ITS ENDURANCE; ITS TIMIDITY. 123 



Straw, straps, leather, &c., &c. Ours once ate up 

 some gloves and a leathern saddle belonging to our 

 Cossacks ; and the Mongols told me of camels 

 which had been without food for a long while, and 

 which devoured an old tent of their master's in the 

 coolest manner possible. They will even eat meat 

 and fish ; ours stole meat we had hung up to dry ; 

 one voracious brute actually made off with the 

 birdskins ready for stuffing, and relished dried fish 

 and the remains of the dogs' food ; but this was 

 a singular instance, and his eccentric tastes were not 

 shared by the others. 



Camels at pasture appease their hunger in two 

 or three hours, after which they lie down and rest, 

 or wander about the steppe. They cannot go with- 

 out food for more than eight or ten days, nor can 

 they go without water in spring and autumn for more 

 than seven, requiring it in the height of summer 

 every third or fourth day. Much, however, depends 

 on the powers of endurance of the particular animal ; 

 the younger and fatter it is, the longer can it exist 

 without nourishment. It only happened to us once 

 during the whole course of the expedition, viz. in 

 November 1870, to keep our camels without water 

 for six consecutive days, notwithstanding which they 

 went well ; in summer they were never more than 

 forty-eight hours without it. At this season they 

 should be watered daily, but in spring and autumn 

 every second or third day is quite sufficient, and in 

 winter snow answers the same purpose. 



The intelligence of camels is of a very low order ; 



