1862.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 837 



elsewhere in the Malayan peninsula, as likewise* in Java, Bali, Lom- 

 bok, and Borneo. The horns of a female I saw with Col. Fytche are 

 precisely similar to those figured by Dr. Salomon Midler ; but the 

 skull of this sex is still a desideratum in the Society's museum. 

 Capt. Lloyd (Assistant Commissioner of the Tounghoo district, valley 

 of the Sitang), is now endeavouring to procure a perfect skeleton of 

 a bull of this species for the Society's collection.* 



* In the ' Journal of the Indian Archipelago' for May, 1852, p. 270, the late G. 

 Windsor Earl identified the Banteng of Java with the (wild Ox) of the Malayan 

 peninsula; but he merely gives the English appellations, and may have con- 

 founded B. gaubus with B. sondiacus. Dr. Cantor knew only of B. gaurus 

 as indigenously wild in the Malayan peninsula. ( Vide J. A. S. XV, 272.) The Count 

 de Castelnau (French Consul at Bangkok) recently wrote me word from Singapore, 

 that " The domestic cattle of Siam are of two races, one being the common 

 Zebu, and the other humpless : the latter is the more common, and the horns of 

 both are of very moderate size. I will write to Siam to get the horns and skull 

 for you, and all possible information about the animal. The wild Ox is very rare 

 in Siam : I only saw one, and it certainly belonged to B. gaurus. In the Ma- 

 layan peninsula there are tivo sorts, but only found in the central parts ; and my 

 collectors could not bring back specimens of such bulky animals. If you wish 

 for the. skulls, I will endeavour to obtain them for you." 



Sir R. H. Sehomburgk also writes — " The Buffalo is the animal used for agri- 

 culture and economical purposes in Siam. A murrain broke out some time 

 since among them, and all export of them was forbidden. There is another kind 

 of cattle here, to which you allude on Crawfurd's testimony : they are but small 

 in size, and are quite different from the Zebu, not possessing the hump. I do 

 not consider them indigenous. But the species to which you principally allude 

 [I meant B. sondaicus,] is what I take to be the Gaour (B. gaueus), roaming 

 wild, and [illegible] in Camboja. I have never seen it, but possess a pair of 

 horns, which I will forward to you with the skull of the kind of Ox that 

 Crawfurd alludes to. You are probably aware that in the same way that the 

 flesh of the Swine is forbidden to the Israelites and Mahomedans, that of the Ox 

 and other substantial animals is interdicted to the Siamese [vide J. A. S. XXIX, 

 302]. The latter do not adhere very strictly to the ordinance; and, with the 

 Americans residing here, we Europeans may taste occasionally some beef, though 

 weeks may pass without it. Now I have addressed myself to the butcher who 

 furnishes my house, and I have told him that I require the skull of one of the 

 domestic cattle that Crawfurd mentions. He told me that there were not any 

 now in Bangkok, but he would proceed into the interior where he might get them 

 if I procured him a passport from the Siamese authorities. I have done so, and 

 we must now await the result. If he succeeds, I shall insist upon being present 

 when the animal receives its death-blow, to ensure its individuality." I have 

 written to my very old personal friend, Sir R. H. Schomburgk, to request that 

 he would send a bull-skull, if procurable, rather than that of an ox. 



As our knowledge of the Tsoing or Banteng (as a continental species) is 

 still but scanty, the following notice of it may be deemed worthy of transcription. 

 Mr. H. Gouger, in his ' Personal Narrative of Two Years' Imprisonment in Burma' 

 in 1824-6 (published in 1860), was returning from captivity, when he " landed on 

 the right bank of the river [either the Gyne or the Attaran] with three boat- 

 men, leaving the fourth in charge of the jolly-boat. As the forest was dense, 

 and as we had to make a pathway for ourselves through the brushwood where 

 there was any, we walked in Indian file, one of the men leading the line, in which 

 I followed second, the others bring up the rear. To avoid the danger of losing 

 our way, we took the usual precaution of chipping the bark. * * * We had 

 not proceeded in this way more than a quarter or half a mile, when my leader, an 



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