i88 UNGULATES. 



very wild, and apt to break loose and throw their loads ; but after a few days' 

 march they sober down. In other parts the yak are smaller, and vary greatly in 

 colour, being sometimes entirely white, while the tail is very generally of that hue. 

 Thore are also many crosses between the yak and ordinary cattle, some of the 

 breeds being without horns. These half-breeds have the advantage of being able 

 to withstand much higher temperatures than the pure yak ; and they may be met 

 with carrying burdens in the hot valley of the Indus, between the town of Leh 

 and Kashmir. 



Although yak are admirable beasts of burden on account of their endurance 

 and strength, and the facility with which they will traverse glaciers and swim icy 

 torrents, they have the great disadvantage that they will not eat corn. This 

 frequently necessitates the pushing on of the party by forced marches to prevent 

 their beasts from perishing of hunger. The following description of a march with 

 yak, for the truthfulness of which the present writer can vouch from his own 

 personal experience, is from the pen of General Macintyre. " For more than six 

 weary hours," writes the general, " did we toil up against the almost blinding snow 

 and piercing wind that chilled us to the very marrow, although the distance to the 

 summit was only six or seven miles. It was truly wonderful to see the way in 

 which the yaks struggled through the deep snow, and scrambled over places which 

 were often difficult and sometimes dangerous to traverse. Nothing could have 

 exceeded the powers of endurance evinced by these animals, which were game to 

 the backbone, and as sure-footed as goats. One of them, notwithstanding, lost 

 its footing on a steep slope of neve, and went rolling and sliding down until it was 

 fortunately stopped by a friendly rock ; otherwise it must have disappeared for 

 ever under the glacier. On regaining its feet the creature merely shook itself, and 

 on being disentangled from its load soon clambered up again." 



All who have visited a Tibetan monastery, or lamasery, must have been struck 

 with the number of yak-tails suspended as streamers from tall poles fixed in the 

 ground before the entrance. The more general use of these appendages throughout 

 the East is, however, in the form of chowris, or fly-whisks. For this purpose pure 

 white tails are preferred ; and they are frequently mounted with the twisted horn 

 of a black-buck as a handle. In China yak-tails dyed red are affixed to the roofs 

 of the summer residences as pendants. 



THE EUROPEAN BISON (Bos bonassus). 



The European bison, wisent, or zubr is one of two species representing a 

 distinct and peculiar group of the genus Bos. These animals resemble the yak in 

 their cylindrical horns and the relative shortness of the forehead of the skull, and 

 also in the large number of their ribs, of which there may be fourteen or fifteen 

 pairs. They differ, however, in having the horns placed more below the plane 

 of the occipital region of the skull, so that in a front view the crest of the occiput 

 itself is seen at the summit of the skull. A further distinctive feature is to be 

 found in the extreme convexity of the forehead of the skull ; while the sockets of 

 the eyes are very prominent, and assume a tubular form. Moreover, the pre- 

 m axillary bones, forming the extremity of the skull, are separated from the very 



