THE BOVINE DWELLERS OF OTHER LANDS. 175 



eheaths of their horns are always badly splintered. They 

 are very fond, too, of rubbing themselves, and evidently 

 regard the telegraph-poles along the railroads as set there 

 for their especial convenience in this respect. 



7. " But their chief delight is in wallowing. Find- 

 ing in the low parts of the prairie a little stagnant water 

 among the grass, or, at least, the surface soft and moist, 

 an old bull plunges his horns into the ground, tearing up 

 the earth, and soon making an excavation into which the 

 water trickles, forming for a short time a cool and com- 

 fortable bath, in which, he wallows, like a hog in the mire, 

 swinging himself round and round on his side, and thus 

 enlarging the pool until he is nearly immersed. At length 

 he rises besmeared with a coating of mud, which, drying, 

 insures him immunity from pests for many hours. Oth- 

 ers follow, each enlarging the ' wallow,' until it becomes 

 twenty feet in diameter, remains a prominent feature in 

 the landscape, and forms a cistern where a grateful sup- 

 ply of water is often long re- 

 tained for the thirsty denizens 



of that dry region." 



8. The zebus are the do- 

 mestic cattle of India, and are 

 also found in China and in 

 some parts of Africa. Some 



of them are as large as our na- Th e zdu. 



tive cattle, and others are as 



small as a yearling calf. They have a peculiar hump on 

 their shoulders, and are covered with a soft, mouse-colored 

 or squirrel-gray hair. The natives are taught by their re- 

 ligion that it is a sin to kill these cattle ; hence they are 

 named sacred cattle. They are useful for the saddle, for 

 drawing carriages, and are sometimes attached to the 

 plow. Their step is rapid, and they can easily travel 



