THE BUFFALOES. 



117 



the tail thin but long, the hide almost naked 

 and very dark*. The Cape buffalo lives in 

 pretty numerous herds throughout South and 

 Central Africa as far as the 17th degree of 

 northern latitude. It is fond of plains and 

 marshy forests, and delights to remain the 



whole day buried in mud up to the shoulders 

 in order to protect itself against insects by 

 which it is infested, and from which it is partly 

 delivered by birds that settle on its back. 

 Terrible battles are waged between the bulls 

 in the season of heat, and the vanquished 



Fig. 192. — The Cape Buffalo {Buialus eager) 



animals roam about in solitary savageness, 



and are then highly dangerous even to man. 



The Cape buffalo is, in fact, more dreaded 



by the natives than the lion. The solitary 



bulls dash with blind fury on everything that 



comes in their way, and conceal themselves 



in the bush or even behind trees in order to 



fall unexpectedly on men or animals passing 



by. All the accounts of travellers in those 



regions are filled with narratives of disastrous 



encounters with these terrible buffaloes, and 



there is not a village in which one does not 



meet with persons who have been maimed 



by them. When caught young they may be 



tamed to a certain degree, but they are always 

 to be dreaded on account of their liability to 

 outbursts of fury. The hunting of the buffalo 

 is dangerous. The flesh is good, and the 

 thick leather made from its hide of the first 

 quality. 



The buffaloes of Asia have compressed 

 horns placed on the sides of the brow at some 

 little distance from one another. Their bases 

 do not meet in the middle line. 



To this group belongs the Common Buffalo 

 {Bubalus vulgaris), which occurs both tame 

 and wild in India, and has been introduced 

 into Europe and Egypt, where in some dis- 



