310 Proceedings of tlie Asiatic Society. [No. 3, 



of central India and the Deccan, are considerably larger than the 

 Bengali bullocks^ and are more universally in good condition than is 

 the case perhaps in any other country. The carts are small, and the 

 cattle share with their masters in the exemption from everything 

 like overwork. But probably the main reason of their good con- 

 dition is, that there is no demand for milk ; the calves are robbed of 

 no part of their natural food,"* I was much struck with the game 

 appearance of these animals, which are as superior to the ordinary 

 Bengali bullock as are the admirable Shan ponies to the wretched 

 tats of Bengal (seen also .at Akyab). They are longer in the body 

 and shorter in the limbs than ordinary Indian cattle, more as in the 

 humpless B. tattrtts ; invariably in fine condition (as Col. Yule 

 remarks), and particularly active and graceful in their movements, 

 which are those of a wild animal, especially the cattle seen about the 

 villages of the interior ; and they are of Shan origin, so far as 

 Burma is concerned, as I am assured. 



The Buffalo does not appear to be indigenous either in the Indo- 

 Chinese or Malayan countries, though many have reverted to a state 

 of wildness, as elsewhere. At Tavoy I first observed the superb 

 domestic Buffaloes of Burma, which differ in no respect from the 

 wild animal of Bengal : they are large and plump in condition, with 

 well developed horns. Tavoy is famous for its Buffalo fights ; and 

 I was shewn the ' champion' Buffalo, which had vanquished every 

 competitor : he is a splendid creature of his kind, and so gentle that 

 children fondled him. Near Tavoy I saw a large herd of albino 

 Buffaloes, with about half a dozen of a buff colour intermingled. 

 Stalking amidst this herd were about a dozen of Tahtaltts letjcoce- 

 phai/us, and numerous white Egrets (Hekodias intermedia of my 

 Catalogue). The leprous-looking albino breed of Buffaloes is common 



* Col. Yule adds, in a note, — " I believe the aversion to milk, as an article of 

 food, obtains among nearly all the Indo-Chinese and Malay races, including 

 specifically the Khasias of our eastern frontier, the Garos and Nagas, the Bur- 

 mese, the Sumatran races, and the Javanese. In China itself, it is also prevalent, 

 as Sir John Bowring mentioned it in a letter on the population of China, pub- 

 lished in the Journal of the Statistical Society. The use of milk has, however, 

 been adopted at the Burmese Court, and the supply is furnished by some families 

 of Kattra Brahmans, who maintain a number of cows near the capital. But it 

 is a foreign usage." (Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855, p. 2. 

 Vide also J. A. S. XXIX, 286, 302, 378). Of the natives of Kandy, likewise, Sir 

 J. E. Tennenfc remarks, that — " Milk they never use, the calves enjoying it un- 

 stinted ; and the prejudice is universal, that the cows would die were it other- 

 wise disposed of." (Ceylon, II, 452. &th edition.) 



