St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-04-25
WILD BUFFALOES IN AUSTRALIA.
There Are Many Herds of Them in the
Unsettled Parts of the Big Island.

There Are Many Herds of Them in the
Unsettled Parts of the Big Island.
Although have been over thirty-seven
years in Australia, it was not until eighteen
months ago that | was aware that there
was a breed of wild buffaloes in these col
onles, and venture to say that not l per
cent. of the inhabitants of Queensland, or
even half that number, are aware of the
fact. CuriOusly enough, have two stimuli
taneous inquiries about them-one from
Professor Wallace. of Edinburgh, and the
other from gentleman in Michigan, ..
S. A. l laid myself out to make full in
quiries on the subject, and it has occurred
to me that the public will be interested to
know the result. Mr.. B. II. Purcell, who
has seen several of them in the far north,
and was present at the death of one, gave
me a minute description of them, which
tallies exactly with what / learned from
other sources.
Mr.. E. Palmer, NJ. L. A, informs me
that one of the islands on the northern
coast is fully stocked with them, and iso-
lated bulls from the herd on the mainland
occasionally find their way as far east as
one of his gulf stations, and that several
have reached Mr.. Hams Lawn Hill sta
ton. In DR.. Leichhard's journal of his ex-
petition from Moreton bay to Port Essing-
ton in 1S44-43 he mentions that Mr.. Roper
and the black boys, "Charley" and
Brown" ran down and shot one thirty
miles from Port Essington, and that they
were said to be numerous there and were
called by the blacks "anaborro."
Leichhardt states that they "are the off
spring of the stock which. had either strayed
from the settlement at Raffles bay or been
left behind when that establishment was
broken up. They were originally intro
duced from the Malay islands. I was
struck with the remarkable thickness of
their skin (almost an inch), and with the
solidity of their bones, which contained
little marrow, but that little was extreme
ly savory." Mr.. Palmer states that the
bull killed on his run weighed almost
ton, was extremely broad and well devel-
oped in the forequarters, but tapering off
in the headquarters.
I next directed my inquiries to the mu-
scum, and here l was most fortunate in
getting. information from the man above
all others in Queensland most competent
to give it-namely, Mr.. Spalding, the tax
idermist of the museum, who spent many
months in the center of their great haunt,
near Port Darwin. Mr.. Spalding showed
me the head and horns of one of these buff
faloes that made its way eastward in the
direction of Charters Towers, and was shot
there some two years ago. The horns are
most remarkable, being square at the butt
and four inches thick. They rise in a semi
circle, but incline backward, so that the
animals, when they charge (Which they do
furiously), have toput their heads between
their forelegs.
The horns are extremely coarse, CORFU
gated, and of dirty brown color. Mr.. |
Spalding corroborated the statements of |
Messrs. Palmer and Purcell as to the buff |
faloes being very numerous-in many |
thousands-at Port Essington, Raffles bay |
and on Melville island. A man has been |
engaged for a number of years shoot
ing them and making a handsome income |
by selling the hides. On account Of the ex-
IRENE thickness of hide they resist an ordi- |
nary cartridge, and heavy leaden bullets |
have to be used. They are what are famil-
iarly known as mud" buffalo, having
very little hair on their bodies, which are
of dirty reddish brown color.
Itmay not be generally known that anum-
Der of Timor ponies were introduced at Port |
Essington with the buffaloes. These have
also increased to large herd, and Mr..
Spalding describes them as exceedingly |
handsome little animals-P, r. Gordon in
psiahs ma OnaanSlander