EXISTING KINDS OF WILD CATTLE 207 
west of China, while it probably includes some parts 
of central Asia lying to the north of Tibet. 
In these desolate regions, such as the great plain 
of Chang-Chenmo and the region round the beautiful 
Pangkong Lake, yak were fornaerly to be found in 
large numbers, as they still are in parts of Chinese 
Tibet. Although in many places the herbage looks 
scarcely sufficient to maintain rabbits, yet yak, wild 
sheep, and kiang, or so-called wild asses, thrive upon 
it and maintain themselves in good condition during 
the summer months. Probably, however, they must 
experience considerable difficulty in finding adequate 
nutriment during the long and frightfully cold winter. 
Yak must, indeed, have absolutely iron constitutions 
to withstand the bitter winter blasts and biting 
winter cold of these elevated regions. But nothing 
seems to hurt them ; and they will lie down quite 
contentedly on a bed of snow or a glacier, as their 
vital organs are protected from cold when the 
animals are reposing by the thick mass of long hair 
clothing the flanks, this being apparently a special 
provision to suit their habitat. 
The latest writer on the habits of the wild yak 
in its native home is Major R. L. Kennion, from 
whose book entitled Sport and Life in the Farther 
Himalaya^ the following notes and extracts are 
taken. 
After mentioning that in Chang-Chenmo there are 
two kinds of grass — a coarse, scanty kind that grows 
on the hill-sides, and a shorter and more succulent 
species known to the Ladakis as spang^ which grows in 
the valley-bottoms and near water — Major Kennion 
observes that — 
^ Edinburgh and London, 19 lo. 
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