Bubo

“ Run down the heathen land. “And all for a dime, ten cents, will you hesitate? but wait, good people, that is not all. The wonder of wonders is yet to come—Bobo—he eats ’em alive, he eats ’em alive. You must see Bobo. This strange and curious specimen of humanity who exists upon poisonous reptiles, captured in the jungles of the Tasmanian blue gum tree and brought to civilized America, he still lives on snakes—Bobo, the snake eater—Bobo, he eats ’em alive, he eats ’em alive. ”

“ It was not because they were buffaloes, or because they were engaged in a fierce battle,—it was because they were white buffaloes!
You will again ask, why this should have been a cause of terror. Was a white buffalo not the very object of the expedition? Should the sight of one not have produced joy rather than fear? So the sight of one would; but it was the sight of so many—the mysterious spectacle of nearly a dozen of these animals together—a thing unparalleled, unheard of—it was this that inspired our adventurers with awe. ”

“ They came like the pestilence that walks in darkness, unexpected and unseen. They had marched along the buffalo traces or stolen through the forests without having given to any one any notice of their intention. ”

“ The clumsy buffalo, or water-ox, is everywhere, plowing the fields, wallowing in mud, or browsing the stubble patch after the gleaners, always with a patient, statuesque, nude little brown boy on his blue-gray back, the fine, polished skins of these small herders glowing in the sun as if they were inanimate bronze figurines. ”

“ Bufo would almost as soon find himself at the bottom of a well as upon a dusty road in blazing sunshine. His day is the night. He is not particular about the moon. All he asks is that the night be warm, that the dew lay the dust and dampen the grass, and that the insects be out in numbers. At night the snakes are asleep, and so are most of those ugly, creaking beasts with rolling iron feet that come crushing along their paths. ”

“ The buffalo used is a sham one. Four or five people throw a dark-coloured cloth over themselves, and the foremost of these holds in his hands a huge mask, supposed to be a buffalo's head. It would serve equally well for the head of any other creature known to natural history, for it is unlike anything but the fabulous creation of some man's mad imaginings. ”

“ Buwu, see Bubu , a sort of fish trap.
Buyamin, Benjamin, a proper name- Arabic.
Buyung, a largish earthernware jar, mostly of coarse brown unglazed manufacture, for holding water. Buyut, forbidden by some hereditary or traditionary injunction. Different families of the natives are found, who labour under various prohibitions, often regarding articles of food; as many families are, from acient times, forbidden the use of the flesh of the white Buffaloe , others that of the turtle dove &c , and for such people this flesh is
Buyut. ”

“ The BUFFALO (Bos bubalus) is a species of ox, which has large horns of compressed form, with the outer edge sharp, growing straight for a considerable length from their base, and then bent slightly upward: on the shoulders there is a bony protuberance; and the general colour of the hair is black or dusky. In a wild state these animals are natives of Asia and Africa; and they are domesticated in India, and in some of the warmer parts of Europe. Although the buffalo is naturally a savage and ferocious beast, yet, when properly trained, it is very serviceable to mankind. ”

“ Then what joy in the camp when a scout comes in one day with the news that a herd of buffaloes are grazing not many miles off. In a moment a hundred young 'braves' have thrown aside their shields and every other heavy thing they have about them, especially any part of their dress that might be a hindrance in running—for no one knows how a buffalo hunt may end. ”

“ There lay at her feet the buffalo, typical of all that is coarse, and the lion, typical of all that is best in the animal world; and out of the slain beasts rose one in the likeness of a man, and him also she slew—victorious. ”

“ The buffaloes, which had been calmly ruminating among the herbage, heaved up their huge forms, gazed for a moment with astonishment at the tempest that came scouring down the meadow, then turned and took to heavy-rolling flight. They were soon overtaken; the mixed throng were pressed together by the sides of the valley, and away they went, pell-mell, hurry-scurry, wild buffalo, wild horse, wild huntsman, with clang and clatter, and whoop and halloo, that made the forests ring. ”

“ More accidents happen by the buffalo and the black rhinoceros than by the lion. Though all are aware of the mischievous nature of the buffalo when wounded, our young men went after him quite carelessly. They never lose their presence of mind, but, as a buffalo charges back in a forest, dart dexterously out of his way behind a tree, and, wheeling round, stab him as he passes. ”

“ They are ugly to look at and go about eating anything, even dead persons. A young Bagobo described his idea of a buso as follows: “He has a long body, long feet and neck, curly hair, and black face, flat nose, and one big red or yellow eye. He has big feet and fingers, but small arms, and his two big teeth are long and pointed. Like a dog, he goes about eating anything, even dead persons.” Cole, Wild Tribes of Davao District, Field Museum Nat. ”

“ It appears that those who worship the Light-god hold a festival in his honor, when they slaughter a buffalo in commemoration of the time when, as they say, the Earth-goddess was prevailing on men to offer [123] human sacrifices to her, but the Light-god sent a tribe-deity who crushed the bloody-minded Earth-goddess under a mountain and dragged a buffalo out of the jungle, saying, ‘Liberate the man, and sacrifice the buffalo.’ It looks as though this legend, divested of its mythic garb, may really record a historical substitution of animal for human sacrifice. ”

“ Don't you see, Bub, the evidence is all against us. If you caught a man with his pockets full of apples like those which grow on your tree, and if you caught him in your tree besides, what'd you think if he told you he couldn't help it, and had just been sort of blown there, and that anyway those apples came from some other tree—what'd you think, eh?"
Bub saw it clearly when put in that light, and shook his head despondently.
"You'd rather be dead than go to Siberia," one of the boat-pullers said. "They put you into the salt-mines and work you till you die. Never see daylight again. ”

“ If she wanted water, she had only to cross the patch of maize behind the hut and seek out the place where the buffalo lay hidden, and put down her pail beside him. Then she would sit at her ease while he went to the lake and brought the bucket back brimming over. If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and lay them at her feet. And the villagers watched her return laden, and said to each other:
‘Surely the girls of her country are stronger than our girls, for none of them could cut so quickly or carry so much!’ But then, nobody knew that she had a buffalo for a servant. ”

“ But a buffalo is not a fairy, and the next morning, when the women arrived to work in the fields, they stood still with astonishment, and said to each other:
‘Just look at this; a savage beast has been destroying our crops, and we can see traces of his feet!’ And they hurried to their homes to tell their tale.
In the evening the girl crept out to the buffalo’s hiding-place, and said to him:
‘They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better seek your supper further off.’ And the buffalo nodded his head and followed her counsel ”

“ Bufo when, brigand-like, he can stand by the highway of the bees returning laden with wealth of honey and entering their waxen city. He holds his captives for no ransom, he scarcely stays to kill them, but swallows them alive and whole, and digests them later. ”

“ To the bonasus, bubalus, urus, and bison, have been added, the catopleba, the thur, the bubalus of Belon, the bisons of Scotland and America, and all our naturalists have made as many different species as they have found names. The truth is here so obscured by clouds, and so surrounded with errors, that it will be difficult to clear up this part of Natural History, which the contradiction of reports, the variety of descriptions, the multiplicity of names, the diversity of places, the difference of languages, and the obscurity of the times, seems to have condemned to perpetual darkness. ”

“ I agreed, as my eye took in the wide area of level, unbroken ground. “There is room enough here in which to fight a battle of quite respectable dimensions. But what are those moving objects yonder?” I interrupted myself eagerly, as my gaze was arrested by a group of some ten or a dozen dark dots moving slowly among the long grass at the opposite extremity of the valley. “Surely they must be buffalo, or I am greatly mistaken.”
“You are not mistaken, they are buffalo; and you have a marvellously sharp eye, white man,” returned the king. ”

“ In the twinkling of an eye each warrior had selected one buffalo in particular as his own especial foe, and had planted himself with uplifted bangwan square in the brute’s path, while the buffalo, promptly accepting the challenge, responded to it with fierce bellows and savage flourishings of the terrible horns. ”

“ I thought it the most prudent method to lie still; and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw.
[Footnote 2: Buff is the name given to a kind of leather, made originally of buffalo hide, but later of the skins of other animals]
But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows ”

“ For no sooner does a European appear riding in his pride by the river bed, where the water buffalo lies wallowing in the mud, than all the worst passions awake in [Pg 185] the breast of the afore mentioned water buffalo, and he is instantly aroused to anger. He leaves the delights of the mud bath, and starts in pursuit of the white face, no matter who he may be. "Tell it not in Gath" but the water buffalo, being no respector of persons, has even been known to put to ignominious flight the "Indian Civilian" and the "Bombay Burman." ”

“ Sometimes the water-spirit appears in the shape of a great bird, which the West Highlanders called the Boobrie, who has a long neck, great webbed feet with tremendous claws, a powerful bill hooked like an eagle's, and a voice like the roar of an angry bull. ”

“ There’s somebody killed or hurt by buffaloes every year in Burma.”
“The glory of a buffalo is his horns. It would be wrong, because it would not be natural to blunt them. We would never do it unless we could not help it, when a particular beast is bad.” ”

“ Semi-divine some of them were, or men possessing magical power. The old Mona people; the Malaki, who portrayed the Bagobo's ideal of manhood; and the noble lady called Bia,—these and other well-marked characters figure in the ulit.
Another class of stories deals with the demons known as Buso, who haunt graveyards, forests, and rocks. These tales have been built up by numerous accretions from the folk-lore of many generations. The fear of Buso is an ever-present element in the mental associations of the Bagobo, and a definite factor in shaping ritual forms and magical usages. ”

“ You shall hang up the buffalo meat.
And there shall be plenty everywhere.
You shall live and not die in the old world which returns anew.
You shall chase the buffalo.
You shall gayly race on the bright prairie.
These were the promises of the songs, and as the visitors sang my despairing people became like little children; their hearts melted, they laughed and wept and shouted in time to the music. Some strange power seemed to go with the motions of The Bear’s hands. ”

“ THE BUFFALO AND THE SKUNK When the Philippinos tell you now of the swagger of the Spaniards, which was the sorest of the sorrows that drove them into revolt, they often mention that the Spaniards called them “water buffaloes.”
“To call you geese would have been kind in comparison?”
“Oh, quite polite!”
Indeed the water buffalo known to us in Burma, also, is not smart at all. Slow, heavy and dull, amphibious in his habits, he moves like a very fat pig, with almost less agility. Slipping through the muddy slush, in the sleekness of his prime, he looks almost “like a whale?” ”

“ Of the two, we may find the toad the more interesting animal, as among its kinsfolk are some very remarkable families.
Mr. Bufo is a citizen of the world, except of the severely cold polar regions. He hops through the tropics and the temperate zones, and goes pretty well up into the polar regions; an inoffensive, gentle, humble, useful, and generally utterly silent creature. No person is faultless, and Bufo is not superior to humans in that no evil may be laid to his charge. ”

“ Father Hennepin looked down at patches of buffalo hide which covered holes in his habit. He remembered the trampling of a furious beast’s hoofs and the twitch of its short sharp horn in his folds of flesh as it lifted him. ”

“ O woman of wonderful birth, renowned were you born, O flower, lime, O flower, tree. Having found a proper husband you married; having found a proper wife I married. I gave my best buffalo to Piedr for you. I took you as a beauty to Kuudr. A house we built, bracelets and buffalo horns we made in sport. I thought we should have had many children and many buffaloes should we have enjoyed. Liberal you were and refreshing like the shade of the umbrella tree. We thought that we should live long. We went together as we willed. We bought strong buffaloes and we prevailed over injustice. ”