40 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Veneration of the Gentoos for the ox and cow. 



entertain for an animal to whom they are under 

 so great obligations. To such a height, how- 

 ever, do they carry their reverence, that there is 

 scarcely a Gentoo to be found that would not, 

 were he under a compulsory option, prefer sacri- 

 ficing his parents or children to the slaughtering 

 of a bull or cow. Fully impressed with the sim- 

 ple doctrine of transmigration, they are also 

 alarmed at the idea of injuring the souls of their 

 fellow-creatures that have taken their abode in 

 these animals. This restrains them from de- 

 stroying, designedly, any of the brute creation, 

 and induces them to respect in the flea as in the 

 elephant that life which God alone can give. 



Among the quadrupeds with which the earth 

 abounds, none appears to be more extensively 

 diffused than the cow; as it is found, either large 

 or small, in proportion to the quantity and qua- 

 lity of its food, in every part of the world from 

 the polar circles to the Equator. The life of this 

 animal exteads to about fifteen years; and its 

 age may be ascertained with tolerable facility, 

 as at the age of four ye,ars a ring is formed to- 

 wards the root of the horns, and each succeeding 

 year adds another. 



The oxen of India are generally small, with 

 short blunt horns, and humps on their shoulders. 

 They are used in drawing chariots and other 

 carriages, and will perform a journey of sixty 

 days at the rate of twelve or fourteen leagues a 

 day. Their ordinary pace is a brisk, but re- 



