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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1885.
their neigh or bray, and tail, prove them to be true asses. In the Bikâner State, according to Dr. Jerdon, "once only in the year, when the foals are young, & party of five or six native hunters, mounted on hardy Sind mares, chase down as many foals as they succeed in tiring, which lie down when utterly fatigued, and suffer themselves to be bound and carried off. In general they refuse sustenance at first, and about one-third only of those which are taken are reared; but these command high prices, and find a ready sale with the native princes. The profits are shared by the party, who do not attempt a second chase in the same year, lest they should scare the herd from the district, as these men regard the sale of a few gorkhar annually as a regular source of subsistence."
BAbar in his Memoirs gives a spirited account of his hunting the gorkhar in Kathia wad.
1 13. THE PIG (Ys). Sus indicus, Schinz.- Indian Wild Boar. Among statements by Ktêsias which cannot be accepted, is the following, as related by Photios :"_"India does not, however, produce the pig, either the tame sort or the wild." Ælian in reproducing the same, adds that the “Indians so abhor the flesh of this animal that they would as soon taste human flesh as taste pork." Aristotle and Palladios also repeat the story of the absence of swine, which, if it had been true, would naturally suggest the inquiry-how came the Indians to abhor the flesh, and, still more, how came the fact to be known? It is notorious that certain tracts of India at the present day do not contain wild pigs, and also that several large sections of the people detest the pig, and do not allow it to be kept in their villages. There are, however, some Hindús of high caste who will eat the flesh of the wild boar, and the Sind Amirs had pig preserves for purposes of sport. If other evidence were wanting that the pig is not a modern importation, and that the wild pig is truly feral, appeal may be made to the fossil remains of pigs found in the Sivalik Hills to show that it belongs to the ancestral fauna. Among some of the aboriginal and
other tribes the keeping of pigs is, and probably always has been, a prevalent custom. Ancient Sanskrit writings would probably furnish evidence of the existence of pigs in India before the time of Ktêsias. 14. THE NILGAU (Acukorpóras).
Portax pictus. So far as I know the Leucocrotta of Pliny's has never been identified. He says it was the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a stag; the neck; tail and breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof; the mouth slit up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone instead of teeth. The last item I cannot explain; but the mane and tail of the Nilgdu sufficiently resemble those of the lion to bave suggested the comparison. The Hippilaphos of Aristotle has also been supposed to be the Nilgár by some writers. 15. SHEEP AND GOATS (IIpóßara kai alyes).
Ovis et Capra. Both Photios and Ælian state that the sheep and goats of India are bigger than asses. The former adds that they produce from four to six young at a time, and the latter that they never produce less than three, but generally four.
All these statements are without foundation, for, although there are large breeds of goats peculiar to certain parts of India, they never approach the ass in size, and the sheep are particularly small. Alian" alludes to the largeness of the tails, those of the sheep reaching to their feet, and the tails of the goats almost touching the ground. There are breeds of large-tailed sheep in Western India and Afghanistan called dumbas," but I am unaware of the existence of any breed of goats which are remarkable in this respect. However in India some of the sheep are very goat-like and the contrary is also true. A wild goat of large size, said to be equal to an ordinary donkey, occurs in the Western Ghate and the Nilagiri Hills. It is the Hemitragus hylocrius of Ogilby.
16. THE AGRIOBOUS (Ayprobows). Poephagus grunniens, Linn.-The Yak. The above name is that given by Kosmas Indikopleustes, & tronkish traveller of the
Mammals of India, p. 237. " Of. J. W. M'Crindle's Ancient India, pp. 17, 46, 47.
B. viii. ch. 80.
* Ecloga in Photú, Bibl. lxxii. 18. Of. Anc. India, by J. W. M'Orindle, p. 17. " De Animal. Nat., iv. pp. 38.
[drumba apporn to be a Persian and not an Indian word. -ED.]
