Species of Bovine Animals. 



6551 



bovines by their hog-like aspect and wallowing habits,* and their 

 relative thick and thinly clad hide, the hairs of which are inserted verti- 

 cally ; in short by their pachydermatous exterior, superadded to the 

 ordinary characters of the group. Their horns are flattened and mostly 

 directed downwards and outwards, with a greater or less inclination 

 backwards, then uncinating or gradually curving upwards to the ex- 

 tremity. They carry the nose horizontally, being much guided by 

 the sense of smell ; and it is a position in which they pass hours in the 

 water, having little more than the nostrils above the surface. Their 

 proportions are heavy, indicative of this aquatic propensity. Though 

 inhabitants of hot climates, no animal is more impatient of heat ; and 

 nothing can prevent the domesticated races from plunging or wallowing 

 whensoever an opportunity offers, at least when weary or over-heated, 

 — which of course unfits them for being laden with any article to which 

 moisture is injurious. They float, and commonly sleep in the water, 

 and cross the broadest rivers with little effort ; the females, when 

 danger from crocodiles or other foes may be apprehended (like hippo- 

 potami), carrying their young upon the back.f They can also run 

 swiftly up to their bellies in the stream. Hills are naturally avoided 

 by them (albeit they thrive in hilly districts), though they scramble up 

 steep acclivities with surprising ease, where horses cannot follow ; and 

 they prefer the coarse plants of the forest, and such as grow in swampy 

 districts, to those of open plains. It is even stated that during the inun- 

 dations of the great tropical rivers these animals frequently dive, and 

 employ their horns to draw aquatic plants to the surface, where they 

 feed on them, while drifting with the stream. J Their habits are, for 

 the most part, gregarious (as with the bovines generally), the leader of 

 a herd expelling the younger males as they acquire prowess to cope 

 with him ; and such banished individuals (like san elephants, &c), are 

 particularly savage and dangerous to encounter. Their voice is a low 

 rumbling moan. In their combats they strike and butt with the fore- 

 head (like all other bovines), endeavour to lift the opponent on their 

 horns, and when thrown, to crush him with their knees : they trample 

 upon the body ; and their vindictive fury is so lasting that they will 

 return again and again to glut their vengeance on the same inanimate 

 corpse. The Cape species tosses like a common bull, as the flexure 



* The American bison, however, is a good deal of a wallower. — Vide Catlin's work 

 and its illustrations. 



f Marsden's ' History of Sumatra,' p. 95. 

 X Pennant's * Hindustan,' vol. i. p. 115. 



