Thomas Berry
Esq., 53, Cougate, Dundee. c/o Royal Niger Co., Victoria Embankment, دو ners, 1886); Yachts, Boats, and Canoes; their Design and Construction, C. S. Hicks (Sampson Low, 1887); The Sea-Boat and How to Build, Rig, and Sail Her, R. C. Leslie (Chapman and Hall, 1892); The Sailing Boat, H. C. Folkard (Stanford, 1901); The Boating-Man's "Vade Mecиt," W. Winn (Sonnenschein); The Sailor's Handbook, Adml. Sir F. G. D. Bedford, G.C.B. (Simpkin, Marshall, 3rd edition, 1906); Yacht Racing for Amateurs, Francis B. Cooke ("The Yachting World," 1911); Yacht Cruising, Claud Worth (J. D. Potter, 1910); The Helmsman's Handbook, B. Heckstall-Smith (Horace Cox, 1908); Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing, Dixon Kemp (Horace Cox).
YAK.-The Yak or Grunting Ox (Poëphagus grunniens, Linnæus) is found in its wild state on the highlands of Tibet, north of the Himalayas, not further west than Yarkund and Cashgar, and certainly as far east as Lassa, and probably much further.
The bulls and cows herd separately, except in the rutting season, in October and November. During the rest of the year the bulls wander considerably and are found in herds of ten and twelve, long distances away from the cows. The largest specimen of a wild bull yak, shot by the writer in 1859, on the northern slopes of the Himalayas, north of Kumaon, measures as follows:- Lowestoft { Dundee Thames H. RATSEY, Esq., Southend Dover Surrey House, Burnham-on- Crouch JOHN HAWKINS, Esq., Edgeware, Westborough Road, ft. in.
Westcliff-on-Sea.
Circumference of neck 4 2 Isle of Wight Southampton Shoreham Weymouth GRANVILLE KEELE, Esq., Circumference of horn at base I 6 8, Prospect Place, Southampton.
Length of skull (stuffed) from the nose to the occipital ridge 25 Falmouth Plymouth Dartmouth G. F. WATSON, Esq., Width between the orbits I 4 14, Smeaton Terrace, Length of each horn measured along the Torquay West Hoe, Plymouth. curve 30 Liverpool J. F. JELLICO, ESQ., North Wales 8, India Buildings, Fenwick Street, Liverpool.
Length from the nose to the root of tail the 10 10 Penarth and F. W. KENDAL, ESQ..
Length to the extremity of the tail .... 13 11 Bristol Channel 81, Plymouth Road, Penarth.
Height at withers 5 10 Isle of Man ( J. BURMAN, ESQ..
Girth behind the shoulders Ellan Vannin Club, Douglas.
Girth round belly Clyde { Length of tail Belfast { C. M. LEGG, Esq., Circumference of fore foot Circumference of hind foot Kingstown { Queenstown Cork Humber Tyne Carrickfergus.
FREDCK. THOMPSON, Esq., Royal Irish Yacht Club, Kingstown.
ATWELL H. ALLEN, Esq., } Royal Cork Yacht Club, Queenstown. } ARTHUR E. PEARSON, Esq., 14. Wellington Street, Hull.
Bibliography. - Amateur Sailing in Open and Half-Decked Boats, T. E. Biddle (Norie and Wilson, 1886); Steam Yachts and Launches, their Machinery and Management, C. P. Kunhardt (Forest and Stream Publishing Co., N.Y., 1891); Historical Sketches of the Sport, J.
Gabe (MacQueen, 1902); Small Yacht Construction and Rigging, L. Hope (The "Yachtsman " Publishing Co., 1902); The Royal Yacht Squadron, M. Guest and W. B. Boulton (Murray, 1903); A Treatise on the Law relating to Pleasure Yachts, C. F. Jemmett and R. A. B. Preston (Sweet and Maxwell, 1903); The History of Yachting, 1600-1815, A. H. Clark (Putnam, 1904); American Yachting, W. P. Stephens, The American Sportsman's Library (Macmillans, 1904); Seamanship for Small Yachts, F. B. Cooke (The "Yachtsman" Publishing Co., 1906); The Boat-Sailor's Manual, E. F. Qualtrough (Scrib- * Club Representatives who are yacht owners, but who are also not elected members of the Association under General Rule 3, to pay full fees.
IO I 98 I 3 I 94 I 7 I shot another wild bull yak in the same year, of much the same size. One of these is set up entire in the Leeds Museum; the other (the head only) is at Elkington Hall, near Louth, Lincolnshire. This also was set up entire, but unfortunately moths got into the skin, and the head only has been preserved a very fine specimen. Both of these were shot in July, the very worst season of the year for preserving the skins.
The yak is one of the very few animals existing both in a wild and domesticated state; and as the former is not much known, a brief description is desirable. The general colour of its summer coat is a deep and rich brown, palest on the withers, where it is slightly freckled with grey, and becomes a darker brown in every direction as it recedes from this. The hair of the forehead is rather long, curly, and dark brown, the hairs tipped with grey, producing a grizzled appearance, which increases towards the YAK] nostrils, while the hair becomes short and close; above the centre of the nostrils is a patch of white, which colour also pervades the lips, and slightly the chin. The muffle, or naked space between the nostrils, is contracted to less than an inch in breadth on the lip. On the ears, cheeks, lower jaws, and upper portion of the throat, the hair is rather long and black; between the horns, and behind the occipital ridge, it is divergent and grizzled. The legs are very dark brown; the fore legs, from the shoulders nearly to the knees, are covered with long black silky waved hair, as is very nearly the whole length of each flank, and a line rising obliquely across the buttocks, where the colour of the long hair changes to a brown hue. This long pendulous hair, which constitutes one of the chief characteristics of the species, attains its greatest length on the groin and tail. The tail at its origin is clothed with short adpressed hair, which rapidly increases in length, and forms a huge black whisk, completely hiding the remainder of the caudal extremity.
Along the ridge of the neck is a dark brown streak, reaching nearly to the withers, which are free from any medial line; but the lumbar region is traversed by a pale central streak, which becomes dark brown as it approaches the tail. From the hip a blackish line passes diagonally across the loins; this is composed of slightly longer hair than that on the upper part of the body, the whole of which is short and close. In winter the long hair of the flanks probably extends much higher.
The horns are black, very strong, compact and roundish, diverging outwards at the base, and slightly forwards, then bending backwards with a bold curve, the tips converging towards each other. The hoofs are solid, compact, and black.
The grey hairs about the nostrils are found only in wild, not in domestic examples.
The wild yak is known by the people of Kumaon and Gurhwal as "bunchour."
My principal object in visiting Hoondes 1 and Tibet in 1853, was to get one or two wild yaks, at that time looked upon as almost fabulous animals. None, so far as I was aware, had ever been seen by an Englishman until 1852, when one was seen and shot by Mr. Beckett (a sportsman from Almorah) in Hoondes, just across the passes leading into that country from Almorah. The spoils (head and skin) were brought into Almorah in great triumph, and the event was very much talked about. In 1853 several were shot. I shot six (all That part of Chinese Tartary north of the district of Kumaon and Gurhwal, and of part of Nepal.
THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. bulls), five of them very near the place where Mr. Beckett shot his. A party who went to the Mausurobur lake, about eighty miles to the east of where I was, shot three; and Wilson, the great Himalayan sportsman, shot one or two in Roopshu, 300 or 400 miles to the north-west of where I was, near the great Chumereri lake; and many have since been shot.
The yaks (tame and wild) are, like all other animals in Tibet, provided with the fleece of "pushum" wool, as a protection against the severe cold. This "pushum " is a great article of trade, it is manufactured Haldwell 8681 YAK. into cloth. The yak "pushum" is very much coarser than the goat "pushum," and is not so valuable. The wild yaks are found in certain localities in different parts of Hoondes and Tibet; the bulls herd separate from the cows, and wander a good deal; while the cows, from what I learn, chiefly remain about the same place, in of course the very wildest places, where man scarcely ever goes. I never saw any cows, so I cannot speak from personal experience; but the party who went to the Mausurobur lake in 1853 appear to have seen an immense number of them-several herds of 100 and upwards. 66 The high mountains to the north of the Milum" and "Neetee" passes from Almorah to Hoondes, where I shot all my wild yaks in 1853 (and '59, '60, and '61; since 1861 they appear to have deserted these hills, for I did not see or hear of any in after years when I visited that country), are visited by the wild bulls only, between April and September. Cows are never seen there. Some of these mountains rise as high as 24,000 feet above the sea. In 1853, I saw altogether fourteen yaks-nine one day in one herd, three another, and two another day-all bulls.
They were in the most retired places: and I am told, and I think it true, that whenever they see a man, at whatever distance, off they pack, and do not stop anywhere within fifteen miles or so. I was led to believe they were very sagacious, but I found them easy enough to stalk, and stupid unwieldy animals after they were hit. I was also told they were very savage; and on my first meeting them (nine of them), and when by a judicious stalk I got within an easy distance, I certainly expected an adventure, but I was disappointed with all except one, which charged me, but which I knocked over with a bullet through his head when within ten yards of me. I got three out of this herd of nine. They were, when I first saw them, lying down at an elevation of about 18,000 feet, on the snow.
All the other yaks which I saw were very nearly at as high an elevation. They seem to go down to grass about sunset, feed all night, and are up again at this enormous elevation by a little after sunrise. I am talking of the months of July and August.
Doubtless in the winter months they go as low as they can; the lowest valleys in this country are about 14,000 feet above the sea.
I have seen their traces very numerous as high as 19,000 feet, and in the valleys as low as 15,000 feet. Those at the latter elevation were always old traces, doubtless of April, May, and June, before the passes were open, and before a single man had arrived in the country.
E. SMYTH. a ZEBRA.-The zebras form a wellmarked and distinctive group of equine species, found only in the continent of Africa. They are to be met with from the highlands of Abyssinia and Gallaland to the mountains of Cape Colony; some of them, as the true or mountain zebra, affecting only the wilder and more inaccessible sierras; others, as the well-known Burchell's zebra, frequenting by preference open plains or level thinly-bushed country. There are now only three principal species to be found in Africa, viz. (1) the true or mountain zebra (Equus zebra); (2) Grèvy's zebra (Equus grèvvi); (3) Burchell's zebra (Equus burchelli). Until about forty years ago, a fourth and very well-known species, the quagga (Equus quagga), was to be found in Cape Colony and the Orange Free State.
This handsome and very interesting animal has, however, been completely exterminated, and has now-probably for some thirty years or more become extinct. The zebras were formerly found in immense numbers in various parts of Africa. They are still abundant in the more remote and less explored regions; but, as they are pretty easily shot, as their skins have some commercial value, and as they are a favourite [YAK food of natives, they are much hunted and, during the last century, have been subjected to a great deal of persecution.
The True or Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra), familiar to the Hottentots as the daow, and to the Boers as the wilde paard (wild horse), has been known to Europeans ev ever since the first colonising of the Cape by the Dutch in the middle of the seventeenth century. It is peculiarly a mountain dweller, and has always had a singularly restricted habitat in Southern Africa. Formerly it seems to have been common upon every mountain range, from Great Namaqualand in the west to Swaziland in the east; but at the present day, thanks to incessant and senseless persecution, it is now much scarcer, and is only found in small troops of from five to a dozen or fifteen in certain mountains of Cape Colony (where it is as far as possible preserved), and here and there along the Drakensberg and Lebombo mountains towards Swaziland. In Cape Colony it may still be found in the Sneeuwberg, Great Winterhoek, Zwartberg, Tandtjesberg, and one or two other ranges, where it maintains its existence in the wildest and most remote parts of the mountains. The mountain zebra stands from 12 to 12 hands in height, and, from its strong, sturdy, and compact build, is wonderfully adapted for getting about the difficult mountain country which it so peculiarly adorns. The legs are short and beautifully clean, the hoofs small, well-shaped, and hard as flints; the ears are long-much longer than those of the Burchell's zebra and quagga - and give to the animal a more asinine look than either of these two congeners.
The body colouring is a clear, silvery white, and the markings of black, or very dark brown, extend to every part of the body except the stomach. The legs are perfectly and beautifully banded in black and white, right down to the hoofs. The head-except the ears, which are black and white-is finely and evenly marked in bright brown instead of black, and the muzzle is of a rich tan colour. The tail is shorter, thinner, and more ass-like in character than that of the Burchell's zebra. The stripings of the mountain zebra differ markedly from those in the other species, and especially from those of the quagga and Burchell's zebra.
In its own mountain habitat the true zebra is a shy, solitude-loving beast, and, from the inaccessibility of its habitat and the ease with which it traverses the steep rocky sierras, is nowadays not very easily stalked. As a matter of fact, although to some extent preserved, it may be looked upon as a fast-vanishing species, and ought now never to be shot at. The mountain zebra is of a fierce, intractable a ZEBRA] temper, using its hoofs and teeth freely, and, unless taken very young, is practically untamable. In the old days at the Cape, when these animals were abundant, the Boers captured some numbers of the young, which were exported to Mauritius and there driven in their equipages by the French colonists. Upon the flat the mountain zebra has no very astonishing pace, and can be ridden into by a good horse. Its usual habitat is amid ranges of from 2,000 to 7,000 feet in altitude. In recent years two forms of mountain zebra have been discovered in Damaraland and Angola, and have been respectively named Equus zebra hartmannæ and EI. z. penricei. They are to be looked upon merely as local races or sub-species of the mountain zebra.
Grèvy's Zebra (Equus grèvyi) was, until the year 1882, practically unknown to Europeans. In that year a living specimen was sent by Menelik, King of Shoa-now Negus of Abyssinia-to M. Grèvy, the President of the French Republic. For a short period the animal survived in the Jardin des Plantes, where it attracted much notice.
Grèvy's zebra, as it is now called, was thought at first to be merely a variety of the Cape mountain zebra. Since 1882, however, many travellers and hunters have penetrated into Somaliland and Gallaland, where this zebra has been found in large numbers, and a close examination of the skins procured has established the fact that the new zebra is a clear and distinct species.
The animal is considerably larger than the true or mountain zebra, and exceeds in stature every other member of the group, adult specimens measuring as much as 14 hands at the withers. The body colour of this handsome zebra is of a clear whiteas with the true zebra-but the black or chocolate-brown markings are much finer, thinner, and more numerously distributed.
They are, in fact, pretty even in width all GRÈVY'S ZEBRA. over the body. The ears are enormously large, exceeding in size even those of the mountain zebra.
Grèvy's zebra is found principally in Abyssinia, the Lake Rudolph country, in Gallaland, and that part of Somaliland bordering upon the Galla country. Its habitat is described by Colonel Swayne, who has BURCHELL'S ZEBRA. made many sporting expeditions into Somaliland and the adjacent regions, as "low plateaux, covered with scattered or thick thorn-bush, and tall, feathery 'durr' grass, with red gravelly soil, and rocks cropping up now and then." They are found in herds of a dozen, and when first encountered, were extremely tame and easily shot. In places they are often seen in large numbers.
Burchell's Zebra (Equus burchelli).- This, the Bonte quagga (pied or striped quagga) of the Boers, often called, erroneously, the quagga, may be termed the zebra of the plains, and is quite the commonest, as it is the handsomest, of its group in all Africa. Its range was much wider and less restricted than was the case with the other striped equide, and, until comparatively recent times, it was found, in suitable country, roaming in immense herds from the Orange River to Northern Equatorial Africa. Even at the present day, after an extraordinary amount of persecution, it may be found pretty plentifully from the Pungwe River, Rhodesia, and Ngamiland in Southern Africa right away to the north of the equator. Seventy years ago it was found by Cornwallis Harris in the Transvaal and South Bechuanaland in " immense herds," but, thanks to wanton and incessant slaughter, the traveller in South Africa encounters it nowadays first in Khama's country, Ngamiland, and Matabeleland. Its habitat is by preference open plains or rolling, thinly bushed country.
Quite recently in Benguela, Portuguese West Africa, Mr. G. W. Penrice, an English hunter, has, however, found this zebra inhabiting absolutely hilly country. It is found in places abundantly in Central and East Central Africa, as far as Uganda and even beyond. In Northern and North Western Africa the zebra seems to have been always unknown. Burchell's zebra stands about 13 hands at the shoulder. Its body-colouring varies from pale sienna to white. The black or deep chocolate stripings are quite differently arranged from those of the mountain and Grèvy's zebra.
The head is light and elegant, and the small ears are more equine than asinine. The thick, upstanding mane is somewhat fuller than is the mountain zebra's, and comes down well over the forehead. The tail is white, and more flowing than that of the mountain zebra. In some localities the leg stripings of this zebra extend nearly to the hoofs, in others little beyond the shoulders or forearms. In South African specimens in which the leg stripings are fuller and more numerous, some naturalists have distinguished the animal as Chapman's variety of Burchell's zebra, and have dignified it by the scientific name-Equus burchelli chapmani. In other parts of Africa slight variations in marking have been found to exist, and the various local races have been distinguished by the titles Equus burchelli antiquorum, Damaraland, E. b. wahbergi, Zululand, E. b. transvaalensis, Transvaal, E. b. selousi, Mashonaland, E. b. crawshayi, Nyasaland, E. b. granti, East