400 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



covered with white woolly hair; the rest of the hair was 

 smooth, close, and shining, of a dark-brown colour, almost 

 black ; the eyes were smaller than in the Ox, and pale blue ; 

 the muscles of the legs and thighs very prominent and strong. 

 But the most remarkable character of the Gaur, that which 

 should distinguish it from all other ruminants, consists in 

 a series of spinous processes along the back, beginning at 

 the last vertebrae of the neck, shortening gradually till they 

 are lost half way down the spine ; the foremost are at least 

 six inches higher than the ridge of the back. These Gaurs 

 live in families of ten or twenty, graze on the meadows, 

 and feed on leaves and buds of trees ; the female bears a 

 twelvemonth, and calves in August. Buffaloes fear their 

 presence, and never invade their localities. 



There is every appearance of a mistake, or what would 

 be more unpardonable, a hoax, in the description of the 

 spinous vertebrae of the shoulders, which our own inquiries 

 by no means confirm. In Mr. D. Johnson's Sketches, 8fC, 

 the Gaur is described as a kind of wild bullock of a pro- 

 digious size, residing in the Ramghur district, not well 

 known to Europeans. That gentleman continues : " I have 

 never obtained a sight of them, but have often seen the 

 print of their feet, the impression of one of them covering 

 as large a space as a common china plate. According to 

 the account I received from a number of persons, they are 

 much larger than the largest of our oxen ; are of a light- 

 brown colour, with short thick horns, and inhabit the 

 thickest covers. They keep together in herds, and a herd of 

 them is always near the Luggo-hill ; they are also in the 

 heavy jungles between Ramghur and Nagpoor. I saw the 

 skin of one that had been killed by Rajah Futty Narrain ; 

 its exact size I do not recollect, but I well remember that 

 it astonished me, having never seen the skin of any animal 

 so large. Some gentlemen at Chittrah have tried all in 

 their power to procure a calf without success. The She- 



