THE OX. 
V 
HISTORY. 
animal has yet been brought to Europe, hut the head and horns have been obtained, and are to be found in various museums in 
England. These horns are of a crescent form, and have been obtained six feet in length, measuring a foot and a half in circum¬ 
ference at the base, and covering from point to point a space of ten feet. The skin of this animal is covered with hair, in which 
respect it differs from others of the genus, and the tail extends no lower than the hock. It is surprising that various naturalists 
should maintain that this species is identical with the Common Buffalo. The widest differences of external form must be disre- 
gaided in discriminating species, if such an opinion can be sustained. This gigantic creature has been seen and killed by British 
sportsmen, and is certainly distinct from the Common Buffalo. He is the Bos Ami of Shaw; the Gigantic Arnee of travellers 
and writers. Another variety of Arnee is more abundant, and congregates in herds. His horns are very long, and have likewise 
a ci escent form. Droves of them are to be seen floating in the Ganges, suffering themselves to be carried by the current to the 
creeks and islands where they feed. But whether this creature differs from the other in any other respect than age, has not been 
determined. 
r l he Common Buffalo, Bos bubcdus , Linn., inhabits the marshy forests of India. These creatures are found both in the wild 
and the tame state throughout Hindostan and other countries of the East. They run with their heads held in a horizontal posi¬ 
tion, so that theii horns rest upon their shoulders. Though more or less independent in their habits, they yet assemble in herds for 
mutual protection, or when in search of food. They avoid the short herbage of hills, preferring the coarser plants of moist woods 
and marshy plains. They delight in water: they float upon the current, and cross without hesitation arms of the sea and the 
bioadest rivers. They are seen to dive as they swim, and drag up by their horns the aquatic plants on which they feed. In the 
domestic state, they retain the love of moist situations: they haunt the banks of rivers; they love to wallow in pools and 
swamps; and will lie for hours in mud, or sunk, their heads alone visible, beneath the water of pools. Whole herds are to be 
seen crossing the Euphrates or the Nile, their keepers directing them, and stepping from back to back as on a floating raft. 
Theii sense of smell is acute, and they are persevering in pursuit of assailants. They are fierce when irritated, and will not turn 
fiom theii enemies. Even the Tiger dreads their formidable strength. When brought to fight with other animals in the arena, 
to affoid a cruel pastime to Indian princes, the courage of the Tiger quails the instant the Buffalo enters the arena: he would 
willingly shun the combat; while the Buffalo, excited to fury at the sight of his natural enemy, bends his head level with the 
ground, that his horns may be in a position to strike, and rushes, notwithstanding the wounds he receives, on his terrible opponent. 
These powerful animals seem to be insensible of fear. When they fight, they strive to lift their enemy on their horns, and when 
he is thrown down, to crush him to death with their knees. Their fury then seems to be insatiable: they trample on the mangled 
body of their victim, and return again and again as if to glut their vengeance. They have a memory tenacious of wrongs, and will 
resent them when occasion offers. Instances are known, when, after having been brutally forced by their keeper to tasks beyond 
their strength, they have seized the first opportunity to rush upon their tyrant and put him to death. Like all the Bovine family, 
they are roused to fury by the sight of scarlet and bright colours. 
The Buffalo is a creature of vast strength, which, in the state of servitude, he exercises in the pulling of loads and the bear¬ 
ing of burdens. In this respect he far surpasses any other of the Bovine family. When yoked in rude waggons and cars, he 
drags them through miry tracks, swamps, and shallow rivers, with a force which no other animal but the Elephant could exert, 
and performs tasks of continued labour, under which the strongest horses and bullocks would sink down and die. His pace, how¬ 
ever, is measured and slow, and unless he is cooled and largely supplied with water, he becomes feeble, and subject to mortal 
diseases. He may be termed the Camel of a country of marshes, but he would perish under the toils and thirst of an arid country. 
Though retaining, in the state of servitude, the sullen aspect and suspicious character which are natural to him, he yet can be re¬ 
duced to complete subjection. He is managed by a ring, or simply by a rope passed through the cartilage of his nose. Much of 
his acquired docility depends upon education and treatment. In Eastern countries, where he is used with gentleness, and care¬ 
fully instructed, he manifests an intelligence in which no other oxen surpass him, and becomes so gentle, that he may be guided 
by a child in all the labours of the field. 
The flesh of the Buffalo is hard and coarse, and could not be endured in countries where a value is set upon delicate animal 
food. His skin is esteemed for its thickness and durability, surpassing greatly in this respect the hide of the Ox. It is so tough 
that it is used for defensive armour by the Javanese and other people of the Indian islands. The milk of the female is nutritive 
and well tasted, but she yields it in smaller quantity than the common cows of Europe, and becomes sooner dry when separated from 
her young, for whom she manifests the strongest affection. 
The Buffalo is extensively domesticated in India, Siam, China, and all the warmer countries of the East. He extends westward 
through Persia and Arabia to the shores of the Red Sea and the Hellespont. He spreads from Egypt along the southern coasts 
of the Mediterranean. He is found in Greece and the islands of the Archipelago, in Spain, Italy, Hungary, and in part of the 
Russian dominions in Europe. 
