ORDER ARTIODACTYLA : EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 423 



thither to an altitude of 11,000 feet, and even higher .... In winter the 

 wild camel keeps entirely to the lower and warmer desert, only entering 

 the mountains from time to time. . . . 



When caught young, wild camels are easily tamed and taught to carry a pack. 



[Enemies] are very few in number in the localities that it inhabits man 

 and wolves being the only ones it has to encounter. Even wolves are rare 

 in the desert, and would scarcely be dangerous to a full-grown camel. . . . 



It seems to me possible to arrive at the conclusion that the wild camel 

 of the present day is the direct descendant of wild parents, but that from 

 time to time escaped domesticated animals probably became mixed with them. 



C. S. Cumberland (Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1892, pp. 370-371) 

 writes as follows concerning the animal of Chinese Turkestan: 



The habitat of the Wild Camel is the Gobi steppe [=Takla Makan Desert] 

 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. . . . The Camel is 

 very shy in its habits, and, so far as I could ascertain, has never been caught 

 and domesticated. . . . 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. 



On several occasions in 1893 Littledale (1894, pp. 446-448) came 

 upon Wild Camels in small numbers in the Lob-Nor region on the 

 north side of the Altyn-tagh, and secured four of them. There was 

 one herd of nine animals. 



Sven Hedin writes (1903, vol. 1, pp. 357-358) : 



According to Przhevalsky, the wild camel was common in the desert of 

 Kum-tagh, to the east of the marsh of Kara-koshun. At the present time he 

 is never seen there, or very rarely indeed ; which may be owing to the desicca- 

 tion of the lake, or is, perhaps, due to the fact that the pools of water which 

 still survive in that quarter are situated too near to inhabited regions. . . . 



The wild camel is frequently seen quite solitary by himself, often also in 

 pairs; but the general rule is for a troop of four to six individuals to asso- 

 ciate tpgether. Troops of 12 to 15 are extremely rare. . . . 



The wild camel is found everywhere between Yardang-bulak [lat. 41 N., 

 long. 89 E.] and the district of Khami; but he never goes west of the 

 caravan route from Ying-pen [lat. 41 N., long. 88 E,] to Turfan. 



Hedin also mentions (pp. 356-357) a young domestic animal, not 

 yet broken to work, that "had once or twice run away . . . and 

 joined itself to a herd of wild camels, and been received by them 

 without hostility." 



Younghusband, referring to the region about the southern base 

 of the eastern Altai, at about long. 96-100 E., says (1888, p. 495) : 



( It was in this region, that I first heard of the wild camel. The guide one 

 day pointed out to me a prominent peak in the Altai Mountains, and said 

 that behind it was a grassy hollow, which wild camels usually frequented. 



