Our common domestic cattle furnish the type on which this family is
founded; and it is well-known that of this type there are many varieties
in different countries. Even in our own, so many are there, that a mere
list of their names would fill one of our pages. We shall refrain
therefore from giving any description of the different varieties--simply
remarking that they are all supposed to spring from one original. This
is, to say the least, a very doubtful hypothesis, since cattle have been
found domesticated in many countries, and the period of their first
introduction to the society of man is altogether unknown. It is far
more likely that different species have furnished the varieties now
known as domestic cattle.
We shall proceed to describe the other bovine animals--which, although
of the same family, are beyond doubt of a distinct species from the
common cattle.
The _Zebu_ is one of the most remarkable. Its home is India and the
adjacent regions; where it branches off into almost as many varieties as
there are breeds of our own oxen. These varieties have different names;
and they differ in size, shape, and other particulars; but the hump and
long hanging dewlap render the zebu easily recognisable.
In India they are sometimes employed as beasts of the saddle and
draught; and their flesh is also eaten, though with the exception of the
hump (which is esteemed a great delicacy) it is not equal to English
beef. Among the Hindus the zebus are regarded as sanctified creatures;
and to slaughter them is deemed sin. For all that, these fanatics do
not hesitate to _work_ them--sometimes hard enough. There are some
zebus, however, that are considered more holy than common. These may be
seen wandering idly about the villages, fed from the hands of the
people; and if neglected in this regard, they walk uninvited into the
rice enclosures, and help themselves!
The zebus are usually of an ashy-grey colour, though many are white; and
their size varies from that of an ordinary calf, to the stature of a
full-grown bull.
There is a variety of the zebu--or perhaps a distinct species--known as
the Dante. It is an African animal--that is, Egypt is the country where
it is chiefly found. Very little knowledge of it exists among
naturalists. It is distinguished from the Indian zebu by having a
smaller hump upon the withers and a narrower face; and it is supposed to
be the animal represented on the ancient Egyptian tombs.
We next come to the kind of oxen termed _Buffaloes_; and of these there
are several species.
First, there is the _Indian buffalo_; and it may here be remarked, that
when the word buffalo is used, an animal with a huge hump upon its
shoulders is usually understood. This is an error, arising, no doubt,
from the fact that the _bison_ of America, which _has_ a hump, is
generally called a buffalo. But the Indian buffalo has no such
protuberance; nor yet the African species. The Indian animal is found
both in a domesticated and wild state; but both are clearly of the same
species. The wild one is called the Arna, and the tame one Bhainsa, in
the language of the natives. The former is of much greater size than
the latter--standing, when full-grown, as high as the tallest man! So
strong are these animals, that an arna bull has been known to butt down
a good-sized elephant with a single stroke of his horns!
It is the Indian buffalo that is found in Italy--where it has been
introduced, and is used for draught; its great strength giving it the
advantage over horses, especially on the deep miry roads that exist in
some parts of the peninsula.
The _Manilla buffalo_ is a smaller variety or species of the arna,
inhabiting, as its name imports, the Philippine Islands.
The _African buffalo_, sometimes known as the _Kaffir buffalo_, is
another of these great oxen, and not the least celebrated of the tribe.
It is an inhabitant of Africa, and is found chiefly in the southern half
of that continent, from the Cape of Good Hope northwards. It is an
animal of vast size and strength; often waging war with the lion, and
frequently with man himself. In these encounters the buffalo is but too
successful; and it is asserted among the natives of South Africa, that
there are more deaths among them, caused by buffalo bulls, than by all
the other wild beasts of the country. Like his Indian congener, the
shock from the massive horns of an African buffalo is almost
irresistible; and both the lion and elephant at times succumb to it.
There is a smaller African species about which less is known. This is
the Zamouse or Bush cow, which differs from the true buffalo in having a
flatter forehead, and being altogether without the dewlap.
We now come to the _American buffalo_, or _Bison_, as it should be
called. This is indigenous to North America; and its present range is
confined to the great prairies that extend eastward from the foot of the
Rocky Mountains. It was formerly found much farther to the east--in
fact, to the Atlantic coast; but its limits are now far beyond the
meridian of the Mississippi. Hunters (both red and white) have driven
it across the Rocky Mountains; and of late years it has been met with in
the territory of the Upper Columbia. Its habits are too well-known to
call for a description here, and its shaggy coat, with the deformity of
its huge shoulder-hump, are familiar to every eye. With one exception,
it is the only species of the ox tribe indigenous to America--and it may
be added, to North America--since no native bovine animal is known to
exist in the southern half of the Transatlantic continent.
The _European buffalo_--or as it is sometimes called _Lithuanian
buffalo_--bears a considerable resemblance to that of the prairies. In
size it is perhaps superior; but the two are much alike in general
appearance--especially in their massive form, and the long brown hair,
of woolly texture, so thickly set upon their necks and shoulders.
The European buffalo is nearly extinct, and exists only in some of the
forests of Lithuanian Poland, where it is rather half-wild than wild;
that is, it freely roams the forests, but only as the deer in our own
extensive parks, or the white cattle, known as the wild Scotch oxen--in
other words, it has an owner.
A very remarkable species is the _Yak_, or _Grunting Ox_. This is found
only in the high, cold countries that lie to the north of the Himalayan
Mountains--in Thibet and Tartary. There is only one species, but this
is both wild and tame--the wild sort being the larger and more
formidable animal. The domestic variety is used by the people of Thibet
for carrying burdens; and both its milk and flesh are in great demand in
these cold countries of poverty and hunger.
The yaks dislike the warmth of summer; and during that season seek to
hide themselves in the shade, or under water, in which they swim well.
Their grunt exactly resembles that of a hog. The calves are covered
with rough black hair like a curly-haired dog; but, when three months
old, they obtain the long hair that distinguishes the full-grown animal,
and which hangs so low as to give it the appearance of being without
legs! They willingly live with common cattle, and will breed with them;
but the wild yak bull is an exceedingly fierce and dangerous animal.
The tail of the grunting ox is very full, or bushy; and although the
hair of the body is usually black, that upon the tail is universally of
a pure white. This hair, when dyed red, is used by the Chinese to form
the tufts worn in the caps of the mandarins. It is the _chowry_ or
fly-brush of India.
Like other domesticated cattle, the yak is found of different breeds--
known by the names of Noble yak, Plough yak, etcetera.
Next in succession comes the _Musk Ox_ of America, which, from its long
hanging hair, and also from many of its habits, bears a good deal of
resemblance to the grunting ox. The musk ox is a native of North
America; and there his range is confined to the most remote regions of
the Hudson's Bay territory. He is met with in the inhospitable track
known as the Barren Grounds--and also along the coasts and islands of
the Arctic Ocean--but nowhere so far south as the boundary of the United
States or the Great Lakes. But for the land expeditions of several
Arctic explorers, the existence of the musk ox would hardly have been
known; and, as it is, his habits are but little understood. He is not
of large size--being between the stature of an ox and a sheep--and in
general appearance he resembles the latter more than the former; hence,
among naturalists, he is styled the Sheep ox (_ovibos_). He and the
Bison, as already remarked, are the only _indigenous_ oxen of America.
To return to Asia. In its south-eastern parts--the Indies--we find
several other species of the ox tribe. There is the _Gayal_ or
_Jungly-gau_, which inhabits the eastern parts of Bengal, especially the
mountains that separate this province from Arracan. Of this there is a
tame and wild species--the latter an inhabitant of forests, living
rather upon the shoots of trees than upon grass. It is a large animal,
more like the common ox than any of the buffaloes; and it is also less
fierce in its disposition than the latter.
Next to the gayal is the _Gam_--also a forest-dwelling ox, of large
size; and, like the other, browsing upon the leaves and twigs of trees.
The gam inhabits several forest-covered mountains in Central India,
where it is only found wild. Attempts have been made to domesticate it,
but without success--since it is both a shy and fierce animal; so much
so that even the calves will not live in captivity!
Another Indian ox is the _Takin_, which inhabits the country of the
Kamptis, in the eastern ranges of the Himalayas, and about which there
is a dispute among naturalists, as to whether _it is an ox_!
We conclude our sketch with the _Anoa_, which belongs to Celebes--a
small species bearing some resemblance to the antelopes; and the
_Banting_ or _Sumatran Ox_, a native of Java, Borneo, and also, as its
second name denotes, of the Island of Sumatra.