246 INDIAN OR DOMESTIC BUFFALO. 



those of India, except such as are chosen for the 

 combat, and stand from four to five feet high at the 

 shoulder.* The wild animal is of larger propor- 

 tions. We are indebted to Colonel Williamson for 

 interesting information regarding both the tame and 

 the wild states, which we shall here make use of. 



The Indian buffalo delights in water, so much so 

 that burdens have to be most carefully attended to 

 in travelling, the animals most probably being in- 

 clined to lie or roll themselves in the first swamp or 

 water they meet with. No place seems to delight 

 them more than the deep verdure on the confines of 

 pools and marshes, especially if surrounded by tall 

 grass, so as to afford concealment and shade while 

 the body is covered by the water. In such situa- 

 tions they appear to enjoy a perfect ecstasy, having 

 in general nothing above the surface but their eyes 

 and nostrils, the horns being kept low down, and 

 consequently out of sight. Frequently nothing is 

 perceptible but a few black lumps in the waters, ap- 

 pearing like small clods, and a passenger would 

 scarcely expect to see, as often happens, twenty or 

 thirty great beasts suddenly rise. The banks of the 

 Ganges and Cozzimbazar Island have long been 

 favourite haunts of the wild buffalo. They are 



* Major Smith is in doubt whether or not the Arnee of 

 India may be the stock from which the domestic races of 

 Buffaloes have sprung ; and in Colonel Williamson's Field 

 Sports, the True Arnee is sometimes confounded with the 

 Buffalo See Arnee, p. 241. 



