54 



POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



ALPACA. 



It is only a species of the utmost tenacity which could for 

 fifty centuries or more withstand constant use and abuse 

 by man without being altered out of all resemblance to its 

 original form. All races of mankind and all breeds of 

 domestic animals save one, change and continue to change, 

 indefinitely, but the Camels apparently go on the same, 

 forever. 



The Bactrian Camel, {Camelus bactrianus), he of the long 

 shaggy hair — when not shedding — and the two great humps, 

 is the beast of heavy burden, the four-footed freight-car of 

 the desert sands. He can carry 550 pounds of freight, for 

 three or four days between drinks ; but a swift pace is not 

 for him. It is an animal of this remarkable species, from 

 distant Turkestan, southwestern Asia, which daily in fine 

 weather offers its services as a riding animal, at the stand 

 near the Large Bird-House. 



It is unfortunate that the Bactrian Camel is in its finest 

 pelage only in winter, when visitors to the Park are few, 

 and camel-riding is out of the question. Promptly upon the 

 approach of warm weather and a million visitors, it sheds 

 its long, shaggy brown coat, and stands forth as if shorn by 

 a shearer. Of this species, the Zoological Society possesses 

 two fine specimens (the gift of Captain John S. Barnes), one 

 of which will at all times be found regularly exhibited at 

 the Camel House, close by the Crotona (southwest) En- 

 trance. 



