THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 331 



forms a rich and nutritive aliment for the human 

 species, and gives to our tables the important articles 

 of butter and cheese ; and of late years, benefit has 

 been derived even from one of its diseases, by the in- 

 troduction of vaccine inoculation, an antidote for that 

 horrible and deadly disorder, the small-pox. 



Such are the advantages derived from the cow, that 

 we may almost be induced to admire that superstitious 

 veneration which the Gentoos entertain for an animal 

 to which they are under so great obligations. To such 

 a height, however, do they carry their reverence, that 

 there is scarcely a Gentoo to be found that would not, 

 were he under a compulsatory option, pi^efer sacrificing 

 his parents or children to the slaughtering of a bull or 

 or cow. 



THE COMMON OX. 



From this well known and useful animal are derived 

 the numerous varieties of common cattle found in va- 

 rious parts both of the old and new continent. In its 

 wild and native state it is distinguished by the depth 

 and shagginess of its hair, which about the head, neck, 

 and shoulders, is frequently of such a length as almost 

 to touch the ground ; and it grows to such an enormous 

 size, as sometimes to w^eigh sixteen hundred or two 

 thousand pounds. 



The horns are rather short, strong, and sharp- 

 pointed, and stand distant from each other at their 

 basis. The colour is generally either a dark or yel- 

 lowish-brown. The limbs are very strong and mus- 

 cular, and the whole aspect gloomy and ferocious. 



