THE ZUBR. 525 



The zubr has so great an antipathy to the domestic cattle, 

 which it either shuns or kills, that all experiments to obtain 

 a mixed breed have failed, and are now strictly prohibited. 

 Such is its innate wildness, that although when taken young 

 it becomes accustomed to its keeper, yet the approach of other 

 persons renders it furious -, and even the keeper must be careful 

 always to wear the same sort of dress when going near it. 



According to the statement of the game-keepers, the zubr 

 lives to the age of fifty and upwards. 



If proper precaution be taken immediately after the zubr 

 is killed, the flesh is not tainted with the musky odour, but 

 is extremely well-flavoured. Formerly, indeed, presents of 

 zubr-beef used to be sent from Poland to foreign kings. When 

 the flesh is roasted it has a blueish tinge. The hide is extremely 

 tough, twice as thick as that of the common ox, and far more 

 durable. Jarocki mentions as a peculiarity of the zubr, that 

 if a light be held near the stomach when it is being opened, 

 a flame flashes up from it j but the stomachs of all ruminating 

 and most other animals evolve inflammable gases 5 and that 

 which causes the tympanitis (a disease) in cows, sheep, &c., 

 chiefly consists of hydrogen. 



THE AFRICAN BUFFALO.* (Bos Coffer, Sparrman.) 

 The range of this species is limited to Southern Africa. 

 Though not larger than an ordinary- sized common ox, the 

 Cape buffalo is much stouter, heavier, and stronger. Sparrman 

 gives the measurements of a bull buffalo killed by some of his 

 party, stating its length at eight feet, its height five feet and 

 a half, and the distance of the muzzle from the horns, twenty- 

 two inches. The hide is thick and tough, sparingly covered 

 with long, harsh, blackish or dark brown hairs ; those on the 



* The common domestic buffalo, properly so called, and to be seen in various 

 parts of the world, was originally derived from Asia. It is the Bos Budalwi, Linn. 

 What the Americans term buffalo is a species of bison (see page 517) ; and 

 what in England is most frequently so termed by the common people, is the 

 Brahmin ox (see page 548). 



