3-077-782 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Formosa: pursued by water-buffaloes, 1890. 'Several of the Sketches made by Mr. E. Hornby Grimani during his residence at Takow...have appeared in our pages. They were mostly those of incidents observed in an excursion that he undertook, with two friends, on horseback, to the mountains in the interior...[One of his sketches shows] a herd of "water-buffaloes," running wild there just now, but sometimes used for agricultural labours, which beasts seem to have a peculiar antipathy to white men, and will attack the strangers without fear or scruple. "They dashed at us with full force, ploughing up the ground with their preposterously long horns. At one place, where the road dipped into and through a dark gloomy pool, surrounded by dense clusters of trees, we found ourselves in the midst of a large wicked-looking herd. Seeing them all engaged in quenching their thirst, we sought to sneak quietly through, without attracting their attention; but several big bulls, followed by the herd, launched themselves at us, creating a startling disturbance of the waters. After the pursuit had lasted about a mile, the buffaloes one by one began to drop off; only one persistent bull remained, which kept up the chase two miles farther".' From "Illustrated London News", 1890.