386 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



alone, but though these are, if possible, stiJl fiercer than the 

 younger : they are less dangerous, because less swift or in- 

 clined to exertion. In the woods, they make paths for 

 themselves, where it is extremely dangerous to fall in 

 with them. Professor Thunberg gives an appalling ac- 

 count of the destruction of two horses by one of these 

 animals, the riders providentially escaping by climbing 

 trees, and the professor himself driven to the same expe- 

 dient, though his horse remained unhurt, owing to the 

 buffalo turning into the wood. Sparmann, who first fully 

 described this species, is no less animated in the dangerous 

 hunting exploits he witnessed. 



They are excited to madness by the sight of red colour, 

 and swim with great force. The hide is made into shields, 

 cut into whips and traces, and is so hard that a musket 

 ball will scarcely penetrate ' it, unless the lead be mixed 

 with tin. If this animal could be rendered tractable, it 

 would make the most powerful in agriculture existing. 

 Since the increase of the settlements about the Cape of 

 Good Hope, the Buffalo is become more scarce in the colony, 

 but they spread along the eastern side of Africa to an un- 

 known distance in the interior. 



The Pagasse. (B. Pegasus.) The names of Pacasse of 

 Gallini and Carli, Empaguessa of Merolla, Empacasse of 

 Lopes and Marmol, indicate an animal, presumed to be a 

 species of Buffalo, but not described with sufficient pre- 

 cision to be admitted into the catalogues of nomenclators. 

 The word is evidently of great antiquity and extent, as may 

 be gathered from Pliny, although at present banished from 

 the regions where the Arabic has usurped the ancient 

 language, and confined to the regions of Angola and 

 Congo, where it is coupled with the generic name Em 

 or En, denoting a Bovine animal. Thus Engamba a 

 cow, Empalanga another large ruminant which is conjec- 

 tured to be the Tackhaitze of Daniell ; and Em-pacasse. 



