216 THE OX. 



the Kalmuk and Mongolian nations, to the Pacific Ocean. 

 In the wild state his chief habitat is near the chain of snowy 

 mountains separating India from Tartary. 



This species of Bison is about the size of the lesser breeds 

 of Oxen in Britain ; but he is of a stout form, with short mus- 

 cular limbs. He has fourteen pairs of ribs like the European 

 Bison, and the anterior spines of his back are so lengthened 

 as to form withers. He is armed with short and smooth 

 horns, which frequently are wanting : they are black, or white, 

 or white tipped with black, and bend upwards at the points. 

 His muzzle is narrow, and covered with hairs, approaching 

 in this respect to the character of the Ovibos. He is thickly 

 clothed with hair and wool, to protect him from the cold of 

 the elevated country which he inhabits. On the forehead, the 

 hair is short and curling ; on the back, long, pendent, and 

 mixed with wool ; and along the spine runs a kind of mane, 

 The tail reaches to the heels, and is covered with long, fine 

 hairs, giving to the animal the aspect of an ox with a horse's 

 tail : hence he has been sometimes termed the Horse-tailed 

 Buffalo. The colour of the hair varies in the domesticated 

 race ; it is usually black, or brownish-black, but other parts 

 of the body are white, as the legs, the back, and the fine and 

 graceful tail. The height of the animals at the withers is 

 said to be about three feet ten inches, but there must be 

 great variations in size ; for, in the British Museum, there is 

 preserved the tail of a Yak, which measures six feet in 

 length.* 



The Yaks, in their state of nature, seem to prefer the woods 

 of mountains to the valleys and open plains, and, like other 

 Bisons, to seek the neighbourhood of rivers, lakes, and pools ; 

 arid this fondness for an aquatic situation they retain in the 

 domestic state, wallowing in pools when occasion offers, and 

 swimming when they come to rivers. They have a some- 

 what gloomy aspect, and are said to be suspicious of strangers, 



* Griffith's Animal Kingdom. 



