Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos. — John Shaqi
Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.Vasey, George
Science
Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.
Vasey, George
American bison; Buffaloes; Cattle; Oxen
"The female differs a little in appearance; her horns are not quite so
large, and her make is somewhat more slender. She is very quiet, and is
used for all the purposes of the dairy; as also, (I have been informed
by the natives,) for tilling the ground, and is more tractable than the
Buffalo. The milk which these cows give has a peculiar richness in it,
arising, I should conceive, from their always feeding on the young
shoots and branches of trees in preference to grass.
[Illustration: (Head of Gyall, from Linnean Transactions.)]
"I constantly made it a practice to allow them to range abroad, amongst
the hills and jungles at Chittagong, during the day, to browse; a keeper
attending to prevent their straying so far as to endanger losing them.
They do not thrive so well in any part of Bengal as in the
afore-mentioned province, and in the adjoining one, Pipperah, where, I
believe, the animal is also to be found. I have heard of a female Gyall
breeding with a common Bull. I wish it were in my power to give you more
particulars, but I am describing entirely from memory."
In February, 1804, Mr. Lambert again addressed the Linnean Society on
the same subject. He says, "Since I presented to the Society the last
account of the Bos Frontalis, or Gyall of India, Mr. Fleming, a
gentleman who has just returned from that country, has very obligingly
communicated to me the following further particulars. This account was
transmitted to Mr. Fleming by Mr. Macrae, resident at Chittagong, in a
letter, dated March 22, 1802, and was accompanied with a drawing, by
which it appears that the animal from which my figure was taken was full
grown." (See the figure, p. 51.)
MR. MACRAE'S ACCOUNT.
The Gyall is a species of cow peculiar to the mountains, which form the
eastern boundary of the province of Chittagong, where it is found
running wild in the woods; and it is also reared as a domestic animal by
the Kookies, or Lunclas, the inhabitants of those hills. It delights to
live in the deepest jungles, feeding on the tender leaves and shoots of
the brushwood; and is never met with on the plains below, except when
brought there. Such of them as have been kept by the gentlemen at
Chittagong, have always preferred browsing among the thickets on the
adjacent hills to feeding on the grass of the plains.
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