THE COW KIND. 



235 



with a large dewlap : however, at present, it 

 is the universal opinion, that -the cow wants 

 in udder what it has in neck ; and the larger 

 the dewlap, the smaller is the quantity of its 

 milk. Our graziers now, therefore, endea- 

 vour to mix the two breeds ; the large Hoi- 

 stein with the small northern ; and from both 

 results that tine milch breed, which excels 

 the cattle of any other part of the world. 



This difference, arising from pasture, is 

 more observable in other countries than in 

 our own. The cow kind is to be found in al- 

 most every part of the world, large in propor- 

 tion to the richness of the pasture; and small 

 as the animal is stinted in its food. Thus 

 Africa is remarkable for the largest and the 

 smallest cattle of this kind ; as is also India, 

 Poland, Switzerland, and several other parts 

 of Europe. Among the Eluth Tartars, where 

 the pastures are remarkably rich and nou- 

 rishing, the cow becomes so large that he 

 must be a tall man who can reach the tip of 

 its shoulder. On the contrary, in France, 

 where the animal is stinted in its food, and 

 driven from the most flourishing pastures, it 

 greatly degenerates. 



But the differences in the size of this ani- 

 mal are not so remarkable as those which are 

 found in its form, its hair, and its horns. The 

 difference is so very extraordinary in many 

 of them, that they have been even considered 

 as a different kind of creature, and names 

 have been given them as a distinct species, 

 when in reality they are all the same. 3 In 

 this manner the urus and the bison have been 

 considered, from the variety in their make, to 

 be distinct in their production ; but they are 

 all, in fact, the descendants of one common 

 stock, as they have that certain mark of u:iity, 

 they breed and propagate among each other. 

 Naturalists have, therefore, laboured under 

 an obvious error, when, because of the ex- 

 treme bulk of the urus. or because of the lump 

 upon the back of tho bison, they assigned them 

 different places in the creation, and separated 

 a class of animals which was really united. 

 It is true, the horse and the ass do not differ 

 so much in form, as the cow and the bison; 

 nevertheless, the former are distinct animals, 

 as their breed is marked with sterility ; the 



Buffon, vol. xxiii. n. 78. 

 NO. 5!i & 22. 



latter are animals of the same kind, as their 

 breed is fruitful, and a race of animals is pro- 

 duced, in which the hump belonging to the 

 bison is soon worn away. The differences, 

 therefore, between the cow, the urus, and the 

 bison, are merely accidental. The same ca- 

 price in nature that has given horns to some 

 cows, and denied them to others, may also 

 have given the bison a hump, or increased 

 the bulk of the urus ; it may have given the 

 one a mane, or denied a sufficiency of hair to 

 the other. 



But before we proceed farther, it may be 

 proper to describe these varieties, which have 

 been thus taken for distinct kinds. 1 " The urus, 

 or wild bull, is chiefly to be met with in the 

 province of Lithuania; and grows to a size 

 that scarcely any other animal, except the 

 elephant, is ifound to equal. It is quite black, 

 except a stripe mixed with white, that runs 

 from the neck to the tail, along the top of the 

 back ; the horns are short, thick, and strong; 

 the eyes are fierce and fiery ; the forehead is 

 adorned with a kind of garland of black curl- 

 ed hair, and some of them are found to have 

 beards of the same; the neck is short and 

 strong; and the skin has an odour of musk. 

 The female, though not so big as the male, 

 exceeds the largest of our bulls in size; never- 

 theless, her udder and teats are so small, that 

 they can scarcely be perceived. Upon the 

 whole, however, this animal resembles the 

 tame one very exactly, except in some trifling 

 varieties, which his state of wildness, or the 

 richness of the pastures where he is found, 

 may easily have produced. 



The bison, which is another variety of the 

 cow kind, differs from the rest, in having a 

 lump between its shoulders. These animals 

 are of various kind ; some very large, others 

 as diminutively little. In general, to regard 

 this animal's fore-parts, he nas somewhat the 

 look of a lion, with a long shaggy mane, and 

 a beard under his chin ; his head is little, his 

 eyes red and fiery, with a furious look; the 

 forehead is large, and the horns so big, and 

 so far asunder, that three men might often sit 

 between them. On the middle of the back 

 there grows a bunch almost as high as that of 

 a camel, covered with hair, and which is con- 



b This description is chiefly taken from Klein. 

 2R 



