298 HOOFED ANIMALS 



Africa and Madagascar. Its distinguishing characteristics 

 are a large hump upon its withers, drooping ears, and a 

 very large dewlap. Its coat is generally exquisitely fine, the 

 colour being cream or grey, white or mouse colour. It 

 seldom seeks the shade, and is never seen standing knee- 

 deep in water, as British cattle are so fond of doing in the 

 warm weather. There is a variety of breeds, with marked 

 diversity in size, ranging from those equal to our own 

 larger breeds to others scarcely bigger than a mastiff. 



The Zebu is gentle in disposition, and is used for riding 

 and for draught ; but in India many of the finer bulls are 

 dedicated to the god Siva. These sacred bulls are nearly 

 as intolerable a nuisance as the venerated monkeys referred 

 to in an earlier chapter. They wander just where they like 

 in the streets and market-places, block up the traffic, and no 

 one dares to drive them away. They help themselves to 

 the choicest vegetables and fruit, and the aggrieved owners 

 may not even check their depredations. They behave 

 generally like spoiled children or dogs, rendered selfish 

 and offensive by the weakness of those who ought to have 

 taught them better. 



In the early days of the railway in India a Brahmin bull 

 charged a locomotive, with somewhat disastrous results to 

 the holy animal. It was feared that the natives would view 

 the railway as a menace to their religion. To the great 

 satisfaction of the authorities the people did not take 

 offence ; they simply accepted the engine as a superior 

 divinity, and decorated it with flowers. 



WILD OXEN. 



In many parts of the world, but especially in India, 

 Australia, and South America, are vast numbers of wild 

 cattle, that are but the descendants of domesticated species. 

 They are probably as wild and unrestrained as ever was the 

 Aurochs itself, and in the immense plains where they roam 

 it is difficult to come within gunshot of them. These feral 

 animals call for no mention beyond the fact of their 

 existence, but there are various genuine wild species, with- 

 out which no account of the Ox tribe would be complete. 



