REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
209 
enclosures, but separated from each other by a double fence. They tried 
many times to get at closer quarters, but the division between the fences 
made it seem a hopeless proposition for years. Eventually, however, 
they did get together by breaking down the two barriers during the dead 
of night. The Cape buffalo was much weightier than the other. He 
was a huge, shaggy, black-coated animal, with very strong horns that 
seemed to monopolise the whole front of his unwieldy head, and they 
could almost be used as a battering ram for anything, so well were they 
designed for butting purposes. All the staff thought that if ever a 
fight did come off between these two formidable antagonists the African 
‘Tt was a famous victory,” 
would get decidedly the better of it, for though his horns were not as 
long as the European’s, size and strength were expected to more than 
outweigh this supposedly slight disadvantage. However, when the 
keepers reached their paddocks one morning they found that the divid- 
ing fences had been smashed to matchwood and there was ample evidence 
of a terrific battle having been waged in the hours of darkness. The 
water buffalo was resting from his labors, apparently unperturbed and 
certainly unharmed. He had not a mark of conflict about him. The 
Cape buffalo, that had been thought so superior in strength to the 
European, was standing dejectedly at the bottom of the paddock, evidently 
very sorely hurt. He was driven back into his own compound, and the 
