THE UVALL.] 



C A 1^ T r. E, A N D 'J' 1 1 1 : IK \ .\ \l\ KT I E S. 



[tIIK UVAl-L. 



milk of the fenialo (wliich, though small in 

 quantity, is extremely rieli) lield in any recjuest; 

 the animals are bred and reared solely lor tiio 

 sake of their ilesh and hides, of which latter 

 the CiK'is miike stroni; shields. Tlieso domes- 

 ticated herds roam, at large, in their forests 

 during the day, and return home to their 

 villages in the evening, being taught to do 

 this very early, by being fed, when young, 

 every night with salt, which, to these animals, 

 is extremely palatable. Though the Ci'iois 

 slaughter the domestic gayal, the Hindus, in 

 the province of Chatgaon, will not kill this 

 animal (tlieir gabay), which they hold in equal 

 veneration witii the cow; but they hunt and 

 kill another gayi'd (as I'gayal, or Seloi), as they 

 do the wild buflalo. The cry of the gayal is a 

 kind of lowing; shriller, but not so loud as that 

 of the European ox, without any resemblance 

 to the grunt of the buifalo. In size and shape 

 it resembles the English bull ; has short horns, 

 which are distant at their bases, and rise in a 

 gentle curve upwards and outwards, their trans- 

 verse section near the base being ovate. The 

 forehead is broad, and crowned with a tutt 

 of lighter-coloured, long-curled hair; the dew- 

 lap is deep and peuucut ; there is no mane 

 or hump as in the zebu, but the withers rise 

 to a considerable elevation. The tail is short ; 

 the body covered with a tolerable coat of 

 straight dark-brown hair; on the belly it is 

 lighter coloured ; and the legs and face are 

 sometimes white. Erom various experiments, 

 it is proved that the domestic gayal will breed 

 with the ordinary zebu cattle of India; but 

 whether the otlVpriug will interbreed with each 

 other is yet to be ascertained. 



THE GYALL. 

 (^Bos frontalis, Lambert). In the seventh 

 volume of the Linnceaii Transactions, will be 

 found the figure and description of a Gyall, 

 which died in London, in 1842, by A. B. 

 Lambert, Esq., who quotes the following 

 letter from George Harris, Esq., who was well 

 acquainted with the domestic gyall in its native 

 country. Keferring to a communication from 

 Mr. Lambert, be writes — "I have before me 

 your note, with the drawing, which appears to 

 me to be the figure of the animal I mentioned 

 to have in my possession. Some parts of the 

 drawing seem to be rather too much enlarged, 



as the base of the horns and the rising between 

 tlie fore shoulders. The animal I described to 

 you, and which 1 have kept and reared these 

 last seven years, and know by the name of tho 

 gyall, is a native of tho hills to tho uorlh-eaat 

 and east of tho Conipany's province of Chitta- 

 gong, in Bengal, inhabiting that range of hills 

 which se|)arates it from the country of Arracan. 

 Tho male gyall is like our bull in sliapo and 

 appearance, but I conceive wot tpiito so tall, 

 and of a blackisli-brown colour; the horns 

 short, but thick and strong towards the base, 

 round which, and across tho frons (ciiailVon), 

 tho hair is bushy, and of a dirty-white colour. 

 The chest and forehead are broad and thick. 

 He is naturally very bold, and will defend 

 himself agains'j any of the beasts of prey. The 

 female dilfers little in ajipearance : her horns 

 are not quite so large, and her make is some- 

 what more slender; she is very quiet, and used 

 for all the purposes of the dairy, as also (I 

 have been informed by the natives) for tilling 

 the ground, and is more tractable than the 

 builalo. Tho milk which these cows give has 

 a peculiar richness in it, arising, I should con- 

 ceive, from their mode of feeding, which is 

 always on the young shoots and branches of 

 trees, in preference to grass. I constantly 

 made it a practice to allow them to range 

 abroad amongst the hills and jungles at Chitta- 

 gong during the day to browse, a keeper 

 attending to prevent their straying so far as 

 to endanger losing them. They do not thrive 

 in any part of Bengal so well as in the afore- 

 mentioned province, and in the adjoining one, 

 Tipper;ih, where, I believe, the animal is also 

 to be found. I have heard of one instance of 

 a female gyall breeding with a common bull." 



Lesson, and the author of the article Ox, 

 in the Fenny Cijdupccdia, seem to regiird the 

 gayal and the gyall as distinct : from the de- 

 scriptions, however, which are given, it is quite 

 evident that they relate to one and the same 

 species, as Eischer, in his Synopsis Mamma- 

 Hum, considers them to be. Tiie Uiie fron- 

 talis, therefore, must be retained by right of 

 priority over yavccus. 



Duvaucel, who hunted this animal at the 

 foot of tbe Silliet Mountains, describes it as 

 very wild, but easily domesticated. He says, 

 that until he had opportunities of seeing it in a 

 natural state, he entertained the opinion that 



GJL9 



