78 THE OX TRIBE. 



habits they are almost amphibious, lying for hours half 

 submerged in water and mud. 



When travellers make use of the name "common 

 Buffalo," they are usually understood to mean an animal 

 identical with the Italian species ; if this really be the 

 case, its geographical range must be very extensive. It 

 is said to inhabit the extensive regions of Hindostan, China, 

 Cochin-China, Malabar, Coromandel, Persia, and the 

 Crimea; also Abyssinia, Egypt, and the south of Europe; 

 to which may be added, most of the large islands in the 

 Indian Sea. 



As an article of food, the flesh of this animal is inferior 

 to the beef of the domestic Ox, but the milk of the female 

 is particularly rich and abundant ; the semi-fluid butter, 

 called ghee in India, is made from it. According to the 

 testimony of Colonel Sykes, the long-horned variety is 

 reared in vast numbers in the Mawals, or hilly tracts lying 

 along the Ghauts : "In those tracts much rice is planted, 

 and the male Buffalo, from his superior hardihood, is much 

 better suited to resist the effects of the heavy rains, and 

 the splashy cultivation of the rice than the bullock. The 

 female is also infinitely more valuable than the cow, from 

 the very much greater quantity of milk she yields." The 

 hide is also much valued for its strength and durability. 



In India they are used as beasts of burden ; but the 

 nature of the goods they carry must be such as will not 

 suffer from being wet, as they have an invincible pro- 

 pensity to lie down in water. The native princes use 

 them to fight with tigers in their public shows ; and from 

 their fierce and active nature, when excited, they frequently 

 prove more than a match for their formidable assailants. 

 With the native herdsman, however, they arc generally 



