598 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE INDIAN GAUR. [NoV. 4, 



the important testimony of so good and trustworthy an observer as 

 Mr. S. E. Peal \ 



There are two facts that should be borne in mind in any endeavour 

 to disentangle the somewhat complicated history of Bos frontalis. 



1. The names of animals used by various nations and tribes are 

 just as carelessly and loosely applied as English terms are employed by 

 English-speaking people. In America the English term selected 

 for the Bison is the name of that particular bovine to which perhaps 

 the Bison is least related and which it least resembles — the Buffalo 

 — whilst in India the common English name for Bos gaurus is 

 Bison. It is not therefore surprising that terms like Gaur and Gayal 

 are interchangeable. In fact, in a number of Iiidiau languages, the 

 name applied to Bos gaurus means wild buffalo '. I have myself 

 heard the name Gayal used for Bos gavrus in Orissa, where Bos 

 frontalis is unknown. Probably the same name Gayal is used by 

 such inhabitants of Tipperah, Chittagong, &c. as speak Hindi or 

 Bengali (foreign languages to the majority) indifferently for Bos 

 gaurus and Bos frontalis. Mr. Peal states that in Upper x\ssam 

 both are known as Mithan. It is easy to understand the confusion 

 that may thus have been caused to naturalists of a generation or 

 two back, who appear, judging by their writings, to have regarded 

 such names as restricted to particular species. 



2. Blyth has given at length ^ some very curious evidence ob- 

 tained by him, which, if correct, certainly appears to show that Bos 

 gaurus itself is domesticated by some of the hill-tribes in the 

 Tippera hills. If this were substantiated, it might account for the 

 descriptions by Mr. Macrae of the taming of wild ' Gayals ' by 

 the Kukis, the Gayals in question being Bcs gaurus. As I have 

 already stated, Mr. Macrae's story has a distinct appearance of 

 truth. 



I think it highly probable that Mr. Sarbo is right in his opinion 

 that Bos frontalis does not exist wild south of Assam. It is true 

 that we know very little of the great hill-area south of Manipur 

 between the Ky end wen river and its tributaries to the east and 

 Tipperah, Chittagong, Arrakan, &c., to the west. But it is scarcely 

 probable that tliree wild forms so nearly allied as Bos gaurus. Bos 

 frontalis, and Bos sondaicus should be found living wild in the 

 same area. It is far from improbable that B. sondaicus is the re- 

 presentative in comparatively level country of the hill-loving Bos 

 gaurus, and that the two do not actually inhabit the same tract, but 

 both Bos gaurus and Bos frontalis are distinctly inhabitants of hill- 

 forests and are speudid climbers^. It is more probable that these 



1 Nature, Nov. 5th, 1885, vol. xxxiii. p. 7. 



^ llan-}iila,Ban-pada in Mahratti and Guzaratti, and .Tangli KhuhjciBs quoted 

 by Jerdon. I have even heard the name Anui, the correct appellation of a 

 wild buffalo, applied to JSo^ (/aunis. 



^ J. A. S. B. xxix. p. 294 ; see also Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 162, Gavaus 

 gaurus, specimen D. 



■• To the powers of Bos gaurus in this respect I can speak from personal 

 observation. I have seen them go at sjieed down slopes where I could only 

 follow by holding on to the bamboos and shrubs, and all observers have re- 



