524 DESCRIPTION OF A SPECIES 



mountaineers are much pleased with th^t compH- 

 ment, and eat the meat with delight.' 



This information has established (what I had 

 previously conjectured), that the animal mention- 

 ed by many Sanscrit authors, under the name of 

 Gavaya, is no other than the Gayal. Am era 

 SiNHA, in a chapter of his dictionary relating to 

 animals, mentions the Gavaya with many wild 

 animals ; among which are the black antelope, the 

 spotted axis, the porcine deer, the painted or 

 white-footed antelope, the grunting ox, and the 

 musk deer. One of his commentators (ra'ya- 

 mucuta) says of the Gavaya, that, in shape, it 

 resembles the ox. He had previously compared 

 the form of the grunting ox {Bos grumiiais,) to 

 that of a buffalo. Another annotator states Ga- 

 vaya, as a name received into the common dialects. 

 Both agree in deriving the word from Go, a bull 

 or cow, and aya knowledge ; because, as they re- 

 mark, ' one might take it for an ox.' 



The Rqja-iugJumti, an excellent catalogue of 

 natural productions, with their reputed qualities 

 in the Materia Mcdica, states Gavaya as syno- 

 nymous with Vana-go, or wild ox: also called 

 in Sanscrit, Balabhadra and Mahagava : and, in 

 the vulgar dialect, Gava'i. Another vocabulary 

 has added Gavcmuca to the Sanscrit synonyma; 

 and, according to the Raja-mghaiiti, the female 

 is likewise named Bhillagavi, or cow of the Bh'U' 

 las, (a tribe of pillagers and mountaineers). 



No furtlier evidence would seem necessary, had 

 not the Bhavapracasa, a celebrated medical work, 

 confounded the Gavaya with the lUs'ya, or 

 Rishya, (in Hindi, Rqjh), which is the painted 

 or white-footed antelope, called Nilo-au. Mada- 

 3 



