1883.] THE SECRETARY ON THE WILD ox OF ASSAM. 143 



Assam. The animals in the Gardens are, as you state, Bos frontalis, 

 and are never found in a wild state. They are the semi-domesticated 

 animals owned by various tribes from Assam to Arracau along our 

 eastern frontier. Their bond to their owners is, I must admit, but 

 slight, as they are never made use of in any way, not even being 

 milked, except that now and then on solemn occasions one is killed 

 and eaten. They wander at will without a herdsman in the jungles 

 adjacent to their owners' village, and at nightfall return to the village, 

 where their owners reward them with some rock-salt ; they remain 

 in the village all night, and at early dawn again make for the jungles. 

 This is their only tie to man ; yet, inasmuch as each individual animal 

 is owned and can be identified by its master, and since as a rule they 

 are so tame and docile that they will eat out of a man's hand, they 

 cannot be called "wild." To a casual observer there may appear 

 no difference between Bos gaurus (the Gaur) and Bos frontalis 

 (the Gayal) ; but a careful inspection shows the formation of the 

 skull and horns to differ, besides which the Gaur is the larger animal. 

 I have lived some time in Cachar, and for seven years in the Chit- 

 tagong hill-tracts, where both animals abound, during which time I 

 have made it my study to discover if Bos frontalis has ever been 

 found in a wild state ; and, after making large collections of skulls 

 from all parts of the districts, after many and minute inquiries from 

 different tribes, who themselves acknowledge the two varieties, and 

 after repeated discussions with European sportsmen who know both 

 animals and who have shot many a Gaur, I have arrived at the fact 

 that there is no such thing as a wild Bos frontalis. I would not 

 have ventured, though, to put this opinion before you, had not 

 Dr. John Anderson, Curator of the Calcutta Museum, Secretary 

 to the Calcutta Zoological Society, and who is one of the greatest 

 authorities on Indian natural history, written to me that he had come 

 to this conclusion. I know both animals well ; and had there been 

 a wild Bos frontalis, either I or my numerous sporting friends 

 (amongst whom is G. P. Sanderson, author of ' Thirteen Years 

 amongst the Wild Beasts of India') would have found it and shot it. 

 The skulls of the two kinds are so different that no mistake could 

 be made. I have now by me three or four. Over and above this, 

 I am almost positive that the actual animals you have in the Gar- 

 dens were two of five or six obtained through my influence from 

 chiefs on the Chittagong hill-tracts for the Calcutta Gardens, as I 

 was informed in Calcutta that they had been sent to England to 

 you. This being so, I can assert that neither they nor their sires 

 or dams have been wild for many generations. 



" Secondly, you write ' The Gayal is the Wild Ox of Assam, 

 Sylhet, and the adjacent countries to the east of the Indian peninsula,' 

 thereby clearly implying that the Wild Ox of Assam, which, as I 

 have before said, is Bos gaurus, is not found except to the east of the 

 Indian peninsula. It is too well known for there to be any argu- 

 ment on the subject, that besides Assam Bos gaurus is found in 

 Cuttack, in the Madras presidency, and the Central Provinces ; but 

 of course this has nothing to do with Bos frontalis. Thirdly, though 



