280 



CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



great delight in pampering them. They are exceeding pests in the villages near Calcutta, breaking 

 into gardens, thrusting their noses into the stalls of fruiterers' and poetry-cooks' shops, and helping 

 themselves without ceremony. Like other petted animals, they are sometimes mischievous, and are 

 said to resent with a push of their horns any delay in gratifying their wishes." 



Thevenot, who describes the zebu oxen of India as excellent both for the saddle and draught, adds 

 (hat some gallop as well as a good horse, and that they are equally used for the plough and for coaches 

 and chariots. They are harnessed by means of a long yoke at the end of a pole which is placed on the 

 neck of the two oxen, and the driver holds in his hand the cord which is attached to a small double 

 cord passed through the gristle of the nose, instead of a bit in the mouth, as in the case of the horse. 



Olearius mentions the procession of an Indian prince, who was drawn in a carriage with two 

 white oxen, which had the neck short, and a hump between the shoulders, but which were as lively 



THE YAK. 



and active as horses. Heber states that the Thakoors, the nobility of the Rajpoots, generally travel in 

 carnages drawn by white oxen, whose horns they gild. Tavernier observes : " The two white oxen 

 which were harnessed to my carriage cost me nearly six hundred rupees. The reader need not be 

 astonished at this, for they are oxen of great strength, and which travel journeys of twelve to fifteen 

 leagues a-day, for sixty days, and always on the trot. When they have done half their day's work 

 they have two or three balls, the size of a penny loaf, of wheaten flour, kneaded with butter and coarse 

 sugar ; and in the evening their ordinary fare consists of chick-peas bruised and steeped half an hour 

 in water." 



THE YAK.* 



THIS animal is not unlike the buffalo in its general form, but it is of smaller size. It is distinguished 

 by the tail being furnished with full, flowing hair, like that of a horse, and by a sort of mane along the 

 neck and back ; the hair of the body is smooth and short in summer, but it becomes thick and harsh 

 iu winter; its colour is black. 



* Bos grunniens. Linna'iis. 



