WHERE THE WILD CAMEL LIVES 831 
the Hunter found him, the animal was half wild and 
fled in terror at his approach. As a rule, however, the 
tame camel is a cantankerous and unamiable beast at 
the best. He never becomes so domesticated as the 
horse. If you attempt to pat him, you run the risk of 
being kicked, and if you stroke his face, he utters a 
discontented scream and emits a foul-smelling mucus. 
The camel 1 rode during this expedition was an exception 
to this rule : he and I were on the most cordial and 
confidential terms. But, then, he had found out that I 
never did him any harm or touched the rope in his 
nostril. 
I was further told that the wild camel lives in the 
deepest part of the desert, and knows the depressions 
in which a few poplars and tamarisks grow sporadically. 
In summer the river flood travels a considerable distance 
beyond the last human dwelling ; and so tempts the 
wild camel to come down to drink in herds and get a 
good meal of kamish. In wdnter, according to Mohammed 
Bai, he does not drink at all. 
He avoids the forest, and never enters the jungle-like 
undergrowth, for there his view would be restricted and 
in case of a surprise he could not get away with suffi- 
cient rapidity. He loves rather the open wastes of the 
desert. If the tame camel is the ship of the desert, 
then assuredly the wild camel is the Flying Dutchman, 
who sails and sails and never founders, not even in those 
terrible places where the tame camel suffers shipwreck. 
On February 9 th we had our first intimation of his 
presence, in that we found a tuft of hair on a bush. 
The next day in the dry summer bed of the river we 
came across numerous fresh tracks and droppings. Our 
hunters were more excited than ever, made long detours 
on the outskirts of the desert, but returned with nothing, 
except that they had seen a herd of seven head disappear 
into the desert. 
The following legend regarding the origin of the wild 
camel is current among the shepherds of the Keriya-daria. 
God sent a peresh (spirit) from heaven to earth, and there 
