AS itiCAir CATTLE.] CATTLE, AND THEIE VAEIETIES. [afrtcan cattle. 



this is true. She is now gay, good-humoured 

 and frolicsome; then sulky and gloomy." 



The pastoral economy of Switzerland, which 

 is common to Savoy and other Alpine countries, 

 and the annual progress of the shepherds and 

 cowherds, with their flocks and cattle to and 

 from the mouutains, are interesting. The 

 richer proprietors and breeders in the Alps, 

 possess tracks of pasturages, and sometimes 

 houses, at different heights. In winter they 

 live at the foot of the mountain, in some 

 sheltered valley; but this they quit in tlie 

 spring, and ascend gradually, as the heat 

 brings out vegetation on the higher lands. 

 In autumn they descend, by the same grada- 

 tions, to the valley. Those who are less rich 

 have a resource in certain common pastures, to 

 which they send a number of cows propor- 

 tionate to tht-ir means of keeping them during 

 the winter. Eight days after the cows have 

 been driven up to these common pastures, all 

 their owners assemble, and the quantity of 

 milk each cow produces, is accurately weighed. 

 This operation of weighing is repeated one 

 day in the middle of summer, and again at 

 the end of the season. The milk of all the 

 cows has, in the meanwhile, been put together, 

 and made into butter and cheese ; and this 

 common product is divided into shares, ac- 

 cording to the quantity of milk each owner's 

 cows yielded on the days of trial. In some 

 parts, and more particularly in the retired 

 parts of the forest cantons, the peasants make 

 use of the Alp-horn for the purpose of col- 

 lecting their herds. This primitive instrument 

 is a tube of wood about five feet in length, 

 of very simple construction. It produces a 

 deep, mellow, and prolonged note, resounding 

 to a great distance, floating over the upland 

 pastures, and echoing from crag to crag, and 

 from rock to rock. On hearing the well-known 

 summons, which is regularly given at sunset, 

 the cattle bestir themselves, and wend their 

 way to the chalet, where the peasants are 

 waiting their arrival. The deep note of the 

 Alp-hurn, heard among the mountains, and 

 multiplied by echoes till the last tone dies 

 away, produces a pleasing impression on the 

 traveller, which he long remembers. 



CATTLE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

 The ox, in South Alrica, is used as a beast 

 U;J2 



of burthen and draught ; and his services are 

 of the utmost importance. Waggons drawn 

 by oxen, often cruelly overtasked, are the 

 ordinary travelling vehicles of this part of 

 Africa, and are admirably adapted for the 

 country, which is rugged and mountainous, 

 and generally destitute of any other roads 

 than the rude tracks originally struck across 

 the wilderness by the first European adven- 

 turers. Each waggon, provided with a canvas 

 tilt, to protect the traveller from sun and rain, 

 is drawn by a team of six, eight, or even twelve 

 oxen, fastened with wooden frames to a strong 

 central trace, or trek-tow, formed of twisted 

 thongs of bullock's hide. The driver, who 

 sits in front, has a whip of enormous length, 

 which he often uses with unsparing severity. 

 Formerly, if the account given by Barrow is 

 to be credited, the treatment exercised by the 

 Dutch- African boors to their oxen was brutal 

 in the extreme. The Dutch boors, moreover, 

 made use of very large and clumsy waggons, 

 and delighted in transporting tremendous loads 

 at a time. It was a common sight to see six, 

 eight, ten, or even a dozen pair of oxen yoked 

 to an enormous vehicle; but even this number 

 was inadequate to such burthens as they liad 

 to draw, and the resistance of such roads. 

 The most disgraceful cruelties were used to 

 force these poor creatures on their way. Their 

 drivers cut them with knives ; and when, worn 

 out, they laid themselves down, and refused to 

 rise, it was a common practice to light fires 

 under their sides, and so force them to go. 

 One of these brutal boors, whose knife had 

 been often employed on the flesh of his cattle, 

 boasted that he could start his team at full 

 gallop by merely whetting that knife on the 

 side of his waggon. Once, as he was exhibiting 

 this experiment, the waggon was overturned, 

 and one of the company — " unfortunately not 

 the proprietor," says Mr. Barrow — "had his 

 leg broken." 



AVhen the Dutch took possession of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, they found the Hottentots 

 a pastoral people, possessed of flocks and herds. 

 The oxen were of large size, with horns that 

 swept forwards and upwards to a great length ; 

 and they were not only trained for riding, but 

 even as guardians of the flocks and cattle, and 

 as instruments of destruction in battle. The 

 Hottentots, says Kolben — who visited them 



