YAK.—Poéphagus grurnens. 
tufts that decorate the caps of the Chinese, and when properly mounted in a silver handle, 
it is used as a fly-flapper in India under the name of a chowrie. These tails are carried 
before certain officers of state, their number indicating his rank. 
The Plough Yak is altogether a more plebeian-looking animal, humble of deportment, 
carrying its head low, and almost devoid of the magnificent tufts of long silken hairs that 
fringe the sides of its more aristocratic relation. Their legs are very short in proportion 
to their bodies, and they are generally tailless, that member having been cut off and sold by 
their avaricious owner. There is also another variety which is termed the Ghainorik. 
The colour of this animal is black, the back and tail being often white. The natives of 
the country where the Yak lives are in the habit of crossing it with the common 
domestic cattle and obtaining a mixed breed. When overloaded, the Yak is accustomed 
to vent its displeasure by its loud, monotonic, melancholy grunting, which has been 
known to affect the nerves of unpractised riders to such an extent that they dismounted, 
after suffermg half an hour's infliction of this most lugubrious chant, and performed the 
remainder of their journey on foot. 
THE curiously shaped horns of the Musk Ox, its long woolly hair falling nearly to 
the ground in every direction, so as nearly to conceal its legs, together with the peculiar 
form of the head and snout, are unfailing characteristics whereby it can be discriminated 
from any other animal. The horns of the Musk Ox are extremely large at their base, 
and form a kind of helmet upon the summit of the forehead. They then sweep boldly 
downwards, and are again hooked upwards toward the tips. This curious form of the 
horns is only noticed in the male, as the horns of the female are set very widely apart on 
