BUFFALO, a name frequently misapplied to the American bison, but more properly desig nating a type of heavy oxen, of the tropics of the Old World, long domesticated in the Orient. Buffalo are characterized by their long, angu lated horns, broad and flat at the base, so as to form in some cases a shield over the forehead; and by their broad, splay feet, particularly adapted to wading in muddy waters, where they mainly feed on aquatic grasses and other plants. There are three distinct species.
The largest and fiercest buffalo is the black °cape? or South African species (Bos caffer) found throughout the entire south of Africa, northward to Abyssinia. It reaches a length of six feet, and in old bulls the relatively short horns join at their bases, so as to form a helmet-like mass, which makes the head almost invulnerable. The horns curve °outward, down ward, and backward, and then forward, up ward, and inward? This buffalo is bluish black, and nearly hairless. Its chief enemies are the lion and man, whose combined efforts have greatly decreased its numbers. The buffalo are warned of the approach of danger by the buffalo-birds (q.v.), which constantly hover near them. Another species (B. pumilus) is widely scattered throughout the west and central parts of Africa. It is smaller than the more southern species, and is chestnut in color. The most widely domesticated of the buffalo is that of India (B. bubalus), called °and* (feminine °arna") by the Hindu. It differs
greatly in appearance from the African species, having a cow-shaped head, and long, much flattened, triangular horns, covered with trans verse wrinkles, which curve regularly outwards and backwards toward the shoulder, and do not form a buckler over the forehead. The bull is ashy-black in color, frequently with white feet, and is smaller than the African buffalo, never exceeding 16 hands at the withers. It is in the wild state an animal of tremendous power and ferocity, and is regarded by sports men as one of the most dangerous beasts of the jungle. It has long been employed in the rice-fields of the Orient, as far east as Japan; the ordinary °water-buffalo)" or acarabao° of the Philippines is a small variety. It was long ago introduced into Egypt for service in the boggy lowlands of the Delta, and is now ex tending up the Nile to the lake regions of central Africa. A variety exists in the Niger Valley, and another, called °sanga,p and dis tinguished by its very long horns, is domesti cated in Abyssinia. The Indian buffalo is also employed in marshy farming districts in Tur key, Hungary, Italy and Spain, where it is able to work in ground too wet and soft for the other cattle, and to pasture upon coarse, marsh grasses. Its hide makes good leather, and its milk is excellent, and is greatly used in India for the making of the semi-fluid butter called °ghee? See BISON.