s v LITTER XV. 



as both are equally submissive to .the yoke, yet r*<& 

 two species ot animals can be in reality more distinct; 

 and they have the most singular antipathy against 

 each other, which appears the more extraordinary, 

 as nothing of the kind is observable between the com- 

 mon cow and the bison, although they resemble each 

 other much less in form. 



The buffalo is' not so beautiful an animal as our 

 common ox, his figure being more clumsy, his body 

 thicker and shorter, and his legs, in proportion, lon- 

 ger ; his head, which he carries nearer i:he ground, is 

 smaller than that of the cow; his horns are not so 

 round, nor is his body so thickly covered with hair. 

 The flesh of the buffalo is. described by some as hard 

 and unpalatable, and exhaling a disagreeable smell. 

 Sparman, on the contrary, says, that the flesh i? 

 coarse, and rather lean, but full of juire, of a high 

 but not unpleasant flavour. In regard to this, much 

 lay depend on the caprice of taste as well as on the 

 difference of the climate and feeding; for experience 

 proves, that these circumstances have a very powerful 

 influence on all animals, especially those of the 

 horned kind, both with respect to their size and 

 shape, the nature of their flesh, and the quality of 

 thfiir other productions. The innumerable shades of 

 difference, produced in the same- species of animals" 

 by the influence of soil and climate, and other adven- 

 titious circumstances, are every where observable* 

 ?nd admit of an endless variety": it is, therefore, no 

 wonder, that naturalists, as well as travellers, should 

 tliifer hi the description of minute particulars. 



A very singular circumstance, relative to thest 

 animals, is recorded by those who completed the last 

 voyage of Captain Cook to the Pacific Ocean. When 

 at Puio Condore,they procured eight builaloes, which 

 were to be conducted to the siiips by ropes, put 

 through their nostrils, and round their horns. l>uc 

 whV>n these were brought within sight of the ship's 

 people, they became so furious, that some of them 

 tore out the cartilage of their nostrils, and set them- 

 selves at liberty; and others broke down even this 

 shrubs to which it was frequently found necessary t 



