1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 143 



No. 32. B. taurus. — The Cow is a handsome animal, and generally 

 a good milcher ; this is doubtless owing in a great measure to the rich 

 artificial pastures on which they feed ; the hump is generally reduced to 

 an almost imperceptible rise at the withers, and in many it is not at all 

 present. They are short-legged, and have good barrels, being altoge- 

 ther a far more European- looking breed than any native cattle on this 

 side of the Indus. They do not appear to give the same quantity of 

 milk in India, unless well fed. 



No. 33. B. poephagus. — The Yak is seen to occur wild in the 

 Huzara ranges, but for this I cannot vouch; 36 it has been said, by 

 more than one traveller, also to occur wild in the higher parts of 

 Kunawur and Tartary, and Lieut. Smith is quoted by Mr. Ogilby as 

 having seen them wild on the confines of Bhootan; but these herds, 

 I suspect, were nothing more than the tame yaks turned adrift, ac- 

 cording to the custom during the summer, and left to roam at large 

 until the winter sets in, when they are reclaimed and housed. The 

 same custom may probably prevail among the Huzarrahs, and so have 

 given rise to the tale of wild herds. 37 (Perhaps this is the " Gow-cohi" 



many of the animals of Circassia, informed me, that the Circassian buffaloes "agree 

 with the Italian in their bombed forehead, massive and ponderous conformation, and 

 also in the abundance of excellent milk afforded by the female, often for two years ; 

 but the horns, especially those of the female, are very large, inclined backwards, much 

 curved, annulated and serrated. The common attitude is that of the Indian buffalo, 

 with the head horizontally held out ; and the tail, with its terminal tuft, does not reach 

 much more than half way to the ground. The young are of a dusky-brown colour ; 

 but the full grown are almost invariably black, without a spot of white. Their stature 

 exceeds considerably that of the largest British cattle. 



It should have been premised, that I furnished Mr. Bell with sketches from life of 

 the Italian and common domestic Indian buffaloes, the principal distinctions of which 

 races 1 pointed out to him, and this drew his attention to the minutiae which he has 

 particularized. Certainly, the Italian tame buffalo is a very different looking animal 

 from that of Bengal, and the buffalo of Afghanistan is evidently the same; but the 

 Circassian would seem identical with the ordinary (and wild) Indian race.— Cur. As. 

 Soc. 



36. My friend the late Sir A. Burnes replied to my inquiries on this subject. *• The 

 Yak is, I hear, wild in Pamir, or some animal very like it."— T. H, 



37. Various authors have mentioned wild Yaks, though some at least of them have 

 been doubtless misled by the circumstance mentioned by Captain Hutton, of the tame 

 herds being turned loose in summer upon the mountains. According to Lieut. Irwin, 

 " Yaks are found in a wild state on the Pamir, and on the upper parts of Budukhshun." 

 Mr. Vigne also informs us, that there are wild Yaks on the northern slope of the moun- 

 tains towards Yarkund ;" and Timkowski mentions, that this species " is found, both 

 wild and tame, in the western frontiers of China, in all Tangout and Thibet." So 

 Captain Broome assured me, that he heard of wild Yaks being seen about Kodok, said 

 to be in herds, and exceedingly savage and dangerous to travellers in the passes. 



u 



