have their dwelling and their home;
and they could not help fancying at that moment that the superstition
might be true. Certainly, if it were true, some one of these deities,
Vishnu, or Siva, or even Brahma himself, must dwell in that very valley
that now lay before them.

But poetical and legendary sentiment soon vanished from the minds of our
travellers. All three were hungry--hungry as wolves--and the ruling
thought at the moment was to find the means for satisfying their
appetites.

With this intent, therefore, they strode forward out of the gap, and
commenced descending towards the bottom of the valley.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

GRUNTING OXEN.

There were several kinds of animals in sight, but it was natural that
the hungry hunters should choose those that were nearest for their game.
The nearest also chanced to be the largest--though in the flock there
were individuals of different sizes, from the bigness of a large ox to
that of a Newfoundland dog. There were about a dozen in all, evidently
of one kind, and the difference in size and other respects arose from a
difference of age and sex.

What sort of animals they were, not one of the party could tell. Even
Ossaroo did not know them. He had never seen such creatures on the
plains of India. It was evident to all, however, that they were some
species of oxen or buffaloes, since they bore a general resemblance to
animals of the family of _bovidae_. First there was the great massive
bull, the patriarch of the herd, standing nearly as tall as a horse, and
quite as tall reckoning from the top of the stately hump on his
shoulders. His curved horns spreading outward rose from a mass of thick
curled hair, giving him the fierce aspect which characterises animals of
the buffalo kind. But his chief peculiarity lay in the drapery of long
silky hair, that from his sides, flanks, neck, belly, and thighs, hung
downward until its tips almost dragged upon the grass. This singular
appendage gave the animal the appearance of being short-legged, and the
massive thickness of the legs themselves added to the effect.

Karl could not help remarking in the old bull a considerable resemblance
to the rare musk-ox of America; an animal with which he was acquainted,
from having seen stuffed specimens in the museums. He noted, however,
that there was one point in which the musk-ox differed essentially from
the species before him--in regard to the fail. The musk-ox is alm