ORIGIN OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 219 



The ox. Our domesticated cattle are of two distinct species : 

 Bos taurtis, covering all European and American races and 

 breeds ; and Bos indicus, the smaller, lighter-limbed, and so- 

 called sacred ^ or humped cattle of India, similar to the Galla 

 cattle of Africa. 



Both of these species have been so long domesticated and 

 the countries they inhabit are so densely populated that it is 

 impossible to identify the original wild stock of either. There 

 is, however, no lack of material from which they might have 

 sprung, for their wild relatives are numerous and our only diffi- 

 culty is in assigning exact relationships. 



These relationships, however, are more easily traced for the 

 Indian cattle than for the European and American breeds, 

 because the vast and largely inaccessible mountain wildernesses 

 of the Himalayan foothills afford a secure retreat and harbor 

 for a number of truly wild races of the cattle kind, almost any 

 one of which might have been the true progenitor of Bos indiciis? 



Perhaps the most notable of these, as it is the largest, is the 

 gaur {Bos gaums), a thoroughly wild and untamed animal 

 inhabiting the hills and inaccessible highlands of India, extend- 

 ing as far eastward as Burma and the Malay Peninsula, where it 

 is known as the sladong. This is a true wild ox of monstrous 

 size, standing occasionally as high as eighteen hands, or six feet, 

 in exceptional old males. His height is exaggerated by his 

 exceedingly high withers, amounting to a hump, were it not that 

 the elevation is prolonged into a ridge running well down the 



1 This is evidently another of the many erroneous but popular traditions. I 

 am assured by the most reliable Hindus that these cattle are no more sacred 

 than are any others ; indeed, that they are not, all things considered, so highly 

 esteemed as is the buffalo. 



2 These Hindu cattle are familiar to every boy that has attended the shows. 

 They are smaller and more slender than our cattle, and their more suitable 

 conformation and gentle disposition fit them so excelhently for the road that 

 they are freely used for purposes of travel in their own country. Ranging from 

 a clear white to a dirty cream color, with their curious hump at the shoulders, 

 they make a most striking appearance that would distinguish them from the 

 common cattle of our own country, even to the most casual observer. 



