(See Jour. Soc. Acclimatation, June,
1900, 39-40.) - H. C.]
Captain Prjevalsky, in his recent journey (1872-1873), shot twenty wild
Yaks south of the Koko Nor. He specifies one as 11 feet in length
exclusive of the tail, which was 3 feet more; the height 6 feet. He speaks
of the Yak as less formidable than it looks, from apathy and stupidity,
but very hard to kill; one having taken eighteen bullets before it
succumbed.
[Mr. Rockhill (Rubruck, 151, note) writes: "The average load carried by
a Yak is about 250 lbs. The wild Yak bull is an enormous animal, and the
people of Turkestan and North Tibet credit him with extraordinary
strength. Mirza Haidar, in the Tarikhi Rashidi, says of the wild Yak or
kutas: 'This is a very wild and ferocious beast. In whatever manner it
attacks one it proves fatal. Whether it strikes with its horns, or kicks,
or overthrows its victim. If it has no opportunity of doing any of these
things, it tosses its enemy with its tongue twenty gaz into the air, and
he is dead before reaching the ground. One male kutas is a load for
twelve horses. One man cannot possibly raise a shoulder of the animal.'"
- Captain Deasy (In Tibet, 363) says: "In a few places on lofty ground in
Tibet we found Yaks in herds numbering from ten to thirty, and sometimes
more.
