442 ANIMAI, REMAINS FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT ANAU.
nor should we need the corroborative evidence of the terra-cotta figurines of cattle that were used in Anau 3000 B. C. In any event we may be permitted to suggest this hypothesis, leaving its fate to be decided after further investigations.
In the cattle-cult of the followers of Zoroaster—the Parsees—whose ancestors down to the end of the Sassanian dynasty ruled over Anau, we may see an especially • important point in connection with precedents of the culture-sphere of ancient Turkestan. The Zend-Avesta contains a hymn lauding the value of cattle, which may indicate that a people who could hold cattle in such high estimation in their own culture might really have accomplished the domestication of the ox.
"In the ox is our strength, in the ox is our speech, in the ox is our victory, in the ox is our nourishment, in the ox is our clothing, in the ox is our agriculture which furnishes to us food."
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