ANIMALS. 529 



lump upon the back of the bison, they assigned them different 

 places in the creation, and separated a class of animals which 

 was really united. It is true, the horse and the ass do not diifei 

 so much in form, as the cow and the bison ; nevertheless, the 

 former are distinct animals, as their breed is marked with ster- 

 ility ; the latter are animals of the same kind, as their breed is 

 fruitful, and a race of animals is produced, in which the hump 

 belonging to the bison is soon worn away. The differences, 

 therefore, between the cow, the urus, and the bison, are merely 

 accidental. The same caprice in nature that has given horns to 

 some cows, and denied them to others, may also have given the 

 bison a hump, or increased the bulk of the urus ; it may have 

 given the one a mane, or denied a sufficiency of hair to the 

 other. 



But before we proceed farther, it may be proper to describe 

 these varieties, which have been thus taken for distinct kinds.' 

 The urus, or wild bull, is chiefly to be met with in the province 

 of Lithuania ; and grows to a size that scarcely any other animal, 

 except the elephant, is found to equal. It is quite black, except 

 a stripe mixed with white, that runs from the neck to the tail, along 

 the top of the back ; the horns are short, thick, and strong ; the 

 eyes are fierce and fiery ; the forehead is adorned with a kind of 

 garland of black curled hair, and some of them are found to have 

 beards of the same ; the neck is short and strong ; and the skin 

 has an odour of musk. The female, though not so big as the 

 male, exceeds the largest of our bulls in size ; nevertheless, her 

 udder and teats are so small, that they can scarcely be perceived. 

 Upon the whole, however, this animal resembles the tame one 



the tip forming a small spiral revolution. We are indebted to captain Clap. 



perton for the knowledge of this species. The corneous external coat is very 

 soft, distinctly fibrous, and at the base not much thicker than a human nail ; 

 the osseous core full of vascular grooves, and inside very cellular ; the pair 

 together, scarcely weighing four pounds. The skin passes iusi-nsibly to the 

 horny state, so that there is no exact demarcation where the one coramen. 

 ces or the other ends. The dimensions of a horn, are, length measured on 

 the curve, three feet seven inches ; circumference at base, two feet ; circum. 

 ference midway, one foot six inches ; circumference two-thirds up the horn, 

 one foot; length in a straight line, from base to tip, one foot tive inches and a 

 half. The species has a small neck, and is the common domestic breed of 

 Bornou where the buffalo is said to have small horns. 



1 This description is chiefly taken from Klein. 

 L 2 X 



