192 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
Tame yak have been known by repute in western 
Europe from the classical Grecian times, when they 
were called poiphagoi, that is, the eaters of poa-grass ; 
and the habit of eating nothing but grass and the 
refusal of corn constitute the one great fault in these 
animals. For in Rupsu and Tibet the spots where 
grass is suitable for grazing are often thirty or more 
miles apart, with one or more lofty passes between 
them ; and it is consequently necessary to push on 
from one of these grazing places to another — a 
matter which involves an early start in the biting 
cold of the morning, and frequently much protesta- 
tion from the weary animals. When overdriven, or 
on very difficult ground, yaks give continual vent 
to the hoarse grunts from which they derive their 
scientific name of B. grimniens^ these sounds being, 
it is said, peculiar to the domesticated breeds of the 
species. 
Yaks in Ladak and Tibet are saddled with a rude 
kind of saddle formed of a prominent wooden pommel 
in front and an equally high cantle behind, the two 
being connected on each side by several parallel bars 
of hard wood. These saddles are used both as pack- 
saddles and for riding ; and in the latter capacity 
are about as uncomfortable trappings as could well 
be devised. 
The sure-footedness and the steady though slow 
ascent of these animals up the most difficult passes," 
writes Mr. Andrew Wilson,^ "are very remarkable. 
They never rest upon a leg until they are sure 
they have got a fair footing for it ; and, heavy 
as they appear, they will carry burdens up places 
which the ponies and mules of the Alps would 
^ The Abode of Snozv, Edinburgh and London, 1875, P- ^^8. 
