238 ANIMALS OF THE 



size than our own natural breed, and they fatten 

 very easily. The cattle of the Ukraine, where 

 the pasture is excellent, become very fat, and are 

 considered as one of the largest breeds of Europe. 

 In Switzerland, where the mountains are covered 

 with a rich nourishing herbage, which is entirely 

 reserved for their kine, these animals grow to a 

 very large size. On the contrary, in France, 

 where they get no other grass but what is thought 

 unfit for horses, they dwindle, and grow lean. In 

 some parts of Spain the cow grows to a good size : 

 the wild bull, however, which they pride them- 

 selves so much in combating, is a very mean 

 despicable little animal, and somewhat shaped 

 like one of our cows, with nothing of that pecu- 

 liar sternness of aspect for which our bulls are 

 remarkable. In Barbary, and the provinces of 

 Africa, where the ground is dry, and the pastu- 

 rage short, the cows are of a very small breed, 

 and give milk in proportion. On the contrary, 

 in Ethiopia they are of a prodigious bigness. The 

 same holds in Persia and Tartary, where in some 

 places they are very small, and in others of an 

 amazing stature. It is thus, in almost every part 

 of the world, this animal is found to correspond in 

 size to the quantity of its provision. 



If we examine the form of these animals as they 

 are found tame in different regions, we shall find 

 that the breed of the urus, or those without a 

 hump, chiefly occupies the cold and the temperate 

 zones, and is not so much dispersed towards the 

 south. On the contrary, the breed of the bison, 

 or the animal with a hump, is found in all the 



