THE MAHADEO HILLS. 11;} 



that of the cows (No. 5), being, like them, slender and 

 much recurved at the points. No. 2 pertained to a 

 very dark, but not black, bull, evidently a year or two 

 older than the first, but not quite mature. The horns 

 have considerably increased in girth at the base, and 

 have assumed a more outward sweep, with less incurva- 

 ture at the points. No. 3 are still thicker and more 

 horizontal, with some signs of wear at the tips, and 

 were taken from a full-grown, jet-black bull, the lord of 

 a herd. No. 4 adorned a very old and solitary bull, 

 and are, it will be seen, extremely rugged and massive, 

 with scarcely any curve, and are considerably worn and 

 blunted at the points. They measure thirty- seven and 

 a half inches across the sweep, and seventeen round the 

 thickest part. No. 3 are the longest round the curve of 

 the horn, each measuring twenty-five and a half inches, 

 the extreme girth being only fifteen and a half inches. 

 The largest of these bulls measured exactly seventeen 

 and a quarter hands (five feet nine inches) at the 

 shoulder, measuring fairly the right line between two 

 pegs held in the line of the fore-leg. I once measured a 

 bull in the Puchmurree hills which was two inches 

 taller than this, and I am convinced that this is about 

 the extreme height attained by them in this part of 

 India. I strongly suspect that the much greater 

 heights often given have been taken from unfair 

 measurements. A common way is to take an oblique 

 line from the forefoot to the top of the dorsal ridge, and 

 follow the curvatures of the body besides. In this way 

 twenty-two hands may doubtless be made out, but we 

 might as well measure the distance from nose to tail for 

 the height as this. 



At this season of the year (the winter months), the 



