164 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170. 



them on the march, speak as to the benefit they derived from their hu- 

 manity; camels thus cared for, were brought in safety and in health 

 from India, and again returned to it after marching through the coun- 

 try, and passing through the first campaign. 



Numbers of camels that were abandoned on the line of march every 

 morning, from their inability to carry a load, were afterwards hawked 

 about for sale by the country people who had housed, fed, and recovered 

 them. This I know to be a fact, for being in the Shah's commissariat at 

 Candahar, I purchased several of them. That the animal is patient un- 

 der privations, and will endure to the death, is quite true ; but his con- 

 stitution is tender, and his power of endurance, unless well fed and 

 cared for, is not equal to that of the horse. Rest, food, and warmth, in 

 a word — comfort, is more necessary to the camel than to his cruel lord 

 and master. 



The Dromedary of Central Asia differs much in its external characters 

 from the animal domesticated in India. In the former we perceive a 

 shortness and a strength of limb, and bulk of carcase, which form a 

 marked contrast to the tall and stately " desert sheep" of India ; the one 

 is a short, thick-set, powerfully- made animal, well clothed with a thick 

 close curly hair, to protect it against the cold of winter ; the fore- arm 

 often enormously thick and muscular ; the hump rounded and compact, 

 and on a level with which the crown of the head is almost invariably car- 

 ried. 



The other is a tall, long- limbed, long- necked animal, which placed 

 beside its congener of Korassan, reduces the latter to a mere athletic 

 dwarf ;— the thick coat of hair is wanting or considerably reduced, and 

 the head is carried high above the hump. Yet notwithstanding the 

 marked dissimilarity in their general configuration, the two animals can 

 only be regarded as varieties of the same species, the differences observ- 

 able being, I think, solely attributable to climate, domestication, and 

 the different circumstances under which both individuals are placed. I 

 am aware, that in advocating the agency of climate and food, as the great 

 causes which have served to modify the species, I am in a measure re- 

 viving an exploded doctrine, yet I am not sure that absolute rejection of 

 the doctrine is altogether warranted or wise ; for Cuvier himself declares, 

 " that the wild herbivorous animals feel the influence of climate some- 

 what more extensively (than the carnivora), because there is added to it 

 in their case, the influence of the food, which may happen to differ both 



