WILD CAMELS IN EUROPE. 97 



We have inserted the above extracts in full partly 

 because they are a good example of the reckless way some 

 people are prone to rush into print, and who, because they 

 may have some acquaintance with a subject, think they 

 are thereby entitled to speak as with complete knowledge. 

 The marismas of Lebrija are, as a matter of fact, many 

 miles away on the other side of the Guadalquivir. 



No doubt it is a " startling statement " that wild camels 

 are roaming at large in Europe, or anywhere else — it 

 would hardly seem more incredible if a herd of hippo- 

 potami were reported in the Upper Thames. The camel has 

 never within historic times been known to exist in a wild 

 state : it has always been the servant of man, a beast of 

 burden and domesticity.* More than this, a certain 

 physical disability or cause has been alleged to exist, 

 which, if correct, would render their permanent continu- 

 ance, in a natural state, an impossibility. Nor could any 

 region be well conceived so ill-adapted— indeed repulsive — 

 to the known habits and requirements of an animal 

 always associated with arid sandy deserts, as the Spanish 

 marismas, which, always marshy, are subject to actual 

 inundation during six months out of the twelve. 



The discussion had, at any rate, the merit of evoking 

 the following additional information' respecting the Spanish 

 camels, their introduction and habits. First I will quote 

 a letter from my co-author, dated from the Coto Donana, 

 March 1st. " Dear Chapman, — Your letter has reached me 

 here, where we are shooting deer for the last time this 

 season. I am glad I happened to be on the spot, having 

 an opportunity of asking the guardas and others for the 

 facts respecting the camels, which I hope will be sufficient 

 to convince the sceptics of their existence here and of the 

 truth of your observation, which I am surprised to hear 

 has been called in question. 



" The camels were brought here first from the Canary 

 Isles by Domingo Castellanos, Administrador to the Marques 



* With the possible exception of those stated to have been dis- 

 covered in the Kum-tagh deserts of Central Asia by Col. Prejevalsky, 

 the Bussian explorer. 



H 



