TAK. 415 



in other species of this genus, several races or va- 

 rieties, di tit ring as to size, &c as in common 

 Those which were examined by Dr. Pallas 

 of the size of a small domestic cow ; but the 

 th of these, as Mr. Pennant observes, might 

 have been checked by being brought very young 

 from their native country into Siberia. Marco 

 Polo says, that the wild kind which he saw in his 

 c-ls into Tartary were nearly as large as ele- 

 phants, and though this may perhaps be .in 

 aggeration, yet the length of some of the tails 

 brought into Europe, and measuring six feet, 

 ii to prove that the size of the animals to which 

 they belonged must have been very gi 



In India no man of fashion ever goes out, or 

 sits in form at home, without two Chawrabadurs, 

 or l>rushers, attending him, each furnished \vith 

 one of these tails mounted on silver or ivory 

 handles, to brush away the Hies. The Chinese 

 d\e them of a beautiful red, and wear them as 

 tutts to their summer bonnets. 



Mr. Pennant justly observes, that sElian is the 

 only ancient writer who takes notice of this sin- 

 gular .species, and that amidst his immense far- 

 rago of fables, he gives a very good account of it, 

 under the name of * Poephagu*, an Indian ani- 

 mal, larger than a horse, with a most thick tail, 

 and black, composed of hairs tincr than the hu- 

 man, and highly valued by the Indian ladio 

 ornamenting their heads: each hair, he says, 

 was two cubits long. It was the most fearful 



