launches of both ships were sent to
the town, to fetch the buffaloes which we had given orders to be purchased;
but they were obliged to wait till it was high-water, as they could at no
other time get through the opening at the head of the harbour. On their
arrival at the village, they found the surf breaking on the beach with such
force, that it was with the utmost difficulty each launch brought a
buffaloe on board in the evening, and the officers, who were sent on this
service, gave it as their opinion, that between the violence of the surf,
and the fierceness of the buffaloes, it would be extremely imprudent to
attempt bringing any more off in this way. We had purchased eight, and were
now at a loss in what manner to proceed to get them on board. We could kill
no more than was just necessary for the consumption of one day, as in this
climate meat will not keep till the next. After consulting with Luco, it
was concluded, that the remainder should be driven through the wood, and
over the hill down to the bay, where Captain Gore and I had landed the day
before, which being sheltered from the wind, was more free from surf. This
plan was accordingly put in execution; but the untractableness and
prodigious strength of the buffaloes, rendered it a tedious and difficult
operation. The method of conducting them was, by passing ropes through
their nostrils, and round their horns; but having been once enraged at the
sight of our men, they became so furious, that they sometimes broke the
trees, to which we were often under the necessity of tying them; sometimes
they tore asunder the cartilage of the nostril, through which the ropes
ran, and got loose. On these occasions, all the exertions of our men to
recover them would have been ineffectual, without the assistance of some
young boys, whom these animals would permit to approach them, and by whose
little managements their rage was soon appeased. And when, at length, they
were got down to the beach, it was by their aid, in twisting ropes round
their legs, in the manner they were directed, that we were enabled to throw
them down, and by that means to get them into the boats. A circumstance,
respecting these animals, which I thought no less singular than this
gentleness toward, and, as it should seem, affection for little children,
was, that they had not been twenty-four hours on board, before they became
the tamest of all creatures. I kept two of them, a male and female, for a
consi