1 6*2 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170. 



sprung, but as far as experiments have been carried, strong doubts arise 

 in my mind as to the correctness of such a doctrine. 59 



No. 49. Domestic goats. The domestic Goats of the Afghans are 

 chiefly long-haired, with an under- coat of fine soft down. They very 

 much resemble the Goats of the lower Himalaya and Kooloo, and ap- 

 pear to be a degenerate breed or perhaps variety of the true Shawl 

 Goat. The prevailing colour is black, or parti-coloured. 



No. 50. Camelus dromedarius. The Dromedary or Arabian Camel. 

 " Shootur," of Persians, &c. 60 



59. Capra cegagrus is stated by Menetries to be " not uncommon on the Caucasian 

 Alps, seldom if ever descending below an elevation of 1000 feet, and then not in conse- 

 quence of severe weather." It appears to be generally diffused over the mountains of 

 Persia and Asia Minor, and the adjoining regions of Western Tartary. The London 

 Zoological Society possess a fine specimen of it from the vicinity of Erzeroum. The 

 finest pair of horns of this species which I have seen, is in the British Museum. They 

 measure four feet and a quarter over the curvature, and diverge to sixteen inches 

 apart where widest, not very far from the extremity, the tips returning to fourteen 

 inches of each other : basal circumference nine inches ; and depth inside three and 

 three-quarters : they number ten years of growth. It is not usual, however, for this 

 species to exceed three feet and a half in the length of its horns, though these are not 

 unfrequently four inches, or even more, deep at the base. — Cur. As. Soc- 



60. The two species of Camel are better denominated the one-humped and the two- 

 humped Camels, and the name ' Dromedary' (from OQOilta^) should be restricted to 

 the swift-running breeds which occur of both of them. Hitherto, the Camel and Dro- 

 medary have been continually spoken of as distinct animals, sometimes the one, and 

 sometimes the other, bearing either name. Thus Burkhardt refers to the two- humped 

 species by the name dromedary, when he affirms that " the Armenian or Caramanian 

 camel is produced by a he-dromedary and a she Arab camel. The people of Anato- 

 lia," he adds, "keep their male dromedaries to breed with the females of the smaller 

 Arab race, which the Turkomans yearly bring to market. If left to breed among 

 themselves, the Caramanian camels produce a puny race, of little value." (' Travels 

 in Nubia,' p. 232.) By the French writers more particularly, the one-humped species 

 (having indeed been termed C. Dromedarius by Linnaeus,) is commonly styled the 

 Dromedary, as Capt. Hutton also designates it. The mixed race was long ago describ- 

 ed by Oleareus, as "a hybrid between the male two-humped and female one-humped 

 camels. They are the most esteemed of all, so much so, that some sell (in Turkey) at 

 1,000 crowns a piece- They carry 900 or 1,000 weight, and are in a manner indefati- 

 gable. They are muzzled. The camels which come of these degenerate very much, and 

 are heavy and slow, being not worth more than 80 or 140 crowns." At Aleppo, the usual 

 price of one of these hybrids is double that of an Arab camel : they are extensively 

 employed in Turkey and Persia; and Sonniui observed a few in Eygpt, where they 

 are still rare. These hybrids are, I believe, always of the dark colour of the male, or 

 two-humped parent. The common Indian race, which is diffused hence westward to 

 Senegambia, appears to be constantly of a pale colour in this country ; and it is perhaps 

 only the Dromedary, or fleet race of it, which is occasionally variable in hue. Thus, in 

 Arabia, we are informed that a lady of Nadj a considers it a degradation to mount any 

 other than a black camel, while an Ozanian beauty prefers one that is grey or white. In 

 the continuation of Clapperlon's Journey by Lander, we are told of the arrival of 500 



