£8 THE BISON. 



v 

 gentle when tamed, and many are furnished both with 



lustrous and soft hair. 



The bisons of Malabar, Abyssinia, and Madagascar, 

 are, from the luxuriance of their pastures, all of the 

 large kind ; but those of Arabia Petraea, and most parts 

 of Africa, are small, and appear of the zebu kind. 



From this it appears that Naturalists have given va- 

 rious names to creatures which in reality are the same, 

 or differ in circumstances merely accidental; the wild 

 cow and the tame, the animal belonging to Europe, and 

 that of Asia, Africa, and America, the bonasus and the 

 urus, the bison and the zebu, are doubtless one and the 

 same race ; and were they allowed to mix with each other, 

 in a few generations the distinction would cease. 



THE BUFFALO. 



If we should compare the common coav with the bi- 

 son, the difference between them will doubtless appear 

 great ; but when we draw a resemblance between that 

 and the Buffalo, no two animals can be nearer alike : 

 both are equally submissive to the yoke, and both are 

 employed in the same domestic scene, notwithstanding 

 which they have such an aversion to each other, tha^ 

 were there but one of each kind, there would be an end 

 of the race. The buffalo, upon the whole, is by no means 

 so beautiful as the animal which it is like; his figure is 

 more clumsy and awkward, and he carries his head 

 much nearer the ground ; his limbs are not so well co- 

 vered with' flesh, and his tail is much more naked of 

 hair ; his body is shorter and thicker than the cow, 

 and his legs are longer in proportion to his size ; his 

 head is smaller, his horns not so round, and his skin is 

 not so well covered with hair; his flesh is hard and dis- 

 agreeable to the taste, and has a very strong and dis- 

 agreeable smell ; the milk of the females is much infe- 



