Whenever a Cow Bison falls by the murdering hand of the hunters,

and happens to have a Calf, the helpless young-one, far from attempting to escape, stays by its fallen Dam, with signs expressive of strong natural affection. The Dam thus secured, the hunter makes no attempt on the Calf, (knowing that to be unnecessary,) but proceeds to cut up the carcass: then, laying it on his horse, he returns home followed by the Calf, which thus instinctively attends the remains of its Dam. I have seen a single hunter ride into town followed in this manner by three Calves, all of which had just lost their Dams by this cruel hunter."

AMERICAN BISON-FEMALE IN THE DISTANCE.

This gentleman is of opinion that the Bison is superior even to our domestic cattle for the purposes of husbandry, and has expressed a wish to see this animal domesticated on the English farms. He informs

us that a farmer, on the great Kenawha, broke a young Bison to theplough; and, having yoked it with a steer taken from his tame cattle, it performed its work to admiration. But there is another property in which the Bison far surpasses the ox, and this is his strength. "Judg. ing from the extraordinary size of his bones, and the depth and formation of his chest, (continues this gentleman,) I should not think it unreasonable to assign nearly a double portion of strength to this powerful inhabitant of the forest. Reclaim him, and you gain a capital quadruped, both for the draught and for the plough his activity peculiarly fits him for the latter, in preference to the ox."

SKULL OF OLD MALE AMERICAN BISON.

The uses of the Bison when dead are various. Powder flasks are made of the horns. The skins form an excellent buff-leather, and, when dressed with the hair on, serve the Indians for clothes, shoes,

THE EUROPEAN BISON.

393

and blankets, and find them light, warm, and soft. The flesh is used as food, and the bunch on the shoulders and the tongue are esteemed great delicacies. The bulls, when fat, frequently yield each a hundred and fifty pounds of tallow, which forms a considerable article of commerce. The hair is spun into gloves, stockings and garters, that are very strong, and look as well as those made of the finest sheep's wool. Governor Pownal assures us that there may be manufactured from it a most luxurious kind of clothing.

THE EUROPEAN BISON.

There can be little doubt that the Bison jubatus of Pliny (book viii. c. 15, and xxviii. c. 10), which he seems to distinguish from the Urus, was the European

Bison or Aurochs; and though in the fifteenth chapter of the eighth book he mentions the tradition of a wild beast in Pæonia called a Bonasus, after he has dismissed his Bisontes jubati, and with every appearance of a conclusion on his part that the Bonasus, and Bison were not identical, his own description, when compared with that of Aristotle, will leave little doubt that the Bison jubatus and Bonasus of Pliny and others, the Bóvasoos or Bórasos of Aristotle (for the word is written both ways), and the

Bisor of Oppian, were no other than the European Bison, the Aurochs (Auerochs) of the Prussians, the Zubr of the Poles, the Taurus Pronius, &c. of Johnston and others, l'Aurochs and le Bonasus of Buffon, Bos Urus of Boddaert, and Bos Bonasus of Linnæus.

Cuvier considers it as certain that this animal, the largest, or at least the most massive of all existing quadrupeds after the Rhinoceros, an animal still to be found in some of the Lithuanian forests, and perhaps in those of Moldavia, Wallachia, and the neighborhood of the Caucasus, is a distinct species which man has never subdued; nor do we think that any one who takes the trouble to consider the evidence on which Cuvier's conclusion was founded will be of a

different opinion. Following out this subject with his usual industry and ability, that great naturalist goes on to state (Ossemens Fossiles)

SKULL OF OLD EUROPEAN BISON.

that if Europe possessed

a Urus, a Thur of the Poles, different from the Bison or the Aurochs of the Germans, it is only in its remains that the species can be traced; such remains are found, in the skulls of a species of Ox different from the Aurochs, in the superficial beds of certain districts. This Cuvier thinks must be the true Urus of the ancients, the original of our domestic Ox, the stock perhaps whence our

wild cattle descended; while the Aurochs of the present day is

Skull of Europeau Bison, front view.

(Profile of the same.)

nothing more than the Bison or Bonasus of the ancients, a species which has never been brought under the yoke. [See Ox and Urus.]

This ancient species is fast following its extinct congener the Urus. Pallas observes, that it is remarkable that the Aurochs does not exist in any of the vast forests of Russia and Northern Asia, whence (if it had penetrated therein) hardly any thing could have eradicated it. As late as the reign of Charlemagne it was not rare in Germany, but the range of the species is now nearly confined to the mountainous country between the Caspian and Black Seas.

Cuvier in the first edition of his "Ossemens Fossiles," considered the fossil skulls of Oxen found in Europe as belonging to the Aurochs, and those of Siberia as the crania of an extinct spe cies; but, in his last, he declares that he has recognized both as the skulls of the same species, and opens the question. These skulls, though they differ scarcely in any thing from those of the Aurochs, he inclines to think the remains of a different species. He gives the portrait of a cranium in the Museum at Paris, here copied, so like. as he observes, to

the living Aurochs, that the most practised eye can scarcely distinguish it; but so fresh that he seems to think it recent, and that it owes its fossil appearance to its having been much weathered. Lyell states that the bones of the Bison have been found at North Cliff, in the county of York, in a lacustrine formation, in which all the land and fresh-water shells, thirteen in number, can be identified with species and varieties now existing in that county.

THE BUFFALO.

The Buffalo, in its general form, has a great resemblance to the common Ox; but it differs from this animal in its horns, and in some particulars of its internal structure. It is larger than the Ox; the head is also bigger in proportion, the forehead higher, and the muzzle longer. The horns are large, and of a compressed form, with the exterior edge sharp: they are straight for a considerable length from their base, and then bent slightly upward. The general color of the animal is blackish, except the forehead and the tip of the tail, which are of a dusky white. The hunch is not, as many have supposed it a large fleshy lump, but it is occasioned by the bones that form the withers being continued to a greater length than in most other ani mals.

Buffaloes are natives of the warmer parts of India and Africa; but they have been introduced into some of the countries of Europe, where they are now naturalized. In Italy they constitute an essential part both of the riches and food of the poor. They are employed in agriculture; and butter and cheese are made from their milk. These animals are very common in Western Hindostan. They are fond of wallowing in mud, and will swim over the broadest rivers. During inundations, they are frequently observed to dive to the depth of ten or twelve feet, in order to force up with their horns the aquatic plants; and these they eat while swimming.

In many parts of the East, as well as in Italy, Buffaloes are domesticated. It is said to be a singular sight to observe, morning and evening, large herds of them cross the Tigris and Euphrates. They proceed, all wedged against each other, the herdsman riding on one one of them, sometimes standing upright, and sometimes couching down; and, if any of the exterior ones are out of order, he steps lightly from back to back, to drive them along.

A singular circumstance relative to these animals, is recorded by the navigators who completed the voyage to the Pacific Ocean, begun by Captain Cook. When at Pulo Condore they procured eight Buffaloes, which were to be conducted to the ships by ropes put through their nostrils and round their horns; but when these were brought within sight of the ship's people, they became so furious, that some of them tore out the cartilage of their nostrils, and set themselves at liberty; and others broke down the shrubs to which it was found necessary to fasten them. All attempts to get them on board woul have proved fruitless, had it not been for some children, whom the

animals would suffer to approach them, and by whose puerile manage. ment their rage was quickly appeased; and, when the animals were brought to the beach, it was by their assistance, in twisting ropes around their legs, that the men were enabled to throw them down, and by that means get them into the boats. And what appears to have been no less singular than this circumstance was, that they had not been a day on board before they became perfectly gentle.

The skin and horns of the Buffalo are its most valuable parts: the former is very strong and durable, and consequently is well adapted for various purposes in which a strong leather is required. The latter have a fine grain, are strong, and bear a good polish; and are, therefore, much valued by cutlers and other artificers. The flesh is said to be excellent eating; and it is so free from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it nearly resembles beef. The flesh of the Cows, when some time gone with young, is esteemed the finest; and the young Calves are reckoned by the Americans the greatest possible delicacy.

The savage disposition, large size, and enormous strength of these animals, render them too well known in all the countries which they inhabit. In the plains of Caffraria they are so common, that it is by no means unusual to see a hundred and fifty or two hundred of them in a herd. They generally retire to the thickets and woods in the day-time, and at night go out into the plains to graze. Treacherous in the extreme, they frequently conceal themselves among the trees, and there stand lurking till some unfortunate passenger comes by, when they at once rush out into the road, and attack the traveller, who has no chance to escape but by climbing up a tree, if he is fortunate enough to be near one. Flight is of no avail: he is speedily overtaken by the furious beast, who, not contented with throwing him down and killing him, stands over him even for a long time after