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climate, food, or other assistance nature may require; and the result of their attempts has been a failure, and all their plans frustrated.
The society in Paris now publish monthly reports, and offer premiums for the introduction of valuable animals. Among many, there is a premium of a medal of the value of £80 for the introduction of the pure alpaca into Algeria, or the mountains of Europe; the flock to consist of three males and nine females at the least.
A medal worth £40, for the complete domestication, application to agriculture, or employment in the towns, of the kiang, a valuable beast of burden, of great power and swiftness, which is a native of Thibet.
I will make a few remarks upon this beautiful animal, of which a drawing is shown, as I had an opportunity of seeing one alive in the Zoological Gardens, in London, where it had been recently introduced by Major Hay. It was a fine female, and the only example of the animal in Europe. It is found in herds in the high plateau of Thibet, at an altitude at from 15,000 feet to 16,500 above the level of the sea. It has been stated that it will not live under an elevation of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea; but as illustrating that which I before remarked respecting the necessity of acquiring a practical knowledge of the habits of animals, instead of listening to preconceived opinions, it was found that on descending into the low lands, the kiang was never a day sick, and on reaching the plains it became still more inclined to enjoy its freedom, and was obliged to have four men to hold and lead it, and even then, on several occasions, it got away, but was not very difficult to secure again. It was kept a month at Kurrachee, and was then embarked on board a ship, when a large quantity of hay, dried lucerne, and also grain, was laid in for its use; the latter was worm-eaten, and it was long before the animal could be induced to touch it. The passage was long, and the captain’s people having used the animal’s food to feed their own stock, the kiang was twice reduced to eat the straw with which the sailors’ beddings had been stuffed. This proves the hardiness of the animal. At first it refused to drink any tainted water; but before reaching St. Helena, where fresh supplies were laid in, it would eat or drink almost anything.
The French Society also offers a medal worth £40 for the domestication and multiplication of some large species of kangaroo. The winner of the prize must possess at least six specimens, and must have bred two generations in domesticity.
