The sun., 1903-12-13

episode in.the-re,atidns4;- 4;-baswsen China
and Lou-lan.
IT appears that, at the epoch when the
sHiSt ory OF the First Hans was written,
the kingdom Of Lou-an contained no more
| than A.i00 inhabitants, and could put IN
! the field less than 5000 trained soldiers.
The chronicler AYERS that even then the
land was sandy and salt, and that there
were few cultivated fields. "The. country
| relies on the neighboring kingdoms for
cereals and agricultural products. People
remove their cattle for pasturage wherever
| they can, find sufYiciency OF water and herb-
age. They have asses. horses and cames.
They can fabricate military weapons
So much for the information contained IN
the History of the First Hans" Here is
what the pilgrim Fa-Heen says regarding
Lou-lan, which he passed through in the
! fifth century A. D.. on his way from China
to, India to procure the sacred books of
Buddhism. The translation Is by DR..
J,Legge: After travelling for seventeen
days,+a distance. we estimate, of about
1900 II from Tun-huang, tho western
boundary Of the Chinese Empire), the pill
grims reached the Kingdom OF Shen-shen
(Lou-lan),sa country rugged and hilly, with
thin and barren soil. The clothes Of the
common people are coarse and like those
woven In our land of Han, some wearing
felt, and othera serge, or cloth OF hair.
The King professed our law. and there
might be In the kingdom more than 1000
monks who are all students ofthe Hinayana
(srnall vehicle of salvation). The common
people of this and other Kingdoms in this
region, as we'll as the srdnldns (monks)
all practice the rules of India. only the
latter do so more exactly and the former
more loosely" As we have previously
said, another pilgrim an-Tsang> passed
through Lou-lan on his return from India,
two centuries later than Fa-HeeD. but his
notice OF the former country Is extremely
meagre. e.
II was before he reached Lou-lan, and
while he was prosecuting a two hundred
miles ride across the Takla -Makan Desert
that DR.. Hedin's followers shot some wild
camels. It seems that his guide, Abdu
Rehim, was mighty camel slayer and
utilized his first rest day to 60 hunting.
When he came back, after an absence OF
fourteen hours, he said that he had found
a he camel, and had wounded him severely,
though the animal was able to cross the
river known as the Kurruk -darin and to
escape among. the aand dunes. Abdu
Rehim declared that when a wild camel
is wounded it always makes for the open
desert, and he also believed that when.
in the natural course Of things, these Great
ures feel the approach Of death they 60
in among the dunes to die. His reason
for this belief was that he had seldom or
never come across a skeleton OF the
wild camel among the mountains Of the
Kurruk-tagh. Chernoff. one Of our travel
ler's Cossack attendants. was more fortu-
nate. DR.. Hedin relates that very early
in the morning l heard him speaking in an
animated voice. but with extreme caution,
biding some. one tie up the dogs, Then
there was a dead silence. and then came
Ave shots in quick succession. quite close
to camp. A camel had come down the
wind toward the spring without suspecting
any danger. .Chernonf and Khodai Kullu
fired at it. but only wounded it slightly.
and it turned md fed back to the east
The Cossack followed it; and every now
and again the animal stopped and regarded
the pursuer with a l2rtain amount OF curl
osity. Chernoff shot at It again at 500 paces
distances, ana INV tIOt BJTuCk IL IN Ile
shoulder. The camel than went on at a
slow run toward the south. fell two or three
times. got UP again and, finally. fell for
the last time about one mile and quarter
from camp. 1t turned out to be a young
she camel, and her coat was covered with
the finest and softest hair. imaginable.
As this was the season when the wild camel
shed it's coat. her hair came of almost OF
itself. The men gathered what there was
oft for making into cords and ropes. After
that they cut the camel up; and the meat
was, very welcome. for our supply OF mutton.
which during the last few days had been
tasting very strong. was now quite at an
end. Abdu Rehim asserted that the wild
camel always shuns for a long time the
locality in which one Of its own species
has been killed
Many other references to wild camels
will be found in DR.. Hedin's volumes Ac-
cording to the Russian explorer. Przhe-
valsky, the wild camel was in his time
common in the desert OF Kun-tagh to the
east OF the marsh OF Kara-koshun. DR..
Hedin says that at the present time the
wild camel is never seen there, or at least
very rarely. This may be owing to the
desiccation Of the lake, or perhaps to the
fact that the pools OF water that remain
are situated too near to inhabited regions.
The wild camel's sense OF smell is very
keen. 1t is said that he can scent a man
at distance Of thirteen miles. The mo-
ment his suspicion is aroused, he takes to
flight with the speed of the wind. The
wild camel OF the Kurruk region has an un-
speakable horror of the smoke from a
campfire and shuns every place that human
beings visit, however seldom, He has
just as great repugnance to the tame camel
when the latter carries a pack saddle;
indeed. even after the pack saddle is taken
of the tame camel is recognized by the
unfamiharity Of his scent A. wild camel
can 60 half month without water in sum-
mer, provided he can get grazing with
plenty OF sap in it. The reason why he
cannot 60 without water for more than
a week in spring is the dry nature Of the
food he eats at that season. He will drink
water that has decidedly salty flavor, and
seems to like it. In the breeding season,
that is to say the. months Of December,
January and February, the males among
the wild camels fight fercely> whenever
they encounter one another The animal