106 THE CAMEL. 



hundred. Timkovski states the burden of the 

 Bactrian of Northern Tartary at from four hun- 

 dred and twenty to four hundred and eighty 

 pounds ; Erman,^ at about six hundred pounds. 

 Burnes estimates that of the same animal in 

 Bokhara at six hundred and fifty pounds, and 

 Bergmann, among the Cahiiucks, at eight hun- 

 dred. I was told by one of the keepers of the 

 Grand Duke's camels, at his farm near Pisa, 

 that these animals would carry their own 

 weight, which he estimated at twelve or thir- 

 teen hundi'ed pounds, but I thought the weight 

 of the burden and probably that of the camel 

 exaggerated. 



Numerous other authorities might be cited, 

 but the result would not be essentially varied. 

 The pound used by these different writers is, 

 probably, not always the same weight, and this 

 circumstance may explain, to some extent, the 

 difference in their estimates. Almost all au- 

 thors agree in saying that the northern breeds 

 are much stronger than the southern ; but the 

 difference in this respect does not appear to be 

 important, though there is little doubt that, in 

 northern climates, at least, the cross is to be 

 preferred, as a beast of burden, to either of the 

 pure species. The ability of the camel to rise 

 under his load is a common measure of the bur- 

 1 Reisen i. 410. 



