Another [curiosity] is the wild kutás. 'lhis is a very wild and
ferocious beast. ln whatever manner it attacks one it proves
fatal: whether it strike with its horns, or kick, or overthrow its


! The fables here alluded to, Prof. Bendall thinks, are probably the Játakas,
or * Birth stories."

? 'The date usually assumed for the Nirvána of Sakya-Muni is about the
middle of the fifth century, B.c. ; thus Mirza Haidar's estimate would appear to
be about 1,000 years too early, but Dr. Waddell informs me that, among
the Tibetan Lamas, an antiquity of 9,000 years is often assigned to Sakya-
Vu Mirza Haidar, therefore, may have had authority for what he sets down
ere.
Arrival of the Author in Tibet. 417


*


- vietim. If it has no opportunity of doing any of these things,
. 1t tosses its enemy with its tongue, twenty gaz into the air, and
- heis dead before reaching the ground. One male kutás is a load
for twelve horses. One man cannot possibly raise a shoulder of
— the animal. In the days of my forays [kazáki| I killed a kutás,
- and divided it among seventy persons, when each had sufficient
. flesh for four days.! "This animal is not to be met with outside
.. the country of Tibet. 'The remaining particulars concerning "Tibet
— will be given in the account of the campaign.
CHAPTER XCII.
THE KHÁN MAKES A HOLY WAR ON TIBET.
