48 S E. V^dil— Notes of a trip up the Diking. [No. 1, 



must be propitiated or evil results will follow. The slightest pain or sicli- 

 ness, is considered the work of a Nat, and must be counteracted by an 

 offering of eatables, a bad spleen will therefore cost a man of standing 

 seven or eight buffaloes, ere he is killed or cured himself, and the chances 

 of the latter are small. 



Any ordinary native doctor should here make a fortune in a very 

 short time, as the people are ready to look on all drugs as charms, more or 

 less, and pay accordingly. In a rice flat west of Bishi we were warned to 

 look out for a wild male buffalo that was gradually becoming one of a herd 

 of tame ones, and which the Singphus soon intended to shoot for a feast ; 

 sure enough as we turned into a small flat of open land we saw about eight 

 or ten buffaloes, mostly lying down, one of these a male then got up and 

 stared at us, gradually but slowly moving off to the edge of the scrub, 

 where he disappeared when we were only about eighty yards off, the others 

 all remained. As an instance, where a large and usually very wild animal 

 can become more or less tamed, and semi- domestic, by associating with 

 tame cattle, it was a very good case, and noteworthy to naturalists. 



The very marked difference towards eastern Asam especially between 

 the tame buffalo there, and in Bengal is due to the above, and that the 

 large wild males so often have access to the tame herds. The Bengali 

 tame buffalo indeed can be usually picked out at once in a mixed herd by 

 the degraded horns. Smaller, more curved down, and giving the frontal 

 region a rounder contour, the horns also are not so nearly in the plane of 

 the face and nose, less effectual as weapons in fact. When two male 

 buffaloes fight they first appear to circle around and take each other's 

 measure. Then suddenly with a rush collide, their heads held down and 

 face to the ground, the skulls meet with a fearful blow. Each then en- 

 deavours to force the other backwards using all their huge force and making 

 the sods and jungle fly. If well matched they struggle thus for some time 

 and endeavour to gore each other's shoulders and neck, by lateral thrusts 

 of the horns, twisting the head round as they push, and this explains the 

 peculiar sweeping curve the horns have as CO- 



Once turned, the victor pursues the vanquished for hours, if not a 

 whole day. At first, strength and weight are the elements in a buffaloe's 

 favour, subsequently speed. The wild males in Asam are at times fully 

 twice the weight of an ordinary male as seen in Bengal. 



After reaching Loang and pitching the camp, I wandered out north 

 for a sketch of Patkai if possible, but the distance all along was haze. 

 Coming home I saw some Singphus returning from " Turong ku," whence 

 they had brought buffalo, and who found Patkai no difficulty. One of the 

 party, a native of Hukong, was particularly inquisitive, and a great opium 

 smoker. 



