THE PROBABLE DURATION OF LIFE OF A GAUR 95 



In a short time it was found that he liked having his nose and 

 head rubbed, and licked the clothes of the person who rubbed 

 him. He took salt from the hand, but did not at first seem 

 to care for it, probably because it was not mixed with earth as 

 in salt-licks, which he was accustomed to, spitting it out if he 

 got too much in his mouth at one time. After two months he 

 became quite tame, and permitted his captor to come into the 

 enclosure, not even moving if he happened to be lying down. 

 After the third month he began to shed his hair, and liked it 

 rubbed off with a wisp of grass, allowing the operator to sit on 

 him whilst cleaning him, but he did not like his hind-legs or 

 tail to be touched, kicking out as if he were tickled when this 

 was done. A shed had been built in one corner of the stock- 

 ade, with a view of introducing a domestic cow to bear the 

 gaur company. In this shed was kept guinea grass, to be 

 given to him in the mornings. One night, however, he thought 

 he would prefer having the grass of which he was inordinately 

 fond, instead of waiting till daybreak. He managed to push 

 aside one of the sliding bars of the gate, break a lower one 

 down, and raise the top bar sufficiently for himself to get 

 through ; he ate the bundle of guinea grass, and when this was 

 finished he repeated the performance with the outer bars of 

 the shed, and walked out to freedom. So we lost this magni- 

 ficent specimen. He stood 16 hands ij inches fair vertical 

 height." 



Whilst in the Indian cows the bony frontal ridge is scarcely 

 perceptible, it is most pronounced in the Burman ones. All 

 gaur have very small feet for their size, not much bigger than 

 those of a large sambur. The old bulls have the bases of the 

 horns much truncated with rough ridges, and each ridge, the 

 shikaries affirm, represents a year of its life after the sixth 

 year, before which none are apparent. If this theory is correct 

 I must have killed gaur over thirty years of age. The old 

 ones have little hair on their backs, they look as if shaven ; 

 the skin also exudes an oily substance, slightly offensive. 

 Never sit on a dead gaur, for this substance will cause a stain 

 which is ineradicable. These cattle browse on the young shoots 

 of the bamboo, and graze on such grasses as they can find. 

 They inhabit in Burma mountain ranges like the Yomahs, but 



