17 



The Sahiwal cows are not noted for the excellence of stock 

 produced, but are exceptionally good milkers. The following - 

 description of the Montgomery cow may be quoted from Major 

 Pease's book ou the " Breeds of Indian Cattle, Punjab " : - 



" The head is long ; forehead rather narrow ; ears small-sized ; the face 

 long and fine ; the head is large ; neck short and light. There is present, 

 and well developed the peculiar fold of skin under the abdomen in a position 

 corresponding to the sheath of the male which is called by the natives 

 " lola " but which is not by any means peculiar to this breed alone. The 

 dewlap is not very large, but is vrell developed ; the limbs are light. The 

 milk escutcheon is very good. The back is slightly dipped and longish, and 

 rises generally an inch or so at the croup ; tail sweeping the ground and 

 not very thick. Sheath in the male well developed and tufted with hair. 

 The limbs are symmetrical, and the general outline is good. The bullocks are 

 active and good workers, the cows are good milkers, yielding from 7 to 12 

 seers per diem, or even more in some instances. They are usually milked x 

 twice during the day." 



Before the colonization of the great Bar tracts, the herds of 

 this valuable breed were very numerous. But the spread of canal 

 irrigation has reduced the grazing area available, and the yearly 

 decline in a number of good Sahiwal cows is one of the worst fea- . 

 tures of the present state of cattle-breeding in the Punjab. The 

 drain on the remaining stock increases yearly and losses are 

 never replaced. Besides the large numbers of Montgomery cows 

 which are bought whenever possible for down country districts, 

 the Gujars of the Central Punjab districts are prepared to pay 

 large prices for good animals, and at every Amritsar fair large 

 numbers are disposed of. The city Gujar, provided he can ex- 

 tract a large amount of milk from the cow, is utterly careless of 

 the progeny, and the calf stunted of milk seldom comes to matur- . 

 ity. The change, which has been brought about in the Bar 

 tract by the substitution of settled cultivation for nomad graz- 

 ing, and the stages by which the buffalo has taken the place of 

 the milch cows of the Sahiwal and Kachi breeds are well de- 

 scribed by Mr. de Montmorency in the Lyallpur report : 



" Prior to the opening of the Chenab Canal the Chenab Colony area 

 known as the Bar was a large desert with a scanty rainfall lying partly in 

 the Jhang and partly in the Montgomery and Gujranwala districts. The 

 lower-lying portions of the Bar had depressions, into which the water 

 from the higher surrounding hard desert used to flow after rain and lie 

 for some time. Round these depressions nomad graziers known as the Jang- 

 lis used to gather with very large herds of cows, young cattle and goats. - 

 After even a little rain the Bar which was covered with the roots of vari- 

 ous grasses, such as Chimber, Lunak, Dhumen, Pilwahu, Keo and Kawi, 

 used to throw up a fine head of grass. The scrub which covered the Bar 

 retained round its roots a certain amount of moisture, and even after the 

 grass had been eaten down in the open a good supply remained round the 



