BUFFALOES IN AUSTRALIA. 



139 



herds, but a regular fiend incarnate to all Euro- 

 peans that may chance to trespass upon its grazing 

 grounds. 



Poor " Zoophilus," the best of naturalists, and the 

 most genial of companions, often assured me that 

 there were several large herds of water — or, as they 

 are locally called, mud — buffaloes in Australia. 

 About twenty-four years ago, if my memory serves 

 me correctly, he published an article to this effect, but 

 I fear that his statement received little credence. Now 

 I am able to assert that he was correct, as I have 

 always found him to be on any subj'^ct appertaining 

 to the science he so dearly loved, and of which he had 

 made a life-long study. But the reader must not run 

 away with the idea that these ruminants are indigenous 

 to that immense island, or continent, as some people 

 designate it ; for such is not the case. The intro- 

 duction of the water buffalo to Australia is due to 

 our Government, who, extraordinary to state, in a fit 

 of liberality, brought a score of these beasts from 

 Java, and turned them loose in the neighbourhood of 

 Port Essington. So admirably has the country 

 suited all ^heir requirements, that from such a small 

 beginning there are now probably existing in that 

 section of country wild droves amounting to ten 

 or twelve thousand head. From their original place 

 of deposit, they have so far enlarged their range that 

 some have been found in Queensland. Having re- 

 lapsed into a perfectly savage state, they regard 

 themselves as masters of the situation, and are pre- 

 pared to dispute the possession of their demesne 

 with all intruders. When an aged bull is driven off 

 from his herd he will frequently take up his residence 

 in the vicinity of a " water-hole," the sanctity of which 

 he guards so vigorously, that horned cattle or horses 

 ever give the locality a wide berth. 



At present there are some squatters who occupy 

 their time in hunting these brutes for their hides, in 



