THE CAMEL. 207 



througli centuries, in perpetuating the ignorance and wretclied- 

 ness of many of the African tribes. The lion is represented as 

 having an especial partiality for the flesh of the camel. Herodotus 

 states that while Xerxes was on the march for the invasion of 

 Greece, lions came down from the mountains and devoured the 

 camels which carried his luggage, without attacking either horses 

 or men." 



The possibility of the existence of a herd of wild camels some- 

 where on the face of the earth has been surmised by many 

 naturalists, for since Shah Rukh's ambassadors to China 

 (a.d. 1420) reported having seen wild camels in the great desert 

 other statements of their existence have been circulated. For in- 

 stance, Du Halde, in his account of China and Chinese Tartary, 

 compiled from data furnished him by the Jesuit missionaries who 

 had resided in the various parts of these extensive countries 

 during the seventeenth century, writes that in the northern terri- 

 tories " the wild camels are so swift that the hunters can seldom 

 reach them with their arrows." 



Pallas, the Grerman naturalist of the eighteenth century, also 

 stated — on Tartar evidence — that there were camels existing in a 

 wild state in Central Asia, and Cuvier accounted for them by 

 showing it was the Buddhist custom to give liberty to domestic 

 animals. But as geographical and other explorations were rapidly 

 being extended, and no trace of them were discovered, it began to be 

 assumed that the race of camels were completely domesticated, 

 and disbelief in the reports to the contrary were strongly expressed. 



In a letter from Dr. 0. Tinch, of Bremen, dated Saissan, south- 

 west Siberia, May, 1876, which was read at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society, the first intimation was given that these wild 

 camels had again been heard of, and some information respecting 

 them, which was not from personal observation, but from evidence 

 collected from a native, was added. This only, however, cor- 

 roborated the opinion which had been previously expressed, 

 that these wild animals were merely the descendants of camels 

 which had once been domesticated, and were not from the 

 original stock, for an intelligent and experienced Kirgiz is 

 reported to have said : " According to an old legend there was a 



