B O O T A N. 
187 
hair, growing somewhat longer than the rest: the legs are very short; 
in every other respect he resembles the ordinary bull. There is a great 
variety of colours amongst them, but black or white are the most pre¬ 
valent. It is not uncommon to see the long hair upon the muscle 
above the shoulders, upon the ridge of the back, the tail, and tuft upon 
the chest, and also the legs below the knee, white, when all the rest of 
the animal is jet black. 
These cattle, though not large boned, seem, from the profuse quantity 
of hair with which they are provided, to be of great bulk. They have a 
downcast heavy look; and appear, what indeed they are, sullen and sus¬ 
picious, discovering much impatience at the near approach of strangers. 
They do not low loud, like the cattle of England, any more than those 
of Hindustan, but make a low grunting noise scarcely audible, and 
that but seldom, when under some impression of uneasiness. 
These cattle are pastured in the coldest parts of Tibet, upon the 
short herbage peculiar to the tops of mountains and bleak plains. The 
chain of mountains, situated between the latitudes 21 and 28°, which 
\ 
divides Tibet from Bootan, and whose summits are most commonly 
clothed with snow, is their favourite haunt. In this vicinity, the 
southern glens afford them food and shelter during the severity of 
winter; in milder seasons, the northern aspect is more congenial to 
their nature, and admits a wider range. They are a very valuable pro¬ 
perty to the tribes of itinerant Tartars, called Dukba, who live in tents, 
and tend them from place to place; they at the same time afford their 
herdsmen an easy mode of conveyance, a good covering, and whole¬ 
some subsistence. They are never employed in agriculture, but are 
B b 
