Buffaloes: The Knights of the Jungle There are three or four kinds of buffaloes that live in different countries. The kind that lives in America you may have already heard about. I am sorry to say that hunters have killed so many of them, that there are very few buffaloes left in the United States now; and these few are kept in parks. So in this book I shall tell you about another kind of buffalo, that lives in the jungles of India. These are the buffaloes that have to live in herds just because they have to guard themselves from the tiger. Yet they are much bigger than all other kinds of buffaloes in the world. Many of them are more than ten feet long, and a span taller than a tall man. They have two huge horns which stand outward, one from each side of the head. Each horn is at least a yard long; and there are some buffaloes that have horns two yards long! (See the picture facing the next page.) So you can understand that this kind of buffalo is a strong and mighty animal. But still, if just one buffalo tried to fight a tiger, the tiger could kill him every time. Why? Because the tiger is much _quicker_ than the buffalo. The tiger could jump to the side to escape the buffalo's horns. Then the tiger could turn quickly, and strike the buffalo on the neck from behind. And though the buffalo's neck is very thick, the tiger himself is so strong that he could break the buffalo's neck at one blow. So, to guard against the tiger, the buffaloes have to live together like a band of soldiers, so that the tiger never gets the chance of catching just one buffalo alone. Now I shall tell you how these buffaloes live. They live in a part of the country where there is plenty of water, and lots of trees and grass. There is sure to be a stream or two in the jungles there, like the one where we saw the buffaloes drinking at midnight. When the buffaloes are feeding in the jungle, and wandering here and there to find good grass to eat, they always try to remain somewhere near one of these streams. Why do they do that? To drink, of course. [Illustration: The Buffalo that lives in India] And as the country is hot, they may want to drink more than once in the day. Still, there is another reason why they like to be near water. Can you tell what it is? "To bathe in the water, when it is hot," you may say. That is quite true; the buffaloes do enjoy a good bath. In fact, they like to remain in the water for a long time, when the sun is very hot. Then they lie down in the shallow part, and remain neck deep in the water. And every now and again they dip their heads in the water to keep them cool. But even when the sun is not at all hot, when the sky is cloudy, the buffaloes like to go into a stream or a pond. Why? "Of course to wash themselves, and make themselves clean," you may say. _Buffaloes Cover Body with Mud against Flies_