1875.] 



Buffaloes and Tapirs. 



49 



123, Bubalus ABNI (J. 239). 

 Bos ami, Shaw. 



The Indian Buffalo exists wild, whether or not indigenously so, and 

 everywhere in the domestic state ; and, as the calves obtain their full supply 

 of milk, the tame Buffaloes in Burma assume their full development, and 

 are not stunted in their growth, as in most parts of India. The Rev. E. Mason 

 remarks that u there are great numbers of wild Buffaloes in the jungles 

 of the South, which are supposed by the natives to be indigenous ; but they 

 are more probably of the domestic race that have run wild, like the wild 

 Horses of America.' ' The Indian Buffalo now abounds in a state of wildness 

 in the north of Australia, where they have spread from Port Essington, 

 and there are many in the delta of the Nile, where also they must needs have 

 descended from domestic stock. 



Erom Crawfurd's description of the animal it would seem that Bos 

 sondaicus is domesticated in Siam. He, however, styles it B. taurus ? " The 

 Bos taurus" he remarks, "is found wild in the Siamese forests, and exists 

 very generally in the domestic state, particularly in the northern provinces. 

 Those we saw about the capital were short limbed, compactly made, and 

 frequently without horns. They were generally of a red or a dark-brown 

 colour, and never of the white or grey, so prevalent amongst the cattle 

 of Hindustan. They also want the hump over the shoulders, which charac- 

 terizes the latter. They are used only in agricultural labour, for their milk 

 is too trifling in quantity to be useful, and the slaughter of them, publicly 

 at least, is forbidden even to strangers. "When, during our stay, we wanted 

 beef for our table, our servants were obliged to go three or four miles out 

 of town, and to slaughter the animals at night. The wild cattle, for the 

 protection of religion does not extend to them, are shot by professed hunts- 

 men on account of their hides, horns, bones, and flesh, which last, after being 

 converted into jerk beef, forms an article of commerce to China."* 



*9 



Fam. Tapiridse. 

 Tapirs. 

 124. Tapieus malayaktjs. 



Tapirus malat/anus, .Raffles, F. Cuvier, Mamm. Lithog. i. p. 87. Ta-ra-shu, Mason. 



The Malayan Tapir inhabits the Tenasserim provinces as high as the 



15th deg. north lat. ; also Lower Siam, the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, 



and Borneo ; if not likewise the southern provinces of China, where the 



species is not likely to be a different one. " Though seen so rarely, v 



* Embassy to Siam and Cochin China, ii. p. 192. 



