make their escape. The Cape buffalo delights in wallowing in the mire, and, when heated by hunting, he throws himself into the first water he reaches. The hide of this animal is remarkably tough, and its horns grow to an enormous size.
The Indian ox, or zebu, is supposed to be only a variety of the common ox. There are several subvarieties, the colour of which varies from a light ashy-grey to a milk-white, and their size from that of a large mastiff to that of an ordinary bull. The greatest peculiarity, however, is, that they all possess a large hump below the neck and over the shoulders, and this hump is considered remarkably good to eat, though the general flesh of the animal is harder and drier than that of the common ox. In many parts of India, the zebu is used like a horse, either for riding or in a carriage. "The zebus bear a charmed life among the Hindoos, who venerate them, and hold their slaughter to be a sin; though they do not object to work them. There are, however, some particularly sanctified zebus who lead an easy life, wandering about the villages at their ease, and taking their pleasure and their food where they list, if not prevented by the contributions of the devout."
The yack, or grunting ox, is only found in Tartary, and in a part of Thibet. Its popular name alludes to the noise it makes, which exactly resembles the grunting of a pig. It has a hump, though not so high as that of the zebus, and its back is covered with hair mixed with wool, the hair being particularly long on the tail. The tails of these animals, indeed, under the name of horse tails, are used as standards by the Turks and Persians. The chowries or fly-drivers, made use of in India, are likewise formed from the tail of the grunting ox; and it is dyed red by the Chinese, who wear it as a tuft in their summer bonnets.
CETACEOUS ANIMALS, OR THE WHALE TRIBE.
There are, perhaps, no other animals that have given rise to such wild fictions as these; for though so common as to be often seen, their habits are so extraordinary, and so different from all our preconceived notions, that they seem quite beyond the verge of probability. The idea of creatures resembling fishes and living in the sea, and yet nourishing their young at the breast, and in some cases coming on shore to eat grass, appears such an assemblage of incongruities, that it is not surprising that some of the species were supposed by our earliest voyagers to be supernatural beings, and that they were called tritons, mermaids, and sirens, while even now the grass-eating species are known by the names of sea-calves and sea-cows. Until the beginning of the present century, the grass-eating cetacea were often confounded, even by naturalists, with the seals, or sea-dogs, and the walrus, or sea-horse; but from these they differ essentially in having no hind-legs or feet, and, in fact, having the hinder part of the body exactly like that of the whale. Thus formed, they live entirely in the water, though they do not feed on fish, but live solely on vegetables which they find in the shallow parts of the sea, and on the banks of estuaries and rivers. "There can be no doubt that these creatures formed the type of those ideal objects of ancient poetry, the tritons, half men and half fish, who had power to calm the stormy surge; and probably, too, of the sirens, those sea-nymphs whose melody charmed the entranced voyager to his destruction and death." This strange belief is said to be still entertained by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands and the extreme north of Europe; and a modification of these fables is firmly believed in by the peasants in some of the wilder parts of Ireland. The number of stories that are extant in these countries, of mermaids and mermen, all refer to the same creatures, or to seals; and there is no doubt that many of the persons who related these stories, merely told what they believed they saw, the imagination giving a slight colouring to the wonders of the reality. The imagination, however, must have exercised a powerful influence over the minds of those who fancied that the mermaids sang delightfully, as the sounds uttered by these sea-monsters are the most dismal and melancholy that can be imagined.
There are three distinct genera of the grass-eating whales; the first is called Manatus, the manatee of the West Indies; the second is Halicore, the dugong of the East Indies; and the third, which is called Stellerus, is an inhabitant of the Polar regions.
The Manatus is never found in deep waters. It frequents the shallow bays among the West Indian islands, and the mouths of the vast rivers the Orinoco and the Amazon; and in these innumerable flocks of the manatee generally dwell. They also ascend the fresh waters for many hundred miles. When these creatures are attacked, they associate in troops, placing the young in the centre, as if to preserve them from all harm, and when one has been wounded, they do not drive it away from them, as is the case with most other animals, but surround it, appearing to try to give it all the help in their power; they are said even to try to extract the weapon with their teeth. One that was taken young was reared and kept in a lake at St. Domingo, and preserved for the long period of six-and-twenty years. It was quite tame, and would come to its name when called.
The dugong is very curiously formed. The head is very small, and the nostrils are so constructed that the animal can close them with a kind of valve when it is feeding at the bottom of the sea. The eye is also very small, and it is supplied with a third eyelid; while the aperture of the ear is so minute, that it is with difficulty perceived. The upper lip is large, forming a vertical kind of snout; and to correspond with this curious formation, the upper jaw is bent downwards almost at a right angle, while the lower jaw appears cut off so as to fit into the upper one. This very extraordinary animal does not come on shore for its food, but lives on the sea-weeds which it finds at the bottom of the inlets of the ocean; and it browses on these vegetables precisely as a cow eats grass in a meadow. It is interesting to see, by the skeleton of this creature, how beautifully it is constructed, so as to enable it to balance its body, though unsupported by legs, over the weeds on which it feeds. It resides generally at the bottom of the sea, but it is obliged to rise every now and then to respire. Its flesh resembles young beef, and is very delicate and palatable. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles wrote a very interesting memoir on this creature from Sumatra; and, among other things, he mentions that the Malay women are very anxious to secure its young, as they always shed tears for the loss of their mother, and these tears, if preserved, are an infallible charm to recover lost affections. The mother is also devotedly attached to her young, and she is said to follow them even through a crowd of people. "This idea," says Sir T. S. Raffles, "is as poetical as the fable of the siren's song." There is one species of these animals found in the Red Sea, and it is supposed to be the creature with whose skin the Jews of old were compelled by the Mosaic law to veil their tabernacle.
The steller is, as yet, but little known; and the first specimen that was seen, was mistaken for a floating tree, its skin being excessively black and knotty. In fact, according to Cuvier, the epidermis or outer skin is a kind of bark, composed of fibres or tubes, so closely packed together, that the animal is completely clad in a substance similar to the hoofs of cattle. This hide is an inch thick, and so hard as scarcely to be cut through with an axe, and where cut, it looks like ebony. The skin is very useful to the animal during winter, in protecting it against the ice and the sharp-pointed rocks on which it is frequently dashed, and in summer in shielding it from the rays of the never-setting sun. The lips are double, that is to say, there are external and internal lips; and when approximated, the space they circumscribe is filled by a thick mass of strong bristles, which are white, and an inch and a half long. "These bristles in their nature, and still more in their functions, agree with the baleen or whalebone of the whales, serving as a sieve through which they can strain off the water which they swallow with their food, whilst they retain the food itself. The masticating apparatus is not less singular, and seems peculiar to this animal. The creature has no teeth, but instead of them it is furnished with two large white horny substances, one in the upper and the other in the lower jaw, which are not inserted in the jaws, but adhere to them by numerous projections and cavities. The horny substances themselves, when examined, are found not to be solid, but to consist of innumerable tubes. The heart is also very curious, as it is double." The stellers are most voracious creatures, and feed with their heads under water, quite inattentive to boats or whatever else may be passing over them. They swim gently, one after another, sometimes with a great portion of the back out of the water, and every now and then they elevate their muzzles for the sake of respiration, making a noise like the snorting of a troop of horses. One was captured at Behring's Island, by a great hook fastened to a long rope, the boat containing the captor being rowed amidst the herd. When the animal was struck, the rope was conveyed on shore, where about thirty people took hold, and drew it on shore with great difficulty. The poor creature made the greatest resistance, assisted by its faithful companions, and it clung to the rocks with the greatest pertinacity.
THE DOLPHIN.
Image
The true dolphins are very numerous, and they have all beak-like snouts, which circumstance accounts for the dolphin's French name of "goose of the sea." Many curious legends were told by the Greeks of the dolphin, but they are so little like the real creature and its habits, that they probably refer to some other marine animal. The bottle-nosed whale, the swift dolphin, and the porpoise, which is well known on the British coast, are all nearly allied to the dolphin, as is the grampus, or thrasher, which has the character of being so exceedingly voracious and warlike, that, when six or eight are assembled together, they will attack a Greenland whale, and during the battle that ensues, they are said to resemble "so many furious mastiffs fighting a wild bull, some seizing the tail, and endeavouring to impede its murderous blows, while others attack the head, and lay hold of the lips, or tear away the tongue." The round headed porpoise, or ca'ing whale, is remarkable for being found in flocks of 200 or 300, or even more, and, as remarked by Dr. Neill, the main body of these whales will follow a leader, as a flock of sheep will a wedder; "hence the natives of Shetland well know, that if they are able to take the leaders, they are sure likewise of entangling multitudes of their followers. This trait is strikingly illustrated by a circumstance of which Dr. Traill was a witness. 'I once,' says he, 'was in a boat when an attempt was made to drive a shoal of these animals ashore; but when they had approached very near the land, the foremost turned round with a sudden leap, and the whole rushed past the boat.'"