838 
THROUGH ASIA 
to her torture she died. I was ashamed at being the 
cause of this innocent and undoubtedly happy life being 
taken, and forbade any more shooting. 
Our experience of the wild camel’s shyness did not 
altogether bear out what the shepherds told us. We 
saw no indications of either caution or swiftness, but 
were easily able to get within short range. Moreover, 
we found that they were very easy to kill, falling at 
the first ball, no matter where it hit them, whether in 
the back, neck, or leg. That they were so little on their 
guard, as well as lean, was no doubt due to the fact 
of its being their rutting-season. 
It was both interesting and amusing to watch our three 
tame he-camels. They got wind of the wild ones long 
before we saw them ; and often long before we perceived 
any herd, they would gurgle, and lash their backs with 
their tails, while the foam dropped in flakes from their 
lips. When they saw the dying she-camel, they were half 
frantic, and had to be tethered ; they ground their teeth 
and foamed at the mouth, and their eyes, at other times 
so placid, rolled with frenetic excitement. 
During the next few days we saw several herds, and 
sometimes solitary individuals, in fact, we became so used 
to them that at last we ceased to pay them any particular 
attention. They were generally browsing on the dry 
poplar leaves and tamarisks ; and when they turned to 
flee, it was always in the direction of the high sand-hills. 
They moved along the tops of the sand-hills with amazing 
ease ; though their gait was every whit as shambling as 
that of the tame camels, and they dragged their long un- 
gainly legs after them in every bit as ungraceful a manner. 
But while the humps of the tame camel wobble and 
shake like lumps of jelly when the animal puts on any 
pace, those of the wild camel remained motionless and 
firmly erect. Their scream had the same mournful, 
melancholy note as the cry of our camels. 
Meanwhile we lighted upon an unexpectedly happy 
solution of the water difficulty ; on the evening of 
February 13th we only dug five feet and came upon 
