488 



'BOXIVJE. 



singularly obscure. Bos frontalis was described by Lambert', and 

 Colebrooke as oceurriug both in the tame and wild state in the hills 

 of Tipperah amongst the Kukis; and Lambert gave a detailed 

 account, furnished by Mr. McRae, of the capture of w ild animals 

 and their domestication by these tribes. It has since been ascer- 

 tained that tame " mithans " or "gayals " are found in possession 



Fig. 159. 



-Skull aiirl horns of Bos 

 yaurug. 



Fig. 160. 



-Skull aud jiorns of Bos 



frontalis. 



of particular tribes both north and south of the Assam valley, 

 around .Manipur and Cachar, aud in the Tipperah, Chittagong, and 

 Lushai hills as far south as the neighbourhood of Chittagong. But 

 the wild bovine of the area in general was ascertained b}' Blyth, 

 Sarbo, Anderson, and others to be Bos gaurns. The later evidence 

 is confusing. Peal ('Nature,' Nov. 5th, 1885, p. 7) states that both 

 wild and tame animals are called Mithan in Upper Assam, that 

 they are perfectly distinct, and no intermediate forms ever occur ; 

 whilst Sanderson ('Thirteen Years Ac.,' p. 250) declares that in 

 Chittagong tlie t\\ o forms, wild and tame, are similar. Lastly, Mr. 

 E. C. Steuart Baker (' Asian,' March Oth, 1891, p. 358), in the 

 North Cachar hills confirms the old story of the wild mithans being 

 reclaimed and domesticated by the Kukis. 



Much confusion has doubtless arisen from the terms Mithan 

 and Gayal being used for both B. frontalis and B. gaurus (Gayal 

 is a word of Sanscrit derivation applied to B. gaurus in parts of 

 India, aud not used by the Indo-Chinese tribes who alone own B. 

 frontalis). But it is very probable that some of the domesticated 

 "mithans " are B. gaurus, the domestication of which by the Kukis 

 was described by Blyth on information from a missionary, M. Barbe 

 (J. A. 8. B. xxix, p. 294). This would explain the old accounts 

 of Mr. Mcliae and the recent one by Mr. Baker, both of which 

 have every appearance of authenticity. 



