SUPERSTITION CATTLE DESCRIBED HORNS. 307 



to be something to the following effect. "If I advance and 

 do not find water within a certain period, it will be inevi- 

 table destruction. To retrace my steps to the last watering- 

 place is not to be thought of, as, from the distance and the 

 exhausted state of the cattle, it would never be reached. 

 What remains for me but to lie down and die "?" 



The common people at the Cape entertain a notion that 

 cattle refrain from feeding only once within the year, name- 

 ly, on Christmas eve. Then, it is affirmed, they fall on their 

 knees, and with closed mouths and half-shut eyes (a sign of 

 placidity), silently thank the Giver of all good things for the 

 grass and water they have enjoyed during the past twelve 

 months. They say, moreover, that a person may witness 

 this act of devotion by keeping well to leeward and out of 

 sight of the animals.* 



Our cattle consisted chiefly of the Damara breed, which, 

 so far as I am aware, differs widely from any found in Eu- 

 rope. They are big-boned, but not particularly weighty; 

 their legs are slender, and they have small, hard, and dura- 

 ble feet. The hair on the body is short, smooth, and glossy, 

 and the extremity of the tail is adorned with a tuft of long, 

 bushy hair, nearly touching the ground. This tuft consti- 

 tutes the chief ornament of the Damara assegai. 



But the horns are the most remarkable feature of the Da- 

 mara cattle. They are usually placed on the head at an an- 

 gle of from forty-five to ninety degrees, and are at times 

 beautifully arched and twisted, but rarely bent inward. They 

 are of an incredible length, and one often meets with oxen 

 the tips of whose horns are from seven to eight feet apart. 



* This superstition is common in Devonshire, in the western parts 

 of which it used, till lately, to be affirmed, "that at twelve o'clock at 

 night on Christmas eve, the oxen in their stalls are always found on 

 their knees in an attitude of devotion ; and that, since the alteration 

 of the style, they continue to do this only on the eve of old Christmas 

 day," Bravo, oxen ! — {See Brand's ^'■Popular Antiquities.''^') 



