bious,
lying for hours half submerged in water and mud.

When travellers make use of the name "common Buffalo," they are usually
understood to mean an animal identical with the Italian species; if this
really be the case, its geographical range must be very extensive. It is
said to inhabit the extensive regions of Hindostan, China, Cochin-China,
Malabar, Coromandel, Persia, and the Crimea; also Abyssinia, Egypt, and
the south of Europe; to which may be added, most of the large islands in
the Indian Sea.

As an article of food, the flesh of this animal is inferior to the beef
of the domestic Ox, but the milk of the female is particularly rich and
abundant; the semi-fluid butter, called _ghee_ in India, is made from
it. According to the testimony of Colonel Sykes, the long-horned variety
is reared in vast numbers in the Mawals, or hilly tracts lying along the
Ghauts:--"In those tracts much rice is planted, and the male Buffalo,
from his superior hardihood, is much better suited to resist the effects
of the heavy rains, and the splashy cultivation of the rice than the
bullock. The female is also infinitely more valuable than the cow, from
the very much greater quantity of milk she yields." The hide is also
much valued for its strength and durability.

In India they are used as beasts of burden; but the nature of the goods
they carry must be such as will not suffer from being wet, as they have
an invincible propensity to lie down in water. The native princes use
them to fight with tigers in their public shows; and from their fierce
and active nature, when excited, they frequently prove more than a match
for their formidable assailants. With the native herdsman, however, they
are generally docile: these men ride on their favorites, and spend the
night with them in the midst of jungles and forests, without fear of
wild beasts. When driven along, the herds keep close together, so that
the driver, if necessary, walks from the back of one to the other,
perfectly at his ease. In the south of Europe they are managed by means
of a ring passed through the cartilage of the nose, but in India it is a
mere rope.

Their fierceness and courage are well exemplified in the following
anecdote, related by Mr. D. Johnson in his interesting 'Sketches of
Indian Field Sports:' "Two Biparies, or carriers of grain and
merchandise on the backs of bullocks, were driving a loaded string of
these animals from Palamow to Chittrah: when they were co