ANIMALS. 551 



is of opinion, that the zebu, or little African cow, and the grunt- 

 ing, or Siberian cow, are but different races of the bison ; as the 

 shape of the horns, or the length of the hair, are never properly 

 characteristic marks of any animal, but are found to vary with 

 climate, food, and cultivation. 



In this manner the number of animals of the cow kind, which 

 naturalists have extended to eight or ten sorts, are reduced to 

 two ; and as the utmost deference is paid to the opinion of Mr 

 Buffon in this particular, I have taken him for my guide. 

 Nevertheless, there is an animal of the cow kind, which neither 

 he, nor any other naturalist that I know of, has hitherto describ- 

 ed, yet which makes a very distinct class, and may be added as 

 a third species. ( 



This animal was shown some years ago in London, and seem- 

 ed to unite many of the characteristics of the cow and the hog ; 

 having the head, the horns, and the tail, of the former ; with the 

 bristles, the colour, and the grunting, of the latter. It was about 

 the size of an ass, but broader and thicker ; the colour resem- 

 bling that of a hog, and the hair bristly, as in that animal. The 

 hair upon the body was thin, as in the hog ; and a row of bristles 

 ran along the spine, rather shorter and softer than in the hog 

 kind. The head was rather larger than that of a cow ; the 

 teeth were entirely resembling those of that animal, and the 

 tongue was rough in like manner. It fed upon hay ; and conse- 

 quently its internal conformation must have resembled that of 

 the cow kind more than the hog, whose food is always chosen 

 of a kind more succulent. The eyes were placed in the head as 

 with the cow, and were pretty nearly of the same colour ; the 

 horns were black and flattish, but bent rather backwards to the 

 neck, as in the goat kind ; the neck was short and thick, and 

 the back rather rising in the middle ; it was cloven-footed, like 

 the cow, without those hinder claws that are found in the hog 

 kinds. But the greatest variety of all in this extraordinary crea- 

 ture, which was a female, was, that it had but two teats, and 

 consequently, in that respect, resembled neither of the kinds to 

 which, in other circumstances, it bore so strong a similitude. 

 Whetlier this animal was a distinct kind, or a monster, I will 

 not pretend to say : it was shown under the name of the bona- 

 sus ; and it was said, by the person who showed it, to have 

 come from India : but no credit is to be given to interested ig- 



