460 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



"It is a diverting sight to witness a herd of buffaloes 

 swim the river : all is noise and confusion, and considerable 

 tact is necessary on the part of those who command the 

 movement. A herdsman bestrides a bundle of dry grass, 

 seizes a sturdy animal by the tail, and on this singular 

 carriage takes the lead. The other buffaloes follow, while 

 laggards, and any that may be vagrantly inclined, are 

 driven up to the main body by the cudgelling of men in 

 the rear. The herdsmen are armed with long light 

 lances'" for the defence of themselves and their charge."! 

 Again, speaking of buffaloes, "Numbers of these huge brutes 

 lay at the entrance to almost every creek, enjoying the 

 luxury of mud and water, with only perhaps the tip of the 

 nose or the curved end of a horn visible above the surface. 

 . The buffalo, the animal which furnishes the prin- 

 cipal supply, is milked in the evening, and only once in the 

 twenty-four hours. . . . Perhaps a herd of cattle swim- 

 ming the river were the only indication that the country was 

 peopled." In another land, far away (the Philippine Islands), 

 we notice how the habit of cattle is semi-aquatic. " The river- 

 side is a pretty sight when the men, women, and children are 

 bathing and frolicking in the shade of the palm-trees, 

 and when the boys are standing upright on the broad backs of 

 the buffaloes, and riding triumphantly into the water. 

 The buffalo, the favourite domestic animal of the Malays, and 

 which they keep especially for agricultural purposes, prefers 

 these regions to all others. It loves to wallow in the mud, 

 and is not fit for work unless permitted to frequent the water." J 

 In Babylonia "herds of buffaloes here and there struggled and 

 splashed among the reeds, their unwieldy bodies completely 

 concealed under water, aiid their heads just visible above 

 the surface. "§ These quotations are suflicient to show that 

 horned cattle, milch cattle, agricultural cattle, &c., not only 

 loved the water, but were actually used for crossing streams. 

 Had it not been for the witness of these travellers, we had 

 never dared to connect the words for ox or cow with the idea 

 of " swiminer." We must conceive the very reverse of a 

 maritime people — a race dwelling on treeless plains, their 



* Here we see the " herd " etymology of Maori kaii-kau, a spear. 

 Compare Anglo-Saxon (ya?-, a spear; Icelandic geirr, a spear; Old High 

 German kcr, a spear ; Manx ga, a spear. If the English word " to gore " 

 is derived from gar, a spear (see Skeat, " Ety. Diet."), then it is almost 

 certainly a cattle-word, being still mostly used for being " speared " on the 

 horns of cattle. Cf. Sanscrit 170, cow and arrow; Irish go, lance: 

 while on the other form, hai (kyej, we have the Irish gai, a spear; Goth. 

 gais, a spear ; &c. 



t "Journey to Source of Eiver Oxus," p. 35. 



X "Travels in the Philippines," P. Jagor, pp. 43, 44. 



§ " Nineveh and Babylon," Layard, p. 315. 



