THE JUNGLY GAU. 73 



animal grows older ; standing equally apart in every indi- 

 vidual of the same age and sex ; are round, except at 

 their base, which is slightly compressed ; and they become 

 smoother as the animal advances in age. 



" The hump, which is characteristic of the generality 

 of Indian oxen, is reduced in this to a slight prominence, 

 extending to the middle of the back, and is covered with 

 a grayish, woolly hair, rather longer than that on the 

 other parts of the body, which spreads likewise over the 

 occiput and the front. The rest of the hair is black 

 except the legs, which are white from the knees down- 

 wards. The tail terminates in a large tuft of hair ; and, 

 in bulls of two or three years old, the under part of the 

 neck is slightly furnished with long, black, silky hair. 



" The female is smaller than the male, with horns of a 

 still less proportionate size. The front of the head, 

 instead of being convex, as in the male, appears to be 

 slightly depressed, in consequence of the superior elevation 

 of the muzzle. The colour of the female is not so deep 

 a black ; the gray on the top of the neck and the shoulders 

 extends to the sides, and the inferior part of the muzzle 

 is white. 



" I have long entertained the opinion," continues M. 

 Duvaucel, " that these oxen were essentially the same as 

 the domestic that they were both varieties of the same 

 species ; but this opinion was formed on the inspection 

 only of such specimens as I had seen in the menagerie at 

 Barracpour. Since that time, I have pursued them 

 myself near the mountains of Sylhet; and I have like- 

 wise learned from various sources that they are as nume- 

 rous and as generally diffused as the common Buffalo; 

 but they appear to be wilder than the Buffalo, and not so 



