34 Oxen 



within the distributional area of the species, the limits of which have yet 

 to be defined. But it is distinctly remarkable that since the publication 

 of Mr. Blanford's note in 1891 not a single word in confirmation of the 

 existence of wild gayal has been recorded either by a sportsman or a 

 naturalist ; while Burmese sportsmen with whom I have conversed deny 

 the existence of the animal in a wild state in the Tenasserim district. 



As mentioned under the head of the preceding species, great confusion 

 has arisen in the descriptions of travellers between gaur and gayal ; and the 

 question as to which form some of the animals kept in domestication by 

 the tribes living in the districts to the northward ot the Bay ot Bengal 

 belong, is still iiwolved in great obscurity. Mr. Blanford's remarks on the 

 question are as follows : — " Bos frontalis was described by Lambert and 

 Colebrooke as occurring both in the tame and wild state in the hills of 

 Tipperah among the Kukis ; and Lambert gave a detailed account, 

 furnished by Mr. M'Rae, of the capture of wild animals and their domesti- 

 cation by these tribes. It has since been ascertained that tame ' mithans ' 

 or ' gayals ' are found in possession of particular tribes both north and south 

 of the Assam valley, around Manipur and Cachar, and in the Tipperah, 

 Chittagong, and Lushai hills as far south as the neighbourhood of Chitta- 

 gong. But the wild bovine of the area in general was ascertained by Blyth, 

 Sarbo, Anderson, and others to be Bos gaums. The later evidence is 

 confusing. Peal [Nature, 5th November 1H85, p. 7) states that both wild 

 and tame animals are called mithan in Upper Assam, that they are perfectly 

 distinct, and no intermediate forms ever occur ; whilst Sanderson {T/iirteen 

 Tears among the Wild Beasts of India, p. 2i;o) declares that in Chittagong the 

 two forms, wild and tame, are similar. Lastly, Mr. E. C. Steuart Baker 

 [Asian, 6th March i89i,p. 35H) in the north Cachar hills confirms the 

 old story of the wild mithans being reclaimed by the Kukis. ... It is 

 very probable that some ot the domesticated mithans are B. gat/ri/s, the 

 domestication of which by the Kukis was described by Blyth on information 



