DOMESTICATED MAMMALS AND THEIR USES 225 
probably be traced back to the latter. And we have also to take 
into consideration the European Bison or Aurochs (Bzson Euro- 
peus), a large and savage form now only surviving in parts of 
Russia, especially in the Lithuanian forest of Bielovege, where 
it is jealously preserved. This is not the place to consider in 
detail how far the various breeds of European Oxen (Bos taurus) 
take origin from one or more of the forms just mentioned, or from 
still others, for the subject is still in the controversial stage. It 
need only be stated that even in prehistoric times there were 
Fig 1162.—Dwarf Zebus of Ceylon 
several domesticated breeds, while now there are a great many. 
The large pale Hungarian cattle with their formidable horns are 
amongst the most remarkable (fig. 1161). 
Humped Cattle were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians, 
and we find them still both in Africa and South Asia, under the 
name of Zebus (Bos Jndicus, fig. 1162). Their ancestry is 
doubtful, and it is also a moot point as to whether or no the 
race of them living in North-East Africa has contributed a strain 
to certain European breeds. The curious little grunting long- 
haired Yak (Bos grunniens), characteristic of Tibet, is probably 
quite distinct. Further India possesses another kind of humped 
ox, the Gayal (Bos frontals). 
Differing in many ways from oxen is the tame Buffalo (Budalus 
VoL. IV. 109 
