248 THE OX, 



the guides and protectors of the common flock, but others 

 were trained for the purposes of war. Even still, these war- 

 oxen are used by the Caffres and independent tribes of the in- 

 terior. They are taught to share the fierce passions of their 

 masters ; to rush upon the opposing ranks, trample the men 

 under their feet, and gore them with their horns.* 



Nothing seems more unlike the dull and apathetic tem- 

 perament of the Ox than a love of distinction ; yet that a feel- 

 ing akin to this may exist, appears from a curious fact fre- 

 quently mentioned. In the mountains of Switzerland, where 

 a beautiful race of cows is reared, it is the practice to attach 

 bells to the most trusty of the cows, that the sound may keep 

 the herd together, and direct the herdsman to the place 

 where they are pasturing. These cows are the pride of the 

 cowkeeper: he has various sets of these bells, and on cer- 

 tain occasions, the favourite cow has the finest and largest 

 bell assigned to her, and the gayest trappings : the others 

 have inferior bells, and less ornamented collars, in a gra- 

 dation downwards to those to which no distinction is awarded. 

 To deprive the cows of their wonted ornaments is to inflict 

 upon them a punishment w r hich they grievously feel, mani- 

 festing their sense of humiliation by piteous lowings. On 

 gala days, a kind of procession takes place ; the herdsman is 

 in the van, and next in order comes the favourite cow, lead- 

 ing the herd, ornamented with her tinkling bells, and gay 

 apparel. Should another, from any cause, be made to take 

 her place, she manifests her vexation by continued lowing, 

 abstains from food, and attacks with fury the rival that has 

 gained her honours. A certain cow, M. Latrobe informs us, 

 who had long borne the badge of distinction, had just given 

 birth to a calf, and was reckoned too feeble to bear her usual 

 post in the honours of the day, and even the ordinary bell was 

 thought to be too heavy for her. The gay procession moved 

 on, but the poor cow that had been stripped of her accus- 

 tomed honours did not share in the general joy : after a few 



* Le Vaillant, vol. ii. 



