APPENDIX C 323 



reaches nearly to the ground. The tail is so enormously bushy, 

 and with the hairy fringes is such a generous covering for the 

 hocks, that it is difficult to see how any Wolf could hamstring a 

 Yak. Thus its remarkable coat affords it an ample protection 

 from flies in summer, frost in winter, and Wolves all the time. 

 The coarser hair is used by the Thibetans to make strong cloth, 

 while the finer wool is manufactured into shawls and soft carpets 

 (Hooker). The wild Yak is usually brownish black; the tame 

 ones are brown, black, piebald, or white. 



Their breeding habits are like those of our range cattle. The 

 bulls wander singly, or in groups of two or three, until the mating 

 season, which is in winter, when they seek the cows, and after a 

 certain amount of fuss and fighting each goes off with the half- 

 dozen wives he has secured. When the rut is over, the cows and 

 yearlings reunite in herds, and the bulls resume their unsociable 

 life. 



Gestation lasts nine and one-half months, as with common cat- 

 tle. The calf is born in the fall and one at each birth is the rule. 

 The cow reproduces every year, and continues to a much greater 

 age than does the ordinary cow. 



So far as is known, the Yak is not subject to any disease. 



Living in a land of snow they are accustomed to eat snow in 

 lieu of drinking water for at least half the year, but they drink 

 much water when they can get it, and are fearless concerning 

 rivers, etc. 



Sven Hedin records that when his Yaks were attacked by 

 a pack of dogs, which they probably took for Wolves, they 

 promptly sprang into a pool too deep for the dogs to bottom, 

 and there easily held their assailants at bay. 



Another curious circumstance recorded in Hue's "Voyage 

 dans la Tartare, etc., 1884-86," is thus referred to by Fortune" 

 Nott: 



"Messrs. Hue and Gabet, during their voyage, came to that 

 river of many names, known to Europeans as Yang-tse-Kiang, or 

 Blue River, and here a very strange sight presented itself. The 

 river was frozen over and the party had from their encampment 





