In the same way when the traveller advances into the savannahs, so soon as he sights the buffalo he may be certain that he has reached the territory of the redskins.
Now, it appears to us that everything relating to so interesting an animal as the buffalo, which is fatally destined so soon to disappear, unless care be taken, and which is so eminently useful, is worth recording.
Purchas in his "Pilgrimage" (London edition, 1614), says that in certain respects the buffalo resembles the lion, and in others the camel, ox, horse, sheep, and goat. Civilization in its continuous onward march destroys the great animals, and drives back the redskin and even the hunter, unless he consent to modify his fashion of living.
The buffalo, which, on its discovery in 1582 by Lusman, in the province of Sinaloa, extended its wanderings over nearly the whole of North America, now restricts its excursions more and more, and is only met with at present in the wildest deserts situated to the west of the Rocky Mountains, which proves a considerable diminution in their numbers, and this is probably augmented by the Indian custom of only killing cows and leaving the bulls.
The Americans, however, ought to interfere, for the buffalo is capable of being tamed, and crossing it with the European ox would produce a strong, patient, and courageous breed, whose services would be of immense utility in the immense settlement of the new states. We saw at a Texan hacienda completely tamed buffaloes, which, according to their owners, were an excellent substitute for the common ox.
The buffalo lives longer than the domestic ox: its proportions are greater, and though its front is ungraceful, the hinder parts are handsome. The buffalo is generally brown, though spotted ones are met with, and even some completely white; its face is very like that of the bull; its head covered with thick wool, the long beard hanging from its lower jaw, and its melancholy, gentle, and almost stupid eye give it a singular and almost strange appearance. Its horns are short, rounded, and capable of taking a fine polish; it has between its shoulders a very prominent hump, whilst its hinder parts are covered with short, straight hair, like that of European ruminants; its short tail terminates in a tuft of curly hair. The age of a buffalo is discovered by the rings on its horns, the first four counting for the first year.