Buffaloes.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



171 



is said to vary. We have seen an example in which 

 the tail was black. 



The yak is a native of the mountains of Thibet, 

 and when wild is said to be savage and dangerous ; 

 it is, however, reclaimed, and a domestic breed is 

 kept by the natives of the range tenanted by the 

 animal in its wild condition. The yak is perhaps 

 the Poephagus described by iElian ; from an early 

 period its tail was used as a standard by the Mon- 

 gols and Tartars, being one of the distinguishing in- 

 signia of superior officers. In India these tails are 

 mounted on ivory or silver handles, and, under the 

 name of chowries, are used to brush away the flies ; 

 elephants of state are taught to carry a splendidly 

 mounted chowrie in their proboscis, and wave it 

 backwards and forwards. 



Of the habits of the yak in a state of freedom 

 little or nothing is known. As regards the do- 

 mestic yak, Turner, in 'Account of an Embassy to 

 China,' after giving a description of it, observes 

 that " these cattle, though not large-boned, seem, 

 from the profuse quantity of hair with which they 

 are provided, to be of great bulk ; they have a 

 downcast heavy look, and appear, what indeed they 

 are, sullen and suspicious, discovering much im- 

 patience at the near approach of strangers. They 

 do not low loud, like the cattle of England, any 

 more than those of Hindostan, but make a low grunt- 

 ing noise, scarcely audible, and that but seldom, 

 when under some impression of uneasiness. These 

 cattle are pastured in the coldest parts of Thibet 

 upon the short herbage peculiar to the mountains 

 and bleak plains. The chain of mountains situated 

 between the latitudes 27° and 28°, which divides 

 Thibet from Bootan, and whose summits are mostly 

 clothed with snow, is their favourite haunt. In this 

 vicinity the southern glens afford them food and 

 shelter during the severity of winter ; in milder 

 seasons the northern aspect is more congenial to 

 their nature, and admits a wider range. They are 

 a very valuable property to the tribes of itinerant 

 Tartars called Duckba, who live in tents, and tend 

 them from place to place ; they at the same time 

 afford their herdsmen an easy mode of conveyance, 

 a good covering, and wholesome subsistence. They 

 are never employed in agriculture, but are extremely 

 useful as beasts of burden, for they are strong, sure- 

 footed, and carry a great weight. Tents and ropes 

 are manufactured of their hair, and amongst the 

 humbler ranks of herdsmen I have seen caps and 

 jackets made of their skins. The best requital with 

 which the care of their keepers is at length rewarded 

 for selecting them good pastures, is in the abun'dant 

 quantity of rich milk which they give, and in the 

 butter produced from it, which is most excellent. 

 It is their custom to preserve this in skins or blad- 

 ders, and the air being thus excluded from it, it 

 will keep in this cold climate throughout the year ; 

 so that after some time tending their herds, when 

 a sufficient store is accumulated, it remains only to 

 load their cattle and drive them to a proper market 

 with their own produce, which constitutes, to the 

 utmost verge of Tartary, a most material article of 

 commerce." 

 Genus Anoa : — 



746.— The Anoa 

 {Anoa depressicornis). Our figure represents the 

 horns of this rare animal, which has been considered 

 by some naturalists as belonging to the antelopes, 

 by others to the Ox tribe ; this uncertainty arises 

 from the circumstance that though the animal has 

 been noticed for many years, only a few fragments 

 of skulls and horns have hitherto been brought to 

 Europe. 



The horns are erect, perfectly straight, and in the 

 plane of the forehead; they are about the same 

 length as the head, that is, about nine orten inches, 

 strongly depressed or flattened in front, of nearly 

 the same breadth till within three inches of the ex- 

 tremities, whence they are rather attenuated to the 

 tips, which are bluntly pointed, and irregularly 

 wrinkled, or rather crumbled throughout the greater 

 part of their length. The head is long and narrow, 

 terminating in a broad muzzle. 



Mr. Pennant is the first naturalist who has men- 

 tioned this animal, but he has given no account of 

 its characters, and merely relates, that it is about 

 the size of a middling sheep, is wild and fierce, and 

 resides in large herds among the rocky mountains 

 of the island of Celebes. He considers it as a small 

 species of wild buffalo, and adds, that it is cap- 

 tured only with great difficulty, and is so fierce in 

 confinement, that some of these animals, belonging 

 to Governor Loten, in one night ripped up the 

 bellies of fourteen stags which were kept in the 

 same paddock with them. The next author who 

 mentions the anoa from original documents or per- 

 sonal observatiqn is Colonel Hamilton Smith, who 

 in the fourth volume of Griffith's translation of the 

 ' R&gne Animal,' describes the head and horns, and 

 considers the animal as a species of antelope. 

 Colonel Smith's fragment was brought from Celebes 



by the late Dr. Clarke Abel, who obtained it on his 

 return from China in the suite of Lord Amherst; 

 but since that period various other heads have been 

 brought to Europe, some of which are deposited in 

 the British Museum and in the collection of the 

 London Zoological Society. 

 Genus Bvbalus : — • 



747. — The Aunee, or Urna 

 (Bos Ami of Shaw and others). The Arnee is by 

 some naturalists regarded as nothing more than the 

 wild ordinary buffalo ; but we are inclined to the 

 opinion that it is a distinct species, as we think is 

 clearly evidenced by the characters of the horns, 

 which are not uncommon in museums, though no 

 specimen of the animal itself exists in Europe. It 

 tenants the high lands of Hindostan, and is known 

 in Bengal and the neighbouring provinces by the 

 name of Arna. It is described as a large and for- 

 midable beast, conspicuous for strength, courage, 

 and ferocity. The horns of this animal, which we 

 have figured (Fig. 747), are remarkable for their 

 enormous size, often measuring from four to six feet 

 in length. They rise upwards, first inclining out- 

 wards and backwards, and then, arching gradually 

 towards each other as they proceed to the points, 

 form together a bold crescent : they are compressed 

 on their anterior and posterior surfaces, and rough 

 with numerous transverse furrows and ridges. The 

 chaff ron is narrow and convex. 



748, 749, 750. — The Common Buffalo 



(Bos bubahs). The Buffalo has been long domes- 

 ticated in India, where its services as a beast of 

 draught and burden render it extremely valuable. 

 From India it has spread into Egypt, Greece, Italy, 

 and Spain. 



The buffalo differs materially in its form and 

 general aspect from the ox, being a heavier and 

 more clumsy animal, as well as more powerful. 

 Though lower in stature than the bull, it is more 

 massive in the body, which is supported on short, 

 thick, solid limbs ; the hide is coarse and dense, 

 covered rather sparingly with black wiry hair. The 

 head is large, and carried with the muzzle project- 

 ing ; the forehead is convex, the muzzle large ; the 

 horns are compressed, and lie back, turning up 

 laterally and often attaining to a large size, but the 

 direction seldom allows the points to be used for 

 goring ; the ears are large and pendulous ; the 

 dewlap is small; the eyes are wild, savage, and 

 malicious in expression ; the tail is long and 

 slender. 



In its native regions the buffalo is a formidable 

 animal, and capable of contending with the tiger, 

 which is often foiled in the deadly strife. When 

 excited, the beast rushes desperately on its foe, 

 strikes him down with the horns or forehead, kneels 

 upon him, crushing in his chest, and then tramples 

 on the lifeless body, as if to satiate its vindictive 

 fury. Its natural temper, indeed, renders it difficult 

 to tame, and difficult to manage, while its pro- 

 digious strength and adaptation for certain localities 

 render it a valuable acquisition. The hot morass 

 teeming with pestilence is the genial abode of the 

 buffalo, and its delight is to wallow in the stagnant 

 water, where it will luxuriate for hours during the 

 heat of the day, with its black muzzle just elevated 

 above the surface. Its flesh is hard and unsavoury, 

 but the milk of the buffalo-cow is of peculiar rich- 

 ness, and in the East a considerable quantity of 

 butter is procured from it. The hide is greatly 

 esteemed for its solidity and toughness. Colonel 

 Sykes states that the long-horned variety of the 

 buffalo is bred in great numbers in the Maw r als, or 

 hilly tracts along the Ghauts : " in those tracts much 

 rice is planted, and the male buffalo, from his 

 superior hardihood, is much better suited to resist 

 the effects of the heavy rains and the splashy culti- 

 vation of the rice than the bullock. The female 

 is also infinitely more valuable than the cow, 

 from the very much greater quantity of milk she 

 yields." 



Dillon states that the buffalo at Malabar is 

 larger than the ox, with white eyes, and flat horns, 

 often two feet long ; its legs are thick and short ; 

 " It is an ugly animal, almost destitute of hair, goes 

 slowly, but carries very heavy burdens. Herds 

 may be seen, as of common cows, and they afford 

 milk, which serves to make butter and cheese ; 

 their flesh is good, though less delicate than that of 

 the ox : the animal swims perfectly well, and tra- 

 verses the broadest rivers. Besides the tame ones, 

 there are wild biiffaloes, which are extremely dan- 

 gerous, tearing men to pieces, or crushing them 

 with a single blow of the head. They are less to be 

 dreaded in the woods than elsewhere, because their 

 horns often catch in the branches and give time to 

 the persons pursued to escape by flight. The 

 skin of these animals serves for an infinity of pur- 

 poses, and even cruses are made of them for hold- 

 ing water or liquors : the animals on the coast of 

 Malabar are almost all wild, and strangers are not 



prevented from hunting them for their flesh." In 

 Ceylon, as in Malabar ^ the buffalo exists both in a 

 wild and domesticated state, and the tame herds 

 are not unfrequently joined by wild individuals, 

 which the inhabitants sometimes entrap, and at 

 other times shoot. Buffaloes, it would appear, are 

 more common in Bombay than in Bengal. At 

 Boitpoor, Bishop Heber was shown a white buffalo, 

 probably an albina, which was pointed out by the 

 Indians as a rare curiosity. 



From India the buffalo is distributed throughout 

 Siam, Cochin-China, Malacca, and the , adjacent 

 islands, as Sumatra, Java, Borneo, &c, together 

 with the Philippines ; it is also common in China, 

 where it is used in the various labours of agri- 

 culture. 



In Africa it is abundant along the Nile, and in 

 other districts, existing in a wild or emancipated 

 state, as well as in a state of domestication. In 

 Abyssinia, more particularly in the forests of Ras 

 el Fil, the buffalo is very common ; its skin is chiefly 

 employed in that country for the making of shields, 

 in which considerable art is displayed. 



In the middle ages the buffalo was introduced 

 into Spain and Italy, where in course of time the 

 animal became naturalised, and in some districts 

 may be regarded as in a state of nature. 



We have already alluded to the Maremma of 

 Italy ; in the worst parts of that pestilential tract of 

 country, there the savage buffalo may be seen, roam- 

 ing at will, under the care of wild keepers, buffa- 

 lari, whose lives are passed in this dangerous 

 employment. Wherever large herds of buffaloes 

 occur, they may be taken as the sure index of mal- 

 aria. In the wild provinces of the Calabrias, 

 where most of the plains and valleys are always 

 partially swamped by the Laino, the Chratis, the 

 Amato, and numerous other rivers and torrents, they 

 are very common; they range, almost the only 

 occupants, over the plains of Paestum, and the still 

 wilder and more extensive fiats of Apulia. The 

 Pontine Marshes offer them a favourite retreat, and 

 in the Pestilential Maremme, both of Rome and 

 Tuscany, scarcely any other animals, except wild 

 boars, are ever seen. In northern Italy, where there 

 is infinitely less malaria than in the south, they 

 occur in greatest numbers where the causes of that 

 pest exist, and where its effects are often felt, in 

 the inundated rice-grounds of Lombardy, in the 

 marshes formed by the overflowing of the Po, 

 the Tanaro, the Ticino, or of some other rivers or 

 lakes. 



In every part of Italy, but especially in the south, 

 are buffaloes used as beasts of burden, and their 

 strength and perseverance render them available in 

 many emergencies when oxen or horses would fail. 

 In some of the marshy plains of Calabria communi- 

 cation would be almost impracticable were it not 

 for the buffalo. There are not only morasses, 

 swamps, and bogs in every direction, but rivers 

 suddenly swollen to torrents in rainy weather, and 

 unprovided with bridges of any sort, frequently 

 occur. Here horses, mules, or oxen are useless, but 

 a pair of good buffaloes working chest-deep in the 

 mud will, slowly indeed, but surely, drag a large 

 carro with its goods or passengers through them. 

 Yoked to a high cart with wheels of prodigious 

 diameter, they will fearlessly take to the swollen 

 torrent, and, provided the water does not entirely 

 cover them, drag it safely to the opposite bank. 

 On the greaf plain of Apulia the buffalo is the 

 ordinary beast of draught, and at the annual fair 

 held at Foggia at the end of May, immense droves 

 of almost wild buffaloes are brought to the town 

 for sale. Fearful accidents occasionally happen, 

 enraged animals breaking from the dense mass in 

 spite" of all the exertions of the buffalari, and rushing 

 upon some object of their vengeance, whom they 

 strike down and trample to death. It is dangerous 

 to over-work or irritate the buffalo, and instances 

 are known in which, when released by the brutal 

 driver from the cart, they have turned instantly 

 upon the man, and killed him before any assistance 

 could be rendered. 



The buffalo, as well as the bull, is baited in the 

 amphitheatres of Italy. One kind of sport with the 

 buffalo is called La Botta. (Fig. 748.) A large 

 tube made of wicker-work or other flexible mate- 

 rials well wadded without and within, and open at 

 both ends, looking in short like a cask or butt 

 (whence its name) with the ends stove in, is rolled 

 across the arena. Presently a man creeps into this 

 botta, and then lifting it up on end, rises on his feet 

 and begins to move, with his head peeping above the 

 cask towards the buffalo, who at first stares bewil- 

 dered at the sight, and then runs and upsets the 

 novel object. In this game the man must be careful, 

 when the charge is made, to draw in his head and legs, 

 and keep himself entirely covered, like a tortoise in 

 bis shell. The buffalo seeing that the botta no 

 longer moves, kicks it, butts at it for a while, causing 

 it to roll along, and then leaves it, but presently the 

 cask is again raised on end, and moved by the man 



