The true Indian buffalo is usually shot from the back of an elephant. Hunting it on foot is dangerous in the extreme, for the buffalo can crash through obstacles which would prevent any man from making his way through them when escaping. When domesticated, the Indian buffalo loses most traces of its savageness; it is habitually managed by the children, who take the herds out to graze in the jungle, and drive them back, often riding on one of the bulls, at night. They dislike Europeans, and often show this by attacking them; but otherwise they are quite tame, and are docile when in harness or carrying burdens. The buffalo's milk is very rich, and makes a much larger percentage of butter than ordinary cow's milk. So useful is this mud- and water-loving animal in all swampy districts, that wherever rice is cultivated it is almost indispensable. The result is that the Indian buffalo has been transported, probably in comparatively modern times, to many distant quarters of the globe. When this was done is not known; but it is probable, for instance, that it was not known in Egypt in the days of the Pharaohs, for its form never appears in the paintings and sculptures. Now it is seen very far up the Nile, and plays an important part in Egyptian agriculture; it is also the general beast of burden and for the dairy in the Pontine Marshes of Italy. In Spain it was probably introduced by the Arabs, and is used to cultivate the marshy plains near the mouths of the rivers of Andalusia; it is also in use in the marshes of Hungary, in the Crimea, and across Western Asia to Afghanistan. We have thus the curious fact that a wild animal once confined to the jungles of the Indian Peninsula is now domesticated on two other continents. It has not been introduced into America yet, though it would be useful in the Mississippi swamps; but the Chinese have taken it to the Far East, and established it as their favourite beast of burden.
The Tamarau and Anoa.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.
A PAIR OF ANOAS.
The anoa is the smallest and most antelope-like member of the Ox Tribe.
In the island of Mindoro, in the Philippines, a small black buffalo, with upright, slightly incurved horns, is found in the dense forests. The height at the shoulder is about 3 feet 6 inches; a few irregular marks of white are found on the fore legs, face, and occasionally the throat. It is called the Tamarau by the natives, most of whom fear to attack it. Its habits are said to be much the same as those of the other buffaloes; but it is reputed to fight with the Indian buffaloes which have escaped and become semi-wild in the forests.
In Celebes a still smaller wild forest-buffalo is found, called the Anoa. It is only 3 feet 3 inches high at the shoulder, and has upright, almost straight horns. The general colour is brownish, tinged with yellow, that of the adults being very dark brown or black. Scarcely anything is known of its habits.
THE MUSK-OX.
The Musk-ox was formerly found in immense numbers on the barren lands and other regions bordering on the Arctic ice. The hair of this animal reaches almost to the ground, and the horns are large and massive. At present it is only common in the corner of North America north and east of a line drawn from Fort Churchill, on Hudson Bay, to the mouth of the Mackenzie, and on the adjacent islands of the Arctic Sea. In former Arctic expeditions the flesh of the musk-oxen was a great and reliable source of food. Now some parts of the herds seem to have retired inland, and in the winter to become mainly forest-dwellers; but large numbers seem to endure the coldest parts of the Arctic winter in the open country of the Far North, in the snows of Grinnell Land and of Northern Greenland. The remains of musk-oxen have been found in the river gravels of the Thames Valley, with those of the reindeer and other northern species. The musk-ox gallops at a great rate of speed when disturbed in the open, and makes as little of a steep mountain-side as does the wild sheep. When fat, the flesh is very tolerable food; but if the animals grow thin, the taste of musk is very unpleasant. The colour of the coat is dark brown; it is now in great demand for sledge-rugs in Canada. This remarkable animal appears to be a form standing apart both from the oxen and the sheep.