THE BOVINE TRIBE, OR OXEN. 



THE animals which we have now arrived at, and 

 with which zoologists have generally concluded the 

 family of the ruminants, are fully equal to the wool- 

 bearing tribes in value and utility. The several species 

 and various races of Oxen, in all countries, are most 

 important in the economy of the inhabitants. They 

 are used for labour, and even assist in the wars of 

 their masters. Their flesh affords a nourishment for 

 the body, while their skin, hoofs, and horns, are 

 indispensable for the stronger articles of clothing, 

 and in the manufacture of many substances in daily 

 use. In some countries they are so much esteemed, 

 and their produce of milk and butter, &c. held in 

 so much value, that they are never slaughtered ex- 

 cept on the most extraordinary occasions, and never 

 used as an article of common or general food. In 

 other countries they are only used for the purposes 

 of sacred offerings. In Egypt the bull was long 

 considered a sacred animal ; and in the mythology 

 of the Hindus the " holy cattle" are cared for, 

 and their molestation punished with the severest pe- 

 nalties. 



In almost all the countries where oxen are em- 

 loyed, and this is over a great part of the known 



