ZOBO, ZHOBO, DSOMO, &c., s. Names used in the semi-Tibetan tracts of the Himālaya for hybrids between the yak bull and the ordinary hill cow, much used in transport and agriculture. See quotation under [ZEBU]. The following are the connected Tibetan terms, according to Jaeschke's Dict. (p. 463): "mdzo, a mongrel bred of Yak bull and common cow; bri-mdzo, a mongrel bred of common bull and yak cow; mdzopo, a male; mdzo-mo, a female animal of the kind, both valued as domestic cattle." [Writing of the Lower Himālaya, Mr. Atkinson says: "When the sire is a yak and the dam a hill cow, the hybrid is called jubu; when the parentage is reversed, the produce is called garjo. The jubu is found more valuable than the other hybrid or than either of the pure stocks" (Himalayan Gazetteer, ii. 38). Also see Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 350.]
1298.—"There are wild cattle in that country almost as big as elephants, splendid creatures, covered everywhere but in the back with shaggy hair a good four palms long. They are partly black, partly white, and really wonderfully fine creatures, and the hair or wool is extremely fine and white, finer and whiter than silk. Messer Marco brought some to Venice as a great curiosity, and so it was reckoned by those who saw it. There are also plenty of them tame, which have been caught young. They also cross these with the common cow, and the cattle from this cross are wonderful beasts, and better for work than other animals. These the people use commonly for burden and general work, and in the plough as well; and at the latter they will do twice as much work as any other cattle, being such very strong beasts."—Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 57.
1854.—"The Zobo, or cross between the yak and the hill-cow (much resembling the English cow) is but rarely seen in these mountains (Sikkim), though common in the N.W. Himalaya."—Hooker's Him. Journals, 2d ed. i. 203.
[1871.—"The plough in Lahoul ... is worked by a pair of dzos (hybrids between the cow and yak)."—Harcourt, Him. Dists. of Kooloo, Lahoul, and Spiti, 180.
[1875.—"Ploughing is done chiefly with the hybrid of the yak bull and the common cow; this they call zo if male and zomo if female."—Drew, Jummoo and Kashmir, 246.]
ZOUAVE, s. This modern French term is applied to certain regiments of light infantry in a quasi-Oriental costume, recruited originally in Algeria, and from various races, but now only consisting of Frenchmen. The name Zuawa, Zouaoua was, according to Littré, that of a Kabyle tribe of the Jurjura which furnished the first soldiers so called.
[ZUBT, ZUBTEE, adj. and s. of which the corrupted forms are [JUBTEE], JUPTEE. Ar. ẓabt̤, lit. 'keeping, guarding,' but more generally in India, in the sense of 'seizure, confiscation.' In the Āīn it is used in the sense which is still in use in the N.W.P., 'cash rents on the more valuable crops, such as sugar-cane, tobacco, etc., in those districts where rents in kind are generally paid.'
[c. 1590.—"Of these Parganahs, 138 pay revenue in cash from crops charged at special rates (in orig. ẓabt̤ī)."—Āīn, ed. Jarret, ii. 153.
[1813.—"Zebt ... restraint, confiscation, sequestration. Zebty. Relating to restraint or confiscation; what has been confiscated.... Lands resumed by Jaffier Khan which had been appropriated in Jaghire (see [JAGHEER])."—Glossary to Fifth Report.
[1851.—"You put down one hundred rupees. If the water of your land does not come ... then my money shall be confiscated to the Sahib. If it does then your money shall be zupt (confiscated)."—Edwardes, A Year on the Punjab Frontier, i. 278.]