205 NEW SPECIES OF OX. 



shoots and leaves of different shrubs ; seldom feeding on 

 grass, when he can get these. To avoid the noonday heat, 

 he retires to the deepest shade of the forest ; preferring the 

 dry acclivity of tiie hill to repose on, rather than the low 

 swampy ground below; and never, like the buffalo, wallow- 

 ing in mud. 



Milk. ' The gayal cow gives very little milk, and does not yield 



it long; but what she gives is of a remarkable rich quality, 

 almost equally so with the cream of other milk, and which 

 it also resembles in colour. The Cucis make no use what- 

 ever of the milk, but rear the gayuls entirelj'^ for the sake of 



Hide. their flesh and skins. They make their shields of the hides 



Flesh. of this animal. The flesh of the gaydl is in the highest 



estimation among the Cucis; so much so, that no solema 

 • festival is ever celebrated without slaughtering one or more 

 gayuls, according to the importance of the occasion. 



Turned loose. * The domesticated gaydls are allowed by the Cuds ta 

 roam at large during the day through the forest in the 

 neighbourhood of the village; but, as evening approaches, 

 they all return home of their own accord ; the young gayul 

 being early taught this habit, by being regularly fed every 



Fundofsalt. night with s^alt, of which he is very fond : and, from the 

 occasional continuance of this practice, as he grows up, the 

 attachment of the gnyal to his native village becomes so 

 strong, that, when the Cucis migrate from it, they are 

 obliged to set fire to the huts which they are about to leave, 

 lest their gayuls should return thither from their new place 

 of residence, before they become eqiially'attaclied to it, as 

 to the former, through the same means. 



Fyod.- 'The wild gaydl sometimes steals out from the forests in 



the night, and feeds in the rice fields bordering on the hills. 

 The Cucis give no grain to their cattle. With us, the tame 

 gaydls feed on calai (pliaseolus max.J ; but, as our hills 

 abound with shrubs, it has not been remarked what particu- 

 lar kind of grass they prefer. 



A-^o'hfrs- e- * The I7int/rt,y, in this province, will not kill the gahay, 



cies wild, which they hold in equal veneration with the cow. But 



the as I gayal, oy selo'i, they hunt and kill, as they do the 

 wild buffalo. The animal here alluded to is another spe- 

 cies of gaydl found wild in the hWU of Chatgaon, a correct 



description 



