144 ESSAY ON THE 



addressed to him' by the writer of this — " Oxen," said he, " are used 

 almost wholly for plough and team work in this quarter of the coun- 

 try. A single horse is usually kept by our farmers to go to mill and 

 to church, and for the convenience of the family. This is so universal 

 as to be almost without exception among mere farmers. They cer- 

 tainly answer all purposes except perhaps speed, and in this, on a 

 long journey, they are considered as quite equal to horses. Our far- 

 mers are so satisfied with their utility and economy, that no argument 

 would induce them to chanoe." 



Hence it is seen that no reasoning is necessary to recommend the 

 ox to general use in all that portion of America, and this evidence 

 has been adduced to prevail upon southern readers to rejled on the 

 subject, by showing, what many of them do not know, that already, 

 in maiiT/ of our States where the folks are nice judges of economical 

 and labour-saving machines, animate and inanimate, oxen are actually 

 substituted, and horses altogether banished for all farming purposes, 

 and that their speed on long journeys is quite equal to that of horses. 

 On the point of speed we shall speak again and conclusively, wiien we 

 shall have dismissed the one in hand, to wit : — capacity to bear heat ! 



It was for a long time believed that the ox was a native of Europe, 

 and that in the Aurock, running wild in the forests of Poland, his 

 original type was to be found; but Cuvier's researches in compara- 

 tive anatomy have established the belief that the cow is a native of 

 Southern Asia, and thence may be deduced an argument that there 

 is nothing in the natural constitution of the ox which forbids his 

 manifesting his entire capabilities in southern climates. If there 

 were, how is it that in South America he reaches his highest deve- 

 lopements of size and power 1 As one of the Commissioners to South 

 America, Chancellor Bland, in a report which Mr. Adams pronounced 

 to be one of the ablest papers ever presented to the government, thus 

 describes the ox-carts employed, and the wonderful powers of endu- 

 rance of this patient animal in crossing the pampas of Buenos Ayres. 

 It speaks conclusively to both the objections — want of speed and of 

 power to bear heat. 



" The Tucuman and Mendoza carts, at a little distance, looked 

 like thatched cabins slowly moving over the plain — the whole ma- 

 chine is destitute of a nail or a bit of iron ; its great coarse wheels 

 are not less than eight feet in diameter ; six oxen, in general noble 

 strong animals, move it; the two front pair have a great length of 

 cord by which they draw; and the load of the cart, which, on an 

 average, is not less than four thousand weight, is pretty nearly 

 balanced on the axletree; the body of the cart is either covered with 

 raw hide or thatch, made of reeds or straw; and with a collection of 

 brushwood, as i\iel, tied on the top, and brought from the westward 

 of the pampas, these carts are seen crossing the plains in caravans 

 of from thirty to forty together. On the journey the oxen are unyoked 

 occasionally through the day and night, and permitted to seek their 

 food round about. Thus without any other provision than what is 



