122 THE OX TRIBE. 



matter, had I not indisputably ascertained the facts ; for 

 the Has having subsequently made me a present of three 

 of these animals alive, I found them not only in excellent 

 health, but so exceedingly wild, that I was obliged to have 

 them shot. The horns of one of these are now deposited 

 in the Museum of the Surgeons' College, and a still larger 

 pair are placed in the collection of Lord Valentia, at 

 Arley Hall. The length of the largest horn of this de- 

 scription was nearly four feet, and its circumference at the 

 base twenty-one inches. 



" It might have been expected that the animal, carrying 

 horns of so extraordinary a magnitude, would have proved 

 larger than others belonging to the same genus; but in 

 every instance which came under my observation, this was 

 by no means the case. The etching on the following page, 

 which was copied from an original sketch (taken from the 

 life), may serve to convince the reader of this fact ; and it 

 will convey a better idea of the animal than any description 

 in writing I can pretend to give. I shall only further 

 observe, that its colour appeared to vary as much as in the 

 other species of its genus, and that the peculiarity of the 

 size of the horns was not confined to the male, the female 

 being very amply provided with this ornamental appendage 

 to her forehead." 



Notwithstanding the bold and confident tone of Mr. 

 Salt's counter-statement, it must be confessed, that the 

 figure which he himself gives from the life (and of which 

 the frontispiece to this volume is an exact copy), seems 

 rather to coincide with Mr. Bruce's account, being, to all 

 appearance, both "lank and emaciated." 



