LIVE STOCK AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS 331 



of the milk is about 7J^ per cent, and the casein nearly 6 per 

 cent. 



According to the most recent available statistics there are 

 about 17,000,000 domesticated buffalo in British India. Many 

 breeds have been developed in various localities, but none of 

 these breeds varies in any pronounced manner from the wild 

 form of the buffalo or from the general run of the domesti- 

 cated forms. The buffalo was introduced from Italy into the 

 Belgian Congo in 191 1, but this importation was unfortunate 

 on account of the prevalence of barbone, which disease car- 

 ried off nearly all of the buffalo. In the Philippines and else- 

 where, tremendous losses have been suffered from time to 

 time from rinderpest. In 1902, for example, about 492,000 

 carabao died of rinderpest in the Philippine Islands. When 

 it is remembered that this animal serves in the Philippines as 

 the main source of power, meat, and milk, it may readily be 

 understood that this outbreak of rinderpest was little less 

 than a calamity. 



The African buffalo (Bos caffer) has never been domesti- 

 cated. The Indian buffalo, however, has been widely imported 

 into Africa and has become a familiar work animal in that 

 country. The gayal {Bos frontalis), a native of upland India 

 and Indo-China, has been domesticated in the northeastern 

 portions of India, Assam, and China. This animal is char- 

 acterized by its short limbs, short horns, which stand almost 

 straight out laterally, and extremely wide forehead between 

 the horns. The milk yield is low but rich in fat. The milk 

 has never been used very extensively but the meat is eaten, es- 

 pecially in Indo-China. The gayal is readily domesticated and 

 makes a powerful ox but has not been widely used for work 

 purposes. The color is usually brown but occasionally white. 

 Crosses between the gayal and ordinary cattle are fertile. The 

 gaur {Bos gaurus), a native of India, is perhaps the largest 

 of all wild cattle. It is closely related to the gayal, which it 

 somewhat resembles in appearance, but has never been domes- 



