A BUFFALO AND A LION. 
157 
an unequal contest, rush, with its nose between its fore 
legs, its tail in the air, and exhibiting every symptom 
of frantic hostility, towards an elephant, upon which 
a friend of mine was mounted. The wary animal 
calmly waited its approach, with head declined and 
its tusks projected ; — the maddened buffalo plunged 
forward and was completely impaled. After a mo- 
ment, the elephant shook the quivering carcass from 
its tusks, pushed its huge foot upon the still panting 
body, and passed quietly on its way. 
We had not long taken our station in the gallery, 
before the buffalo was driven from its stall. The mo- 
ment it entered the enclosure it began to bellow and 
plunge violently, throwing the dirt from its heels 
into the air at least a dozen feet high. It was a 
bony animal, as large as a Durham ox, though not, 
perhaps, quite so tall, its legs being short in propor- 
tion to its size. It had an immense head, with long 
horns, that curled like those of a ram, whilst its large 
projecting eye and dilated nostril gave it an expression 
of extreme fierceness. There was scarcely any hair 
upon its body, except on the neck and tail : at the 
extremity of the latter appeared a large tuft, very 
thick and coarse. It was altogether a noble creature, 
full of strength and fury, 
“ Crook-knee’d and dew -lapp’d, like Thessalian bulls.” 
After a few moments the bars of the lion’s cage 
were raised, and the kingly animal bounded forward. 
It was one of the finest I had ever seen. A Hindoo 
sage has said that “ the elephant, the lion, and the 
wise man seek their safety in flight ; but the crow, the 
p 
