64 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



forms, at every little distance, steep declivities of several hundred 



yards downward. These can only be descended by mules, and 



the animals themselves seern sensible of the danger, and the caution 



to be used in such descents. When they come to the edge of one 



of these precipices, they stop without being checked by the rider, 



and if he inadvertently attempts to spur them on, they continue im- 



inoveable. They seem all this time ruminating on the peril that 



lies before them, and preparing themselves for the encounter. They 



not only attentively view the road, but tremble and snort at the 



danger. Having prepared for the descent, they place their fore feet 



in a posture as if they were stopping themselves ; they then also put 



their hind feet together, but a little forward, as if they* were going to 



lie down. In this attitude, having, as it were, taken a survey of the 



road, they slide down with the swiftness of a meteor. At this time, 



all the rider has to do is to keep himself fast on the saddle, without 



checking the reins, for the least motion is sufficient to check the 



equilibrium of the mule, in which case both he and his rider would 



perish. The address of these animals in this rapid descent is truly 



wonderful, for in their swiftest motion, when they seem to have 



lost all government of themselves, they follow exactly the different 



windings of the road, as if they had previously settled in their minds 



the route they were to follow, and had taken every precaution for 



their safety. Some mules, after having been long used in such 



journies, acquire a sort of reputation for their safety and skill, and 



their value rises in proportion to their celebrity. 



THE OX. 



THE ox, by which the natural historian means black cattle in 

 general, without regard to sex, is one of the most precious and use- 

 lul to man, among the herbivorous animals. Easily tamed, and of 

 a gentle and placid temper, he is maintained at small expense ; and 

 while he consumes but little, he enriches and improves the ground 

 from which he draws his substance. He patientty lends his neck 

 to {he yoke, and exerts his great muscular strength in bearing our 

 burdens, in preparing our fields for the seed, and, to this day in 

 eastern regions, in separating the chaff from the grain, after he has 

 assisted in gathering in the harvest. The milk of the herd supplies 

 us with a rich and pleasant beverage ; the flesh with a nutritious 

 food ; the skin forms a part of our covering, and in many parts of the 

 world still contributes to the defence of warriors in the day of bat- 

 tle. Scarcely a part of this animal indeed can be named, which is 

 not daily rendered subservient to the purposes of utility and ele- 

 gance. In the patriarchal ages, the ox constituted no inconsiderable 



