188 UNGULATES. 
very wild, and apt to break loose and throw their loads; but after a few days’ 
march they sober down. In other parts the yak are smaller, and vary greatly in 
colour, being sometimes entirely white, while the tail is very generally of that hue. 
There are also many crosses between the yak and ordinary cattle, some of the 
breeds being without horns. These half-breeds have the advantage of being able 
to withstand much higher temperatures than the pure yak; and they may be met 
with carrying burdens in the hot valley of the Indus, between the town of Leh 
and Kashmir. 
Although yak are admirable beasts of burden on account of their endurance 
and strength, and the facility with which they will traverse glaciers and swim icy 
torrents, they have the great disadvantage that they will not eat corn. This 
frequently necessitates the pushing on of the party by forced marches to prevent 
their beasts from perishing of hunger. The following description of a march with 
yak, for the truthfulness of which the present writer can vouch from his own 
personal experience, is from the pen of General Macintyre. “ For more than six 
weary hours,” writes the general, “did we toil up against the almost blinding snow 
and piercing wind that chilled us to the very marrow, although the distance to the 
summit was only six or seven miles. It was truly wonderful to see the way in 
which the yaks struggled through the deep snow, and scrambled over places which 
were often difficult and sometimes dangerous to traverse. Nothing could have 
exceeded the powers of endurance evinced by these animals, which were game to 
the backbone, and as sure-footed as goats. One of them, notwithstanding, lost 
its footing on a steep slope of névé, and went rolling and shding down until it was 
fortunately stopped by a friendly rock ; otherwise it must have disappeared for 
ever under the glacier. On regaining its feet the creature merely shook itself, and 
on being disentangled from its load soon clambered up again.” 
All who have visited a Tibetan monastery, or lamasery, must have been struck 
with the number of yak-tails suspended as streamers from tall poles fixed in the 
ground before the entrance. The more general use of these appendages throughout 
the East is, however, in the form of chowris, or fly-whisks. For this purpose pure 
white tails are preferred; and they are frequently mounted with the twisted horn 
of a black-buck as a handle. In China yak-tails dyed red are affixed to the roofs 
of the summer residences as pendants. 
THE EUROPEAN BISON (Bos bonassus). 
The European bison, wisent, or zubr is one of two species representing a 
distinct and peculiar group of the genus Bos. These animals resemble the yak in 
their cylindrical horns and the relative shortness of the forehead of the skull, and 
also in the large number of their ribs, of which there may be fourteen or fifteen 
pairs. They differ, however, in having the horns placed more below the plane 
of the occipital region of the skull, so that in a front view the crest of the occiput 
itself is seen at the summit of the skull. A further distinctive feature is to be 
found in the extreme convexity of the forehead of the skull; while the sockets of 
the eyes are very prominent, and assume a tubular form. Moreover, the pre- 
maxillary bones, forming the extremity of the skull, are separated from the very 
