This last sketch (3) is from a pair of horns in the British Museum, of which the following are the dimensions:—
| Ft. | In. | |
| The horn a, from tip to base, along the outer curve | 6 | 6 |
| The horn b ditto ditto | 6 | 3 |
| Circumference at the base of horn a | 1 | 5 |
| Ditto ditto of horn b | 1 | 6[A] |
The Arnee is by far the largest animal of the Ox tribe yet known. In its native country it is said to measure usually twelve, sometimes fourteen, feet from the ground to the highest part of the back! The one in the vignette, p. 111, comparing it with the man on its back, would not seem to be quite so tall.
From the appearance of the three Arnees in the painting before mentioned, it would seem that they are quite docile, and easily tamed; for they are all standing quietly, with a person on their back, who guides them by means of a rein, formed of a cord fastened to the gristle of the nose, in the Eastern manner. The colour of the animal, in all the three figures, is a pure black, except between the horns, where there is a small tuft of longish hair of a bright red colour.
From the accounts of more recent travellers, there seem to be two or three varieties of this animal, which exist, both in a wild and domestic state, in China as well as India.
According to Major Smith, the gigantic or Taur-elephant Arnee, appears to be rare; found only single, or in small families, in the upper eastern provinces and forests at the foot of the Himalaya. A party of officers of the British Cavalry, stationed in the north of Bengal, went on a three months' hunting expedition to the eastward, and destroyed in that time forty-two Tigers, and numerous wild Buffaloes, but only one Arnee. When the head of this specimen rested perpendicularly on the ground, it required the out-stretched arms of a man to hold the points of the horns. These are described as angular, with the broadest side to the rear; the two others anterior and inferior; they are of a brownish colour, and wrinkled; standing outwards, and not bent back; straight for near two thirds of their length, then curving inwards, with the tips rather back. The face is nearly straight, and the breadth of the forehead is carried down with little diminution to the foremost grinder.
There is a spirited figure of a long-horned Buffalo in Captain Williamson's 'Oriental Field Sports,' which Major Smith considers to be a representation of the great Arnee; and of which Captain Williamson relates the following anecdote:—
"The late Dr. Baillie, who was a very keen and capable sportsman, used, in my idea, to run many very foolish risks among Buffaloes. I often remonstrated with him on his temerity, but he was so infatuated, that it was all to no purpose. One morning, as we were riding on the same elephant to the hunting-ground, to save our horses as much as possible, we saw a very large Buffalo lying on the grass, which was rather short and thin; as usual, the doctor would have a touch at him, and, heedless of my expostulation, dismounted with his gun. The Buffalo, seeing him approach, rose and shook his head as a prelude to immediate hostilities. My friend fired, and hit him on the side. The enraged brute came thundering at the doctor, who lost no time in running round to the opposite side of the elephant; the mohout, at the same time, pushed forward, to meet and screen him from the Buffalo, which absolutely put his horns under the elephant's belly, and endeavoured to raise him from the ground. We had no other gun, and might, perhaps, have felt some more severe effects from the doctor's frolic, had not the Buffalo, from loss of blood, dropped at our side. The Buffalo was upwards of six feet high at the shoulder, and measured nearly a yard in breadth at the chest. His horns were above five feet and a half in length."
In systems of classification, even of very recent date, the Arnee is considered merely as a variety of the Buffalo. It appears to me, however, that our information on the subject is not yet sufficiently precise to determine this point.
