THE COW KIND. 



237 



even into blind adoration. But it is among j 

 the Hottentots where these animals are chiefly j 

 esteemed, as being more than commonly ser- 

 viceable. They are their fellow domestics, the 

 companions of their pleasures and fatigues ; 

 the cow is at once the Hottentot's protector 

 and servant, assists him in attending his flocks, 

 and guarding them against every invader : 

 while the sheep are grazing, the faithful backely, 

 as this kind of cow is called, stands or grazes 

 beside them ; still, however, attentive to the 

 looks of its master, the backely flies round the 

 field, herds in the sheep that are straying, 

 obliges them to keep within proper limits, and 

 shows no mercy to robbers, or even strangers, 

 who attempt to plunder. But it is not the 

 plunderers of the flock alone, but even the 

 enemies of the nation, that these backelies arc 

 taught to combat. Every army of Hottentots 

 is furnished with a proper herd of these, which 

 are let loose against the enemy, when the oc- 

 casion is most convenient. Being thus sent 

 forward, they overturn all before them ; they 

 strike every opposer down with their horns, 

 and trample upon them with their feet ; and 

 thus often procure their masters an easy vic- 

 tory, even before they have attempted to strike 

 a blow. An animal so serviceable, it may be 

 supposed, is not without its reward. The 

 backely lives in the same cottage with its 

 master, and, by long habit, gains an affection 

 for him ; and in proportion as the man ap- 

 proaches to the brute, so the brute seems to 

 attain even to some share of human sagacity. 

 The Hottentot and his backely thus mutually 

 assist each other; and when the latter happens 

 to die, a new one is chosen to succeed him, by 

 a counsel of the old men of the village. The 

 new hackely is then joined with one of the 

 veterans of his own kind, from whom he learns 

 his art, becomes social and diligent, and is 

 taken for life into human friendship and pro- 

 tection. 



The bisons, or cows with a hump, are found 

 to differ very much from each other in the 

 several parts of the world where they are found. 

 The wild ones of this kind, as with us, are 

 much larger than the tame. Some have horns, 

 and some are without any ; some have them 

 depressed, and some raised in such a manner 

 that they are used as weapons of annoyance or 

 defence ; some are extremely large, and others 

 among them, such as the zebu, or Barbary cow, 



are very small. They are all, however, equally 

 docile and gentle when tamed; and, in general, 

 furnished with a fine lustrous soft hair, more 

 beautiful than that of our own breed ; their 

 hump is also of different sizes, in some weigh- 

 ing from forty to fit'ty pounds, in others less : 

 it is not, however, to be considered as a part 

 necessarily belonging to the animal; and pro- 

 bably it might be cut away without much in- 

 jury : it resembles a gristly fat; and, as I am 

 assured, cuts and tastes somewhat like a dress- 

 ed udder. The bisons of Malabar, Abyssinia, 

 and Madagascar, are of the great kind, as the 

 pastures there are plentiful. Those of Arabia 

 Petraea, and most parts of Africa, are small, 

 and of the zebu or little kind. In America, 

 especially towards the north, the bison is well 

 known. The American bison, how ever, is found 

 to be rather less than that of the ancient con- 

 tinent ; its hair is longer and thicker, its beard 

 more remarkable, and its hide more lustrous 

 and soft. There are many of them brought up 

 tame in Carolina ; however, their wild dispo- 

 sitions still seem to continue, for they break 

 through all fences to get into the corn-fin Ids, 

 and lead the whole tame herd after them, 

 wherever they penetrate. They breed also 

 with the tame kinds originally brought over 

 from Europe; and thus produce a race peculiar 

 to that country. 



From all this it appears," that naturalists 

 have given various names to animals in reality 

 the same, and only differing in some few acci- 

 dental circumstances. The wild cow and the 

 tame, the animal belonging to Europe, and 

 that of Asia, Africa, and America, the bonasus 

 and the urus, the bison and the zebu, are all 

 one and the same, propagate among each other, 

 and, in the course of a few generations, the 

 hump wears away, and scarcely any vestiges 

 of savage fierceness are found to remain. Of 

 all animals, therefore, except man alone, the 

 cow seems most extensively propagated, its 

 nature seems equally capable of the rigours of 

 heat and cold. It is an inhabitant as well of 

 the frozen fields of Iceland, as the burning 

 deserts of Lybia. It seems an ancient inmate 

 in every climate, domestic and tame in those 

 countries which have been civilized, savage 

 and wild in the countries which are less peopled, 

 but capable of being made useful in all ; able 



Buffon, vol. xxiii. p. 130. 

 2 R* 



