152 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
southern India wholly white zebu are very common, 
although formerly parti-coloured animals, like the 
so-called "leopard cattle" of certain districts of 
Africa, were prevalent. The colour of the African 
breeds will be mentioned later. 
The voice of the zebu partakes more of the nature 
of a grunt than a low. 
Although humped cattle have run wild in certain 
parts of India, as already mentioned, and also in 
Formosa, in no part of the world are they to be 
met with in a truly wild condition ; and in practically 
all works on natural history in which they are 
mentioned their origin is stated to be quite unknown, 
although it has been pointed out that their original 
home was doubtless in some portion of the tropical 
or subtropical regions of the Old World. Mr. Blyth 
was, indeed, inclined to consider that Africa was 
their place of origin ; but the fauna of that continent 
is now much more fully known than was the case 
in his time, and as there are no wild African cattle 
other than buffaloes, it is practically certain that 
their wild ancestor is to be sought elsewhere. 
The Indo-Malay countries are therefore those to 
which we naturally look as the original home of 
humped cattle ; and since, as mentioned in an earlier 
chapter, there is evidence that the ancient cattle of 
Egypt, which were of the humped type, and therefore 
also the zebu-like breeds of Africa generally, came 
from the East by way of Mesopotamia,^ it is a 
practical certainty that the Middle East, where the 
species is endemic, is the real home of Bos iiidicus. 
This being so, the next point for consideration is 
the possibility of indicating any wild form of cattle 
^ Vide Dlirst, Die Kinder, etc., p. 73. 
