CONDITIONS OF ANIMAL DOMESTICATION 227 



not denied. In the ox tribe there are three species 

 apparently well suited for domestication, the yak, 

 the gayal, and the African buffalo, whose very partial 

 entrance into, or absence from, the ranks of domestic- 

 ated animals is clearly due to some mental defect 

 discovered by experience. The two former are found 

 both wild and tame, the yak being commonly used 

 as a beast of burden in the Central Asian plateau, 

 while the gayal, a very large wild ox of the Assam 

 forests, is commonly reclaimed from among the wild 

 herds, and breeds well in this state. But the bull 

 yak always tends to become dangerous as it reaches 

 maturity ; and the gayals, even those crossed with 

 domestic cattle, have a bias to revert to savagery, 

 and * go Fantee ' like a West African negro. The 

 African buffalo is so morose and savage by nature, 

 that it would be impossible to make the first experi- 

 ment of domestication by catching and taming the 

 wild specimens, and by this distinguishing feature of 

 ingrained evil temper it has secured a 'splendid 

 isolation ' which must end in the destruction of the 

 species. It is not clear that the exclusion of the two 

 allied forms of bison, the American 'buffalo* and 

 the European aurochs from the list of domesticated 

 bovid*, is due to temper, though those kept in 

 confinement are usually dangerous animals. The 

 law of the survival of the fittest runs not only among 



