APPENDIX C. 



NOTE ON THE BACTRIAN CAMEL. 



I SUBJOIN, in a connected and condensed form, the 

 substance of replies to queries which I addressed to 

 correspondents in the southern provinces of Russia re- 

 specting the Bactrian camel. 



But a single species of camel, namely, the Bactrian 

 or two-humped animal, is known in Southern Russia. 

 The average height from the top of the head to the sole 

 of the foot is about four arschin (nine feet four inches) 

 in Bessarabia. In the Crimea his height is stated at 

 about seven feet.^ He w^eighs about one third more 

 than the ox, which is here estimated at nine hundred 

 pounds. In the former province, the mean duration of 

 his life is estimated at thirty-five years, in the latter at 

 from sixty to seventy-five, and in some cases it is said 

 to extend to a century.^ 



1 The expression about four arschin is probably not to be taken 

 very literally, as it indicates a considerably higher stature than is 

 generally ascribed to any breed of the animal, except, in rare 

 cases, to the mahari of the Sahara. It does not appear from my 

 memoranda, whether the measurement in the Crimea was from 

 the shoulders or the hump. 



2 If this remarkable difference between the Bessarabian and 

 the Crimean camel really exists, may it not be ascribed to the 

 drier summers of the latter province, the more desert character 

 of the soil, and the freer range allowed to the animal ? 



