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THROUGH ASIA 
of view, almost negligible. Here again I may quote 
Dr. Hahn ; “ The wild camel differs from the tame camel 
merely through the absence of fat under the humps, which 
is thus a characteristic of the domestic animal.” For my 
own part, I found that the three wild camels we shot 
had quite respectable stores of fat under their humps, 
though not indeed in quite such large quantities as in 
the tame camel. 
The first time we heard the wild camel of the Keriya- 
daria mentioned was at Tonkuz-basste on February ist. 
The shepherds thereabouts had not, indeed, seen them 
HEAD OF A WILD CAMEL 
themselves ; but they had sometimes observed their tracks 
in the sand, which approached the edge of the forest. 
After that not a day passed without something being 
added to our knowledge of their characteristics. Many 
of the shepherds further down the river had actually seen 
them, either sing'ly or in herds of five or six. They told 
me they resembled their tame kindred to a hair, were of 
the same size, moved in the same way, and exhibited 
the same habits. The rutting-season too was the same, 
namely, January and February ; and even the impressions 
of their feet in the sand were precisely alike. 
I was told, that the wild camel was excessively shy. 
