28 ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 



certain portions of the table-land of the Himmaleh moun 

 tains. It is employed as a watch-dog by a tribe called the 

 Bhoteas, and is said to have a strong aversion to Europeans, 

 or, as Dr. Wallick expresses it, " flies ferociously at a white 

 face." " The mansion of the Rajah of Bootan," says Cap- 

 tam Turner, " stood upon the right ; on the left was a row 

 of wooden cages, containing a number of large dogs, tre- 

 mendously fierce, strong, and noisy. They were natives of 

 Thibet, and, whether savage by nature or soured by con- 

 finement, they were so impetuously furious that it was un- 

 safe, unless the keepers were near, even to approach their 

 dens." The individuals transmitted to the Zoological Gar- 

 dens came from the neighbourhood of Diggarchee, the 

 capital of Thibet, and are supposed to be the only indi- 

 viduals which wer&ever domesticated by Europeans. Their 

 colour was a deep black, slightly clouded on the sides ; 

 their feet, and a spot over each eye, being of a full tawny 

 or briaht brown. They had the broad, deep, truncated 

 muzzle of the mastiff, and lips still more deeply pendulous. 

 We regret to add that both these animals died soon alter 

 their arrival in England. it j • i n 



Another species of Indian dog (Caws qiLOa., Hardwicke) 

 inhabits the mountains of Ramghur. 



The group which is next to claim our attention is that of 

 the mangoustes or ichneumons, the most celebrated of 

 which is of Egyptian origin. Several species, however, in- 

 habit the Asiatic continent and islands, and the mungos 

 (Viverra mumros, Linn.) is characteristic of India. The 

 last-named species, like its brother of the Nile, is celebrated 

 for its destruction of reptiles and poisonous snakes, and is 

 still more deservedly renowned for its discovery of the me- 

 dicinal virtues of the plant called ophiorhtza mongos, as an 

 antidote to the otherwise fatal eflfects of their envenomed 

 fanirs Bufi'on appears to have confounded the Indian man- 

 goulte with the ichneumon of the Nile. It is scarcely half 

 the size. Another Indian species is named the gray ich- 

 neumon {Ichneumoii griseus). It is easily domesticated, 

 and although it thrives well on bread and milk, its carnivo- 

 rous propensities are unsubduable ; and, as we know from 

 experience, it forms, even in the most thoroughly-reclauned 

 condition, a dangerous neighbour in the vicmity of ornitho- 



