soldiers.

On the European battlefields, near which there are few or no railroads,
animals have been the principal means of transportation, elephants,
camels, horses, mules and oxen being chiefly used for this purpose. The
Italian armies have used numerous teams of mountain-trained bullocks to
draw loads up the mountains, and, while they cannot ascend roads as
steep as those which the mules climb, they are very valuable for heavy
loads. These bullocks work faster than an army mule, for a mule will
never hurry. As the old darkey once said, "De mule warn't born fer to
hurry; not even a torpedo would make him move one step farster!"

Elephants have been used to a small degree in the armies of Europe.
While they are splendid workmen, they are dangerously subject to
stampede, and one stampeding elephant can do much harm in an army.

The British army has used quite a few trained elephants from India in
their ranks. They are especially employed to rout the enemy from small
forests. Breaking through bushes, crushing underbrush, and pulling up
small trees is their specialty. They make splendid bulwarks for
soldiers, and when an army is marching through a forest, are invaluable
in clearing the way. A British officer declared that one trained
elephant is more valuable than a half-dozen traction engines.

Far the most interesting and curious use to which an animal is subjected
is the use of camels chosen and trained because of their strange
colouring and height. Small groups of them have been stationed among
clumps of acacia trees with a spy mounted on the animal's neck. This is
the safest place a person could be, for the camel or, in like manner,
the giraffe, standing with only his head above the small trees, looks
precisely like a bit of the foliage in the distance.

Camels are especially good for desert warfare, because they can go
without water so long and can easily carry loads weighing from 400 to
500 pounds. In the last Afghan campaign the British lost over 50,000
camels and in the Great War they have had more than 60,000 in army
service in Egypt. Camels are especially used for transportation
purposes. The British capture of Jerusalem was greatly aided by these
desert allies. Large numbers of oxen have been used in the French army.
They do not balk at autos and know no fear of shells.

One of the greatest allies of the animal kingdom in warfare is the dog.
These allies are trained to aid relief parties on the battlefiel