THE GAUR. 103 



but have often seen the print of their feet, the -impression 

 of one of them covering as large a space as a common 

 china plate. According to the account I received from a 

 number of persons they are much larger than the largest 

 of our oxen; light brown colour, with short horns, and 

 inhabit the thickest covers. They keep together in herds, 

 and a herd of them is always near the Luggo-hill; they 

 are also in the heavy jungles between Hamghur and 

 Nagpoor. I saw the skin of one that had been killed by 

 Rajah Futty Narrain; its exact size I do not recollect, 

 but I well remember that it astonished me, having never 

 seen the skin of any animal so large. Some gentlemen 

 at Chittrah have tried all in their power to procure a calf 

 without success. The Shecarries and villagers are so much 

 afraid of these animals, that they cannot be prevailed on to 

 go near them, or to endeavour to catch any of their young. 

 It is a prevailing opinion in the country, that if they are 

 in the least molested, they will attack the persons dis- 

 turbing them, and never quit them until they are 

 destroyed ; and should they get into a tree, they will remain 

 near it for many days." 



The word Gau, or Ghoo, as it is sometimes spelled by 

 European writers, appears to be used both as a generic 

 and specific term, in Persia and Hindostan; and as it has 

 the same meaning, and nearly the same sound, as the 

 German word Kuh, and the English Cow, it is highly 

 probable that its origin is the same. As the word ur, in 

 Hindostan, appears to have the meaning of wild, or savage, 

 the name Gaur, or Gau-ur, literally signifies the wild cow. 

 Should the prefix aur, in the German word Aurochs, be 

 merely a form, or different mode of spelling the prefix ur, 

 then the name Aurochs would be precisely synonymous 



