580 UNGULATA. 



people. The cattle live like wild ones, never entering a stall, or coming 

 under a roof. Not large, but beautiful and powerful, tliev have pretty 

 long, very sharp, outward-curving horns. They are revengeful, and 

 never forget a blow. As they roam over the hills of Southern Spain, no 

 wolf, no bear dares to assail them, and the prudent traveler keeps out of 

 their way. The most fierce and active of the bulls are reserved for the 

 bull-fights to which the Spanish nation is so passionately addicted. The 

 bloody and brutalizing spectacle has been often described, and we need 

 not repeat it here. 



There is, at the mouth of the Rhone, stretching from the town f)f 

 Aries to the Mediterranean, a vast extent of marshy land, intersected by 

 woods. This tract has been formed by successive deposits of the river, 

 and is called the Camargue. Large herds of cattle live in an almost 

 wild state in these humid plains and solitary woods. The bulls of the 

 Camargue are all black, of a moderate size, with long tapering horns. 

 Their wild nature, agility, and exceptional strength render them very 

 dangerous to the traveler who intrudes on their domain. 



The most ancient documents of historic ages describe the Ox, the 

 Horse, the Dog, and the Sheep, as associated with man. The humble 

 iind patient Ox forms the most useful assistant of the small farmer, and 

 rJso constitutes the main performer of the most important agricultural 

 operations. It helps to till the ground ; it drags immense and heavily 

 laden wagons ; it takes a part in all the labors of the farm ; and after 

 fifteen or sixteen years of a well-spent life, it yields up for the benefit of 

 man its flesh, bones, fat, skin, horns, hoofs, and blood — all of them pro- 

 ducts which supply with material a host of useful manulactures. 



The Ox is neither so dull nor so stupid as is popularly supposed ; 

 but, on the contrar\', is endowed with a degree of intelligence which, in 

 certain countries, man has developed and turned to his profit; for some 

 of the tribes of South Africa entrust to oxen the care of their flocks, 

 duties which the sagacious Ruminants fulfil with a zeal and intelligence 

 worthy of all praise. Prudence and a quick perception of danger are 

 also qualities possessed by the Ox. If eitiier by his own fault or that of 

 his guide, he finds himself in a dangerous place, he develops resources 

 for extricating himself (piite surprising. 



When we are considering tlie advantages which society derives from 

 them, domestic cattle may be looked at in four different aspects: as 

 beasts of burden, that is, producers of mechanical force applicable to the 



