Oxen .J 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



155 



earliest times. Now, to what are we to attribute this 

 original difference ? Are the two races descended 

 from different primitive sources, or have food and 

 soil gradually produced the differences which have 

 been so long maintained ? No one, we think, will 

 hesitate to say the latter ; impossible as it may be 

 to follow step by step the progress of the change, or 

 to determine the modus operandi of the causes con- 

 tributing to effect it. It is, however, very remark- 

 able that it is only in animals which have been so 

 long domesticated that we cannot tell their primeval 

 origin, and which there is reason to think are fac- 

 titious beings (that is, the produce of different, but 

 still closely-allied species commingling together), 

 that these extreme variations as to size, figure, and 

 length and quality of fur are most decidedly observ- 

 able. We see these varieties in the dog — from the 

 silky long-haired spaniel of Spanish race to the 

 close-haired old setter of the saine country ; from 

 the woolly French poodle to the matin ; from the 

 rough English water-dog to the mastiff: so in the 

 sheep we find a short-fieeced breed, with the fila- 

 ments of the wool peculiarly fine and numerously 

 serrated ; a still longer-fleeced breed, again sub- 

 divided into many minor varieties, and having the 

 wool fine, and more or less capable of felting, or, 

 in other words, more or less numerously serrated ; 

 and a long-woolled race of old standing, in which 

 the wool, but thinly serrated, is inferior in felting 

 properties, but of great value to the woolcomber. 

 But further, as the mixture of a long and silky- 

 haired breed of dogs with one of close hair does not 

 improve the coat, the young resembling some the 

 male, some the female, but not equalling them in 

 their excellences ; so the crossing of long-woolled 

 and short-wooUed sheep leads to no good results ; 

 and, as with dogs, the improvement of each breed 

 depends on a judicious and careful selection of the 

 best and purest of that breed, by which the proper- 

 ties distinguishing it may be developed to their 

 maximum in their progeny. 



In England the sheep is now only valuable for 

 the sake of its wool and flesh ; but in various parts 

 of both Europe and Asia the milk of the ewe has 

 been used from the earliest times, either pure or 

 curdled, as an article of diet. Formerly, in many 

 parts of England, cheese was made from the milk of 

 the ewe, and the ewes, to the injury of the lambs, 

 were milked regularly, as described in the 'Odyssey,' 

 and, at a later era, by Virgil ; — 



" He next betakes him to hU evening cares. 

 And sittini; down, to mitk his ewes prepares ; 

 Of half tlieir udders eases first ttie dams. 

 Then to tlie mothers' teats submits tlie lamlis. 

 Half the white stream to hardenintj cheese he preas'd, 

 And high in wicker baskets heap'd ; the rest, 

 Ileserved in bowls, supplied the mighty feast." 



Pope, Odyss., lib. ii. 



To the process of shearing we need scarcely 

 allude ; all are familiar with the manner in which 

 the removal of the fleece is effected, and it would 

 seem that in the earliest patriarchal ages the same 

 process was in use. Among the Romans, however 

 (and the practice has been but lately discontinued 

 in the Orkney Islands, and is, perhaps, still preva- 

 lent in Iceland), the wool was torn off the animals, 

 and, as Pliny states, they were kept for three days 

 previously without food, in order that the wool 

 might be the more easily detached, their bodies 

 being exhausted. In his time, however, the prac- 

 tice of shearing had begun to supersede this cruel 

 and unjustifiable method. It gave, however, origin 

 to the word vellus (fleece), from lello (to pull away), 

 and the hill termed Velleia was the ancient spot on 

 which this craelty was perpetrated. 



With us the season of sheep-shearing is a season 

 of rejoicing, and the manner in which the important 

 work is conducted, and the dexterity of the shearers, 

 arc, to those not accustomed to rural life, replete 

 with interest and amusement. It is, indeed, a 

 pleasing spectacle to see a large flock of snow- 

 white sheep collected together, and in turn losing 

 their soft fleece, rolled into an unbroken and well- 

 arranged whole, beneath the shears of the shearer : 

 the picture is full of poetry, and he must be destitute 

 alike of taste and patriotism that can look coldly 

 upon it. Our sketch (Fig. 681) is a spirited repre- 

 sentation of sheep-washing for the purpose of cleans- 

 ing the fleece preparatory to shearing. 



To enter into a disquisition on the commercial 

 importance of the sheep, its connexion with national 

 prosperity and international relationships, is not 

 our place. We leave this to the political econo- 

 mist. 



Before we close, let us again revert to our start- 

 ing-point — the question as to the origin of the 

 domestic sheep. It is clear that we cannot identify 

 it with any wild species with which we are yet ac- 

 quainted. If such exists, it is most probably to be 

 found on the mountains of Armenia — but this is 

 problematical ; and there is some ground for sup- 

 posing that, though the sheep of every region inter- 

 mingle with each other, they have descended from 

 different primitive origins. The subject is full of ! 



obscurity. It is, indeed, strange that while history 

 teems with the accounts of battles, massacres, inva- 

 sions, the reigns and the crimes of kings, it throws 

 no light upon the domestic animals which man has 

 reclaimed. The motives which led man to attempt 

 this important work, the manner in which he accom- 

 plished it, the characters and native abodes of the 

 species selected, are buried in silence. The subject 

 was too mean for history — the actors too humble to 

 be noticed ; but thus it ever is, that the glare of 

 mighty deeds effaces the record of the useful, the 

 beneficent, and the truly great. 



Genus Bos, Oxen. — Horns in both sexes. Nei- 

 ther suborbital sinus, interdigital fossae, nor in- 

 guinal pores. Teats in females four. The animals 

 of this genus are, with some few exceptions, the 

 largest and most massive of the hollow-horned 

 Ruminants ; their limbs are low and strong, their 

 body heavy, with wide haunches, and thick and 

 often elevated shoulders ; the head is large, and 

 furnished with horns common to both sexes ; their 

 progressive increase being marked by annuli at the 

 base. They sheathe a hollow or cancellous bony 

 core, continued from the sides of a bold frontal 

 ridge. The forehead or chaffron is expanded ; the 

 muzzle, except in the subgenus Ovibos, is broad, 

 naked, and moist ; the neck is thick, deep, com- 

 pressed laterally, carried horizontally, and furnished 

 with a pendent dewlap. The spinous processes of 

 the anterior dorsal vertebrae, at the withers, are 

 very long and stout. Fig. 686 represents the Den- 

 tition of the Ox, in two views of the upper and 

 under jaw; Fig. 687 is a very characteristic deli- 

 neation of the Skeleton of the English short-horned 

 Cow ; and Fig. 688 is a representative of the osseous 

 structure of the Fore-foot (a) and of the Hind-foot (6) 

 of the Ox. All the Ox group are gregarious in their 

 habits, and no quarter of the globe is destitute of its 

 indigenous species, existing in a state of freedom, 

 tenanting the deep glades of the forest, or roaming 

 over hills or plains : — 



" Villosi ter<ra Bisontes 

 Latisque feri cornibus Uri." 



The Genus Bos may be subdivided into the fol- 

 lowing minor groups, or subgenera: Bos, Anoa, 

 Bubalus, Bison, and Ovibos. Of each of these minor 

 sections our pictorial museum contains most inter- 

 esting examples. 



The Ox (Bos Taurus) is now only known as a 

 domesticated animal, spread far and wide through 

 almost every region of the globe, contributing by 

 its services and products to the well-being of man. 

 Although referred to as a domestic animal in the 

 earliest ages by the author of the Mosaic record, 

 impenetrable darkness hangs over its primeval his- 

 tory, nor know we what is its wild origin, nor whether 

 that origin is in existence. 



Temperature, soil, food, a thousand circumstances 

 operating through the revolutions of years, have 

 combinetl to effect a series of modifications in the 

 ox ; every country possesses its peculiar races, and 

 these races, by their intermixture, are perpetually 

 producing others, so that it is impossible to say to 

 what extent these changes may be carried, and how 

 far the original type has become already modified. 

 Certain it is that we are acquainted with no animal 

 in a state of original independence to which we 

 can refer as the primitive type of the ox. It is 

 true, however, that within the period of authentic 

 history certain wild oxen existed in Europe ; but it 

 is not to Europe what we must look as the cradle of 

 the domestic ox, nor indeed are the accounts left 

 us of these oxen reconcilable with any of them 

 being specifically identical with our domestic race, 

 which mdeed, when we look at the Zebu breeds, 

 seems to claim more than one source. One of these 

 wild animals was termed by the ancients Uius 

 (latis cornibus), and another Bison (jubatus, or vil- 

 losus) ; we have also an animal described under the 

 name of Bonasus (Jiovaaaot or Tiovaaoe, Aristotle). 

 A few observations on these animals may not be 

 uninteresting. The Urns, which existed in the 

 Hercynian forest, is thus described by Caesar : " These 

 uri are little interior to elephants in size, but are 

 bulls in their nature, colour, and figure. Great is 

 their strength, and great their swiftness; nor do 

 they spare man or beast when they have caught 

 sight of them. These, when trapped in pitfalls, the 

 hunters unsparingly kill. The youths, exercising 

 themselves by this sort of hunting, are hardened by 

 the toil, and those among them who have killed 

 most, bringing with them the horns as testimonials, 

 acquire great praise. But these uri cannot be 

 habituated to man, or made tractable, not even 

 when young. The great size of the horns, as well 

 as the form and quality of them, differs much from 

 the horns of our oxen. These, when carefully se- 

 lected, they ring round the edge with silver, and use 

 them for drinking at their ample feasts." Perhaps 

 the wild bulls with horns of extraordinary size which 

 Herodotus assures us inhabited Macedonia, as well 

 as did the lion, were uri. 

 The Bison jubatus of Pliny. — This species, re- 



garded by Cuvier and most naturalists as identical 

 with the Bonasus of Aristotle, is considered, and 

 perhaps with reason, as referable to the Aurochs or 

 Zubr (Bos urus of modern naturalists, not Urus 

 of Caesar) still existing in the wild forests of Lithu- 

 ania. In Europe and Siberia the fossil crania of 

 an aurochs are not uncommon, and these skulls, 

 though they scarcely differ in anything from the 

 Uthuanian animal, Cuvier inclines to believe may 

 be of a different, though closely-allied species. He 

 gives the figures of a skull in the Pans museum, 

 here copied (Fig. 689, front view ; Fig. 690, lateral 

 view), so like, as he observes, to the living aurochs, 

 that the most practised eye can scarce'v distinguish 

 it ; and also so fresh, that he is in doubt whether n 

 be really a fossil relic, or, on the contrary, recent, 

 owing its fossil appearance to having been much 

 weathered. Mr. Lyell states tliat the bones of the 

 aurochs (or bison) have been found in the North 

 Cliff in the county of York, in a lacustrine forma- 

 tion, in which .all the land and fresh-water shells, 

 thirteen in number, can be identified with species 

 and varieties now existing in that county. To 

 return to the urus of Caesar and the ancients. 

 We have stated this animal to be characterized by 

 the immensity of its horns, and its vast stature, in 

 which former particular it differs materially from 

 the ancient full-maned bison, or Lithuanian aurochs. 

 This urus no longer, as it would appear, exists; but 

 fossil skulls of a species far exceeding the largest 

 domestic ox in magnitude, with the core of massive 

 horns, are abundant in the superficial strata of 

 Europe. This species is termed by Cuvier Bos 

 primigenius ; and he carefully distinguishes the 

 skull from that of the fossil aurochs. In a specimen 

 found at Melksham, and described by Mr. Woods, 

 the cores of the horns measured at their widest 

 expansion upwards of four feet ; we may easily 

 conceive what must have been the expansion of the 

 horns themselves : the skull, destitute of the lower 

 jaw, and not perfect otherwise, weighed sixty-three 

 pounds. Larger specimens, however, have been 

 discovered. Fig. 691 represents a front view of the 

 skull of Bos primigenius ; Fig. 692, a palatal view ; 

 Fig. 693, a back view ; Fig. 694, a profile. 



This extinct species Cuvier regards as the type 

 of the domestic ox, in which opinion Mr. Bell and 

 most naturalists coincide, at the same time that 

 they consider the " celebrated white wild oxen of 

 Craven, of Chillingham Park, and Scotland, as 

 specifically the same with the common ox ; on the 

 contrary. Col. Hamilton Smith and Mr. Swainson 

 regard the white ox of Chillingham Park (Bos Seo- 

 ticus of some authors) as distinct from the common 

 ox. The former regards the Chillingham ox as a 

 white variety of the fossil species Bos primigenius ; 

 while Mr. Swainson believes it to be the descendant 

 of a smaller species belonging to the same genus as 

 the Bos primigenius or ancient urus, of which " the 

 skulls exhibit the type of a form essentially different 

 from that of the domestic ox." 



"All these skulls,' he continues, "are nearly 

 one-third larger than those of the Bos Taurus ; they 

 are square from the orbits to the occipital crest and 

 somewhat hollow at the forehead. The horn.s placed 

 at the side of the above crest, show a peculiar rise 

 from their roots upwaids ; then bending outwards, 

 and then forwards and inwards. No domestic races 

 show this turn ; but numerous specimens of inferior 

 sizes, found fossil in the Cornish mines, have this 

 shape, and the wild bull of Scotland, the only ex- 

 ample of this type now known to exist, retains it. 

 The domestic oxen, on the contrary, of whatsoever 

 country oi- breed they may be, have the square con- 

 cave forehead, with the horns rising from the ends 



of the frontal ridge It appears then that 



the ancient urus, or wild bull, was a perfectly 

 wild, savage, and untameable animal : not only does 

 every account handed down from remote antiquity 

 assure us of this, but it is even verified by the only 

 living example of this form we possess, the Bos 

 Scoticus, still preserved in one ortwoof the northern 

 parks. Although domesticated so far as to live 

 within such precincts without absolute unprovoked 

 violence to its keepers, it retains essentially all the 

 savage characters ascribed to the more powerful 

 species mentioned by the ancients." 



Now, as to the specific identity of the white oxen 

 of Chillingham with our ordinary breed, we have 

 no doubt on the subject ; in size, form, and aspect 

 they resemble the finer breeds of black cattle, and 

 the query is, not — Are they distinct i* but — Are they 

 the descendants of a wild breeil, or, on the contrary, 

 the descendants of domesticated individuals, which 

 have resumed their wild character, " from having 

 ceased to feel through many srenerations the effects 

 of human domination '■ " We suspect the latter. 

 With regard to C'uvier's Bos primigenius, granting 

 it to be the urus of Csesar, we are not quite so sure 

 that it was the wild type of the domestic ox. Its 

 vast size, and the extraordinary magnitude of the 

 horns, to say nothing of its ferocity, and the pro- 

 bability that it is to Central Asia, rather than to the 



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