At times there were slight domestic annoyances. A pig or a calf was torn by the wolves, a few hen's nests plundered by the racoons, a dog killed by the snakes, or a horse ran a thorn into its foot. However, up to the present we had preserved our health, we knew naught of sorrow, and the thousand passions which civilized life entails, and which become the source of endless suffering, were entirely lulled to sleep among us. On the other hand we were deprived of many enjoyments which social life affords, but at the same time had countless pleasures, which must be given up there. The hardest thing to me was that I could not obtain books without great trouble and expense, while events in the civilized world were more or less unknown to me. At times I received a packet of old newspapers, whose fragments, however, only helped to render my confusion worse confounded. To tell the truth, I was beginning to yearn for a nearer connexion with the world and a little more society. One morning the dogs barked in an unusual manner, and one of my men ran up to me and told me that one of my buffalo calves, which I had captured in the last summer, and of which I possessed eight, had leapt into the river, because the dogs were tormenting it. I ran down to the river, and after considerable exertions we succeeded in getting the animal out, uninjured, but very fatigued. These calves were remarkably tame, more so than those of our cows, and never went far from the fort. In spite of their terrible appearance they were very comical; all had names to which they answered, and caused us much fun. I intended to train them for working, and to breed a mixed race with my cattle, which, however, only offers an advantage in meat and size, as the buffaloes yield much less and worse milk than our domestic kind. It is not possible to produce a breed between our tame cow and the buffalo, as the cow cannot give birth to the calf owing to the hump on the shoulders, and almost always is killed by it; but the opposite breed flourishes and is capable of further procreation. Buffalo oxen are excellent for work, as they grow very tame and possess enormous strength; the only fault is that when they are thirsty, no power on earth can restrain them from satisfying their thirst. I knew a planter on the Rio Grande, who employed a couple of these animals, that ran away once with a heavy cart to the river, and dashed over its steep bank to satisfy their thirst, but he got them out again all right.