DOMESTICATED MAMMALS AND THEIR USES 225 



probably be traced back to the latter. And we have also to take 

 into consideration the European Bison or Aurochs (Bison Euro- 

 p<zus\ a large and savage form now only surviving in parts of 

 Russia, especially in the Lithuanian forest of Bielovege, where 

 it is jealously preserved. This is not the place to consider in 

 detail how far the various breeds of European Oxen (Bos taurus) 

 take origin from one or more of the forms just mentioned, or from 

 still others, for the subject is still in the controversial stage. It 

 need only be stated that even in prehistoric times there were 



Fig. 1162. Dwarf Zebus of Ceylon 



several domesticated breeds, while now there are a great many. 

 The large pale Hungarian cattle with their formidable horns are 

 amongst the most remarkable (fig. 1161). 



Humped Cattle were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians, 

 and we find them still both in Africa and South Asia, under the 

 name of Zebus (Bos Indicus, fig. 1162). Their ancestry is 

 doubtful, and it is also a moot point as to whether or no the 

 race of them living in North- East Africa has contributed a strain 

 to certain European breeds. The curious little grunting long- 

 haired Yak (Bos grunniens), characteristic of Tibet, is probably 

 quite distinct. Further India possesses another kind of humped 

 ox, the Gayal (Bos front alls). 



Differing in many ways from oxen is the tame Buffalo (Bubalus 



VOL. IV. 



109 



