Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

SutC tue JOFWS LuOt n0u taken TOT
'coires as they approached, and / re-
GH=ed that they iUere men on horseback.
ance. The result was that Mongolia was
likely to offer more difficulties than those pre-
sented by weather and season and desert
We did not take such stories very seriously,
however. Both Morden and had had many
dealings with savages and barbarians. More
than that, we were white men, and white
men almost invariably have a vast amount
Of prestige with primitive peoples. We knew
perfectly well that We were supposed to have
passports and other permits in order to cross
Mongolia, and We did not have them. But
we counted on obtaining them at the town of
Ulyasutai, which lay five or six hundred miles
ahead Up to the time when we could obtain
them We counted on using our Russian and
Chinese passports.
RUT now came the deal with our caravan
baShi. He would take US and would sup
ply his own camels, his own saddles, his own
food and men. But for that we were required
to pay 800 taels per camel, despite the fact
that the purchase price of camels was only $50
taelS each. In other words the hiring Of the
caravan cost more than it would have cost
-.
have with US five experienced camel men; we
would have a guide who knew the trail-or
who said he did-and we would have no re-
sponsibilitieS other than keeping up with the
caravan on its march to the north and east.
The end Of October was approaching as we
set out. our camels divided into strings of 10
each, with rope from each camel's nose lead
ing to the pacS of the camel ahead Leading
each of the three groups of camels was little
Gnnkav IO0kin0 vid o,,Ia h. IravNk
the string to the first camels nose taut
I had thought that I knew something Of
camels, for had seen them more or less, for
years. But until We began that journey across
the desert I never had the faintest notion of
what camel is really like. The beasts with
which We were outfitted of course were the
two-humped Asiatic-or Bactrian-camels They
are quite different from the single-humped
dromedaries of Africa, just as they are diff
ferent from anything else that walks the sur
face of the earth
OF all the ungainly creatures by which the
earth is inhabited, the Bactran camel is, 7
believe, the most ungainly. His body is strange
ly misshapen. His legs are connected with it
In the most amazing and apparently insecure
fashion. His hind legs seem almost to be
ever ready to detach themselves, and to see
camel slip on the ice and fall is to see such
grotesque gyrations as approach the impossible.
1t is widely known, Of course. that a lions
mouth is completely furnished with fierce
looking set of teeth, but I suspect that it is
not so widely understood that a camel is
equipped with set Of fangs that appear as
terrible as do those of any lion. At every OPP
portunity, too those camels opened wide their
mouths, showing their teeth set in discourage
ing background of green and cadaverous flesh,
decorated with numerous strings of saliva.
In addition to that fearsome habit the
creatures groaned and shrieked and spit-ac-
tually spit-at every opportunity. They gave
vent to such sounds as might emanate from
fearfully tortured person when one of us
did anything-or even nothing-to them. They
kicked occasionally, and even a half-hearted
kick from a camel might readily break
mans leg.
Furthermore when ones heart leaps into
ones throat at some sudden and unexpected
Shrek Immediately in ones rear and when
one turns abruptly at the sound and stareS into
widely opened, a horribly fanged and very
discolored mouth, one is certain to make a sud-
den and involuntary move in the opposite di-
rection. I have done it many times, and so
has Bill Morden-always to the vast, though
partly hidden, delight of our caravan men.