Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/209

 BUFFALOES. 193

ing the operations of ploufifhing and irrirration. As in the time of the Buddhists, the only animals em- ployed for this heavy, muddy work are buffaloes ; and lazv though the animal seems, it is astonishino- what an amount of work lie goes through, patiently toiling on, though in many instances subjected to great hardships and cruelties. When one native quarrels with another, and desires to inform him that he will not stand any ill treatment, he uses this quiet beast as a metaphor. " Don't take me for a b'uffalo," he says ; " 1 am not to be led by the nose." In some of their legendary tales, this modi' of leading the lazy-paced animal, is said to have been adopted in consequence of his having refused to (juit the world with Gragasi, a giant, and Singa, a word which in Sanscrit means lion. These two, determining to leave a ])lace where they were in daTiger of being one day made to serve mankind, endeavoured to persuade some other animals to follow their example, and such as refused were VOL. 11.

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