PATHiARCHAL Aozs."] CATTLE, AND TFTEIK VARIETIES. [tuk zkhl- huked. 



respecting the treatment of the ox : one forbids 



the yokini^ together of tho aas ami tho ox in 

 the snmo plougli, perhaps from the inetiuality 

 of their size and strength, which would render 

 the draught irregular, and oppress both animals. 

 Another injunction is, " Tiiou slialt not muz- 

 zle the ox when he treadoth out tho corn." 

 The iirst idea suggested by this passage is, 

 that the operation of threshing was ellected 

 siniplv by tiie feet of the cattle passing over 

 the sheaves ; and such, indeed, was tho case in 

 the times of patriarchal simplicity. Afterwards, 

 as other passages show, rollers and wheels of 

 wood, and threshing instruments with teeth, 

 were used. These were drawn over the 

 sheaves by oxen, and greatly facilitated the 

 process. With respect to the primitive mode 

 of threshing by means of the feet of oxen, 

 there is express allusion made to it by 

 Homer, leading us to the belief that the 

 practice was common in his country at the 

 period in which he flourished : — 



" As with autumnal harvests covered o'er, 

 And thick bestrewn, lies Ceres' sacred floor, 

 Where round and round, with never- wearied pain, 

 The trampling steers breakout tL' unnumber'd grain." 



The ancient Arabs, Egyptians, and Romans, 

 as well as the ancient Greeks, threshed their 

 corn in this manner. Virgil, in the first 

 book of bis G-eorgics, describes the manner in 

 which the threshing-floor is to be laid down, 

 showing that nothing like our modern mode of 

 threshing could have been practised. In Syria, 

 Egypt, and !N'ubia, at the present day, the 

 grain is, as formerly, either trodden out by 

 the feet of oxen or mules, or partly trodden 

 out, and partly crushed out, by means of a 

 roller, or other machine, which the oxen drag 

 after them, and which, more or less, destroys 

 the straw, and even injures the grain. There 

 were two modes of threshing; viz., by the drag, 

 and by the sledge upon rollers, which are still 

 practised in Egypt, Syria, and "Western Asia. 



In these remote ages, and in these countries^ 

 oxen were used for drawing the plough, as 

 they are in Egypt at the present day. This 

 implement, however, was of very simple con- 

 struction, as it still continues to be in the 

 East, and is rather formed for superficially 

 turning up a light soil, than for maluug deep 

 furrows in heavy land. It appears that the 

 ploughjuan, to work it efl'ectively, was under 



the neceasity of guiding it with great caro, 

 betiding over it, and lo.-iding it, as much an pos- 

 sible, with his own weight, otherwise tho share 

 would only glide tho surface, without making a 

 furrow ; and tho slightest inattention, or cessa- 

 lion of his labour, would be followed bv tho 

 dragging out of the share from tho earth, or by 

 irregularity in the depth and direction of the 

 furrow ; hence tho expression of Pliny, " arafor, 

 nisi incurvus prtevaricatur.'* 



TUB ZEBU RREED. 



Tho Zebu breed of oxen claims a few ob- 

 servations. V^hether this breed be derived, 

 as some contend, from a distinct origin from 

 that of tho ordinary ox, it is not easy to 

 determine; let it suffice that it presents 

 marked peculiarities which clearly characterise 

 it. Narrow, high withers, surmounted by a 

 large fatty hump ; an arched back rising at the 

 haunches, and suddenly falling to the tail ; 

 slender limbs ; a large pendulous dewlap falling 

 in folds ; long pendent ears, and a peculiarly 

 mild expression of the eye, are the characters 

 which define the zebu race — a race varying in 

 size from that of our largest cattle to that of 

 a young calf. This breed is spread over India, 

 China, and the Indian Islands. It is also 

 found in Madagascar, and on tho eastern 

 coast of Africa, in the interior regions, and 

 parts of the western coast, and is used for the 

 ordinary purposes of draught and burden. 

 India appears to be its parent country ; and 

 we may readily believe that, in remote ages, 

 when an extensive commerce existed between 

 that country and Egypt, it was introduced 

 into the land of the Pharaohs. In Upper 

 Egypt, Abyssinia, and Ethiopia, it is now 

 almost exclusively prevalent; but in Lower 

 Egypt, as wo learn from Burckhardt, the zebu, 

 or humped race, is unknown. In the ancient 

 Egyptian representations of animals, both the 

 humped race, and the ordinary ox, with long 

 horns, are clearly depicted. It is the zebu ox 

 which is sculptured in the cave-temples of 

 EUora, and the seven pagodas, as they are 

 commonly called, at Mahdinaiaipur, on the 

 Coromandel coast. These are proofs of the 

 extreme antiquity of this breed, and of its 

 distinctness, at a remote era, from the ordinary 

 ox. 



Bufibn observes, that the ox without a dorsal 



G15 



