34 INGLAND THE OX. 



people, when they unharnessed him, gave them- 

 selves no concern to prevent him from escaping ; 

 he wandered at will in the pasture, and was com- 

 mitted, if I may so express myself, to the guidance 

 of his own understanding ; there was no fear that 

 he would wander from the place. When it was 

 time to travel another stage it was unnecessary to 

 fetch him from the pasture and bring him to the 

 waggon, as was requisite for the rest ; three smacks 

 of the whip was our signal for march, and as soon 

 as he heard them he came to his post. He was 

 always the first to present himself to the traces, as 

 if he had been afraid to lose his priority in a place 

 which he had constantly been employed to occupy. 

 " If I went out for exercise, or to hunt, at my 

 return Ingland, as far as he could see me, quitted 

 his pasture, and ran towards me with a particular 

 sort of bellowing, expressive of his joy. He rubbed 

 his head against my body in different directions, 

 and caressed me after his manner. Frequently he 

 licked my hands, and I was constrained to stop long 

 enough to receive his civilities, which sometimes 

 lasted for a quarter of an hour. At length, when 

 I had replied by my endearments and by a kiss, he 

 led the way to my tent, and walked quietly before me. 

 " The evening before he died, Ingland lay down 

 near the shaft of his waggon, and it was in this 

 place he expired. I saw his last agonies, but was 



;352) 



