56 ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 



The mountainous regions of Bootan and Thibet produce 

 another remarkable bovine animal called the j'ak (Bos pod' 

 phagus). This is the grunting-ox of Shaw and Pennant, 

 and the soora goy of the Hindostanese. It is domesticated 

 over a vast tract of country, from the Altaic mountains to 

 the central parts of India, and over a great portion of 

 China. The horse-tails, as they are commonly called, used 

 as standards by the Persians and Turks, are in fact made 

 of hair (usually died of a fine crimson) from the tail of the 

 grunting-ox ; and the chourics, or fly-drivers, employed in 

 India, are composed of the same material. This species 

 has a downcast, heavy look. It is sullen and suspicious, 

 and usually exhibits considerable impatience on the near 

 approach of strangers.* The yak pastures on the coldest 

 parts of Thibet, upon the short herbage peculiar to the 

 tops of mountains and bleak plains. That lofty chain 

 ■which is situated between latitudes 8° and 27° north, and 

 which divides Thibet from Bootan, where the summits are 

 commonly clothed with snow, constitutes its favourite 

 haunt. The southern glens afford a sufficiency of food and 

 shelter during the severity of the winter season ; while 

 during summer the northern aspect is more congenial to its 

 nature, and admits of a wider range. This animal is of 

 great value to the Tartar tribes. It is an excellent beast 

 of burden, and its milk is abundant, and very productive 

 both of butter and cheese. 



The last species we shall mention is the gayall (Bos 

 frontalis, Lambert — Bos gavces, Smith), which in size and 

 shape resembles an English bull, but in reality is almost 

 equal in strength and activity to the wild-buflTalo. It de- 

 lights to dwell in the deepest jungles, feeding on the tender 

 leaves and shoots of the brushvv'ood. It occurs in the wild 

 state among the mountains which fonn the eastern boundary 

 of the province of Chittagong, and is reared as a domestic 

 animal by the people called Kookies, who inhabit those re- 

 gions. It is easily tamed. t We shall say nothing of the 

 zebus, and other domesticated breeds of Indi:in cattle, having 

 exhausted our limits in the descriptions of the foregoing 

 species. 



•* In Turner's Account of an Embassy to Thibet this species is figured 

 under the name of the bushy-tailed bvl'l. 

 t Linn. Trans., vol. vii. p. 57 and 305. 



