companions too much to
offer a solution of it as long as he could decorously withhold it.

The surprise of the boys was not diminished, when another native stepped
out of the timber, buffalo on back, like the first; and then another and
another--until half-a-dozen men, with a like number of buffaloes on
their shoulders, were seen crossing the meadows!

Meanwhile the foremost had reached the bank of the river; and now the
astonishment of the botanists reached its climax, when they saw this man
let down the huge animal from his shoulders, embrace it with his arms,
place it before him in the water, and then mount astride _upon its
back_! In a moment more he was out in the stream, and his buffalo
swimming under him, or rather he seemed to be pushing it along, using
his arms and legs as paddles to impel it forward!

The others, on reaching the water, acted in a precisely similar manner,
and the whole party were soon launched, and crossing the stream
together.

It was not until the foremost Mech had arrived at the bank close to
where our travellers awaited them, _lifted his buffalo out of the water,
and reshouldered it_, that the latter learnt to their surprise that what
they had taken for buffaloes were nothing more than the inflated skins
of these animals that were thus employed as rafts by the rude but
ingenious natives of the district!

The same contrivance is used by the inhabitants of the Punjaub and other
parts of India, where fords are few and bridges cannot be built. The
buffaloes are skinned, with the legs, heads, and horns left on, to serve
as handles and supports in managing them. They are then rendered
airtight and inflated, heads, legs, and all; and in this way bear such a
resemblance to the animals from which they have been taken, that even
dogs are deceived, and often growl and bark at them. Of course the
quantity of air is for more than sufficient to buoy up the weight of a
man. Sometimes, when goods and other articles are to be carried across,
several skins are attached together, and thus form an excellent raft.

This was done upon the spot, and at a moment's notice. The Mechs,
although a half-savage people, are far from uncivil in their intercourse
with strangers. A word from Ossaroo, accompanied by a few pipes of
tobacco from the botanist, procured the desired raft of buffalo-skins;
and our party, in less than half-an-hour, were safely deposited upon the
opposite bank, and allowed to continue