It is common in Tibetan gumpas (Lamaserais) to see a stuffed dong standing in front of the image of Melia Kali, at whose shrine the animal is thus figuratively sacrificed ; axes and other in struments of sacrifice are ranged around the image.. Strange that Buddhists should preserve this feature of Hinduism in their places of worship.
The domesticated yak,uow-takes the place of its half-breed, called zho. It is the chief beast of burden in Rupshu. It is often handsome, and a true bison in appearance. It is invaluable to the mountaineers of Northern India from its strength ' and hardiness, accomplishing at a slow pace 2( miles a day, bearing either two bags of salt oi rice, or four to six planks of pine wood slung ir pairs along either flank. Their ears are generall3 pierced and ornamented With a tuft of scarlet worsted ; they have large and beautiful eyea, long, silky black hair, and bushy tails. Black is their prevailing colour, but red, dun, party-coloured, and white aro cotninon.
Much of the wealth of tho people in East Nepal consists in its rich milk eurd, eaten either fresh or dried, or powdered into a kind of meal. The hair is spun into ropes, and woven into a covering for their tents, which is quite pervious to wind and rain, though in the dry climate of Tibet this is of little consequence. The bushy tail forms the well-known chauri standard or fly-flapper of the plains of India, and its hair is greatly esteemed by the women of the plains to add to their back hair. The female drops one calf iu April, and the young yak are very full of gambols, tearing up and down the steep grassy and rocky slopes. Their flesh is delicious, much richer and more juicy than common meat ; that of the older yak is sliced and dried in the sun, to form jerked meat, called schat-t-chew, dried meat, which is eaten raw, and is a palatable food. The yak loves steep places, delighting to scramble among rocks, and to sun its black hide perched on the glacial boulders which strew the Wallanchoo flat, and on which these animals always sleep. Their average value is from twenty to thirty rupees. The yak,
though indifferent to ice and snow, cannot endure hunger so long as the sheep. Neither can it bear damp heat. The yak is ridden, and its pace is emsy.
Yak are bred in Bussahir, whence they are sent for sale. Iti Spiti the people plough with it and earryloads; it furnishes their milk,and hair to make ropes. In the severest weather this anitnal appears to enjoy itself in the snow, and is often to be seen with icicles of seveml inches in length hanging to its nose, and a foot or more of ice hanging to the hair of its neck and shoulders. Long hairs hang over the eyes, and prevent their freezing. In Spiti they have also the ghoont, asses, sheep, goats, dogs, and cats. The Tibetan dzo, called °huhu in the Hitnalaya, also zho and zo, is a mixed breed or hybrid from the bull yak or Bos grunniens and the Indian zebu cow. In Tibet, the Sauh is a cross between cow and yak ; Saul) yak, produce of cow by yak bull ; Ba Sallh, produce of female yak by bull. Ya-niu, Cutx.; Sura-gai, Yakmo, Tilt, the fermde. The hybrid between the yak and the Indian cow is very fertile. The brothers Schlagentweit had occasion to see and examine the offspring of the hybrid as far as to the seventh generation, neither much altered nor deteriorated ; and were informed that there was never found any litnit a.s to the nutnber of generations.
The yak even in the valley of Kashmir ra. pidly degenerates. The heat and insects are evidently its greatest enemies in the tame as well as wild , state ; and none of these animals, not even the goats, seem to care for tho luxuriant vegetation of the lowlands, preferring whatever resembles their Tartaric furze and bent to the rich clover ! and grasses of Kashmir.
Steady and sure-footed, moving with a slow, easy. wriewlino. gait. rising over or descending obstructions with very little jar. They are led by a rope attached to a wood ring which paws through the nostrils.—Adams ; Vigne's Travels ; Cunningham's Ladakh ; Hook. Him. fourn.; Sehlagentweit.