274 THE ox. 



affinity with those of the countries of the East. They are a 

 remnant, it may be believed, of ancient settlers in Europe, 

 driven by stronger enemies into regions of almost perpetual 

 winter. They have tamed the Wild Deer of their country, 

 and rendered it a substitute for the Sheep, the Ox, nay, for 

 the Horse, of happier climes. They derive from it milk, and 

 know how to fabricate butter and cheese. They separate 

 the butter by agitating the milk with their hands, and em- 

 ploy herbs to coagulate the curd. They prepare, from the 

 milk, many simple delicacies, which they use with the wild 

 fruits of their brief summer. In the season of their dreary 

 winter, the milk of the Doe freezes as soon as it is drawn 

 from the teats, and in this state it is preserved, to be thawed 

 when required for use. The Doe yields about the same 

 quantity of milk as the Goat, and it is rich in caseous matter. 

 Some of the wealthier Laplanders have as many as a thou- 

 sand head of those fleet and powerful Deers : the less affluent 

 have herds of 300 or less. 



The milk of the Mare is used "only in those boundless 

 plains of Central Asia, where the Horse can be reared in 

 numerous herds. It contains a larger proportion of sugar 

 than that of the ruminating quadrupeds, but less of caseine, 

 or the matter of cheese, and oil. It yields curd, but the 

 cream is in small quantity. From the abundance of the 

 saccharine principle, it readily undergoes the vinous fermen- 

 tation, and the wandering tribes have long learned to con- 

 vert it into a fermented liquor, which they use in excess. 

 They have even attained the art of separating the alcohol by 

 distillation, long, it is probable, before the alchymists of the 

 West had discovered the Aqua Vitas which they fancied was 

 to confer upon them immortality. The Western Tartars 

 still use the milk of their mares ; but, from the diminished 

 number of Horses, in less quantity than in former ages ; for 

 these tribes, now controlled by the powerful sway of a vigo- 

 rous government, have become less predatory, and cultivate 

 the ruminating animals more than the Horse. But the Kal- 



