Buffon's Natural History. Volume 08 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 08 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
There remains, therefore, but two species, the buffalo and the ox,
out of all the names placed at the head of this article, each of
which the ancient and modern naturalists have treated as separate and
distinct. These two animals, although greatly resembling each other,
both domestic, often living under the same roof, and fed in the same
meadows, have nevertheless constantly refused to unite though excited
to it by their keepers. Their natures are more distant than that of the
ass and the horse; there even appears to be a strong antipathy between
them, for it is affirmed, that cows will not suckle young buffaloes,
and the female buffaloes refuse the same kindness to the other calves.
The buffalo is of a more obstinate nature, and less tractable than the
ox. He obeys with great reluctance, and his temper is more coarse and
brutal. Next to the hog, he is the filthiest of all domestic animals,
and is very unwilling to be cleaned and dressed. His figure is very
clumsy, and forbidding; his look stupidly wild; he stretches out his
neck in an ignoble manner, and carries his head in a very bad posture,
almost always inclined towards the ground. He bellows hideously, with
a tone much stronger and deeper than that of the bull. His legs are
thin, his tail bare, his physiognomy dark, and his skin as black as
his hair. He differs chiefly from the ox by the colour of his hide,
which is easily perceived under his spare covering of hair. His body
is thicker and shorter than that of the ox; his legs are longer; his
head proportionally much less; his horns are not so round, black,
and partly compressed, and he has a tuft of frizzled hair over his
forehead. His hide is likewise thicker and harder than that of the ox.
His flesh is black, and hard, and not only disagreeable to the taste,
but repugnant to the smell. The milk of the female is not so good as
that of the cow, but she yields a greater quantity. In hot countries,
almost all the cheese is made of buffalo's milk. The flesh of the young
buffaloes, though killed during the sucking time, is not a bit better.
The hide alone is of more value than all the rest of the animal,
whose tongue is the only part that is fit to eat: this hide is firm,
pretty light, and almost impenetrable. As these animals are larger and
stronger than oxen they are very serviceable; they make them draw, and
not carry burdens; they lead them by the means of a ring passed through
their nose. Two buffaloes harnessed, or rather chained, to a carriage,
will draw as much as four strong horses. As they carry their necks and
heads low, they employ the whole weight of their body in drawing, and
their mass greatly surpasses that of a labouring horse, or ox.
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