268 THE OX. 



Man, deriving his first nourishment from the breast of his 

 parent, must, in every age, have been taught by his reason 

 to apply to his uses the milk of his flocks and herds. From 

 the earliest times, accordingly, we read of the milk of Goats, 

 and Sheep, and Kine, as being the food of our species, either 

 in its natural state, or separated into those bland and nutri- 

 tive substances which, by the easiest arts, can be derived 

 from it. When Abraham sat at the opening of his tent, in 

 the heat of the day, in the plains of Mamre, " He lift up his 

 eyes, and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him : and, when 

 he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and 

 bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now 

 I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, 

 from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, 

 and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree : and 

 I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts ; 

 after that ye shall pass on ; for therefore are ye come to your 

 servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said. And 

 Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make 

 ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make 

 cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, 

 and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young 

 man ; and he hasted to dress it. And he took Butter and 

 Milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before 

 them ; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did 

 eat." The scene, apart from the mission of the heavenly 

 guests, might represent the hospitality of the wandering 

 Syrians at the present hour : and all over the East, from 

 Aleppo to the Ganges, the milk of flocks and herds supplies 

 to the inhabitants a mild and grateful food. 



The earliest writers of Greece and Rome speak of cheese 

 and milk as a food familiar to every one. In the fatal cave 

 of the Cyclops, Ulysses finds the milk of Goats and Sheep 

 stored in baskets of osier, the shelves bending under loads 

 of cheeses ; and innumerable other allusions to this early 

 food of mankind are scattered through the writings of the 



