422 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Domestic Bactrian Camel, its humps are smaller; elongated hairs 

 occur only at the top of the humps, on the neck, on the lower chin, 

 on the outer part of the thigh and the proximal part of the lower 

 arm, and on the tip of the tail; the rest of the pelage is short and 

 soft; the body hairs are grayish brown basally and reddish brown 

 at the tip; the snout and the ears are shorter; the general size of 

 the wild form is not greater than that of the domestic form, but its 

 skull is not smaller than that of the latter. (Leche, 1904, pp. 49-54.) 



Leche (1904, p. 61) quotes Sven Hedin as follows on the distri- 

 bution of C. b. jerus. It ranges from the lower course of the Keriya- 

 darya to the vicinity of the Tarim's former bed, the Atschik-darya. 

 According to native report, it also occurs frequently in the desert 

 areas south of the Tarim from the meridian of the Keriya-darya 

 to the vicinity of Karaul (long. 86 30' E.). It is most numerous in 

 the deserts and mountains south of the Kurruk-tagh ; it is also 

 common in the mountain wastes between Kurruk-tagh and Tschol- 

 tagh [south of Turfan]. It visits the north shores of the newly 

 formed lakes in the Lob Desert, and also the desert region from the 

 Kurruk-tagh eastward to the route between Kami and Su-chow. 

 Large herds were observed in the region north of the Anambaruin- 

 ula, in the deserts at the base of the Altyn-tagh, and in the valleys 

 within the Altyn-tagh. (The animal was also reported in former 

 days from Dzungaria, as will be seen later.) 



Yule (in Prejevalsky, 1876, vol. 1, pp. xxvi-xxviii) reviews the 

 testimony on the existence of genuine Wild Camels in Mongolia 

 and Chinese Turkestan, and considers it irresistible ; one of the 

 records goes back as far as A. D. 1420. 



Prejevalsky (1879, pp. 88-96) gives the following account: 



According to the unanimous testimony of the Lob-nortsi, the chief habitat 

 of the wild camel at the present day is the desert of Kum-tagh, to the 

 east of Lake Lob; this animal is also occasionally found on the Lower Tarim, 

 in the Kuruk-tagh mountains, and more rarely still in the sands bordering 

 with the Cherchen-daria .... Twenty years ago, wild camels were numerous 

 near Lake Lob, where the village of Chargalik now stands, and farther to 

 the east along the foot of the Altyn-tagh, as well as in the range itself. 

 Our guide, a hunter of Chargalik, told us that it was not unusual in those 

 days, to see some dozens, or even a hundred of these animals together. He 

 himself had killed upwards of a hundred of them in the course of his life 

 (and he was an old man), with a flint and steel musket. With an increase 

 of population at Chargalik, the hunters of Lob-nor became more numerous, 

 and camels scarcer. Now, the wild camel only frequents the neighbourhood of 

 Lob-nor, and even here in small numbers. Years pass without so much as one 

 being seen; in more favourable seasons again the native hunters kill their 

 five and six during the summer and autumn. The flesh of the wild camel, 

 which is very fat in autumn, is used for food, and the skins for clothing. 

 These fetch ten tengas or a ruble and thirty kopecks at Lob-nor. . . . 



During the excessive heats in summer, the camels are attracted by the 

 cool temperature of the higher valleys of Altyn-tagh, and make their way 



