coMiioK BUFFALO.] CATTLH, AND TIIHIK VAKIETIES. [common BUFPiLLO. 



strife. "When excited, it rushes desperntely 

 on its foe, strikea liim down with tho horns 

 or forohfud, kneola upon him, cru3hu»«:;-in his 

 ohfst, and thon trampk's on tho lifeless body, 



s if to satiate its viiulietivo fury. Its natural 

 leinper, indeed, renders it dilUcult to tame, 

 and dillicult to manage; while its prodigious 

 strength and adaptation for ecrtaiu localities, 

 render it a valuable acquisition. The hot 

 uiorass, teeming with pestilence, is tho genial 

 abode of this animal; and its delight is to 

 wallow in the stagnant water, where it will 

 luxuriate for hours during the heat of the day, 

 with its black muzzle just elevated above the 

 surface. Its flesh is hard and unsavoury ; but 

 the milk of tlie buftalo-cow is of peculiar rich- 

 ness ; and, in the East, a considerable quantity 

 of butter is procured from it. The hide is 

 greatly esteemed for its solidity and toughness. 

 Colonel Sykes states that the long-horned 

 variety of the buffalo is bred in great numbers 

 in the Mawals, or hilly tracts 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 

 crops, than the bullock. The female is also 

 infinitely more valuable than the common cow, 

 from the very much greater quantity of milk 

 she yields. 



Dillon states that the buffalo at MaLibar is 

 larger than the ox, with white eyes, fiat horns, 

 often two feet long, and thick and short legs. 

 " It is an ugly animal, almost destitute of hair ; 

 goes slowly, but carries very heavy burdens. 

 Herds may be seen, as of common cows ; and 

 they afford milk, which serves to make butter 

 and cheese; their flesh is good, though less 

 delicate than that of the ox : the animal swims 

 perfectly well, and traverses the broadest 

 rivers. Besides the tame ones, there are 

 wild buffiiloes, which are extremely dangerous, 

 tearing men to pieces, or crushing tliem with 

 a single blow of the head. They are less to be 

 dreaded in the woods than elsewhere, because 

 their horns often catch in the branches, and 

 give time to the persons pursued to escape by 

 flight. The skin of these animals serves for 

 an infinity of purposes; and even cruses are 

 made of them for holding water or liquors : the 

 animals on the coast of Malabar are almost all 



wild, and strangers are not prevented from 



hunting thoin for thoir flesh." In Coylon, an 

 in IVralabar, tho buffalo exists both in a wild 

 and domesticated state ; and tho tamo herds 

 are not unfrecpiently joined by wild iiulividualH, 

 which the inliabilants sometimes entrap, and 

 at other times shoot. It would apjjcar that 

 the animal is more common in Bombay than 

 in Bengal. At Boitpoor, Bishop lluber was 

 shown a white buffalo, probably an albino, 

 whicli was pointed out by the Indians as a rare 

 curiosity. From India tho buffalo is diHtrib- 

 utcd throughout Siam, Cochin-Chiua, Malacca, 

 and the adjacent islands, as Sumatra, Java, 

 Borneo, &c., together with the Philippines. 

 It is also common in China, where it is used in 

 the various labours of agriculture. In Africa 

 it 13 abundant along the Nile, and in other 

 districts, existing in a wild or emancipated 

 state, as well as in a state of domestication. 

 In Abyssinia, more particularly in tho forests 

 of Eas cl Fil, the buflalo is very common. Its 

 skin is chiefly employed in that country for 

 the making of shields, in which considerable 

 art is displayed. In the middle ages the 

 bufi;\lo was introduced into Spain and Italy, 

 where, in course of time, tho animal became 

 naturalised; and, in some districts, may be 

 regarded as in a state of nature. 



In the worst parts of the pestilential tract, 

 known as the Maremma in Italy, the savage 

 bufililo may be seen, roaming at will, under the 

 care of wild keepers (buflalari), whose lives 

 are passed in this dangerous employment. 

 Wherever large herds of buffaloes occur, it may 

 be taken as the sure index of malaria. In the 

 wild provinces of the Calabrias, where most of 

 the plains and valleys are always partially 

 swamped by the Laino, the Chratis, the Amato, 

 and numerous other rivers and torrents, they 

 are ver}' common. They range, almost the 

 only occupants, over the plains of Pajstum, 

 and the still wilder and more extensive flats of 

 Apulia. The Pontiue Marshes offer them a 

 favourite retreat ; and in the pestilential Ma- 

 remma, both of Komo and Tuscany, scarcely 

 any other animals, except wild boars, are ever 

 seen. In Northern Italy, where there is infi- 

 nitely less malaria than in the south, they occur 

 in greater numbers, as there the causes of that 

 pest exist, and there its effects are often felt, 

 in the inundated rice-grounds of Lombardy, 

 in the marshes formed by the overflowing 



02;J 



