36 THE CAMEL. 



eral Harlan, in the Report of the American Patent Office 

 for 1853, Agriculture, p. 61. General Harlan's testimony 

 in favor of the strength and power of endurance of the 

 mixed breed is exceedingly strong ; but he appears to under- 

 value the pure Bactrian, which is certainly found extremely 

 serviceable in European and Asiatic Russia, both for draught 

 and burden, and in those countries, at least, is almost wholly 

 exempt from disease. Fraser, Khorasan, 273. Burckhardt, 

 Notes on the Bedouins, 110, 111, speaks of the common 

 camel of Asia Minor as bred between a Crimean (Bactrian) 

 stud and an Arab female, and states that the Bactrian male 

 is regularly imported from the Crimea and exclusively kept 

 for that purpose. If, on the contrary, the dam of the mule 

 is a Bactrian, the progeny is weak and poor, while the off- 

 spring of the cross is vicious and intractable. The cross be- 

 tween the Bactrian and the mule he describes as handsome 

 but small, and with two small humps, one of which is cut off 

 at birth to fit the animal for bearing burdens. Burckhardt's 

 information on these points appears to have been derived at 

 second hand, and not from personal observation. Notwith- 

 standing the general extreme accuracy of this great traveller, 

 and his caution in adopting hearsay testimony, I cannot 

 but think he is mistaken, with respect to the extent to which 

 the hybrid between the two species is found in Asia Minor, 

 though it is undoubtedly very common in more eastwardly 

 regions. Travellers generally have not observed the Bactrian 

 in any part of the Turkish empire, nor am I aware of any 

 reliable authority for the practice of amputating one of the 

 humps. Although, therefore, the Bactrian may have been 

 formerly imported into Asia Minor as a breeder, I do not 

 think he is now found, except in rare cases, in that country ; 

 and the hybrids, if any such exist there, are probably brought 

 from Bokhara or the Persian provinces. 



