Delineations of the Ox Tribe Part 9

In this young specimen (1) the length of the skull is exactly two feet, and the distance between the tops of the horns thirty-five inches. In the following sketch (2) from the Museum of the College of Surgeons, the length of the skull is likewise two feet, and the distance between the tips of the horns three feet four inches and a half.

The young animal just referred to, was found in a situation near which no other animal of this sort had ever before been discovered: it was killed by the crew of the 'Hawkesbury,' in the river Ganges, about fifty miles below Calcutta, at the place where the ships usually lie.

The flesh was eaten by the ship's company, by whom it was considered very good meat. Although conjectured to be only two years old, it weighed, when cut up, 360 lbs. the quarter, which is 1440 lbs. the carcase, exclusive of head, legs, hide, and entrails.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (2).--Horns of Arnee.--Scale of Half an Inch to a Foot.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: (3).--Horns of Arnee.--Scale of Half an Inch to a Foot.]

This last sketch (3) is from a pair of horns in the British Museum, of which the following are the dimensions:--

Ft. In.

The horn _a_, from tip to base, along the outer curve 6 6 The horn _b_ ditto ditto 6 3 Circ.u.mference at the base of horn _a_ 1 5 Ditto ditto of horn _b_ 1 6[A]

The Arnee is by far the largest animal of the Ox tribe yet known. In its native country _it is said_ to measure usually twelve, sometimes fourteen, feet from the ground to the highest part of the back! The one in the vignette, p. 111, comparing it with the man on its back, would not seem to be quite so tall.

From the appearance of the three Arnees in the painting before mentioned, it would seem that they are quite docile, and easily tamed; for they are all standing quietly, with a person on their back, who guides them by means of a rein, formed of a cord fastened to the gristle of the nose, in the Eastern manner. The colour of the animal, in all the three figures, is a pure black, except between the horns, where there is a small tuft of longish hair of a bright red colour.

From the accounts of more recent travellers, there seem to be two or three varieties of this animal, which exist, both in a wild and domestic state, in China as well as India.

According to Major Smith, the gigantic or Taur-elephant Arnee, appears to be rare; found only single, or in small families, in the upper eastern provinces and forests at the foot of the Himalaya. A party of officers of the British Cavalry, stationed in the north of Bengal, went on a three months' hunting expedition to the eastward, and destroyed in that time forty-two Tigers, and numerous wild Buffaloes, but only one Arnee. When the head of this specimen rested perpendicularly on the ground, it required the out-stretched arms of a man to hold the points of the horns. These are described as angular, with the broadest side to the rear; the two others anterior and inferior; they are of a brownish colour, and wrinkled; standing outwards, and not bent back; straight for near two thirds of their length, then curving inwards, with the tips rather back. The face is nearly straight, and the breadth of the forehead is carried down with little diminution to the foremost grinder.

There is a spirited figure of a long-horned Buffalo in Captain Williamson's 'Oriental Field Sports,' which Major Smith considers to be a representation of the great Arnee; and of which Captain Williamson relates the following anecdote:--

"The late Dr. Baillie, who was a very keen and capable sportsman, used, in my idea, to run many very foolish risks among Buffaloes. I often remonstrated with him on his temerity, but he was so infatuated, that it was all to no purpose. One morning, as we were riding on the same elephant to the hunting-ground, to save our horses as much as possible, we saw a very large Buffalo lying on the gra.s.s, which was rather short and thin; as usual, the doctor would have a touch at him, and, heedless of my expostulation, dismounted with his gun. The Buffalo, seeing him approach, rose and shook his head as a prelude to immediate hostilities.

My friend fired, and hit him on the side. The enraged brute came thundering at the doctor, who lost no time in running round to the opposite side of the elephant; the _mohout_, at the same time, pushed forward, to meet and screen him from the Buffalo, which absolutely put his horns under the elephant's belly, and endeavoured to raise him from the ground. We had no other gun, and might, perhaps, have felt some more severe effects from the doctor's frolic, had not the Buffalo, from loss of blood, dropped at our side. The Buffalo was upwards of six feet high at the shoulder, and measured nearly a yard in breadth at the chest. His horns were above five feet and a half in length."

In systems of cla.s.sification, even of very recent date, the Arnee is considered merely as a variety of the Buffalo. It appears to me, however, that our information on the subject is not yet sufficiently precise to determine this point.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In Shaw's 'Zoology,' it is mentioned that a Mr. Dillon saw some horns in India which were ten feet long.

THE ZAMOUSE, OR BUSH COW.

_Bos Brachyceros._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[The following extract, from the 'Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii, p.

284, is from the pen of Mr. J. E. Gray.]

"Captain Clapperton and Colonel Denham, when they returned from their expedition in Northern and Central Africa, brought with them two heads of a species of Ox, covered with their skins. These heads are the specimens which are mentioned in Messrs. Children and Vigors' accounts of the animals collected in the expedition, as belonging to the Buffalo, _Bos Bubalus_, and they are stated to be called _Zamouse_ by the natives; but, as no particular locality is given for the head, this name is probably the one applied to the common Buffalo, which is found in most parts of North Africa.

"Having some years ago compared these heads with the skull of the common Buffalo, _Bos Bubalus_, and satisfied myself, from the difference in the form and position of the horns, that they were a distinct species, in the 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' for 1837 (new series, vol. i, p. 589), I indicated them as a new species, under the name of _Bos Brachyceros_.

"In the course of this summer (1838), Mr. Cross, of the Surrey Zoological Gardens, received from Sierra Leone, under the name of the _Bush Cow_, a specimen which serves more fully to establish the species.

It differs from the Buffalo and all other oxen in several important characters, especially in the large size and particular bearding of the ears, and in being totally deficient in any dewlap. It also differs from the Buffalo in its forehead, being flatter and quite dest.i.tute of the convex form which is so striking in all the varieties of that animal.

"Mr. Cross's cow is, like the head in the Museum, of a nearly uniform pale chesnut colour. The hair is rather scattered, and nearly perpendicular to the surface of the body. The legs, about the knees and hocks, are rather darker. The ears are very large, with two rows of very long hairs on the inner side, and a tuft of long hairs at the tips. The body is short and barrel-shaped, and the tail reaches to the hocks, rather thin and tapering, with a tuft of long hairs at the tip. The chest is rounded and rather dependent, but without the least appearance of a dewlap; and the horns nearly resemble those of the Museum specimen, but are less developed, from the s.e.x and evidently greater youth of the animal. The Rev. Mr. Morgan informs me that the animal is not rare in the bush near Sierra Leone.

"I have added a slight sketch of Mr. Cross's animal, which I hope will enable any person to distinguish this very distinct and interesting addition to the species of this useful genus."

The engraving at the head of this article is a reduced copy of Mr.

Gray's figure just alluded to. The following representation of the head is from a specimen in the British Museum.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE MUSK OX.

_Bos Moschatus._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Musk-ox, in its external appearance, more nearly resembles the Yak of Thibet than any other member of the Bos genus; and they both inhabit mountainous districts near regions of perpetual snow.

The horns of the Musk Bull are remarkably broad at their bases, which are closely united; they bend down on each side of the head, with an outward curve turning upwards towards their ends, which taper to a sharp point. They are two feet long measured along the curvature, and two feet in girth at the base; the weight of a pair of these horns is sometimes sixty pounds. The broad base of the horn is hollow on the inside, and of a form approaching to a square; when this is separated from the head and the other part of the horn, it forms a convenient dish, which is very generally used by the native Esquimaux for many domestic purposes.

The horns of the cow are nine inches distant from each other at the base, and are placed exactly on the sides of the head; they are thirteen inches long, and eight or nine inches round at the base.

The head and the body generally is covered with very long silky hairs of a dark colour; some of which are seventeen inches long; on the middle of the back (which is broad and flat), the hair is lighter and not so long.

Beneath the long hairs, in all parts, there is a thick coat of cinereous wool of exquisite fineness. M. Jeramie brought some to France, of which stockings were made more beautiful than silk.

The tail is only three inches long, and completely covered with very long hairs, so as to be undistinguishable to the sight. Of this tail, the Esquimaux of the northwest side of Hudson's Bay, make a cap of a most horrible appearance, for the hairs fall all round their heads, and cover their faces; yet it is of singular service in keeping off the musquitoes, which would otherwise be intolerable.

The ears are only three inches long, quite erect, and sharp pointed, but dilate much in the middle; they are thickly lined with hair of a dusky colour, marked with a stripe of white.

The frog in the hoof is soft, partially covered with hair, and transversely ribbed. The following sketch represents the under surface of the foot of the Musk-ox, the external hoof being rounded, the internal pointed.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The foot-marks of the Musk-ox and those of the rein-deer are so much alike, that it requires the eye of an experienced hunter to distinguish them. The mark of the Musk-ox's hoof, however, is a little narrower.

The food of the Musk-ox is the same with that of the rein-deer--lichens and gra.s.s; and sometimes twigs and shoots of willow, birch, and pine.

At present this animal is not found in a lower lat.i.tude than 66; but formerly they came much further to the south; and their flesh used to be brought by the natives to Fort Churchill in lat.i.tude 58. It would appear that they are retiring northward, probably owing to the alarm created by the attacks made upon them by fire-arms. It is worthy of remark, that the American Bison has also retreated considerably to the north. According to Dr. Richardson, the Musk-ox inhabits the North Georgian Islands in the summer months. They arrive in Melville Island in the middle of May, crossing the ice from the southward, and quit it on their return towards the end of September.