HISTORY. 261 



Unfortunately, the accounts of travellers are not sufficiently 

 precise to enable us to compare the Indian with the African 

 Ox ; and it is doubtful if a single specimen of the Humped 

 Ox of Africa has been brought to Europe. 



Bruce, on entering Abyssinia by the mountain of Taranto, 

 describes the bulls and cows as of exquisite beauty, as being 

 completely white, with large dewlaps hanging down to the 

 knees, with horns and hoofs completely well turned, with 

 the horns wide, and the hair like silk. In another place, 

 he informs us that, in the fertile and populous province of 

 Woggora, the oxen have large and beautiful horns, exceed- 

 ingly wide, and that they have bosses on their backs like 

 camels. Other writers agree as to the great size of the horns 

 of the humped cattle of Africa. Captain Clapperton describes 

 the race of Bornon, likewise humped, in the very heart of the 

 continent, as being of a white colour and large size, and as 

 having horns, very light, of three feet seven inches in length, 

 measured along the curve. We cannot say, indeed, that the 

 mere tendency to a large development of horn constitutes a 

 specific distinction ; but as this is a character which remark- 

 ably distinguishes the humped cattle of Africa from those of 

 India, it furnishes a reasonable ground for believing that the 

 humped cattle of Africa have characters proper to themselves, 

 and are as much an original race as the Zebus of India. 



The accumulation of fatty matter on the shoulder of the 

 Ox, may not unreasonably be regarded as a natural provision 

 for fitting him for countries of intense heat. The cultivated 

 Ox of England accumulates fat largely within the body ; but 

 this might not consist with the exercise of the animal func- 

 tions in a climate of high temperature ; and, therefore, the 

 fatty secretion may be placed externally on a particular part 

 of the body. In certain races of sheep in Africa the same 

 tendency is observed, lumps of fatty matter appearing be- 

 neath the skin, on the shoulders and head, and in other races, 

 as has been shewn in another place, on the tail, which be- 

 comes of an enormous magnitude. The hump of the Camel 



