NATURAL HISTORY. 127 



of water placed there expressly for his use. The tiger refused 

 for a long time to make his appearance, and it was not till 

 his den was filled with smoke and fire that he sprang out. 

 The buffalo charged his enemy in a moment, and by one 

 furious push capsized him right over. To our great dis- 

 appointment, the tiger pocketed this insult in the shabbiest 

 manner imaginable, and passing on, leaped furiously at the 

 ropes, with which his feet became entangled, so that the 

 buffolo was enabled to punish his antagonist about the rump 

 most ingloriously. When at length the tiger got loose, he 

 slunk off to a distant part of the area, lay down, and pre- 

 tended to be dead. The boys, however, soon put him up 

 again, and tried to bring him to the scratch with squibs and 

 crackers ; and a couple of dozen dogs being introduced at the 

 same moment, they all set at him, but only one ventured to 

 take any liberty with the enraged animal. This bold cleg 

 actually caught the tiger by the tail, but a slight pat of the 

 mighty monster's paw crushed the yelping cur as flat as a 

 board. The buffalo, who really appeared anxious to have 

 a fair stand-up fight, now drove the dogs off, and repeatedly 

 poked the tiger with his nose, and even turned him half over 

 several times with his horns. 



" We had then a fight between two buffaloes, which ran 

 their heads against each other with a crash that one could 

 fancy shook the palace to its veiy foundation ; indeed, the 

 only wonder was how both animals did not fall down dead 

 with their skulls fractured. But there appears to be a 

 wonderful degree of thickness or hardness in this part of the 

 animal."^ 



The Buffalo has long been domesticated in India, and 

 from its great strength is exceedingly useful. In its wild 

 state it is always found in marshy grounds, where the air is 

 sufficiently pestilential to destroy most animals. . There it 

 will luxuriate through the hottest part of the day, with its 

 entire body immersed in the muddy water, only leaving its 

 muzzle above the surface. 



The hide of this animal is particularly thick and strong, 

 and is in great request for making harness. 



* Kail's Fragments, part iii. p. 98. 



