HISTORY. 219 



without hesitation arms of the sea and the broadest rivers. 

 They are seen to dive as they swim, and drag up by their horns 

 the aquatic plants on which they feed. In the domesticated 

 state, they retain the love of moist situations ; they haunt the 

 banks of rivers ; they love to wallow in pools and swamps ; 

 and will lie for hours in mud, or sunk, their heads alone 

 visible, beneath the water of pools. Whole herds are to be 

 seen crossing the Euphrates or the Nile, their keepers direct- 

 ing them, and stepping from back to back as on a floating 

 raft. Their sense of smell is acute, and they are persever- 

 ing in pursuit of assailants. They are fierce when irritated, 

 and will not turn from their enemies. Even the Tiger dreads 

 their formidable, strength. When brought to fight with other 

 animals in the arena, to afford a cruel pastime to Indian 

 princes, the courage of the Tiger quails the instant the Buf- 

 falo enters the arena : he would willingly shun the combat ; 

 while the Buffalo, excited to fury at the sight of his natural 

 enemy, bends his head level with the ground, that his horns 

 may be in a position to strike, and rushes, notwithstanding 

 the wounds he receives, on his terrible opponent. These 

 powerful animals seem to be insensible of fear. When they 

 fight, they strive to lift their enemy on their horns, and when 

 he is thrown down, to crush him to death with their knees. 

 Their fury then seems to be insatiable : they trample on the 

 mangled body of their victim, and return again and again as 

 if to glut their vengeance. They have a memory tenacious 

 of wrongs, and will resent them when occasion offers. In- 

 stances are known, when, after having been brutally forced 

 by their keeper to tasks beyond their strength, they have 

 seized the first opportunity to rush upon their tyrant and put 

 him to death. Like all the Bovine family, they are roused 

 to fury by the sight of scarlet and bright colours. 



The Buffalo is a creature of vast strength, which, in the 

 state of servitude, he exercises in the pulling of loads and 

 the bearing of burdens. - In this respect he far surpasses any 

 other of the Bovine family. When yoked in rude waggons 



