M. Gmelin, in the New Memoirs of the Academy at Petersburg, has given
a description of this animal, which seems, at first sight, to be quite
different from all those which we have spoken of under the article
buffalo. "This cow (says he) which I saw alive, and of which I had a
drawing made in Siberia, came from Calmuck. It was about the length of
two Russian ells and a half; by this standard we may judge of its other
dimensions, the proportion of which the designer has well executed.
The body resembles that of a common cow: the horns bent inward; the
hair on the body and head is black, except on the forehead and spine of
the back, where it is white. The neck is covered with a mane, and the
rest of the body with very long hair, which descends to the knees, so
that the legs appear very short; the back is raised in the form of a
hunch; the tail resembles that of a horse, is white, and very bushy;
the fore legs are black, the hind ones white, and resemble those of the
ox; there are two tufts of long hair upon the hind feet, one before
and the other behind, but on the fore-feet there is but one, which
is placed on the hind part. The excrements are more solid than those
of the common cow; and in discharging its water the animal bends its
body backward. It does not low like an ox, but grunts like a hog. It
is wild, and even ferocious, for, excepting the man who gives it food,
it strikes with its head all those that come near it. It dislikes the
company of domestic cows, and when it sees one of them it grunts, which
it seldom does on any other occasion." To this description M. Gmelin
adds, "that it is the same animal spoken of by Rubruquis in his Travels
into Tartary: that there are two species of these animals in that
country; the first called _sarluk_, which is the same as he describes;
the second _chainuk_, which differs from the other in the largeness of
the head and horns, and also by the tail, which resembles that of the
horse towards its insertion, and terminates like that of a cow: but
that they both have the same dispositions."
There is but a single character in all this description which indicates
that the Calmuck Cows are of a particular species, which is their
grunting instead of lowing, for as to all the rest, they so strongly
resemble the bisons, that I do not doubt they are of the same species,
or rather the same race. Besides, though the author says that these
cows do not low but grunt, yet he acknowledges they do that only
very seldom; and this was, perhaps, a particular affection of the
individual he saw, for Rubruquis, and others whom he quotes, do not
speak of this grunting; perhaps the bisons, when they are irritated,
have also an angry grunt; even our bulls, especially in the rutting
season, have a hollow interrupted voice, which much more resembles
grunting than lowing. I am, therefore, persuaded that this grunting cow
(_vacca grunnicus_) of M. Gmelin is no other than a bison, and does not
constitute a particular species.