The Zebu is another variety of the Bus Taurus. They are all equally docile and gentle when tamed, and are in general covered with fine glossy hair, softer and more beautiful than that of the common cow. Their humps are of different sizes, in some weighing from forty to fifty pounds, but in others less. That part is in general considered as a great delicacy, and when dressed has much the appear ance and taste of udder. Fig. 3.
The Bisons of Madagascar and Malabar are of the great kind ; those of Arabia Petrea, and most parts of Africa, are of the Zebu or small kind. In America, es pecially towards the north, the American ox is well known. They herd together in droves of from one or two hundred to eight or ten thousand, on the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, where the in habitants hunt them, their flesh being esteemed good eating. They all breed with the tame cow.
The oxen of India are of different sizes, and are made use of in travelling, as sub stitutes for horses. Their common pace is soft. Instead of a bit, a small cord is passed through the cartilage of the nos trils, which is tied to a larger cord, and serves as a bridle. They are saddled like horses ; and, when pushed, move very briskly : they are likewise used in draw ing chariots and carts. For the fbrnier purpose white oxen are in great esteem, and much admired. They will perform journies of sixty days, at the rate of from twelve to fifteen leagues a day, and their travelling pace is generally a trot. In Persiathere are many oxen entirely white, with small blunt horns, and humps on their backs. They are very strong, and carry heavy burthens. When about to be load ed, they drop down on their knees like the camel, and rise when their burthens are properly fastened.
Bos babylus, or ox with horns lying backwards, turning inwards, and flat on the fore part. In its general ap pearance, the buffalo is so nearly allied to the common ox, that, without an at tentive examination, it might pass for a variety of the same animal. It differs, however, in the form of its horns, and in some particulars relative to its internal structure. The buffalo is rather superior in size to the common ox ; the head larger in proportion ; the forehead higher ; the muzzle of a longer form, but at the same time broad and square : but it is principally the form of the horns that distinguishes the buffalo. They are large, and of a compressed or depressed form, with the exterior edge sharp. The buf falo has an appearance of great strength, and a more ferocious or malignant aspect than the bull, owing to the convexity of his forehead, the smallness of his eyes, the flatness of his muzzle, and the flatter and more inclined position of his horns.
The general or prevailing colour of the buffalo is blackish. except the hair on the top of the forehead, and that at the tip of the tail, which is of a yellowish white ; the skin itself is also of a black colour ; and from this general cast it is but very seldom observed to vary. As the buffalo in his domesticated state is, in general, larger and stronger than the ox, he is em ployed with advantage in different kinds of labour. Buffaloes are made to draw heavy loads, and are commonly directed and restrained by means of a ring passed through the nose. Two buffaloes yoked, or rather chained, to a cart, are able to draw as much as four strong horses. As they carry their neck and head low, the whole weight of their body is employed in drawing ; and their mass much surpass es that of a labouring horse. In its ha bits the buffalo is much less cleanly than the ox, delighting to wallow in the mud ; and, next to the hog, may he considered as the dirtiest of domesticated quadru peds. His voice is deeper, more uncouth, and hideous, than that of the bull. The milk of the female buffalo is said, by some authors, to be not so good as that of the cow ; but it is more plentiful, and is used for the purposes of the dairy in the warm er regions.
Italy is the country where buffaloes . are at present most common, in a domes. ticated state ; being used, as in India, both for the dairy and for draught. The district of the Pontine marshes is the spot which may be considered as their princi pal station. In India this animal is occa sionally used for the saddle, as a substi tute for the horse.
The buffalo, like other animals of this genus, admits of varieties as to size and figure. Of these the most remarkable is the small naked Indian buffalo of Mr. Pen nant, which is the size of a runt, with a nearly naked body, thinly beset with brist ly hair ; the rump and thighs quite bare : the first being marked on each side with dusky stripes pointing downwards, the last with two transverse stripes ; the horns compressed sideways, taper, and sharp at the point. It is a native of India. Another variety, still smaller, is said to occur in the mountains of the Celebes, which are full of caverns. This variety is of the size of a mid dling sheep, and is seen in small herds, ve ry wild, and difficult to be taken; and even . in confinement are so fierce, that Mr. 1Pennant records an instance of fourteen • stags being destroyed in the space of a .single night by one of these animals, which was kept in the same paddock. Fig. 4.