Species of Bovine Animals. 



6513 



resemblance to the grunt of the Indian ox ; but a good deal resembles 

 that of the buffalo. It is a kind of lowing, but shriller, and not nearly 

 so loud as that of the European ox. To this, however, the gayal ap- 

 proaches much nearer than it does to the buffalo." We have tried to 

 describe the voice of the gayal in our notice of the gaour. 



Baron Cuvier entertained the strange opinion (expressed both in 

 his 4 Regne Animal' and his ( Ossemens Fossiles 1 ) that this species was 

 merely a mixed race between the Indian humped cattle and the 

 buffalo. There have been several instances of its breeding with the 

 former, under peculiar circumstances ; and in one which fell under 

 our own observation, the sire being a gayal, a cow-calf was produced, 

 which, to all appearance, scarcely differed from a cow gayal ; it died 

 when about half grown, and the skull is now in the Calcutta museum. 



The sire was the bull whose portrait has been before alluded to ; 

 and, ponderous beast as he looked, he could leap a fence or gate with 

 surprising facility. Mr. G. Harris remarks of the species — <£ He is 

 naturally very bold, and will defend himself against any of the beasts 

 of prey." All that we have seen, however, were the most gentle and 

 tractable creatures imaginable ; but, as Turner tells us, in the nar- 

 rative of his 'Embassy to Butan' (we have not the book at hand), 

 these good-natured animals, fed on stimulating food, are there "trained 

 for conflict, and no doubt can be worried into fierceness;* but it is 



* We have since hunted up the passage, which is as follows : — 

 " Towards the close of the afternoon we were entertained with the exhibition of a 

 hull-fight, between two animals, the strongest and fiercest of the species [genus] I ever 

 beheld. They were of a foreign breed, from a more eastern part of the same range 

 of mountains, and in Bengal are termed gyal. Their heads were small, their necks 

 thick, their chests prodigiously deep, and their fore-legs remarkably short. The 

 carcase lessened towards the loins, which made the hind-legs appear much longer 

 than the fore. Their colour was a dark brown, almost black. They were led to the 

 ground between many Booteeas, well secured, with strong ropes fastened to them : 

 they struggled violently, as impatient of restraint, and their prominent eyes rolled 

 with fury, as if they were instructed in the fierce purpose for which they were brought 

 hither. Many men took post round the field of battle, armed with large bludgeons. 

 The bulls were released on opposite sides ; and the moment they felt their liberty, 

 they tore up the turf with their horns, elevated the spines of their backs, and appeared 

 animated with the strongest symptoms of rage. They did not at the first instant rush 

 together, but, turning sideways, eyed each other askance, all the while making a slow 

 circular advance, until a very small distance divided them ; they then turned, opposing 

 a full front, and ran impetuously, their heads meeting together with an astonishing 

 concussion. The horns, which constitute the guard as well as weapons of offence, 

 were now entangled, and they maintained the struggle, like wrestlers, for half an hour, 

 with surprising exertions of strength ; the ground yielding- to their heels as they 



xvii. 2d 



