42 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



deceived by this and by their very cowlike long tails, 

 including them in the reverent protection they afford 

 to the sacred cow. 



In colour the bulls are of a blue-grey, w^hence 

 their Hindustanee name, nylghau, blue bull. The 

 cows are of a rich chestnut brown, and both sexes 

 have curious white marks about the legs and fetlocks. 

 The bulls have a long fringe of hair hanging from 

 the under side of the neck, and this part was 

 formerly much sought for by natives to cover 

 shields, the throat ornament forming the boss in the 

 centre. They are not, as will be seen hereafter, so 

 strictly nocturnal in their habits as some of the 

 deer tribe. They frequent rocky hills covered with 

 thorny jungle, and, in spite of their awkward and 

 cowlike appearance, possess considerable activity and 

 speed, so much so that even the sure-footed Arab 

 horse finds it difficult to follow their headlong gallop, 

 and it is only the oldest and heaviest bulls that 

 have ever been fairly ridden down and killed with 

 the spear. The horns, though short and pointed, 

 like those of a bull, are put on like those of an 

 antelope, meeting slightly towards the tips. Any 

 one who has once seen the head of a blue bull will 

 readily understand the remark of a well - known 

 sportsman, who, meeting one for the first time face 

 to face on a lonely track in the dusk of evening, 

 incontinently took it for Old Nick in 'propria 

 persona. The cows have no horns. 



Connected in my mind with the blue bull is one of 

 those memories of past misery which, acute as it was 

 at the time, is only recalled now to be laughed at. 

 The story dates from the days of my earliest " grif- 



