1850.] On the Tdkin of the Eastern Himdlaya. 67 



height, three and half feet at the shoulder. Its head is 20 inches. Its 

 ears 5 inches. Its tail 3 inches, or 8 with the hair. The head is large 

 and heavy, the neck short and thick, the body somewhat elongated but 

 deep in the barrel, and yet more so in the shoulder, which is said to be 

 raised in the Bisontine manner. The limbs are short, stout and Bovine, 

 and so are the broad hoofs. In Takin there is no approach to the Cer- 

 vine limbs, or equine body and tail of the Gnoos ; and the horns of the 

 Takin, which to a superficial view are round, smooth and lunate, would 

 complete the impression of a Bovine animal, were not progressive atten- 

 tion almost necessarily now turned to the short narrow pointed ears, 

 very short depressed tail, and hairy attenuated muzzle of our animal ; 

 particulars in which, with others to be presently mentioned, the Takin 

 deviates from the Bovine to approach the Ovine or Caprine type, and 

 is sundered from the Gnoos in the same degree, that it is approximated 

 to the Musk Oxen or Ovibos. But we must now describe the structure 

 of our animal with more detail, and technical precision, from horn to 

 hoof, and from nose to tail, how distasteful soever such descriptions 

 may prove to the general reader. 



The head of the Takin is large, heavy and inelegant, exhibiting a 

 mixed character, compounded of the Bovine and Ovine types. Its ver- 

 tical dimensions (or height) are great, owing to the lofty curve of the 

 nose and forehead, the chaffron being more romanised than even that of 

 the Barwal (Ovis Barual). But the length also of the head of the 

 Takin is considerable, and surpasses that of any Caprine or Ovine head, 

 though inferior to the full normal length of head, characterising the Ox 

 tribe. The head, though large and upon the whole perhaps Bovine, 

 yet lacks the characteristic squareness of the Ox's head, both jaws be- 

 ing attenuated towards their anteal extremities much more than in the 

 Ox, though somewhat less, than in the Sheep and Goat. There is in the 

 muzzle of the Takin neither the nudity nor the breadth of that of the 

 Ox and Gnoo, but on the contrary the lips are both tapered and clad 

 with hair, almost as much as in the Goats and Sheep, and the animal is 

 consequently a browser not a grazer. Nevertheless the mere nostrils, 

 which are wide and terminal, have a decidedly Bovine character both as 

 to form and position ; and, as it were to remind us of the true Bovine 

 muzzle, there is a clear broad margin round the nostril which is quite 

 nude and moist. Whether the nostrils of the Takin possess the Cato- 



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