822 NATURAL HISTORY OF AFRICA. 



The next group which demands our notice is the bovine 

 tribe, including all the larger kinds of homed cattle. Of 

 these, the only species peculiar to Africa is the Bos caffer, 

 or Cape buffalo, the qu'araho of the Hottentots, a fierce and 

 vindictive animal of great strength. This species is cha- 

 racterized by the dark rufous colour of its horns, which 

 spread horizontally over the summit of the head, with their 

 beams bent down laterally, and the points turned up. 

 They are from eight to ten inches broad at the base, and 

 divided only by a slight groove, extremely ponderous, cellu- 

 lar near the root, and five feet long, measured from tip to 

 tip along the curves. The hide is black and almost naked, 

 especially in old animals. This buffalo lives in herds, or 

 small families, in the brushwood and open forests of Caf^ 

 fraria. According to Sparrman, he is not content with 

 simply killing the person whom he attacks, but he stands 

 over him for some time in order to trample him with his 

 hoofs and heels, at the same time crushing him with his 

 knees, and tearing to pieces and mangling his whole body, 

 and finally stripping off the skin with his tongue. The 

 surest way to escape is, if possible, to ride up a hill, as the 

 great bulk of the buffak)'s body, like that of the elephant, is 

 a weight sufficient to prevent his vying with the slender 

 and fine-limbed horse in swiftness. It is said, however, 

 that in going down hill, this formidable animal gets on 

 much faster than the horse. 



The goat and sheep tribe, so valuable, especially the lat- 

 ter, to the human race, present respectively a species pecu ■ 

 liar to the continent of Africa. The Egjrptian goat, by 

 some however regarded as nothing more than a variety of 

 the domestic breed, is distinguished by the gr«at convexity 

 of its facial line, and a depression between the face and the 

 forehead. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper ; the 

 ears are long and flat, and the horns are either very small, 

 and arched slightly backwards, or are entirely wanting. 

 The female scarcely differs from the male in external ap- 

 pearance, with the exception of the straighter outline of 

 the face. It inhabits Upper Egypt. The other animal 

 above alluded to is called the bearded sheep (Ovis tragela 

 phus). It inhabits the desert steeps of Barbary and th« 

 mountainous portions of Egypt. 



