ANIMALS* oOY 



If the comparison should be made between the 

 quadrupeds of the torrid zone, the reverse will be 

 found to be the case. The elephant and the rhinoceros 

 cf Asia are much larger than the quadrupeds of Peru 

 and Brasil. The truth is, America is the most fa- 

 vourable to the productions and growth of the qua- 

 i3rupeds of cold climates. Asia is the most favour- 

 able to the productions, and growth of the quadru- 

 peds of a hot climate. But the greatest of ail animals, 

 the mammoth, was not an animal of the torrid, but 

 of the temperate zone ; and was the production of 

 both countries, of Asia, and of America.* 



The bison of North America has a very extensive 

 range, being found six hundred miles west of Hud- 

 son's bay, and also in the province of Mexico. They 

 inhabit Canada to the west of the lakes, and in great- 

 er abundance in the rich savannas which border on 

 the river Mississippi, and the great i^ivers falling 

 into it from the west, in Upper Louisiana : they are 

 seen feeding in herds innumerable, promiscuously 

 •with multitudes of stags and deer. 



This animal is confounded with the buffalo, an 

 animal which has already been described in the ac- 

 count of Italy. ....The bison has short black rounded 

 horns, with a great space between their bases ; their 

 shoulders are much elevated, so that th^ depth from 

 the withers through to the brisket is greater in pro- 

 portion than perhaps in any other creature. The 

 hinder parts taper away, and are comparatively of 

 a diminutive size ; the tail is about a foot long, nak- 

 ed to the end, which is tufted ; the legs are short and 

 thick. 



* Williams's Hist. Vermont, 



