is essential to their well-being, and in winter they eat snow. In avoiding
their enemies yak seem to rely chiefly on their. senseBf smell, which is
very acute ; their hearing and sight being apparently le^pkeen.
Beyond Ladak, where they are more or less^secure from persecution,
yak are far less wary. The large herds of cows and young bulls
wander over vast tracts of country, and in-summer make their appearance
on grassy plains which are deserted in winter. The-Solitary bu llsSn the
F ig. II .—Group of domesticated Yak in the park at Woburn Abbey. From a photograph by the
Duchess of Bedford.
other hand, are said to remain in the same districts throughout the-year. In
all parts of their habitat their favourite feeding-grounds are the patches
of grass bordering the streams. When alarmed, the older cows and bulls
take up their position on the front and flanks ift the herd, but on the near
approach of intruders the whole herd gallops off! Although naturally
timid and wary, an old bull when wounded will charge viciously, and there
are several accounts of narrow escapes by sportsmen from their onset.
Little or nothing has been recorded regarding the breeding habits of yak in
the wild state, but in the domesticated condition the calves are said to be
born in the autumn.
Within the territories of the Maharaja of Kashmir yak are of more
importance to the nomad inhabitants of the Rupshu plateau than to any
other tribes. At this elevation neither ordinary cattle nor half-bred yak
can exist, and the animals kept by the Rupshu people are all of large size
and black in colour, being distinguishable from the wild race merely by
their inferior dimensions. They are but little
tamed, and after a longer period of rest than
usual are often difficult to load„Jpmetimes indeed
throwing their burdens as soon as loaded.
The number of yak kept in R upshu some years
ago was between 4<H and 506, and on the earn-
ingBhf these; animals, which carry merchandise
of larger bulk, and on those of their sheep aid
jgpats, which bear smaller burdens, the Rupshu
people depend la rg e ly :S r their means of sub-
gstence. Between Central Ladakftn the .one
hand, and Gartok in Chinese Tibet, or Lahul
in British territory, on thefljther, they are kept
well employed in forwarding traders1 goods ; and foSthis service they
receive good payment, either in coin or in kind. The one great drawback
(Rowland Ward, Records o f
Big Game.)
t§i.;the pure-bred yak as a beast of burden in a desolate country
is that it will not eat corn, but depends for its subsistence on grass.
All the yak that I have seen in Rupshu were pure black, but it is stated that
wild cows are occasionally observed with patches of white or gray here
and there.