Mr. E. Blyth on the different Animals known as Wild Asses. 241 



agree with Dr. J. D. Hooker when he asserts that the Kyang 

 " differs widely from the ' wild Ass ' of Persia, Sindh, and Belu - 

 chistan/' although " undoubtedly the same as the Siberian ani- 

 mal." He adds that " it resembles the Ass more than the Horse, 

 from its size, heavy head, small limbs, thin tail, and the stripe 

 over the shoulder [!] . The flesh is eaten, and much liked. The 

 Kyang-lah mountains are so named from their being a great 

 resort of this creature*." Trebeck's remarks on the figure of 

 the Kyang, as quoted by Cunningham, apply alike to either 

 race. The accomplished botanist cited would most assuredly 

 not recognize as distinct species two plants from different re- 

 gions which differed so very slightly from each other as the 

 Ghor-khur and the Kyang differ in the animal kingdom. In- 

 deed, so far as I can discover, the difference is only in colouring, 

 and this merely a difference of shades of hue and the relative 

 extension of them f ! 



suffuses the caudal region, which in Major Tytler's animals is conspicuously 

 much whiter : the mesial dark line is very slight, almost evanescent, down 

 the tail, in which respect all the Ghor-khurs differ from all the Kyangs 

 under examination ; and this stripe is not broader upon the croup than in 

 an ordinary Donkey : there are no traces of markings on the limbs. The 

 skull is unfortunately abnormal, being unsymmetrical and curiously de- 

 viating from the straight line — to the left at the occiput, and to the right 

 at the muzzle. The nasal bones are more compressed than in the Kyang- 

 skull ; but this difference does not exist in Major Tytler's younger Ghor- 

 khur-skull, nor certainly in his three living animals, so far as a judgment, 

 can be formed on careful examination of them. There is an obvious 

 deformity in the shape of the lower jaw, the rami of which approximate 

 almost to contact underneath for a considerable portion of their length, 

 and not quite symmetrically. 



The only equine skull in the Calcutta Medical College is catalogued as 

 that of a Horse ; but it exhibits the true asinine contour, and is nearly as 

 large as that of the adult Kyang. I do not think that it is a mule- skull, 

 but rather that it belonged to a fine specimen of the large Levantine race 

 of domestic Asses, which is occasionally met with in the north-west of 

 India, chiefly beyond Delhi. Had it been the skull of a wild animal, it 

 would probably have been registered as such ; and moreover, as a general 

 rule, there is a considerable quantity of dark incrustation on the teeth of 

 wild grazing animals, which I think is never very observable on those of 

 domestic beasts : in the present instance, this is exhibited by the skull of a 

 wild Kyang and that of a wild Ghor-khur under examination, and in no skull 

 of domestic Horse or Ass, nor in the dubious Medical College specimen. 



* Himalayan Journal, ii. 1 12. 



f Vide a subsequent notice of the Ghor-khur, p. 242, where individuals 

 are noticed of a very dark colour ! But the Dshiggetai, as described by 

 Pallas and Pennant, does not quite satisfactorily agree in colouring with 

 the Tibetan Kyang! "Le poil est d'un jaune rembruni, assez clair. 

 Le nez et l'interieur des membres sont d'un jaune roux " (Pallas, Voyage). 

 Pennant also, translating from the German, writes : "The colour of the 

 upper parts of the body a light yellowish-grey, growing paler towards the 

 sides. Buttocks white, as are the inside of the limbs and belly." This 

 colouring really applies better to the Ghor-khur. 



