TJie Zebu. 143 



THE ZEBU, OR BRAHMIN BULL. (Bos Indicus.) 



PENNANT describes the Zebu, or Indian Ox, as sometimes 

 surpassing in size the largest of the European breeds, 

 and the hunch on his shoulders as weighing frequently 

 fifty pounds. There are many varieties, with and without 

 horns, differing in size from that above-named, down to 

 the dimensions of an ordinary hog. They are spread 

 over the whole of Southern Asia, and also in Africa. In 

 all these countries the Zebu supplies the place of the 

 Ox, both as a beast of burden and as an article of food. 

 By the Hindoos they are treated with great veneration, 

 and it is held sinful to deprive them of life, or eat their 

 flesh. A select number are exempted from all labour, 

 and allowed to wander about, and subsist on the volun- 

 tary and pious contributions of the devotees of their 

 faith. 



Emboldened by the toleration they experience, they 

 make free with every vegetable to which they take a 

 fancy, no one daring to resist or drive them away ; often 

 they lie down in the street ; no one must disturb them : 

 every one must give place to the sacred Ox of Brahma ; 

 thus they are frequently nuisances, which superstition 

 alone would endure. 



