AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 399 



that is, a short distance to the west of the 80th meridian. The 

 natives, however, told me there that they only cross the river 

 in the rainy season, and that they do not penetrate very far to 

 the west, so that so slight an exception may fairly be held to 

 prove the general rule. So far. then from the cpmmon adage 

 of the sportsman being true that the wild buffalo does not 

 extend south of the Narbada* (see Shakspeare's " Wild Sports of 

 India," p. 210), the truth is that the animal is unknown to the 

 north of it, in the longitude of that river. It has been stated 

 that the feral buffaloes of these parts are only the descendants 

 of tame ones run wild, an idea that will not hold water for a 

 second. They have all the habits of fully wild animals, are 

 extremely numerous in the parts they inhabit, and exactly 

 correspond in size and every particular with the aboriginally 

 wild buffaloes of Eastern Bengal. Two varieties are recog- 

 nized in India, differing chiefly in the length and shape of the 

 horns. They have been called by Hodgson B. Macroceros, 

 and B. Speiroceros, the horns of the former being long, 

 straight, and more slender, and of the latter, shorter, thicker, 

 and more curved. All the Central Indian species that I have 

 seen pertain to the latter race, the average length of the horns 

 of a mature bull being three and a half to four feet. No 

 animal has changed so little in domestication as the buffalo. 

 In appearance the wild animal is extremely like the tame one, 

 but fully a third larger, and showing fine, plump, sleek con- 

 dition, instead of the slouching, scraggy appearance of the 

 domestic " buff," and possessing the free action and air of a 

 denizen of the wilds. I have never heard an authentic case 

 of their interbreeding with the domestic race, though indi- 



character of a mountain stream. They interrupt what would otherwise be an 

 unbroken stretch of water-way into the heart of the country, and are now being 

 dealt with by a staff df skilful engineers. Probably a herd of buffaloes would 

 find it easier to cross at one of these barriers than elsewhere. 



