OXEN. 187 



up to an elevation of nearly twenty thousand feet. On the banks of the streams 

 in many places a more luxuriant grass is met with, and it is particularly plentiful 

 in the valleys of Chang-Chenmo and Kyobrung, forming the attraction which 

 entices the yak from the still wilder and more barren country further north. Yak 

 seem to wander about a good deal. In summer the cows are generally to be found 

 in herds varying in numbers from ten to one hundred ; while the old bulls are for 

 the most part solitary or in small parties of three or four. They feed at night and 

 early in the morning, and usually betake themselves to some steep and barren hill- 

 side during the day, lying sometimes for hours in the same spot. Old bulls in 

 particular seem to rejoice in choosing a commanding situation for their resting- 

 place, and their tracks may be found on the tops of the steepest hills, far above 

 the highest traces of vegetation. The yak is not apparently a very sharp-sighted 

 beast, but its sense of smell is extremely keen, and this is the chief danger 

 to guard against in stalking it. In the high valleys of Tibet, where so many 

 glens intersect one another, and where the temperature is continually changing, 

 the wind is equally variable. It will sometimes shift to every point of the 

 compass in the course of a few minutes, and the best-planned stalk may be utterly 

 spoiled." 



The yak found in the Chang-Chenmo valley are chiefly or entirely stragglers 

 from Chinese territory, and, owing to incessant pursuit, very few are to be met with 

 at the present day in these regions. Native travellers report, however, that on the 

 upper Indus, to the eastward of Ladak, yak are to be found in vast numbers, and 

 that there they do not exhibit the extreme wariness characterising those which 

 wander into Ladak. In Northern Tibet yak have been also met with in great 

 numbers by the Russian explorer, Prejewalski. Here the old bulls were foun4 

 alone, and the cows and younger males generally in small herds ; although, where 

 the pasture was good, the herds were sometimes very large. These herds wandered 

 more or less regularly over wide tracts of country, and, according to native reports, 

 were found in summer in grassy plains, where they were quite unknown in winter. 

 As in Southern Tibet, they were especially partial to the tracts bordering the 

 streams, where grass was more abundant than elsewhere. On the other hand, the 

 solitary bulls were reported to inhabit the same districts throughout the year. 

 Where the herds were largest, their numbers are said to be reckoned by hundreds, 

 and even thousands. When alarmed or expecting danger, the cows and older bulls 

 place themselves in the van and on the flanks of the herds, with the calves in the 

 centre ; but on the near approach of a hunter, the whole herd will take to flight 

 at a gallop, with their heads down and their tails in the air. A wounded yak, 

 whether cow or bull, will, according to General Kinloch, not unfrequently 

 charge. 



A peculiarity of the yak is its grunting voice, from which it 

 derives its Latin title. Domestic yak are kept by the inhabitants of 

 the higher regions of Tibet as beasts of burden, and for the sake of their flesh ; and 

 are absolutely essential for crossing many parts of that desolate region. Some of 

 the pure-bred animals kept by the Tartar tribes, living on the Rupsu plateau, to 

 the south of the Indus in Ladak, are magnificent beasts of large size and uniformly 

 dark colour. When they have not been used for a considerable period they are 



