86 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



very beautiful. Curiously enough, when the yak 

 and the zo-po are taken to the plains of India, or 

 even to the Kulu valley, which is over 3000 feet 

 high, they die of liver-disease ; and they can nourish 

 only in cold snowy regions. I was not fortunate 

 enough to see any of the wild yaks which are said to 

 exist on the plains of the upper Sutlej in Chinese 

 Tibet, and in some parts of Ladak. I heard, how- 

 ever, of their being shot, and that the way this was 

 accomplished was by two holes in the ground, com- 

 municating with each other beneath, being prepared 

 for the hunter in some place where these animals are 

 likely to pass. If the wild yak is only wounded, it 

 rushes, in its fury, to the hole from whence the shot 

 came, on which the hunter raises his head and gun 

 out of the other hole and fires again. This rather 

 ignoble game may go on for some time, and the yak 

 is described as being in a frenzy of rage, trampling in 

 the sides of the holes and tearing at them with its 

 horns. Even the yaks of burden, which have been 

 domesticated, or rather half domesticated, for genera- 

 tions, are exceedingly wild, and the only way they can 

 be managed is by a rope attached by a ring through the 

 nose. I had scarcely had time at Lippe to admire the 

 yak which was brought for my use, than, the man in 

 charge having dropped this rope, it made a furious 

 charge at me ; and I found af terwards that yaks inva- 

 riably did this whenever they got a chance. I cannot 

 say whether this was done because I was evidently 



