The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c16.5

v1.c16.5

These Wiros were in all probability not a nomad but a settled people. The useful animals best known to them were the ox and cow, the sheep, the horse, the dog, the pig, and probably some species of deer. The ass, the camel, and the elephant were apparently unknown to them in early times; and the great variety of words for the goat would lead us to suppose that this animal also was of later introduction. The argument from language, however, is of necessity inconclusive, because all nations occasionally give animals with which they are familiar fanciful names. The Wiros seem also to have been familiar with corn. If so, they must in all probability have lived for a considerable part of the year in one situation; for the planting of corn implies care continued over many weeks or months—care which the more primitive tribes have not been able to exercise. Of birds, we may gather from the languages that they knew the goose and the duck. The most familiar bird of prey was apparently the eagle. The wolf and bear were known, but not the lion or the tiger.