F. WARE 65
of the excavations at Mohenjo-daro, as saying that this large humped breed
is closely allied to, if not identical with, the magnificent white and grey breed
still common in Sind, Northern Gujrat, and Rajputana, i.e. the animals in
Group I, all of which are renowned for their splendid draught qualities. Olver
[4] has also drawn attention to the resemblance between the Kankrej breed,
whose home is in Northern Gujrat, and the animal depicted on the seal which
was recovered from the Mohenjo-daro site (Plate III, c), and even more strik-
ing is the resemblance between the animal on the seal, the lyre-horned Malvi
breed of India, and the Peulhe or Gobra lyre-horned Zebu of West Africa, illus-
trated in the work of Curson and Thornton [3]. There is also a great likeness
between the Kankrej breed and African Fulani cattle, as depicted by the same
authors. It would thus appear that the lyre-horned cattle of India and Africa
may have had a common origin, but if so it is difficult to accept the theory of
Curson and Thornton that the lyre-horned Zebu represents an intermixture
between the Hamitic Longhorn, a humpless animal, and the short-horned
Zebu, a comparatively modern animal in Africa and, apparently, in India also.
According to Epstein [6], the short-horned Zebu is the result of inter-
breeding in India between Bos brachyceros and the lateral-horned Zebu. The
only evidence that the former ever reached India is the possibly humpless
variety recovered from the upper strata of the Indus valley, and no specimens
of the lateral-horned Zebu have yet been found, unless one looks upon the milch
breeds in Group III as having affinities with this type, which is represented in
Africa by the Afrikander. In this connexion it is noteworthy that Bosman
[7] states that an Afrikander cow off the veld will give as much as 30 lb. of
milk a day. In any case we may accept the contention of Olver [4] that the
short-horned Zebu, i.e. the animals in Group II, but not the animals in Group
I, accompanied the Vedic Indo-Aryans during their invasions of India, which
according to Smith [8] occurred between 2000 and 1500 B.C. Smith emphasizes
the fact that these immigrants have stamped an indelible mark on the whole
country from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and the same may be said of
this group of cattle, which contains some of the best dual-purpose (milk and
draught) breeds in India. Their penetration is very remarkable, and examples
of the group now stretch diagonally across the sub-continent from Kalat,
outside the North-West Frontier, to a point on the south-east coast a few miles
north of Madras. Not only this, but the changes which have taken place
during the southern migration have been very slight, and anyone who is not
very familiar with these different breeds would probably consider the present-
day arrangement largely artificial and find difficulty in separating one from the
other, as for example the four specimens shown in Plate IV.
A reference has already been made to the possible origin of the animals in
Group III, but this question awaits investigation before any pronouncement
can be made. Suffice it to say that this group (Plate V) is of very great econo-
mic importance to India, for included in it are those breeds which so far have
shown the greatest potentiality as milk producers, as well as being suitable
for crossing for beef purposes. The Gir, whose natural home is in the Gir
forests of the Kathiawar peninsula on the west coast of India, is usually looked
upon as the oldest and indeed the basic breed of this group, and it is an interest-
ing fact that from time to time animals showing the characteristic colouring
of the Gir turn up in pedigree herds of allied breeds.