SPECIES AND BEEEDS 97 



confined to the other species, I can only speak from 

 what I have read and heard. The natural country of 

 the Bactrian camel is the great middle zone of Central 

 Asia, stretching to the north of the Taurus and 

 Himalayas in other words, from the Black Sea to China, 

 and northward to Lake Baikal. This species was 

 originally confined to ancient Bactriana, now called in 

 a general way Turkestan, but strictly speaking it is 

 Bokhara, or the slice of country lying to the north of 

 Afghanistan and to the south of Samarkand, with 

 Balkh for its centre. Gradually this camel spread over 

 Central Asia into Persia, and up to Tartary, Thibet, 

 and China, and, as we have already seen, is reported to 

 exist in a wild state in the desert tracts of Shamo, on 

 the Chinese frontier. In measurement the average 

 Bactrian is slightly shorter but much stouter all round 

 than the Arabian ; and his weight is greater also, his 

 bones being larger, and his muscles more developed. 

 As a rule the hair is dark brown, and it is long and 

 thick at the top of the humps, the mane, the crown of 

 the head, the neck, and the fore-arm. The first hump 

 is on the shoulder, and the second is near the croup. 

 The pads on his feet are harder than those of the other 

 species, therefore are better adapted to stand the 

 extreme changes wrought on the soil by the frequent 

 variations of rain and drought ; while to enable him to 

 stand the severe winter he sustains northwards, his 

 coat is like a fur, growing thicker and far more 

 plentifully than that of the Arabian. In addition to 

 his being different in having an extra hump, he is 

 provided with a sort of a claw-toe projecting beyond 

 the pad of the foot, which enables him to move over ice 



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