108 THE CAMEL. 



one-humped species. Although the Calmucks, 

 and other half-civilized and savage tribes in the 

 remote territories of Russia, and in Independent 

 Tartary, employ the Bactrian only for the 

 saddle and for burdens, yet Timkovski saw a 

 carriage drawn by this animal in the desert 

 of Gobi, and he is used in Bessarabia for 

 riding, for the plough, and for draught ; in the 

 Crimea for draught alone, being seldom ridden 

 in the latter province. Demidoff describes the 

 wagons (madjars) drawn by these animals as 

 clumsy four-wheeled vehicles of wood, "with- 

 out a particle of u*on," and speaks with admira- 

 tion of the strength and docility displayed by 

 the camels. They are simply yoked to the pole 

 in the same manner as oxen are with us, and 

 have no other gearing. I have elsewhere stated 

 that a pair of them will make long journeys 

 with a load of three thousand or four thousand 

 pounds. 



In whatever mode the camel is employed, his 

 harness and furniture are very simple, and as 

 the dromedary is not often a monture de luxe^ he 

 is, even when ridden by persons of consideration, 

 seldom decked with trappings so showy as those 

 of a favorite horse. The camel is sometimes 

 guided by a plain halter,^ sometimes the septum, 



1 " The halter is of the simplest form, handsomely twisted 

 of goat's and camel's hair, sometimes tastefully decorated 



