174 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
the yak, or grunting ox, from which they have pro- 
duced parti-coloured, hornless, and hybrid strains. 
Taking these four species in the above order, the 
first for notice is the bantin, which, in the wild state, 
is typically a native of Java. All Javan bantin are 
easily recognised by their white legs and the larger 
or smaller white rump-patch. They have also a 
distinct ridge on the withers ; and in old bulls there 
is a horny mass on the forehead between the bases 
of the horns themselves, which are nearly cylindrical 
in section. Apart from the white rump-patch and 
legs, cows, calves, and steers of the typical race are 
reddish brown in colour, but old bulls are black. 
In the small island of Bali, lying immediately to 
the eastward of Java, and forming the first of the 
chain of islands collectively known as the Lesser 
Sunda Islands, domesticated bantin are kept in 
large numbers, and exported to Singapore, where 
they afford the main supply of beef. These Bali 
bantin apparently differ in no essential features from 
their wild relatives although the steers and oxen 
appear to be killed for the most part before they 
assume the adult black coat. 
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, there 
seems to be considerable probability that the bantin 
is the ancestral type from which humped cattle 
were derived, at a period immensely remote, by 
careful selection ; and if this be the case, the dorsal 
ridge of the bantin is evidently the starting-point 
of the hump of the zebu. 
A great deal of discussion has taken place among 
naturalists with regard to the handsome cattle kept 
in a partially domesticated condition by the hill- 
tribes of the countries round the upper end of the 
