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a89r.] The Island of Mindoro. 1049 
_ tree that he could climb in case of trouble, he fired at its shoulder, 
and it fell, but got up immediately and came on toward the smoke, 
when Mateo fired again, and again knocked him ddwn; and he 
repeated this until the animal was within thirty yards, when a 
bullet through his brain finished him, and, charging up the bank, 
he fell back into the little brook dead. A rude sledge of poles 
was built and the tame buffalo harnessed to this, and we set out 
up the river and along the beach until nearly opposite the game, 
when half an hour’s hacking at cane-brake and bushes opened the 
way to our prize. We then rolled him upon our sledge, and, 
tying him fast by the horns, dragged him to our camp. To have 
actually been the first of civilized men to see and describe a 
mammal of this size and importance is a rare experience, and one 
that is fast growing rarer, as all parts of the earth are becoming 
known. There was no doubt of the relationship of the beast at 
first sight. It was a water buffalo, but so differing in size and 
color and shape of head and direction of horns from the ordinary 
species of the Philippines as to make it not only a distinct 
Species, but also to probably place it in another genus. Our 
Specimen was an old male, the size of a small Jersey cow, but 
lower and heavier, the body and limbs being almost perfectly 
round, and looking as if swollen with fat. It was lead-black in 
color, with lighter markings on head, legs, and under parts, with 
thin, short hair, a little switch-tail like a swine, and nearly 
straight, sharp, black horns, which ran upward and backward, 
Spreading but little more than the width of the head, and being in 
line at the tips with the nose and eye. This narrowness and back- 
ward set of the horns gave the animal a peculiar look, but must be 
especially fitted for crowding its way through the wild vines and 
cane-brakes where it passes its life, the nose being thrust forward 
as with the water buffalo, and the horns thrown back on the 
neck. The skin was of immense thickness, and was entirely cov- 
ered with gore marks of many battles. One rib had been broken 
and mended, and the old fellow was just recovering from a horn- 
thrust clean through one of his fore legs. Whether these were 
marks of battles among the ¢amarou themselves, or with the 
~ imarones (buffaloes ai) oe but the 
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