NATURAL HISTORY. 131 



CHAP. VII. 



OF QUADRUPEDS IN GENERALOF DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



THE HORSE THE ASS THE OX THE SHEEP 



THE GOAT OF THE SWINE THE WILD 



BOAR, &c. 



U PON comparing the various animals of the globe 

 with each other, we shall. find, that Quadrupeds de- 

 mand the rank immediately next ourselves ; and, con- 

 sequently, come first in consideration. The similitude 

 between the structure of their bodies and our own, 

 those instincts which they seem to enjoy in a superior 

 degree to the other classes that live in air or water, 

 their constant services to man, or the unceasing enmity 

 they bear him, all render them the foremost objects of 

 his curiosity, the most interesting part of animated 

 nature. 



In the first ages of the world it is probable, that 

 all living creatures wero nearer an equality than at 

 present. Man, while yet savage himself, was but ill 

 qualified to civilize the forest. While yet naked, un- 

 armed, and without shelter, every wild beast was a 

 formidable rival, and the destruction of such was the 

 first employment of heroes. But when he began to 

 multiply, and arts to accumulate, he soon cleared the 

 plains of its brute inhabitants ; he soon established an 

 empire over all the orders of animated .nature ; part 

 was taken under his protection and care, while the 

 rest found a precarious refuge in the burning desert 

 of the howling wilderness. 



The most obvious and simple division therefore of 

 Quadrupeds, is into the domestic and savage ; by do- 

 mestic 1 mean, such as man has taken into friendship, 

 or reduced to obedience; by the savage, those who 



