6510 Notice of the various 



in this state he essentially partakes of wild habits. I have some 

 gayals at Mannamutty ; and, from their mode of feeding, I presume 

 that they keep on the skirts of the valleys, where they can browse. 

 They will not touch grass if they can find shrubs. 



" While kept at Kamerlah (Comilla) which is situate in a level 

 country, they used to resort to the tanks and eat on the sides ; fre- 

 quently betaking themselves to the water to avoid the heat of the sun. 

 However, they became sickly and emaciated, and their eyes suffered 

 much ; but on being sent to the hills they soon recovered, and are 

 now in a healthy condition. They seem fond of the shade ; and are 

 observed in the hot weather to take the turn of the hills, so as to be 

 always sheltered from the sun. They do not wallow in the mud like 

 buffalos ; but delight in water, and stand in it during the greatest heat 

 of the day, with the front of their heads above the surface. 



" Each cow yields from two and a half to about four seers (from 

 five to eight pints) of milk, which is rich, sweet, and almost as thick 

 as cream ; it is of high flavour, and makes excellent butter." 



Mr. Dick writes : — " Gayals are not confined to the woods ; they 

 are domesticated, but wild gayals are found in the mountains of 

 Butan, &c. They are kept in a tame state by the people who inhabit 

 the Kalanaga Hills, near Sylhet, on the eastern border of the province 

 of Kachar, west of Manipur, and north of a tract dependent on Tip- 

 pera. The tame gayals, however long they may have been domesti- 

 cated, do not at all differ from the wild, unless in temper ; for the wild 

 are fierce and intractable. The colour of both is the same — namely, 

 that of the antelope, but some are white and others are black; not any 

 spotted or pie-bald [we have seen one much blotched with white]. 

 They graze and range like other cattle; and eat rice, mustard, chiches, 

 and any cultivated produce, as also chaff and chopped straw." 



Buchanan Hamilton's description is still more elaborate, and very 

 excellent. " The Gayal," he remarks, " generally carries its head 

 with the mouth projecting forward like that of a buffalo. The head 

 at the upper part is very broad and flat, and is contracted suddenly 

 towards the nose, which is naked like that of the common cow. 

 From the upper angles of the forehead proceed two thick, short, 

 horizontal processes of bone, which are covered with hair ; on these 

 are placed the horns, which are smooth, shorter than the head, and 

 lie nearly in the plane of the forehead. They diverge outward, and 

 turn up with a gentle curve : at the base they are very thick, and are 

 slightly compressed, the flat sides being toward the front and the tail. 

 The edge next the ear is rather the thinnest, so that a transverse 



