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ABOUT YAK. 



MEDIEVAL beasts and birds may be divided into 

 two categories. Those whose image became, as 

 years rolled on, less and less defined, till they 

 merged into the purely legendary ; and those, like 

 the dong, as the wild yak is called, whose existence 

 has been confirmed by modern travel. Let me 

 first present a picture of the yak as he lived in the 

 imagination of old Eastern writers. "This is a 

 very wild and ferocious beast," says the Tarikhi 

 Kashidi, "in whatever manner it attacks it proves 

 fatal. Whether it strikes with its horns or kicks 

 or overthrows its victim. If it has no opportunity 

 of doing any of these things, it tosses its victim 

 twenty yards into the air with its tongue, and he is 

 dead before reaching the ground." 



According to the Haft Iklim, the yak kills " with 

 its horns, by its kicks, by treading under foot, and 

 by tearing with its teeth ; " J while the Emperor 

 Humayun is reported to have made the remarkable 



1 Yule's Marco Polo. 



