BOS. 
white flripe. The hoofs are fliort, broad, and black; 
the falfe hoofs large in proportion to thefe. The tail is a 
mere dump ; and the hair of its body, from its great 
length, trails on the ground, fo that the whole animal 
l'eems a llvapelefs trials, without diftinClion of head or tail. 
Thefe animals are confined within a not very extend ve tradl 
in North America. They appear little farther fouth than 
in the country between Churchill river and the river of 
Seals, on the wed tide of Hudfon’sbay ; from thence .they 
inhabit to the latitude of feventy-three degrees north, be¬ 
yond which the human inhabitants of thofe regions have 
not penetrated. They are mod numerous between the la¬ 
titudes fixty-fix and feventy-three degrees. They are alfo 
found in the land of the Cris or Criftinaux and the Alfini- 
poels, as well as among the Attimofpiquay, a nation lup- 
pofed to inhabit about the head of the river of Seals, proba¬ 
bly at no great didance from the South Sea; and it appears 
that they extend louthwards, even to the province of Qui- 
vera and Cibola. Some fkulls of animals of this fpecies 
have been found on the molfy plains near the mouth of 
the river Oby, near Siberia: bur, as the fpecies is not 
known to inhabit that country at prefent, it has been con- 
jedlured that the carcafes to which thefe fkulis belonged 
may have been floated on mall'es of ice from America ; or 
tire fpecies may have been once common to both Alia and 
America. Thefe animals feldom vifit traffs of wood, but 
delight in rotky barren mountains. They run fwiftly, and 
di 1 play great dexterity in climbing rocks. Tiiey are Shot 
bythe Indians for^the lake of their fkins, which make 
the bed and warmed blankets. The flefh taltes drongly 
of mu fit ; and the heart and kidneys particularly are fo 
much infected as to be fcarcely eatable. The red: of the 
body, however, is very wholefome food. The Indians 
dilpofe of the fledi and Ikins at the forts of the Europeans; 
bringing them down every winter in conliderable quanti¬ 
ties. The hair is fo amazingly fine, that dockings have 
been made of it in France, finer than filk. 
5. The buffalo , deferibed by Aridotle as a wild ox. It 
the bps indicus of Pliny, and le baffle of Buffon. It is con- 
liderably larger and dronger than the ox. His horns ex¬ 
tend fora conliderable length in an horizontal diretfion 
front their bafes, and then bend upwards : they are not 
round, but flattened ; and on one fide fliarp. His (kin is 
modly black; his hair thin and Ihort ; his tail bare; and 
his forehead adorned with a tuft of curling hair. The 
body of the buffalo is thicker and fliorrer, his legs longer, 
and his head fmaller in proportion to the fize of his body, 
than that of the ox; his ears are alfo larger, and his Ikin 
thicker and harder. His eyes are white ; his nofe broad 
and fquare ; and he has no dew-lap, His body is of a 
fquare form; his tail Ihorter and more (lender than that of 
our common cattle. The horns of thefe animals are fome- 
times amazingly large. In the Britilh mufeum there is 
one, fix feet fix inches and a half long, weighing twenty- 
one pounds, and fufficiently capacious to hold five quarts. 
Lobo mentions fome in Abyffinia which would hold ten ; 
and Dillon faw fome in India ten feet long. The buffalo 
exifts in a tame and a wild (fate. The wild buffalo is very 
fierce and dangerous, if attacked. He is afraid of fire, and 
highly provoked at the fight of any th-in^ red-coloured. 
He delights to wallow in mud, is fond of the banks of ri¬ 
vers, and is an excellent fwimmer. Even the tame buffalo 
is often a violent and intradable animal ; next to the hog, 
the dirtielt of domeftic cattle ; ungraceful in his appear- 
•ance, and aukvvard in his motions. His voice is deeper 
and ilronger than that of the bull ; and his bellowing hi- 
deoully frightful. Notwithllanding the general refem- 
blance which the form of the buffalo bears to that of the 
common cattle, yet they are diffind fpecies. They refufe 
to copulate rogether : the female buffalo will not fuffer a 
common calf to fuck her, nor will the cow fuckle a young 
buffalo : the female buffalo goes twelvemonths with young; 
our cows only nine. The milk of the buffalo, though in¬ 
ferior in quality to that of the cow, is ufed for the lame 
purpofes : in thofe countries in which the fpecies is dp- 
Vol. III. No. 127. 
22J< 
rneflic, it affords a great deal of cheefe. The flefh of this 
animal is all'q eaten ; but it is black and hard, and of a 
difagrecable talle. The only part that can be called good 
eating, is the tongue. The Ikin is more valuable than the 
flefh ; itisfolid, pretty flexible, and almoft impenetrable; 
and is accordingly prepared into excellent butt. The horns 
are employed in various manufadures. The ftrength and 
lize of the buffalo renders him fuperior to the ox as a bealt 
for the draught. A ring, palled through his nofe, ena¬ 
bles the driver to manage him. He carries his head and 
neck low; and of confequence the whole lirength of the 
body is employed in drawing. Thefe advantages of fize 
and carriage are fo confiderable, that two buffaloes will 
draw as much as four lirong horfes. 
The buffalo is a native of the warm climates. Thefe 
animals abound in India, Abyfilnia, Egypt, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, and in Italy. They 
exilt in a wild fiate in Malabar, Borneo, and Ceylon. The 
negroes of Malabar, and of Guinea, where the) are alfo 
numerous, are fond of hunting them. They mount a tree, 
or hide in a thicket, and (lioqt the buffalo as he pallets; In 
Abyffinia, the buffalo grows twice as large as our ox. On 
account, 'as well of his enormous fize, as of the thicknefs 
and blacknefs of his {kin, he has there obtained a name 
fignifytng taurelephas. In India, the tame buffalo is more 
peaceable and traffable than in any other country. In 
Egypt too, th.is animal is fufficiently manageable.. In the 
neighbourhood of tire Cape of Good Hope, droves of wild, 
buffaloes are frequently met with, which .form a different 
variety of this fpecies, and were firlf deferibed and deli¬ 
neated by Dr. Sparrman in the Swedifh Tran latl ions, un¬ 
der the name of bos coffer ; and in his Travels, under the 
common name. By former natural hiflorians, they had 
fcarcely beeu noticed. The animal from which Sparrman’s 
deferiptign was taken, was .eight feet in length, and five 
feet and a half high; its fore-legs two feet and a half long; 
its larger hoofs five inches in diameter ; and the head, 
between the tip,of the muzzle and the bafes of the horns, 
twenty-two inches. In fha,pe, it bore a conliderable re- 
fenrblance to the common ox ; but its limbs were ftoute.r, 
and its fetlocks hung nearer the ground. The bafes of the 
horns were thirteen indies broad ; and the fpace between 
them not more than an inch. That fpace forms a fort of 
narrow channel or furrow, almoft deflitute of hair. The 
horns rife up, in a fpherical form, to the elevation of about 
three inches. They extend from the nape of the neck to 
within three inches and a half of the eyes. Their cir¬ 
cumference is, of confequence, not lels than eighteen or 
twenty inches. They bend down on cacli fide of the neck; 
and, becoming gradually cylindrical, form each a curve, 
the convex part of which is turned towards the ground, 
and the point rifes up in the air, with a flight inclination 
backwards. The diflance between the points of the horns 
is often above five feet; th.eir colour black; and two-thirds 
of the furface, meafuring from the bale, rough and irre¬ 
gular, with cavities, fometimes an inch deep. The ears 
are a foot in length, rather pendant, and generally notched 
on the edges, and Ihrivelled up in a lingular manner. The 
orbits of the eyes are prominent, and the eyes fomewhat 
funk within them. This hollownefs of the eyes, their 
fituation almoft under the bafes of the horns, and the in¬ 
clined pofition in which the animal generally holds its head, 
give a fierce and treacherous afipeft. They are indeed re¬ 
markably ferocious. A perlon who accompanied the ce¬ 
lebrated Swedifh naturalift Tluinberg into the diftriet of 
Houtniquas, in the neighbourhood of the Cape, happen¬ 
ing to drive before him, on a narrow’ path, two of his 
horfes tied together, they were met by a buffalo, which 
gored the horfes to death, and trampled them under his 
feet; while their owner with great difficulty efcaped his 
fury. The character of this buffalo is alfo.diftingi’iifhed 
by that treachery which is indicated in his countenance. 
He is accuftomed to hide.among the trees, and there wait 
to attack the pafi'enger. Nay, he difplay.s peculiar cruelty, 
for, after throwing down and killing the perlon wh.om .he 
3 M has 
