Nov. 1848. HABITS AND USES OF THE YAK. 213 



and a true bison in appearance ; it is invaluable to these 

 mountaineers from its strength and hardiness, accomplish- 

 ing, at a slow pace, twenty miles a day, bearing either 

 two bags of salt or rice, or four to six planks of pine- 

 wood slung in pairs along either flank. Their ears are 

 generally pierced, and ornamented with a tuft of scarlet 

 worsted ; they have large and beautiful eyes, spreading 

 horns, long silky black hair, and grand bushy tails : black 

 is their prevailing colour, but red, dun, parti-coloured, and 

 white are common. In winter, the flocks graze below 

 8000 feet, on account of the great quantity of snow 

 above that height ; in summer they find pasturage as 

 high as 17,000 feet, consisting of grass and small tufted 

 Carices, on which they browse with avidity. 



The zobo, or cross between the yak and hill cow (much 

 resembling the English cow), is but rarely seen in these 

 mountains, though common in the North West Him- 

 alaya. The yak is used as a beast of burden ; and 

 much of the wealth of the people consists in its rich 

 milk and curd, eaten either fresh or dried, or powdered 

 into a kind of meal. The hair is spun into ropes, and woven 

 into a covering for their tents, which is quite pervious to 

 wind and rain ; * from the same material are made the gauze 

 shades for the eyes used in crossing snowy passes. The 

 bushy tail forms the well-known " chowry " or fly-flapper 

 of the plains of India ; the bones and dung serve for fuel. 

 The female drops one calf in April ; and the young yaks 

 are very full of gambols, tearing up and down the steep 

 grassy and rocky slopes : their flesh is delicious, much 

 richer and more juicy than common veal ; that of the old 

 yak is sliced and dried in the sun, forming jerked meat, 

 which is eaten raw, the scanty proportion of fat preventing 



* The latter in, however, of little consequence in the dry climate of Tibet. 



