394 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



long hair, and the posterior naked ; it varies also to rufous, 

 and white occurs in some breeds. 



It is an animal at all times of very doubtful docility, with 

 a sombre malignant eye ; active, daring, swift, and perse- 

 vering when excited ; dull, slow, wallowing in his ordinary 

 state ; naturally preferring flats and swampy soil ; possessed 

 of great strength for burden, and for the plough, two being 

 equal in power to four horses ; but furnishing little, and 

 indifferent milk and worse flesh : the hide and horns are 

 alone valuable. In India, however, they furnish more milk 

 from which a kind of liquid butter is made, well known 

 by the name of ghee. The domestic breed, in Bengal, is 

 not more than four feet and a half high, and used to la- 

 bour ; but for burden, care must be taken that the goods 

 they carry do not suffer from wet, their propensity to lie 

 down in water being invincible ; wood and bricks are, there- 

 fore, the most common load. The largest of the wild breed, 

 are used by the native princes, to supply the place of Arnees, 

 and fight with tigers in public shows. With the natives, 

 especially the Guallah cast, or herdsmen, they are docile; 

 they ride on their favourites, and spend the night with them 

 in the midst of jungles and forests, without fear of wild 

 beasts. When driven along, the herds keep close together, 

 so that the driver, if necessary, walks from the back of one 

 to the other, perfectly at his convenience. The females 

 are dangerous, while they nurse their calf. In Italy, it is 

 asserted that Buffaloes are again become wild ; the domes- 

 tic, however, both there and in Hungary, are managed by 

 means of a ring passed through the cartilage of the nose : 

 in India, it is a mere rope. The practice is ancient, and it 

 would seem that the Sclavonic Wenden, brought Buffaloes 

 With them to the shores of the Baltic, if we may judge 

 from the armorial bearings of provinces and families, not 

 unfrequent in the North of Germany and Switzerland ; 

 unless we prefer to believe that the Urus or parent of the 



