MONARCHS IN EXILE 67 



" No," said Nat and Dodo, promptly ; but Rap hesi- 

 tated a little and answered shyly : 



" He must be very big and strong, yet somehow he 

 looks rather stupid, too, as if he wasn't thinking about 

 much of anything. But then," he added, as if fearing 

 to be unjust, "perhaps it is the glass eyes that make 

 the head look so sleepy." 



" You are perfectly right, Rap ; stupidity was the 

 chief fault, or rather misfortune, of the Buffalo. The 

 foremost Buffalo in the picture is an old male ; these 

 males were often six feet high at the shoulder, and 

 measured ten feet from the tip of the nose to the root 

 of the tail, eight feet around the body just behind the 

 fore legs, and weighed from fifteen to seventeen hundred 

 pounds. Those we saw at the circus were born in 

 captivity, and were much smaller. The ponderous 

 head is shaggy, with a tufted crown between the curved 

 horns that match the hoofs in blackness. The nose 

 and lips are bare, but the chin is bearded. The shoul- 

 ders and fore legs down to the knees are covered, as 

 you see, with thick woolly hair, while the hair on the 

 back parts of the body is shorter and more wavy. 

 The hair varies in color and length on the different 

 parts of the animal, ranging from yellowish brown to 

 nearly black, and being from four to ten inches in 

 length. Under the long hair and wool is a thick under- 

 fur, which grows on the approach of cold weather and 

 is shed, or moulted, again before summer." 



" Oh, what a mess the poor thing must get into when 

 he moults," said Dodo, stroking the Buffalo robe. 

 " He has nobody to comb him, and I should think he 

 would all stick together and tangle. How does he 



