380 



MAMMALIA— ARNEE... BUFFALO. 



THE ARNEE. i 



This animal, which is an inhabitant of various parts of India, north of 

 Bengal, far exceeds in size any of the cattle tribe that has hitherto been dis- 

 covered; it being from twelve to fifteeen feet in height. The horns, which 

 are full two feet in length, are erect and semilunar, flattened, and annularly 

 wrinkled, with smooth, round, approaching points. The arnee is seldom 

 seen within the European settlements; but a very young one was picked 

 up alive, in the Ganges, some years ago, which was as big as an immensely 

 large bullock, and weighed nearly three quarters of a ton. A British officer, 

 who found one in the woods in the country above Bengal, describes it as a 

 bold and daring animal, and its form as seeming to partake of the horse, 

 the bull, and the deer. Some of the native princes are said to keep arnees 

 for parade, under the name of fighting bullocks. 



THE DOMESTIC BUFFALO. 2 



Ihe buffalo and the ox, although greatly resembling each other, both 

 wme, and often living under the same roof, and fed in the same meadows ; 

 v«t, when brought together, and even excited by their keepers, have ever 

 refused to unite and couple together. Their nature is more distant than 

 that of the ass is from the horse ; there even appears to be a strong antipa- 

 thy between them : for it is affirmed, that cows will not suckle the young 

 buffalos ; and the female buffalo refuses the same kindness to the other's 

 calves. The buffalo is of a more obstinate nature, and less tractable than 

 the ox ; he obeys with great reluctance, and his temper is more coarse and 

 brutal. Like the hog, he is one of the filthiest of the tame animals, as he 

 sb.3ws by his unwillingness to be cleaned and dressed ; his figure is very 

 clumsy, and forbidding ; his looks stupidly wild ; he carries his tail in an 



1 Boa arnee, Shaw. 



'■ Bos bubalus, Lin. 



