Tregeak. — Polynesian Knowledge of Cattle. 475 



direction ka became nga, ngaii, and kau. The ak, ok, uks, ox, 

 vaks, vacli, (tc, became associated mainly with the idea of 

 " carrying," whilst ngau and kau (gnaw and cow) remained 

 connected with "ruminating" and "milking." It is an 

 exceedingly difficult thing to say which of two primitive ideas 

 is the archaic one, when w^e have such a vast distance of 

 time through which to reach. The Sanscrit a(^va, horse 

 (acva =^ eq2ia) , is supposed to have had its radical meaning in 

 "swift;" but if the root ac means " permeare, penetrare" 

 (according to Pictet), it may have had its first origin in ak, 

 from "dashing, butting" (Maori, aki, to dash; a, to drive: 

 Sanscrit, aj, to drive : Latin, ago : Samoan, aga, to act, to go : 

 Icelandic, aka (ok, oku, ekit), to drive, transport). "Swift" 

 would be a secondary attribute, attaching itself to the horse, 

 and produced by the horse, after he had received his ak 

 ("bearing") name. Skeat considers " acre " as probably either 

 pasturage or hunting-ground [Vag, to drive ; or ak, to pierce). 

 I would make one suggestion in regard to this common 

 origin of horse and ox name, and that is that the word 

 was at first applied to neither, but to another animal 

 partaking of the nature both of ox and horse. I mean the 

 i/ak of the Pamir ancient cradle-land. In the "Journey to 

 the Source of the Oxus " (p. 208 et seq.) there is a notice 

 of " a yak, or kash-goiv, as the animal is here called, 

 standing before a door with its bridle in the hand of a 

 Kirghiz boy. ... It stood about 3ft. 6in. high, and 

 was very hairy and powerful. Its belly reached within 6in. 

 of the ground, which was swept by its bushy tail. The long 

 hair streamed down from its dewlap and forelegs, giving 

 it, but for the horns, the appearance of a huge Newfoundland 

 dog. It bore a light saddle with horn stirrups, and a cord let 

 through the cartilage of the nose served for a bridle. . . . 

 The yak is to the inhabitant of Pamir and Thibet what the 

 reindeer is to the Laplander in northern Europe. 

 He frequents the mountain slopes and their level summits. 

 Wherever the mercury does not rise above zero, there is a 

 climate for the yak. The heat of summer sends the animal to 

 what is termed the old ice — thaj is, to the regions of eternal 

 snow — the calf being retained below as a pledge for the 

 mother's returning, in which she never fails. In the summer 

 the women, like the pastoral inhabitants of the x\lps, encamp 

 in the higher valleys which are interspersed among the snowy 

 mountains, and devote their whole time to the dairy. The 

 men remain on the plain and attend to the agricultural part 

 of the establishment, but occasionally visit the upper stations ; 

 and all speak in rapture of these summer wanderings. The 

 kash-gows arc gregarious, and set the wolves which here 

 abound at defiance. Their hair is clipped once a year, in the 



