A FRAGMENT OF HISTORY 161 



and indomitable fury made it the terror of the 

 forests. " 



"And weren't they afraid," asked Louis, "to at- 

 tack this fearful creature with their stone hatchets 1 J ' 



"They fell upon the furious animal without other 

 weapons than pointed stakes and stone hatchets ; but 

 they had the help of powerful dogs that seized the 

 beast by the ears and got the mastery of it. The 

 urus held the place of honor among game. The val- 

 iant huntsman who killed it had for a cup, at the 

 banqueting board, one of the animaPs monstrous 

 horns. " 



"What did they drink from those horns?" Emile 

 inquired. 



"At first clear water from the fountains; then, 

 after the race had made some little progress, an in- 

 toxicating drink called cervisia, made from fer- 

 mented barley. That was the forerunner of our 

 beer." 



"Can it be," asked Louis, "that our peaceful ox 

 came from that intractable beast, the urus, as you 

 call it?" 



"Not at all. The domestic ox is a different kind 

 altogether, originating in Asia and not in the an- 

 cient forests of Europe. In our day there is hardly 

 a urus left. Hunted century after century by grow- 

 ing civilization, the formidable ox with a mane has 

 long since deserted these regions to take refuge in 

 the solitudes of the North. But these solitudes in 

 turn have been taken possession of by man, and the 

 aurochs has found its last retreat in the swampy 



