398 WILD ANIMALS. 



lential marshes of the south, are found to be in better condition 

 than the beasts occupying drier and healthier regions. 



The prodigious strength of these tame buffaloes can be under- 

 stood by the following facts which came under the personal ob- 

 servation of an Italian officer, who contributed the details to the 

 author of " The Menagerie." 



" During the building of the new theatre at Parma by Maria 

 Louisa (Buonaparte's widow), I have seen six, and, I believe, some- 

 times eight buffaloes, transport one by one the immense columns of 

 the facade, which are all of one piece of marble, and of a weight that 

 you may conceive from their size and material. This they did with 

 such ease as surprised everybody, while I am convinced from 

 experience that twenty-four of our best oxen would not have 

 been able to move one of the columns. These marble columns were 

 brought as near as Sacca, on the Eiver Po, by water, but from 

 Sacca to Parma is a distance of more than twelve miles, and this 

 the buffaloes performed in one stage without stopping. 



" As to the passage of the bridge on the Taro, where I witnessed 

 another extraordinary proof of the strength of these animals, the 



fact was simply this. Marshal B had been on business at 



Parma, and was in a great hurry to return to Milan. I was charged 

 by Maria Louisa to attend him as an escort of honour as far as 

 Piacenza. We set out in horrible weather, and it had rained the 

 whole of the preceding night and day. On arriving at the Taro, 

 we found that torrent in a fearful state, nor was it possible to pass 

 it except by the new bridge which was not yet finished. Nobody 

 had yet passed it, and the approaches to it on either side (the 

 bridge being built very high) were not only steep, but composed 

 of deep, loose earth, which had not been beaten or secured. It was 

 determined, however, that we should attempt the ascent; but 

 scarcely had we got a third of the way up, when the carriage sank 

 in the mud to the axles of the wheels, and stuck fast in spite of 

 the efforts of four excellent post-horses, and two pairs of oxen put 

 to, to assist them. After toiling for an hour, the thought came 

 into my head to try buffaloes, of which I saw some on the opposite 

 side of the torrent. Only one pair was brought over to us, and 

 the oxen being removed, these animals were put to, in front of the 



