The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1879-05-08
The wild CameIs of Lob-Sor.


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The favorite home of the wild camel
is the desert of Kum-Tag to the east of
Lob-Nor. One of our native hunters
told me that only twenty years ago he
had seen herds of several dozen, some
times even Of more than 100, not far
from where the village of Tsharchalyk
is now. The old huntsman told me
that during his lifetime he has shot,
with au old, crippled gun, more than
100 of them. As the population and the
number of hun ers increased, the cam
els wandered further into the desert of
Kum-Tag, which, on account of the
scarcity of water, is entirely inaccessi-
bic TO man. No one has ever penetra-
ted it. Two bold hunters made the at
tempt, but after two days, during
which they and their asses, carrying
provisions, etc., had toiled knee-deep
IN the fine, drifting sand, parched and
blinded with the dust, they returned,
almost overcome with fatigue. In sea-
sons of very great heat the camels are
attracted by the GOODNESS of the high
valleys of the Altyn-Tag. and ascend as
high as IL 900 or $4,000 feet. In con-
trast with the tame camel, whose char
acterlstics are timidity, want of intelli-
gence and apa by, the wild one is dis
tinguished bya marvellous development
of the senses, and great sagacity and
acuteness. Hunters have assured me
that with the wind they can scent a
man ut distance of several versts Zone
verst is about two-thirds of an English
mile), that they hear the slightest noise
at an incredible distance, that their
visual organs are equally developed.
When they suspect approaching dan
ger, they fly at once, and often run a
hundred and more versts before STOP
ping. | followed the traces of a camel
which Imissed for more than twenty
versts, where it had turned into a ra-
vine, which, being altogether, out of
our way. did not care to follow. 1t
would seem that an animal so awk-
wardly built as the camel would not be
able TO climb about the Allyn Tag, yet
we observed, many time, their traces
and their dang leading in narrow
crevices and on steep cliffs, where the
boldcst huntsman would hesitate to fol-
low. 1t is, indeed, so strange sight,
that could scarcely trust my eyes
when saw their trace mixed with tho Q
of the wild mountain sheep. The wild
camel runs very iast, and would over
take at a long distance, good race
horse. The period of heat is in winter,
from the middle of January until the
end If February. During this time
fierce cOmbats often take place among
the males, which not seldom end in the
death OF the rivals. The female con-
ceives when years old, and carries
her young for over year. The hunt
ers whom had sent back to the noun
tains returned on the 10th of March,
with three beautiful specimens, full
grown male, female, and calf. The
geological distinctions between the wild
and the tame camel are not very great,
and now the question arises whether
the wild camel is the lineal progress
from tame camels, which, having es-
capped from the discipline of man, have
wandered away in the desert, and be-
came wild9 1t is my opinion that the
former theory is the correct one.
think that those qualities which, in the
struggle for existence, offer TO the ami
NAL the best chances for self-preserva-
tion, are strongly developed in the " lid
camel. Their remarkably developed
senses protect them against their prin-
cipal enemies-man and the wolf. A
wolf would scarcely be a match for a
full-grown camel, and they have little
to fear from man, on account of their
acute eyes, ears and scent, and their
choice of abode in the most impenetra-
BILE localities. 1t IS probable that the
deserts of Lob Nor have, from time i'm
memorial, been the dwelling of the
wild camel. In former times they may
have been scattered over greater
space; at the present they inhabt only
the most remote and impenetrable cor
ner of the Central Asian desert.