The class of ruminating animals is, of all others, the most numerous
and the most varied. It contains, as we have seen, a great number
of species, and, perhaps, a still greater number of distinct races,
or constant varieties. Notwithstanding all our enquiries, and the
considerable details into which we have been obliged to enter, we
freely confess, that we have not exhausted the subject, and that there
still remain even very remarkable animals which we are only acquainted
with by imperfect fragments, and are unable to ascertain with precision
to what class they belong. For example, in the very great collection
of horns in the royal cabinet, as well as those dispersed in private
museums, each of which, after much labour, and a multiplicity of
comparisons, we have referred to the animal it belonged; there still
remained one without label, or any mark affixed to it, absolutely
unknown. This horn is large, almost straight, and composed of a very
thick black substance; it is not solid, like that of the stag, but
resembles that of the ox. From the base to beyond the middle of the
horn is a thick ridge, raised about an inch; and although the horn
is straight, this prominent ridge makes a spiral turn and a half in
the interior part, and is wholly effaced in the superior part of the
horn, which terminates in a point. This horn, which differs from every
other, seems to have the nearest affinity to that of the buffalo; but
we were ignorant of the name of the animal to which it belonged, and
it was not till hunting through the different cabinets that we found
in that of M. Dupleix part of a head adorned with two similar horns,
and to which was affixed a label with these words: "_the horns of
an animal nearly like a horse, of a greyish colour; with a mane on
the fore part of its head like a horse; it is called at Pondicherry_
coësdoës, _which should be pronounced_ coudous." This little discovery
gave me great pleasure; but I have not been able to meet with this name
_coësdoës_, or _coudous_, in the writings of any traveller; the label
only has informed us that it is of a large size, and to be met with
in the hottest countries of Asia. The buffalo is of the same climate,
and has likewise a mane; it is true his horns are crooked and flat,
while those of the coudous are round and straight, which, together
with the colour, are sufficient indications of the difference of these
two animals; for the buffalo has a black skin and hair, and, according
to the label, the hair of the other is grey. These relations suggest
others: the travellers in Asia speak of the large buffaloes of Bengal,
of red buffaloes, and of the grey buffaloes of the Mogul empire, which
are called _nil-gauts_; the coudous may possibly be one or other of
these animals, and the travellers into Africa, where the buffalo is
as common as in Asia, more precisely mention a species of buffalo,
called _pacassa_ at Congo, which from their indications seems to be
the coudous. "In the route from Louanda to the kingdom of Congo[Y], we
perceived two pacassas, which are animals resembling buffaloes, and
which roar like lions. The male and female go always together; they are
white, spotted with red and black; their ears are about half an ell
long, and their horns are perfectly straight: they neither fly at the
sight of the human species nor do any injury, but only stare at them
as they pass along." We have before mentioned, that the animal, called
at Congo, empacassa, or pacassa, appeared to be the buffalo. It is, in
fact, a kind of buffalo, but differs from it by the shape of the horns
and the colour of the hair; in one word, the pacassa is the coudous,
which perhaps forms a separate species from that of the buffalo, and
perhaps, also, may only be a variety of it[Z].
[Y] Relation de Congo, par les PP. Michael-Ange de Galline et Denys de
Charly de Plaisance, Capuchins.
[Z] The coudous is from five to eight feet in height. The body is of
a bluish ash colour, with a black mane. The head is reddish; the tail
is black at its extremity, and terminated by a little tuft. Both sexes
have horns. They are of a deep black colour, and two feet in length.
The Hotentots make tobacco pipes of them. Their flesh is excellent.