Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/108

Rh the east along the foot of the Altyn-tagh, as well as in the range itself. Our guide, a hunter of Chargalik, told us that it was not unusual in those days, to see some dozens, or even a hundred of these animals together. He himself had killed upwards of a hundred of them in the course of his life (and he was an old man), with a flint and steel musket. With an increase of population at Chargalik, the hunters of Lob-nor became more numerous, and camels scarcer. Now, the wild camel only frequents the neighbourhood of Lob-nor, and even here in small numbers. Years pass without so much as one being seen; in more favourable seasons again the native hunters kill their five and six during the summer and autumn. The flesh of the wild camel, which is very fat in autumn, is used for food, and the skins for clothing. These fetch ten tengas or a ruble and thirty copecks at Lob-nor.

The hunters of Lake Lob assured us that all the camels came from, and retired to, the Kum-tagh deserts. But these are entirely inaccessible, owing to the absence of water. At all events, none of the Lob-nortsi had ever been there. Some had made the attempt, starting from Chaglyk spring; but after struggling for a couple of days in loose sand-drift, where men and pack animals sank knee-deep, they became exhausted, and returned home unsuccessful. Total absence of water, however, there cannot be in the Kum-tagh; for if this were