Yak 



59 



,^^m 



the wild state, but in the domesticated condition the calves are said to be 

 born in the autumn. 



Within the territories of the Maharaja of Kashmir yak are of more 

 importance to the nomad inhabitants of the Rupshu plateau than to any 

 other tribes. At this elevation neither ordinary cattle nor half-bred yak 

 can exist, and the animals kept by the Rupshu people are all of laro-e size 

 and black in colour, being distinguishable from the wild race merely by 

 their interior dimensions. They are but little 

 tamed, and alter a longer period of rest than 

 usual are often difficult to load, sometimes in- / 

 deed throwing their burdens as soon as loaded. 

 The number ot yak kept in Rupshu some years 

 ago was between 400 and 500, and on the earn- 

 ings of these animals, which carry merchandise 

 of larger bulk, and on those of their sheep and 

 goats, which bear smaller burdens, the Rupshu 

 people depend largely tor their means of sub- 

 sistence. Between Central Ladak on the one 

 hand, and Gartok in Chinese Tibet, or Lahul 

 in British territory, on the other, they are kept 

 well employed in torvvarding traders' goods ; and for this service they 

 receive good payment, either in coin or in kind. The one great draw- 

 back to the pure-bred yak as a beast of burden in a desolate country 

 is that it will not eat corn, but depends for its subsistence on grass. 

 All the yak that I have seen in Rupshu were pure black, but it is stated that 

 wild cows are occasionally observed with patches of white or gray here 

 and there. 



Fi<;. 12. -Head of Bull Yak. 

 (Rowland Ward, Records of 

 Big Gil me.) 



