ve, must often have been led captive to the abodes of the
primitive people. As is common with all gregarious animals which have
long acknowledged the authority of their natural herdsmen, the dominant
males of their tribe, these creatures lent themselves to domestication.
Even the first generation of the captives reared by hand probably showed
a disposition to remain with their masters; and in a few generations
this native impulse might well have been so far developed that the
domestic herd was established, affording perhaps at first only flesh and
hides, and leading the people who made them captives to a nomadic
life--that constant search for fresh fields and pastures new which
characterizes people who are supported by their flocks and herds.

It is a curious fact that the kindred of the buffaloes and bisons
differ exceedingly in the measure of their domesticability. Thus, the
ordinary buffalo of Asia, though a dull brute, is very subjugable,
even in the literal sense, for he makes a tolerable beast for the
plough and bears the yoke with due patience. His African kinsman, on
the other hand, is perhaps the most unconquerable of all the large
wild animals. The late Sir Samuel Baker, in answer to my question as
to what wild form was the most to be feared in combat, unhesitatingly
answered, "The African buffalo, the bulls of which charge home upon
any aggressor with an immediate and determined fury, which often
enables them to kill the hunter after they have been shot through the
brain." Our American bison, though a much milder-spirited beast, seems
also to be essentially undomesticable for the reason that he cannot be
taught to subordinate his desires to the will of man. He can readily
be brought to the point where he will tolerate captivity; but if, when
engaged in ploughing, it occurs to him that he needs water, he will
straightway go in search of it, not in a vicious, but in a perfectly
obdurate manner. This quality of mind appears to be accountable for
the failure of the many experiments which have been made to
domesticate this interesting American form.

The limitations of the domesticating work, the fact that as between
two kindred species the one has been chosen by man and the other left,
indicate the truth--which is generally of much importance--that the
intellectual qualities of animals commonly differ more than their
frames. This is a part of the larger fact that with the advance in
organization the individualit