Delineations of the Ox Tribe Part 4

The following interesting and circ.u.mstantial account of this curious species of Ox, is from the pen of Lieut. Samuel Turner. (_Asiatic Researches_, vol. iv.)

"The Yak of Tartary, called Soora-Goy in Hindostan, and which I term the Bushy-tailed Bull of Tibet, is about the height of an English Bull, which he resembles in the figure of the body, head, and legs. I could distinguish between them no essential difference, except only that the Yak is covered all over with a thick coat of long hair. The head is rather short, crowned with two smooth round horns, that, tapering from the setting on, terminate in sharp points, arch inwardly, and near the extremities are a little turned back. The ears are small; the forehead appears prominent, being adorned with much curling hair; the eyes are full and large; the nose smooth and convex; the nostrils small. The neck is short, describing a curvature nearly equal both above and below; the withers high and arched; the rump low. Over the shoulders rises a bunch, which at first sight would seem to be the same kind of exuberance peculiar to the cattle of Hindostan; but in reality it consists in the superior length of the hair only, which, as well as that along the ridge of the back to the setting on of the tail, grows long and erect, but not harsh. The tail is composed of a prodigious quant.i.ty of long flowing glossy hair, descending to the hock; and is so extremely well furnished, that not a joint of it is perceptible; but it has much the appearance of a large bunch of hair artificially set on. The shoulders, rump, and upper part of the body are clothed with a sort of thick soft wool, but the inferior parts with straight pendent hair that descends below the knee; and I have seen it so long in some cattle, which were in high health and condition, as to trail along the ground. From the chest, between the fore-legs, issues a large pointed tuft of hair, growing somewhat larger than the rest. The legs are very short. In every other respect, hoofs, &c., he resembles the ordinary Bull. There is a great variety of colours among them, but black and white are the most prevalent. It is not uncommon to see the long hair upon the ridge of the back, the tail, the tuft upon the chest, and the legs below the knee white, when all the rest of the animal is jet black.

"These cattle, though not large boned, from the profuse quant.i.ty of hair with which they are provided, appear of great bulk. They have a down heavy look, but are fierce, and discover much impatience at the near approach of strangers. They do not low loud (like the cattle of England) any more than those of Hindostan; but make a low grunting noise, scarcely audible, and that but seldom, when under some impression of uneasiness. These cattle are pastured in the coldest part of Tibet, upon short herbage, peculiar to the tops of mountains and bleak plains.

That chain of lofty mountains situated between lat. 27 and 28, which divides Tibet from Bootan, and whose summits are most commonly covered with snow, is their favourite haunt. In this vicinity the Southern glens afford them food and shelter during the severity of the winter; in milder seasons the Northern aspect is more congenial to their nature, and admits a wider range. They are a very valuable property to the tribes of illiterate Tartars, who live in tents, and tend them from place to place, affording their herdsmen a mode of conveyance, a good covering, and subsistence. They are never employed in agriculture, but are extremely useful as beasts of burden; for they are strong, sure-footed, and carry a great weight. Tents and ropes are manufactured of their hair, and I have seen, though amongst the humblest ranks of herdsmen, caps and jackets worn of their skins. Their tails are esteemed throughout the East, as far as luxury or parade have any influence on the manners of the people; and on the continent of India are found, under the denomination of Chowries, in the hands of the meanest grooms, as well as, occasionally, in those of the first ministers of state. Yet the best requital with which the care of their keepers is at length rewarded for selecting them good pastures, is in the abundant quant.i.ty of rich milk they give, yielding most excellent b.u.t.ter, which they have a custom of depositing in skins or bladders, and excluding the air; it keeps in this cold climate all the year, so that after some time tending their flocks, when a sufficient stock is acc.u.mulated, it remains only to load their cattle, and drive them to a proper market with their own produce, which const.i.tutes, to the utmost verge of Tartary, a most material article of commerce."

The soft fur upon the hump and shoulders is manufactured by the natives of Tibet into a fine but strong cloth; and, if submitted to the test of European skill, might no doubt be made to produce a very superior fabric.

The herdsmen commonly convert the hides into a loose outer garment that covers the whole of their bodies, hanging down to the knees; and it proves a sufficient protection against the lowest temperature of the cold and desolate region which they inhabit. It furnishes at once a cloak by day and a bed by night.

The Yak is not generally fierce, but, if intruded upon by strangers, it sometimes manifests very formidable symptoms of impatience, stamping its feet, whisking its tail aloft, and tossing its head. When excited, it is not easily appeased, and is exceedingly tenacious of injury, always showing great fierceness whenever any one approaches who has chanced to provoke it.

The cow is called _Dhe_, of which the wandering Tartars possess great numbers, having no means of subsistence but those supplied by their flocks and herds.

A fine male specimen of this Ox was brought to England by Warren Hastings, and several attempts were made to procure a cross between it and the common English Cow, but without success. He invariably refused to a.s.sociate with ordinary cattle, and exhibited a decided antipathy to them. His portrait was painted, and is now in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London. The following figure (taken from the 'Oriental Annual') is so much like the portrait of Warren Hastings's Yak, that it might almost be taken for a copy of it.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There is the skin of a Yak in the Zoological Museum, which coincides pretty nearly with the foregoing description. There is also a stuffed specimen of a female in the British Museum.

Like the European Bison, the skeleton of the Yak has fourteen pairs of ribs. Period of gestation not recorded.

THE GYALL, (_Bos Frontalis_ of Lambert;)

THE GAYAL, (_Bos Gavaeus_ of Colebrooke;)

THE JUNGLY GAU, (_Bos Sylheta.n.u.s_ of F. Cuvier.)

Of the animals named in the foregoing list, we have had several very interesting accounts; but none of these have been sufficiently precise to enable us to determine the specific character of the animals described.

Are they, as some affirm, merely different names for the same animal; or do they designate animals which are really and truly distinct?

Nothing short of an appeal to structure can satisfactorily settle this or any other disputed point of a similar nature; but, unfortunately for zoology, the opportunities for such appeals are rare, and, when they do occur, are seldom taken advantage of. Let us hope that this hint will not be lost on some of our intelligent countrymen in the East; and that before long we may be favoured with the result of their researches.

In the meantime, and in order to facilitate as much as possible the endeavours of those who may have opportunities for such inquiries, the following epitome is given of the various papers which have already appeared on the subject, but which, in their present scattered form, are of very little general utility.

THE GYALL.

The earliest descriptive notice we have of the Gyall was that given in a paper read before the Linnean Society, in 1802, by Mr. Lambert, on the occasion of a bull of this species arriving in London from India.

"_Bos Frontalis._

"General colour a blueish-black; the frontal fascia gray; the horns short, thick, and distant at their bases, the tail nearly naked, slender, and with a tuft at the end. The Gyall has no mane; its coat is soft; the edge of the under lip is white, and is fringed with bristling hair. The horns are pale, with their bases included in the frontal fascia."

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Gyall, reduced--from the Linnean Transactions.]

The animal of which this description is given, appeared to be between two and three years old, very tame, and inoffensive. A drawing was taken of it, which was engraved and published in the Linnean Transactions.

The following are its dimensions:

Ft. In.

From tip of nose to end of tail 9 2 " tip of hoof of fore foot to top of the rising of back 4 1-1/2 Girth of largest part of abdomen 5 7 From the tip of the hoof of the hind leg to the highest part of the rump 4 0-1/2 " the tip of forehead to end of nose 1 9 Girth of head over the angle of the jaws 2 11-1/2 Between tips of horns 1 8-1/2 Length of horn, externally 0 8-1/2 Girth of horn at largest part 1 1

In reply to some inquiries respecting this animal which he made of a gentleman, (Mr. Harris,) resident in India, Mr. Lambert received the following:

"DEAR SIR,--I have before me your note, with the drawing, which undoubtedly appears to me to be the figure of the animal I mentioned to have in my possession. Some parts of the drawing seem to be rather too much enlarged, as in the base of the horns, and the rising between the fore shoulders.

"The animal I described to you, and which I have kept and reared these last seven years, and know by the name of the Gyall, is a native of the hills to the north east and east of the Company's province of Chittagong, in Bengal, inhabiting that range of hills which separates it from the country of Arracan.

"The male Gyall is like our Bull in shape and appearance, but I conceive not quite so tall; it is of a blackish-brown colour; the horns short, but thick and strong towards the base, round which, and across the frons, the hair is bushy, and of a dirty white colour; the chest and forehead are broad and thick. He is naturally very bold, and will defend himself against any of the beasts of prey.

"The female differs a little in appearance; her horns are not quite so large, and her make is somewhat more slender. She is very quiet, and is used for all the purposes of the dairy; as also, (I have been informed by the natives,) for tilling the ground, and is more tractable than the Buffalo. The milk which these cows give has a peculiar richness in it, arising, I should conceive, from their always feeding on the young shoots and branches of trees in preference to gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Head of Gyall, from Linnean Transactions.)]

"I constantly made it a practice to allow them to range abroad, amongst the hills and jungles at Chittagong, during the day, to browse; a keeper attending to prevent their straying so far as to endanger losing them.

They do not thrive so well in any part of Bengal as in the afore-mentioned province, and in the adjoining one, Pipperah, where, I believe, the animal is also to be found. I have heard of a female Gyall breeding with a common Bull. I wish it were in my power to give you more particulars, but I am describing entirely from memory."

In February, 1804, Mr. Lambert again addressed the Linnean Society on the same subject. He says, "Since I presented to the Society the last account of the Bos Frontalis, or Gyall of India, Mr. Fleming, a gentleman who has just returned from that country, has very obligingly communicated to me the following further particulars. This account was transmitted to Mr. Fleming by Mr. Macrae, resident at Chittagong, in a letter, dated March 22, 1802, and was accompanied with a drawing, by which it appears that the animal from which my figure was taken was full grown." (See the figure, p. 51.)

MR. MACRAE'S ACCOUNT.

The Gyall is a species of cow peculiar to the mountains, which form the eastern boundary of the province of Chittagong, where it is found running wild in the woods; and it is also reared as a domestic animal by the Kookies, or Lunclas, the inhabitants of those hills. It delights to live in the deepest jungles, feeding on the tender leaves and shoots of the brushwood; and is never met with on the plains below, except when brought there. Such of them as have been kept by the gentlemen at Chittagong, have always preferred browsing among the thickets on the adjacent hills to feeding on the gra.s.s of the plains.

It is of a dull heavy appearance, yet of a form that indicates both strength and activity; and approaches nearly to that of the wild Buffalo. Its head is set on like the Buffalo's, and it carries it much in the same manner, with the nose projecting forward; but in the shape of the head it differs materially from both the Buffalo and the Cow, the head of the Gyall being much shorter from the crown to the nose, but much broader between the horns than that of either. The withers and shoulders of the Gyall rise higher in proportion than those of Buffalo or Cow, and its tail is small and short, seldom falling lower than the bend in the ham. Its colour is in general brown, varying from a light to a deep shade; it has at times a white forehead, and _white legs_, with a white belly and brush. The hair of the belly is invariably of a lighter colour than that of the back and flanks. The Gyall calf is of a dull red colour, which gradually changes to a brown as it advances in age.

The female Gyall receives the bull at three years of age; her term of gestation is eleven months, when she brings forth, and does not again admit the male until the second year thereafter, thus producing a calf once in three years only. So long an interval between each birth must tend to make the species rare. In the length of time she goes with young, as well as in that between each conception, the Gyall differs from the Buffalo and Cow. The Gyall does not give much milk, but what she yields is nearly as rich as the cream of other milk. The calf sucks its dam for eight or nine months, when it is capable of supporting itself. The Kookies tie up the calf until he is sufficiently strong to do so.

The Gyalls live to the age of from fifteen to twenty. They lose their sight as they grow old, and are subject to a disease of the hoof, which often proves fatal at an early age. When the Kookies consider the disease beyond the hope of cure, he kills the animal and eats the flesh, which const.i.tutes his first article of luxury.

The Kookies have a very simple method of catching the wild Gyalls, which is as follows:--On discovering a herd of wild Gyalls in the jungles, they prepare a number of b.a.l.l.s, of the size of a man's head, composed of a particular kind of earth, salt, and cotton. They then drive their tame Gyalls towards the wild ones, when the two herds soon meet, and a.s.similate into one; the males of the one attaching themselves to the females of the other, and _vice versa_. The Kookies now scatter their b.a.l.l.s over such parts of the jungle as they think the herd most likely to pa.s.s, and watch its motions. The Gyalls, on meeting these b.a.l.l.s as they pa.s.s along, are attracted by their appearance and smell, and begin to lick them with their tongues; and relishing the taste of the salt, and the particular earth composing them, they never quit the place until all the b.a.l.l.s are consumed. The Kookies having observed the Gyalls to have once tasted their b.a.l.l.s, prepare a sufficient supply of them to answer the intended purpose; and as the Gyalls lick them up, they throw down more; and it is to prevent their being so readily destroyed that the cotton is mixed with the earth and the salt. This process generally goes on for three changes of the moon, or for a month and a half, during which time the tame and the wild Gyalls are always together, licking the decoy b.a.l.l.s; and the Kookie, after the first day or two of their being so, makes his appearance, at such a distance as not to alarm the wild ones. By degrees he approaches nearer and nearer, until at length the sight of him has become so familiar that he can advance to stroke his tame Gyalls on the back and neck, without frightening away the wild ones. He next extends his hand to them, and caresses them also, at the same time giving them plenty of his decoy b.a.l.l.s to lick. Thus, in the short s.p.a.ce of time mentioned, he is able to drive them, along with the tame ones, to his parrah, or village, without the least exertion of force; and so attached do the Gyalls become to the parrah, that when the Kookies migrate from one place to another, they always find it necessary to set fire to the huts they are about to abandon, lest the Gyalls should return to them from the new grounds.

It is worthy of remark that the new and full moon are the periods at which the Kookies in general commence their operations of catching the wild Gyalls, from having observed that at these changes the two s.e.xes are most inclined to a.s.sociate. The same observation has been made with respect to Elephants.

THE GAYAL.