654 



BOS. 



unimul, or attempting to determine the native locality 

 of the race from which civilised nations originally 

 derived that species which is now, and has from time 

 immemorial been, of so much value to them. 



Nothing tends more forcibly to prove the early 

 period at which the ox was appropriated by man, 

 and the advantage derived from the appropriation, 

 than the association of that animal with religious rites 

 and astronomical allusions. That the bull was the 

 object of direct worship among the ancient Egyptians, 

 and that it continues to be so to this day among the 

 Hindoos, is well known. It had also large typical 

 honours among the Greeks and Romans ; and even 

 with the Jews, under the Mosaic ritual, this animal 

 was the most costly sacrifice. There are traces of 

 very high regard for these animals among all the 

 nations of the eastern continent ; and among some 

 of them the names of cow and calf are the terms of 

 fondest endearment which the people apply to each 

 other. This would lead us to suppose that the 

 domestication of the ox was, if not the cause, at least 

 one of the earliest and most efficient means of civili- 

 sation ; and, if the expression may be allowed, there 

 is a disposition to the society of man in the animals of 

 this group, which is not so apparent in any other. 

 The ox does not, it is true, voluntarily offer his neck 

 to the yoke, and the female of the group does not 

 come spontaneously to be milked ; but the gregarious 

 propensities of these animals, which is peculiarly 

 strong, leads them to associate readily with almost 

 any other animals, which have no disposition to offer 

 them direct injury. 



They are also much more constant to their locali- 

 ties than the lighter members of the order; and these 

 are the very localities which are most enriching to 

 man as a visitant, and a resident, 'and a cultivator. 

 We have a remarkable instance of their superiority 

 in this respect, in the contrast of the ranges necessary 

 for cattle and sheep, in those parts of our own 

 country, which cannot be profitably brought under 

 the plough, or which, at all events, have not been so 

 brought. If the country is to be thrown profitably 

 into sheep walks, the cottages must be removed over 

 a very considerable breadth, so that the sheep may 

 have free range ; and the sheep nibble the leaves of 

 the shrubby plants as well as the grasses, and have 

 a tendency to reduce the country to that bare and 

 bleak state which suits best with their own healthy 

 condition. A moist climate, and humid and soft soil, 

 are also ill suited for these animals ; as the water 

 lodges in their fleeces, and makes them heavy and 

 fatiguing to the animals, which heats them, and as the 

 heat is carried rapidly off by the evaporation from 

 the fleece, their strength is exhausted, and they are 

 subjected to diseases of the lungs. Their feet, too, 

 from the comparative narrowness of the hoofs, sink 

 deep into soft and boggy ground. This also fatigues 

 them ; and besides, the moisture acts on the frogs or 

 soft parts of the hoofs, which are altogether of less 

 consistent structure than those of the ox tribe, and 

 they are seized with "foot rot," or mortification of 

 the lower part of the foot. Nor is it the weakly 

 sheep which are subject to these casualties ; but 

 rather those which are in the best condition, and on 

 that account the most apt to feel the weight of the 

 rain in their coats, and to sink deep in the soft 

 ground. The)' are also, altogether of more delicate 

 constitution, and less able to bear severe weather 

 than the ox tribe. 



These last do not range so widely in their daily 

 feeding, they are less disturbed by human habitations, 

 or by the presence of other animals on the same 

 pastures. Rains injure them but little in comparison, 

 as their coats throw off the water, so that it does not 

 loud and fatigue them us it does the others. Their 

 feet are broader in proportion to the weight of their 

 bodies ; their hoofs are of more compact and firm 

 texture, and not liable to be rotted, or otherwise 

 injured, by humid pastures. They are indeed partial 

 to such places, as they prefer the grass when there is 

 some moisture upon it ; and accordingly, their chief 

 feeding times are in the morning and the evening, 

 and in the heat of the day they retreat to the shallow 

 waters, and stand in these, chewing the cud with much 

 apparent satisfaction. Sheep, on the other hand, 

 continue to nibble all day long, but they are apt to 

 suffer if they remain on their pastures after the dew 

 of evening is formed. 



The ox tribe is much less liable to disease of any 

 kind than sheep are, unless it be diseases which are 

 brought on by a deficiency of food, or food of an 

 improper quality. The true grasses are their most 

 natural and proper food, and they are always in the 

 best condition in places where those grasses are 

 native. This circumstance alone would point out 

 the middle latitudes as their natural geographical 

 habitats. They also readily eat the leguminous 

 plants, and the smaller species which are found on dry 

 pastures, or indeed any of the species when dry, are 

 not unwholesome for them ; but when the rich clovers, 

 in a state of vigorous growth, and when wet with rain 

 or dew, are taken into the stomach, they ferment and 

 give out so much gas, that the paunch is in danger ot 

 bursting, which is of course fatal to the animal. Even 

 this, however, does not appear to affect the system 

 with disease, and thus it is no argument against the 

 general healthiness ; for an incision made into the 

 distended paunch, if so made as not to injure the 

 other viscera, suffers the gas to escape, and all is well. 



Thus the ox points out to man those places where 

 it is most advantageous to settle and begin the labour 

 of cultivation, which may be considered as the primary 

 foundation of all improvement. It was probably, in- 

 deed most likely, for this reason, that the bull found 

 so honourable a place in the mythologies of all the 

 civilised nations of antiquity, and in the sacrifices 

 under the ceremonial law of the Jews, and for the 

 same reason that he found a place, and the peculiar 

 place which he holds, in the signs of the Zodiac. 



We have seen a fanciful parallel drawn between 

 those signs, and the progress of man in civilisation, 

 which though probably not literally true, is yet 

 worthy of being repeated. The Ram (aries) was 

 typical of the primary or pastoral state, under which 

 only single families, or small septs of people, could 

 live in communion with each other ; and there could 

 not only be no communion of opinion, or unity of 

 purpose among people in such a state, but they 

 must have been at continual war with each other 

 about the invading and the defending of their pas- 

 tures. So far as we can glean from what is recorded 

 in Holy Writ of the patriarchal ages, when there seem 

 to have been as many kings as hamlets in Syria, this 

 appears then to have been the condition of that 

 portion of the world. The Bull (tazims) was emble- 

 matical of settlement and culture ; and this appears 

 then to have been the condition of Egypt, and the 

 richer parts of the world ; and we find that down to 



