Bactrian Camel 273 



Major Cumberland's notes on the wild camels met with by him are 

 as follows ' : — 



" The habitat of the wild camel is the Gobi steppe from Khotan to 

 Lob-Nor. Except when snow lies on the ground, these animals may be 

 met with here and there along the old bed of the Yarkand and Tarim 

 rivers, which they frequent for the pools of brackish water that are to be 

 found here and there. But as soon as the snow falls they move off into 

 the desert, as if then independent of the water supply. They prefer the 

 snow, I imagine, as being less salt than the water, although it also is 

 impregnated to a certain extent soon after it falls. The camel is very shy 

 in its habits, and, so tar as I could ascertain, has never been caught and 

 domesticated. The natives told me that no horse in the country could 

 catch the camels in the deep sand of the region they frequent. They 

 appear to me to be distinct from the Bactrian camel ; they are less stumpy 

 in build, the hair is finer, closer, and shorter. They vary in colour, like 

 the domestic species, from dark brown to lightish dun. Their origin has 

 yet to be traced. I take it that they have sprung from camels which 

 escaped when the district known as Takla-Makan was buried in a great 

 sand-storm some centuries ago. Tradition relates that no human beings 

 survived ; but it is likely enough that some of the camels and horses did 

 so, and that this was the origin of the wild camels and ponies which are 

 found in this district." 



Whether any of them be truly wild or not, it is quite clear that 

 the camels which roam at liberty over the deserts mentioned above are 

 specifically identical with the domesticated two-humped Bactrian camel. 

 It is also well-nigh certain that Central Asia was the original habitat of 

 that species. If any of the reputed wild camels of Asia are really wild, 

 and differ in any important features from the domesticated breed, they 

 would be entitled to rank as a distinct race. 



' Proc. Zool. Sot. London., 1892, p. 370. 

 2 N 



