Part 20

The Moose or Elk is the largest of the Deer kind, and often attains to and even exceeds the size and bulk of the largest horses. He is less graceful than other members of his family, having a short thick neck, necessary perhaps to sustain his huge antlers, which sometimes reach five feet in length and weigh as much as sixty pounds. He escapes the torment of insects by taking to the water, in which he is an expert swimmer. Like the other animals of the Deer kind he sheds his horns annually. Year by year these huge growths increase in breadth and in the number of branches they bear, until there are sometimes as many as twenty on each horn. He is docile and easily tamed, and has been broken to run in harness. The Elk occupies much the same geographical area as the reindeer, though not travelling so far north.

The Fallow Deer and the Roebuck.

The Fallow Deer (_Dama vulgaris_) is smaller than the stag, but similar to it in colour, form, and habit. It is this species which is domesticated and kept in the parks of the wealthy in England. Fallow Deer often quarrel among themselves over rights of pasturage, the herd dividing into two and engaging in a pitched battle for the possession of the disputed land. The Roebuck is smaller than the Fallow Deer, his height being about two feet six inches and his length three feet. He is less sociable than other species of his kind, living alone with his family and not in herds like the Fallow Deer. He is found in Scotland and in the northern parts of Europe.

The Giraffe.

The Giraffe (_Camelopardalis giraffa_) belongs to Abyssinia, Nubia and South-Africa. It is the tallest of living animals, attaining to the height of eighteen feet. Its body has some similarity to that of the camel in form, and its head, which surmounts a neck seven feet long and bears two horns six inches long, resembles generally that of a horse. Its tongue, which can be extended seventeen inches, is very mobile and can be so tapered as to enter a small ring. It is used in tearing off the foliage of the trees upon which the animal feeds. Its neck, but for its length, is like that of the stag, and its legs are slender. The hide is spotted like that of the leopard and when young is of a light red colour, which becomes deeper with age, that of the female becoming a yellow brown and that of the male a dark brown approaching to black. In repose it lies on its side, resting its head on its hind quarters. Though only living in a wild state, the Giraffe is a mild and docile animal, only fighting in self-defence, and then making powerful use of its heels. The lion is its great enemy and if it succeeds in leaping upon its back there is not much chance for the giraffe, which usually runs until it drops from exhaustion. A blow from the heel of the Giraffe in the right place would probably kill any of its enemies, and even the lion has been known to pay dearly for coming within its reach.

The History of the Giraffe.

The Giraffe was known to the ancients, though, like the gorilla, it has been re-discovered in recent years. Le Vaillant saw and described the giraffe, but he was credited with having invented it, and it was not until a live specimen of it was brought to Paris that his credibility was established, Mrs. Bowdich, who happened to be in Paris at the time this animal arrived, gives an amusing description of its triumphal march from Bordeaux to the Capital. "A deputation from each large town through which she passed," says Mrs. Bowdich, "formed of the municipal authorities, met her; and one of the most learned savants went all the way from the Jardin des Plantes, to accompany her on her march. 'La giraffe,' however, did not appreciate these honours, and was often impatient under the etiquette imposed on her. On one occasion she broke loose from her cavalcade, keeper and all, and dashing among the horsemen, scattered them right and left, some on and some off their steeds. A dignified mayor lay in the dust, and by his side rolled the painstaking savant who had performed so long a journey in her service. The enthusiasm did not abate when she reached her destination. Thirteen thousand more than the usual weekly number passed over the Pont d'Austerlitz alone; and as the public curiosity did not but increase for six weeks, steps were obliged to be taken to prevent the multitude from pressing upon her. Her love for roses was very great; and she eagerly snatched them from those who carried or wore them, to their great astonishment; for few could calculate on the distance which she could reach." Mr. Gordon Cumming describes a herd of ten giraffes which he saw moving together along an African valley, forming an imposing spectacle.

Hollow-Horned Ruminants.

We come now to a family of great importance to the human race, the family which includes among its members the Ox and the Sheep. These are grouped as hollow-horned ruminants, this one touch of nature making the whole family kin. The hollow-horned ruminants are divided into numerous sub-families, of which the Ox, the Antelope, the Sheep, and the Goat are the best known representatives. The horn by which the family is characterised, comprises a hollow horny sheath which covers a bony core, and which, except in one case, unlike the horns of the stag, which are shed annually, is permanent. Sir Victor Brooke divides the family of the Bovidæ into thirteen sub-families. I Bovinæ, II Tragelaphinæ, III Oryginæ, IV Hippotraginæ, V Gazellinæ, VI Antilocaprinæ, VII Cervicaprinæ, VIII Cephalophinæ, IX Alcephalinæ, X Budorcinæ, XI Rupicaprinæ, XII Nemorhedinæ, XIII Caprinæ.

The Bull, The Bison, and The Buffalo.

The sub-family Bovinæ includes the Bull, the Bison, and the Buffalo. The antiquity of the ruminants shrouds their origin in obscurity. They are of frequent mention in the sacred writings as belonging to the earliest historic period, and as living in a state of domestication in all times. The Bull has a very wide geographical area, and is found in most parts of the world. In England, as the Rev. J. G. Wood puts it, there are almost as many breeds as counties, and they are generally distinguished by the length or shape of their horns. The "long-horned" breed belong to Lancashire, the "short-horned" to Durham, the "middle-horned" to Devonshire, besides which there is the "polled", a hornless breed. Of the Bison there are two species, one belonging to Poland and the Caucasus, and the other to North America. The Buffalo belongs to the south of Europe, to India, and to North Africa, the Cape Buffalo inhabiting the south of "the dark continent."

The Bull. The Ox. The Cow.

Few animals show as much difference of disposition in the male and female as the Bull and the Cow. The Bull is often excited to ungovernable fury, is generally unsafe and often dangerous. These characteristics have doubtless marked him out as the object of sport in the Roman Amphitheatre and the Spanish Bull fight. The Cow, on the other hand, displays a gentle and docile disposition, is placid, mild, and obedient to the will of those who govern it. The Bull is kept mainly for the purposes of breeding, being too uncertain for use as a beast of burden or for other employment. The Ox which is the subdued offspring of the Bull and the Cow, is much more amenable to control and therefore a much more useful servant to man. The Cow is invaluable for the milk it supplies, upon which mankind is dependent for butter and for cheese.

The Bull.

The Bull is a handsome animal and of great strength, especially about the head and neck. Its fierceness has often been turned to account by the farmer, for it is an excellent animal to dispute a right of way, the force of its arguments usually bearing down all opposition. It has been known also to use its strength for the protection of other animals. "Two robbers," says the author of "Domestic Animals and their Treatment," "took a pig, weighing fourteen stone, out of its sty, and drove it along a lane leading towards Rotherham. On coming to a lonely path across the fields they thought it would be better to kill the pig at once in this quiet place, where no one would be likely to hear the cries of the animal. One of the robbers accordingly took a knife out of his pocket, and commenced cutting the pig's throat. The poor pig struggled violently, and managed to escape from his hands, running squealing into the next field, with a fearful gash in his throat. The men ran after the pig, but found in the field a bull grazing, who seemed at once to understand the state of the case, and took upon himself the championship of the wounded animal. The bull ran furiously at the robbers, who fled for their lives, and only just managed to escape a toss from his horns. They lingered outside the fence, however, hoping that an opportunity would still offer of their catching the pig; but the pig wisely kept close to his new friend, and the men at last were under the mortifying necessity of going home without their booty. These men were afterwards convicted of stealing sheep and corn, when one of them confessed this affair of the pig, and thus explained what had been a great mystery to the owner, namely, how it was that his pig came to be in a field at some distance from the sty, with his throat partly cut, and keeping close company with the bull." Mr. Byam's "Central America" affords another illustration: "A bull had gored so many cattle that he was lassoed, and his horns blunted at the tips to prevent further mischief. A few weeks after, a panther (jaguar) killed a cow; and from the torn condition of the bull's head and neck, and the trampled state of the ground, he had evidently done battle for the cow. He was secured, his wounds plastered up, his horns made sharp again, and turned out into the savannah. The wild dogs and vultures having been kept from the body of the cow during the day, the panther returned to his feast at night, and a furious engagement took place between him and the bull; for the former was found dead close by the cow the next morning, pierced through and through. The bull returned again and again to him with fury, and was himself again wounded; but his gashes were sown up, and he remained so fierce that his horns were obliged to be re-blunted."

The Brahmin Bull.

The Brahmin Bull of India, is a sleek, tame animal of a different species to the ordinary working ox. He is protected as sacred and allowed more liberty than is sometimes either convenient or pleasant, as he is apt to become obtrusive and his devotees fear to check or thwart him. Sacred as he is he does not believe in the eighth commandment and so helps himself without scruple to the wares of the fruiterer and the gardener's preserves.

The Ox.

The Ox is one of the most useful creatures of the animal world. It is used as a beast of burden and employed to draw waggons and to drag the plough in England, and in a variety of useful labours abroad. "Every part of the Ox is of value," says the Rev. J. G. Wood. "We eat his flesh, we wear shoes soled with his skin, our candles are made from his fat, our tables are joined with glue made from his hoofs, his hair is mixed with the mortar of our walls, his horns are made into combs, knife-handles, drinking-cups, etc., etc., his bones are used as a cheap substitute for Ivory, and the fragments ground and scattered over the fields as manure, and soup is made from his tail." The value of the Ox in drawing waggons abroad may be gathered from the following quotation from Mr. Gordon Cumming's "Hunting Adventures in South Africa." "They (the oxen) are expected, unguided by reins, to hold the rare-trodden roads, which occur throughout the remoter parts of the Colony, either by day or night; and so well trained are these sagacious animals, that it is not uncommon to meet with a pair of fore-oxen which will, of their own accord, hold the "spoor" or track of a single waggon, which has perhaps crossed a plain six months previously."

The Cow.

The Cow after supplying enormous quantities of milk during life is almost as valuable as the Ox when dead. It is from the Cow moreover that we get the lymph used in vaccination, which has proved such a wonderful safeguard against small-pox. In its quiet way the Cow sometimes shows sagacity. Mr. Bell gives us the following illustration:--"A cow which was feeding tranquilly in a pasture, the gate of which was open to the road, was much annoyed by a mischievous boy who amused himself by throwing stones at the peaceful animal, which, after bearing with his impertinence for some time, at length went up to him, hooked the end of her horn into his clothes, and lifting him from the ground, carried him out of the field and laid him down in the road. She then calmly returned to her pasture, leaving him quit with a severe fright and a torn garment." Cows have been taught to graze close to forbidden crops without yielding to the temptation to eat them.

The Pride of a Cow.

A writer in Frank Leslie's popular monthly gives an amusing instance of vanity as shown by a cow. This cow, he was told, claimed precedence in all cases; she always went ahead of the herd and claimed the best piece of pasture as her exclusive domain. So far did she carry her pretensions, that if any of the other cows entered the stable before her, she would refuse to follow. Anxious to see this with his own eyes, he desired to be taken to her stable at evening. The man, instructed how to act, drove in some of the other cows. The white cow drew up; not only did she refuse to advance, in spite of all encouraging words, but her whole frame swelled with anger and offended dignity. She kept lowing continually. At last the cows within, as though conscious that they had forgotten their place, began to come out, and as they were driven out, the proud white cow, with an evident air of gratified pride, strode in in silence. It is almost impossible to convey the impression produced by this exhibition of downright pride, Hidalgo pride, in what many would call a dumb brute.

The Bison.

The American Bison is a formidable animal when engaged alone, and when charging in a pack simply irresistible. He is about the size of an ox, one measured by Sir J. Richardson being eight feet six inches in length, without his tail, and more than six feet in height at his forequarters. He has an enormous head, surmounted by a huge hump on his shoulder which is covered in winter with shaggy mane-like hair. His hinder quarters are comparatively thin and small, and his colour is a dark brown approaching to black. Sharp piercing eyes and short powerful horns give him a fierce appearance and dangerous powers. He has enormous strength in his head and neck. The Bison is gregarious, associating in herds many hundreds strong. These herds have been greatly reduced during late years, but a herd seen by Captains Lewis and Clerk was numbered by them at not less than twenty thousand. "Such was the multitude of these animals, that, although the river, including an island over which they passed, was a mile in breadth, the herd stretched as thick as they could swim completely from one side to the other." When they join in a stampede, they are said to rush over the plains like a cataract, with a noise resembling that of thunder. Captain Brown says, "Bison generally prefer the open plains, and do not resort to woods, except when attacked; they seldom attempt to defend themselves, but almost invariably take to flight. They are extremely fleet, and their sense of smell is so acute, that they discover an enemy at a great distance, so that it is difficult to get near them. They are frequently hunted by the natives, who live principally on their flesh. When the hunters kill an old dam, they pay no attention to the calf, as it is sure to remain by its dead mother. Instances have been known of a mother entering the town of Cincinnati, followed by its calves. Many of them fall victims to wolves and grizzly bears. Their beef is of an excellent quality, and of a very superior flavour."

Hunting the Bison.

Hunting the Bison is both a popular sport and a lucrative commercial enterprise. The Indians hunt them for their skins, which they sell as "Buffalo robes," the Bison being commonly called a Buffalo by them, as well as for food. The Rev. J. G. Wood says, "The hunters take advantage of the gregarious instincts of this animal, and hunt them when they are collected together in their vast herds, which blacken the face of the prairie for miles. Sometimes they form in line, and drive the herd to the edge of some tall cliff, over which they fall in hundreds, those behind pushing on those in the van; or sometimes they form a large circle, driving the animals into a helpless and leaderless mass, into which the hunters spring, leaving their horses, and treading with the skill of rope-dancers on the backs of the bewildered bisons, whom they slaughter as they pass, stepping from one to the other, and driving the sharp blade of their spear through the spine of the animal whose back they have just quitted. When only wounded the Bison is a most dangerous antagonist, and rushes on its enemy with the most determined ferocity."

The Eastern Bison lives in the forests of Bialowesha in Lithuania under the protection of the Czar of Russia. The numbers are much smaller than those of North-America but they are said to be more fierce.

The Buffalo.

The Buffalo, which must not be confused with the Bison, is similar in appearance to an ox, which it often exceeds in size. It has no hump on its shoulder as the Bison has, but it has much longer horns, horns that often measure three feet in length, and is much fiercer in their use. The Indian Buffalo will attack the hunter when it is brought to bay, and unless the hunter can despatch him as he approaches, there is no chance for him at close quarters. These Buffaloes, however, may be tamed and are often trained to and employed in useful service.

Hunting the Indian Buffalo.

Captain Brown gives the following account of a Buffalo hunt which took place at Keshennagar, in Hindostan, when four gentlemen on horseback chased a herd of seven buffaloes and a calf for a long distance. "After having followed them three miles, the young one separated from the herd, and joined some tame cattle belonging to a neighbouring village. It was killed by the party, who afterwards continued the pursuit of the old ones, when they were overtaken in a high grass jungle four miles farther off. They were quickly driven from this place, and closely followed for more than six miles over a plain: at length the party succeeded in separating one buffalo from the herd. Here the encounter began. After receiving several wounds, he still continued his flight; he suddenly halted, and kept his pursuers at bay; after a short interval he again fled, and was pursued and wounded as before, carrying the spears sticking in his back and sides for several hundred yards. Lieutenant White, of the 15th Native Infantry, rode up very close to him, threw his spear, and wounded the animal in the loins. His horse being much exhausted, was unable to wheel round before the buffalo turned about and charged with such vigour, that both horse and rider were overthrown, and lay many yards distant. Fortunately, the lieutenant received no material injury; and when the animal approached he had the presence of mind to lie flat on his back. The beast approached, but stood at his feet, without offering any violence. The other sportsmen called repeatedly to their companion to arise and escape. For some time, however, he disregarded the advice, fearful of the consequences; at length, in compliance with their entreaty, he arose; the buffalo instantly rushed forward, but Mr. White escaped by throwing himself down; while the enraged beast, missing his aim, fell on the ground, his horns grazing Mr. White's back, as he passed over him. After this lucky escape, he seized the favourable opportunity, and regained his horse. The buffalo then took refuge in a tank; and when his former opponent joined his companions, who were standing upon the bank, the animal issued forth, and selecting Lieutenant White for the object of its vengeance, pursued him to a considerable distance. The animal was now rendered quite furious, and attacked everything within his reach, such as cows and dogs. Unfortunately, an old woman returning from market passed, and became the victim of his rage; she was taken up without any appearance of life, having her arms broken, and many wounds. The cavalry being, from fatigue, _hors de combat_, could not renew the attack; and the buffaloes, whose system was retreat, having gained a victory, now continued their course without molestation."

The Cape Buffalo.

The Cape Buffalo is the fiercest of the Bull family. He will charge a lion or a tiger and often come off victor in the strife. According to Mr. Pringle he is considerably larger than the domestic ox; the bony pad on his forehead making a complete helmet, and it is impossible to pierce him with bullets which have not been hardened by tin. He is said to be fierce, treacherous, and savage; and even when not provoked, to attack any man who strays near his haunts, skulking in the jungle when he sees him approach, and then suddenly rushing out upon him. Having tossed his enemy to his heart's content or thrown him down, he will trample and gore him, tearing off his skin with his tongue, until he is shockingly mutilated. He is one of the few animals which seem to cherish the spirit of revenge.

Hunting the Cape Buffalo.

Mr. Pringle gives the following description of a Cape Buffalo hunt. "A party of boers had gone out to hunt a herd of buffaloes which were grazing on a piece of marshy ground. As they could not get within shot of the game without crossing part of the marsh, which was not safe for the horses, they agreed to leave them in charge of the Hottentots, and advance on foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes should turn upon them, it would be easy to escape by retreating across the quagmire, which, though passable for man, would not support the weight of a heavy quadruped. They advanced accordingly, and, under a covert of the bushes, approached the game with such advantage that the first volley brought down three of the fattest of the herd, and so severely wounded the great bull leader that he dropped on his knees, bellowing furiously. Thinking him mortally wounded, the foremost of the huntsmen issued from the covert, and began reloading his musket as he advanced to give him a finishing shot. But no sooner did the infuriated animal see his foe in front of him, than he sprang up and rushed headlong upon him. The man, throwing down his heavy gun, fled towards the quagmire; but the beast was so close upon him that he despaired of escaping in that direction, and turning suddenly round a clump of copsewood, began to climb an old mimosa tree which stood at one side of it. The raging beast, however, was too quick for him. Bounding forward with a roar which my informant described as being one of the most frightful sounds he ever heard, he caught the unfortunate man with his terrible horns just as he had nearly escaped his reach, and tossed him into the air with such force that the body fell, dreadfully mangled, into a cleft of the tree. The buffalo ran round the tree once or twice, apparently looking for the man, until, weakened with loss of blood, he again sank on his knees. The rest of the party, recovering from their confusion, then came up and despatched him, though too late to save their comrade, whose body was hanging in the tree quite dead."

The Zebu.