28 THK DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



by the inhabitants are the bullock and the ass, and that a very 

 fine breed of asses are found in the Mandara valleys. It appears 

 also that strangers and chiefs in the service of the sheikh or 

 sultan alone possess camels. Bullocks are laden with all the grain 

 and other articles taken to and from the markets. A small saddle 

 of plaited rushes is laid on the animal, and then sacks of goat- 

 skirft full of corn are lashed on his broad back. A leathern thong 

 passed through the cartilage of his nose serves the purpose of a 

 bridle, and the owner or his wife or slave is seated on the top of 

 the load. Sometimes the daughter or the wife of a rich shouaa, 

 mounted on her particular bullock, precedes the loaded animals, 

 extravagantly and luxuriously adorned vvith amber, silver rings, 

 eoral and all sorts of finery, her hair streaming with fat, a black 

 rim of kohal, at least an inch wide, round each of her eyes, and 

 indeed arrayed for conquest at the crowded market. Carpet or 

 robes being then spread upon her clumsy palfrey, she sits, jambe 

 de c^a, jambe de Id, and with much grace guides the animal by 

 the nose, and sometimes even makes him caper and curvet. 



Likewise, in illustration of the sagacity of oxen, we may here 

 point out that Captain Cochrane, in his Travels in Colombia 

 (vol. ii., page 251), tells us that he was on one occasion suddenly 

 aroused by a most terrific noise of loud roarings and deep moans, 

 which at the late hour had a very weird and appalling effect. He 

 went out at once, attended by the Indians, and found close to 

 the rancha a large herd of bullocks from the surrounding country 

 collected together around the spot where a bullock had been 

 killed in the morning. They roared, moaned, tore up the ground 

 with their feet, and bellowed forth, perhaps, the most hideous 

 chorus of grief which mortal ears could hear. It was only with 

 the greatest difficulty that they were driven away by men aided 

 by dogs. This same traveller also informs us that he has wit- 

 nessed a similar scene in the day-time, and that he observed large 

 tears rolling down the poor animals' cheeks. 



Again, in The Illustrations of Natural History (page 72), we 

 read that in " the Swiss Canton of Appensell, pasturage being 

 the chief employment of the inhabitants, the breeding of cattle, 

 and the subsequent management of the dairy, are carried to the 

 greatest perfection. The mountaineer lives with his cows in a 

 perpetual exchange of reciprocal acts of kindness; the latter 

 affording almost all that he requires, while they in their turn are 



