416 cook's voyage to jan. 



untractableness and prodigious strength of the buf- 

 faloes, rendered it a tedious and difficult operation. 

 The method of conducting them was, by passing 

 ropes through their nostrils, and round their horns ; 

 but having been once enraged at the sight of our 

 men, they became so furious, that they sometimes 

 broke the trees, to which we were often under the 

 necessity of tying them ; sometimes they tore 

 asunder the cartilage of the nostril, through which 

 the ropes ran, and got loose. On these occasions, 

 all the exertions of our men to recover them, would 

 have been ineffectual, without the assistance of some 

 young boys, whom these animals would permit to 

 approach them, and by whose little managements 

 their rage was soon appeased. And, when at length 

 they were got down to the beach, it was by their 

 aid, in twisting ropes round their legs, in the man- 

 ner they were directed, that we were enabled to 

 throw them down, and by that means to get them 

 into the boats. A circumstance, respecting these 

 animals, which I thought no less singular than this 

 gentleness toward, and, as it should seem, affection 

 for little children, was, that they had not been 

 twenty-four hours on board, before they became the 

 tamest of all creatures. I kept two of them, a male 

 and female, for a considerable time, which became 

 great favourites with the sailors ; and thinking that 

 a breed of animals of such strength and size, some 

 of them weighing, when dressed, seven hundred 

 pounds' weight, would be a valuable acquisition, I 

 was inclined to have brought them with me to 

 England; but my intention was frustrated by an 

 incurable hurt that one of them received at sea. 



It was not till the 28th, that the buffaloes were 

 all got on board ; however, there was no reason to 

 regret the time taken up by this service, since, in the 

 interim, two wells of excellent water had been dis- 

 covered, of which, as also of wood, part of the ships' 

 companies had been employed in laying in a good 

 supply ; so that a shorter stop would be necessary for 



