  way of [[Inner Mongolia|Inner]] (or, before Mongolia's independence, [[Mongolia|Outer]]) Mongolia. Before Outer Mongolia's effective independence of China (circa 1920) the same firms also ran caravans into [[Ulaanbaatar|Urga]], [[Uliassutai]], and other centers of Outer Mongolia, and to the Russian border at [[Kyakhta]], but with the creation of an international border, those routes came into decline. Less important caravan routes served various other areas of northern China, such as most centers in today's [[Gansu]], [[Ningxia]], and northern [[Qinghai]]. Some of the oldest [[Hohhot]]-based caravan firms had a history dating to the early [[Qing dynasty]].<ref name=drt/>

===Camels===
[[File:Lugou-Bridge-east-end-relief-3577.jpg|thumb|A modern sculptor's depiction of (the head of) a caravan approaching [[Beijing]], complete with a camel-puller and a mounted caravan master, head cook, or ''xiansheng'' riding next to him. In the deserts of Mongolia, one would not see a dignitary in a [[sedan chair]] travelling along, nor would a baby camel accompany its mother.<ref>According to Lattimore (1928/9, p. 207), while pregnant female camels could travel as part of the caravan with a full load, any baby camel born in the desert would have to be abandoned, since, if the camel cow were to [[lactation|nurse]] the young one, she would become too thin for work.</ref> However, [[Mildred Cable]] and [[Francesca French]] in their book ''The Gobi Desert'' (1942) describe how a young camel can be carried in a wooden cradle on its mother's back. After the first week it is capable of walking beside her with periods of rest in the cradle; as it grows older it becomes capable of carrying a load of lighter articles needed by the caravan but at four years old can carry a full load.<ref>Cable, M. & French, F. (1942) ''The Gobi Desert''. London: Hodder & Stoughton; p. 162</ref>]]

Caravans originating from both ends of the Hohhot-Gucheng route were composed of two-humped [[Bactrian camels]], suitable for the climate on the area, although very occasionally one could see single-humped [[Dromedary|dromedaries]] brought to this route by [[Uyghur people|Uighur]] ("Turki", in Lattimore's parlance) caravan people from [[Hami Prefecture|Hami]]<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 151.</ref> A caravan would be normally composed of a number of files ({{zh|c=连}}, ''lian''), of up to 18 camels each. Each of the rank-and-file caravan men, known as the ''camel-pullers'' ({{zh|c=拉骆驼的}}, ''la luotuo-de''), was in charge of one such file. On the march, the camel-puller's job was to lead the first camel of his file by a rope tied to a peg attached to its nose, each of the other camels of the file being led by means of similar rope by the camel in front of it. Two files (''lian'') formed a ''ba'', and the camel-pullers of the two files would help each other when loading cargo on the camels at the beginning of each day's march or unloading it when halted. To do their job properly camel-pullers had to be experts on camels: as Lattimore comments, "because there is no good doctoring known for him [a camel] when he is sick, they must learn how to keep him well." Taking care of camels' health included the ability to find the best available grazing for them and keeping them away from poisonous plants; knowledge of when one should not allow a camel to drink too much water; how to park camels for the night, allowing them to obtain the best possible shelter from wind-blown snow in winter; how to properly distribute the load to prevent it from hurting the animal; and how to treat minor injuries of the camels, such as blisters or pack-sores.<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), pp. 108–115</ref>

The loading of camels was described by [[Mildred Cable]] and [[Francesca French]] in their book ''Through Jade Gate and Central Asia'' (1927): «In the loading of a camel its grumblings commence as the first bale is placed on its back, and continue uninterruptedly until the load is equal to its strength, but as soon as it shows signs of being in excess, the grumbling ceases suddenly, and then the driver says: "Enough! put no more on this beast!"»<ref>Cable, M. & French, F. (1937) ''Through Jade Gate and Central Asia''; 6th ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton; p. 21</ref><ref>Cable, M. & French, F. (1942) ''The Gobi Desert''. London: Hodder & Stoughton; pp. 161–164</ref>

[[File:Bilma-Salzkarawane1.jpg|thumb|[[Azalai]] salt caravan practiced by [[Tuareg]] traders in the [[Sahara]] desert. The French reported that the 1906 caravan numbered 20,000 camels.]]

===Caravan people ===

A caravan could consist of 150 or so camels (8 or more files), with a camel-puller for each file. Besides the camel-pullers the caravan would also include a ''xiansheng'' (先生, literally, "Sir", "Mister") (typically, an older man with a long experience as a camel-puller, now playing the role of a general manager), one or two cooks, and the caravan master, whose authority over the caravan and its people was as absolute as that of a captain on a ship. If the owner of the caravan did not travel with the caravan himself, he would send along a [[supercargo]] — the person who will take care of the disposal of the freight upon arrival, but had no authority during the journey. The caravan could carry a number of paying passengers as well, who would alternate between riding on top of a camel load and walking.<ref name=drt/>

Camel-pullers' salary was quite low (around 2 silver [[tael]]s a  month in 1926, which would not be enough even for shoes and clothing he wore out while walking with his camels), although they were also fed and provided with tent space at the caravan owner's expense. Those people worked not so much for the wages as for the benefit of carrying some cargo—half of a camel load, or a full load—of their own on the caravan's camels; when successfully sold at the destination, it would bring a handy profit. Even more importantly, if a camel-puller could afford to buy a camel or a few of his own, he was allowed to include them into his file, and to collect the carriage-money for the cargo (assigned by the caravan owner) that they would carry. Once the camel-puller got rich enough to own close to a full file of 18 camels, he could join the caravan not as an employee but as a kind of a partner—now instead of earning wages he would be paying money (around 20 [[tael]]s per round-trip in 1926) to the owner of (the rest of) the caravan for the benefit of joining the caravan, sharing in the food, etc.<ref name=drt/>

===Diet===
The caravan people's food was mostly based around [[oat]] and [[millet]] flour, with some animal fat. A sheep would be bought from the Mongols and slaughtered every now and then, and tea was the usual daily drink; as fresh vegetables were scarce, [[scurvy]] was a danger.<ref name=drt/> Besides the paid cargo and the food and gear for the men, the camels would also carry a fair amount of [[fodder]] for themselves (typically, dried [[peas]] when going west, and [[barley]] when going east, those being the cheapest types of camel feed in Hohhot and Gucheng, respectively). It was estimated that, when leaving its point of origin, for every 100 loads of merchandise the caravan would carry around 30 loads of fodder. When that was not enough (especially in winter) more fodder could be bought (very expensively) from dealers who would come to the caravan route's popular stopping places from the populated areas of Gansu or Ningxia to the south.<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 74</ref>

===Cargo===
Typical cargo carried by the caravans were commodities such as wool, cotton fabrics, or tea, as well as miscellaneous manufactured goods for sale in Xinjiang and Mongolia. Opium was carried as well, typically by smaller, surreptitious, caravans, usually in winter (since in the hot weather opium would be too easily detected by the smell). More exotic loads could include [[jade]] from [[Khotan]],<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), pp. 156–157.</ref> elk [[antlers]] prized in [[Chinese medicine]], or even dead bodies of the [[Shanxi]] caravan men and traders, who happened to die while in Xinjiang. In the latter case, the bodies had been first "temporarily" buried in Gucheng in light-weight coffins, and when, after three or so years in the grave the flesh had been mostly "[[mummy|consumed away]]", the merchant guild sent the bodies to the east by a special caravan. Due to the special nature of the load, higher freight rate was charged for such "dead passengers".<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), pp. 230–231</ref> Camels have been historically used to traffic illicit drugs among their legal trade goods. <ref>Irwin (2010), Camel. Reaction Books, London. p. 57.</ref> With camel meat being illegal in some places, Camels themselves are smuggled. In India, ritual sacrifice and common slaughter has fueled camel smuggling.

===Speed===
According to Lattimore's diary, caravan travel in Inner Mongolia did not always follow a regular schedule. Caravans traveled or camped at any time of day or night, depending on weather, local conditions, and the  need for rest. Since the caravan traveled at the walking speed of the men, the distance made in a day (a "stage") was usually between {{convert|10|and|25|mi|km|0|abbr=on}}, depending on road and weather conditions, and distances between water sources. On occasions several days were spent in a camp without going forward, due to bad weather. A one-way trip from [[Hohhot]] to [[Qitai County|Gucheng]] ({{convert|1550|to|1650|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=or}} by Lattimore's reckoning<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 100</ref>) could take anything from three to eight months.<ref name=drt50>Lattimore (1928–29), pp. 50–51.</ref>

Smaller caravans owned by Mongols of the [[Alxa League|Alashan]] (the westernmost Inner Mongolia) and manned by Han Chinese from [[Minqin County|Zhenfan]], were able to make longer marches (and, thus, cover longer distances faster) than the typical Han Chinese or Hui caravans, because the Mongols were able to always use "fresh" camels (picked from their large herd for just a single journey), every man was provided with a camel to ride, and loads were much lighter than in the "standard" caravans (rarely exceeding {{convert|270|lb|kg|1}}. These caravans would typically travel by day, from sunrise to sunset.<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 168.</ref> Such a camel train is described in the accounts of the journey made by [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]] and [[Ella Maillart]] in the Gobi Desert in the mid-1930s.

===Logistics===
Inns called [[caravanserai]] were spread along the route of a long caravan journey. These roadside inns specialized in catering to travelers along established trade routes, such as the [[Silk Road]] and the [[Royal Road]]. Because such long trade routes often passed through inhospitable desert regions, journeys would be impossible to complete successfully and profitably without caravanserai to provide necessary supplies and assistance to merchants and travelers. 

It was necessary for camels to spend at least two months between long journeys to recuperate, and the best time for that recuperation was in June–July, when camels shed their [[camel hair|hair]] and the grazing is best. Therefore, the best practice was for a caravan to leave [[Hohhot]] in August, just after the grazing season; upon reaching Gucheng, weaker camels could stay there until the next summer by grazing whatever vegetation is available in winter, while the stronger ones, after a few weeks of recovery on a grain diet (grain being cheaper in Xinjiang than in eastern China), would be sent back in late winter/early spring, taking along plenty of grain for fodder, and returning to Hohhot before the next grazing season. Vice versa, one could leave Hohhot in the spring, spend the summer grazing season in Xinjiang, and come back in the late fall of the same year. Either way, it would be possible for the caravan people and their best camels to make a full round trip within a year. However, such perfect scheduling was not always possible, and it was often the case that a caravan sent out from Hohhot in August would end up staying on the other end of the route until and through the next grazing season, coming back to Hohhot about a year and a half after its departure.
<ref name=drt50/>

===Loss of camels; camel hair trade===
On almost every journey quite a few camels in each caravan would be lost. On a particularly exhausting section of the trip, an animal already worn out by many weeks of walking, or accidentally poisoned by eating a poisonous plant, would kneel down and not rise anymore. Since killing a camel was considered bad [[karma]] by the caravan people, the hopeless animal—whose death, if it was owned by an individual camel-puller, would be a huge material loss for its owner—was simply left behind to die, "thrown on the Gobi" as the camel men would say.<ref>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 104.</ref>

Since camels moult in the summer, camel owners received additional income from collecting several pounds of [[camel hair|hair]] their animals dropped during the summer grazing (and shedding season); in northern China, the camel hair trade started around the 1880s. Later, caravan men learned the art of [[knitting]] and [[crocheting]] from the defeated [[White movement|White Russians]] (in exile in Xinjiang after the [[Russian Civil War]]) and the items they had made were transported to eastern China by camel caravan. Although the hair shed by the camels or picked from them was of course considered the property of the camel owners, caravan workers were entitled to make use of some hair for making knitwear for themselves (mostly socks) or for sale. [[Owen Lattimore|Lattimore]] in 1926 observed camel-pullers "knitting on the march; if they ran out of [[yarn]], they would reach back to the first camel of the file they were leading, pluck a handful of hair from the neck, and roll it in their palms into the beginning of a length of yarn; a weight was attached to this, and given a twist to start it spinning, and the man went on feeding wool into the thread until he had spun enough yarn to continue his knitting".<ref name=drt52>Lattimore (1928/9), p. 52.</ref>
[[File:THE PEKINGESE CAMEL.jpg|thumb|"The Pekingese Camel"; photograph by John Thomson<ref>John Thomson: "At certain seasons of the year, camels may be encountered in tens of thousands crossing the desert of Gobi, laden with brick tea, on their way to the Russian frontier. This brick tea, in the absence of metallic currency, forms the circulating medium in Mongolia, Siberia, and Thibet. When in the province of Peichihli I witnessed the departure of a train of 2,000 of these camels laden with brick tea to be sold in the Russian markets. These beasts are also employed in transporting coal, and other commodities, from one part of the province to another, and they are highly esteemed by the Mongols, as they can be easily managed, and can accomplish long journeys in arid regions with scant supplies of food and water. As many of my readers are aware, the camel is physically adapted for traversing the sandy plains of Asia, where they are found in the greatest numbers. The stomach is supplied with bladders which enable the animal to carry a store of fresh water, and in like manner the humps are furnished with a store of food in the shape of fatty matter which may be absorbed in case of need."</ref>]]