THE MUSK OX. 
521 
probably been occasioned by the climate in which it lives and the work to which it has been 
put. The Noble Yak, for example, is a large, handsome animal, holding its head proudly 
erect, having a large hump, extremely long hair, and a very bushy tail. It is a shy and withal 
capricious animal, too much disposed to kick with the hind feet and to make threatening- 
demonstrations with the horns, as if it intended to impale the rider. The heavy fringes of 
hair that decorate the sides of the Yak do not make their appearance until the animal has 
attained three months of age, the calves being covered with rough curling hair, not unlike 
that of a, black Newfoundland dog. The beautiful white bushy tail of the Yak is in great 
reguest for various ornamental purposes, and forms guite an important article of commerce. 
YAK .— Bos grunniens. 
Dyed red, it is formed into those curious tufts that decorate the caps of the Chinese, and when 
properly mounted in a silver handle, it is used as a fly-flapper in India under the name of a 
chowrie. These tails are carried before certain officers of state, their number indicating 
his rank. 
The Plough Yak is altogether a more plebeian-looking animal, humble of deportment, 
carrying its head low, and almost devoid of the magnificent tufts of long silken hairs that 
fringe the sides of its more aristocratic relation. Their legs are very short in proportion to 
their bodies, and they are generally tailless, that member having been cut off and sold by their 
avaricious owner. There is also another variety which is termed the Ghainorik. The color of 
this animal is black, the back and tail being often white. The natives of the country where 
the Yak lives are in the habit of crossing it with the common domestic cattle and obtaining a 
mixed breed. When overloaded, the Yak is accustomed to vent is displeasure by its loud, 
monotonic, melancholy grunting, which has been known to affect the nerves of unpractised 
riders to such an extent that they dismounted, after suffering half an hour’ s infliction of this 
most lugubrious chant, and performed the remainder of their journey on foot. 
The curiously shaped horns of the Musk Ox, its long woolly hair falling nearly to the 
ground in every direction, so as nearly to conceal its legs, together with the peculiar form of 
