The link between the Victorian novelist robert Louis Stevenson and donkeys in military logistics is slightly tenuous, but more obvious to people who have read his wonderful travel book, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

In it, he shares his account of a 12-day journey he made between Le Monastier and Saint-Jean-du-Gard in south-central France in 1878. He starts the journey entirely unfamiliar with the use of donkeys as pack animals and has to learn the basics by trial and error. The early stages include his attempts to get his donkey, Modestine, moving at any kind of speed at all. He also has to exchange his pad for a pack saddle, yet still struggles to keep his fairly meager load on the animal. He picks up useful information along the way that enables him to operate his beast of burden more skilfully, from locals much more experienced in travelling with donkeys. At Cheylard, he stays briefly in an inn run by a former muleteer, and accepts advice on balancing the load to the benefit of the donkey.

Variation and skill in both the human and animal components clearly play a part in the practice of packing. This is mentioned in sources such as ‘Military Transport’ by George Armand Furse, which goes into greater detail than is possible here. Inexperienced handlers or inexperienced animals can slow progress to a crawl whereas the opposite can result in highly effective transport. Weather is also significant, making otherwise easy stretches of the journey much more difficult.

Robert and Modestine travel around 120 miles in 12 days at what is assumed a fairly leisurely pace. This pace seems to increase with experience as they cover 15 miles in 6 hours on the final day. Of relevance to the pre-modern logistics modeller is the fact that the amount of effort required by the handler varies according to terrain and weather. At the end of the 12 days, Modestine can go no further, requiring a couple of days rest, fitting nicely in with the roughly 1 rest day per week recommended by other sources.

Further pre-modern military logistics info is contained in Chapter 4 of Modelling the Logistics of Mantzikert.