5( >2 



VERTEBRA T A. 



DUIUIAM cow. 



covered with rich pastures or luxuriant thickets. It thus becomes a paradise for various species 



_ ame, and also for swine, buffaloes, and cattle. Here, beside the animals used for work on 

 the farms, large herds roam unmolested, but under the care of keepers, which, together with the 

 buffalo keepers and forest-rangers, are the only stationary population in the wild Maremma. These 

 men, who are often criminals fled from justice, are as wild and dangerous as the brutes under 

 their charge; they are mounted <>n fast horses and armed with a long lance, which they use in 

 driving the cattle or defending themselves from the hulls, which arc often fierce and dangerous. 

 The cattle arc collected at various times and driven by these men to the fairs held in the towns, 

 for sal--. The hulls are often used for hull-fights. 



The prevailing breed of cattle in Italy is of large size, with tall horns, and dewlaps that sweep 

 ground. Some of the bulls produced in the Campagna — the circular space of open country 

 around the city of Rome — are splendid specimens. In Tuscany the cattle are of a mouse color, 

 with blu . and are a beautiful, docile, and useful breed. 



In Southern Russia vast herds of cattle are reared which are taken to St. Petersburg. These 

 animal- are generally white, and weigh about seven hundred pounds. They are driven by men 

 who travel in wagons drawn by oxen, and are three months on their journey. 



The pastoral economy of Switzerland, which is common to Savoy and other Alpine countries, 



and the annual progress of the shepherds and cowherds, with their Hocks of cattle, to and from 



tin- mountains, are exceedingly interesting. We have not, however, space to describe these 



Dor is it necessary, for they have often been delineated by the pens of admiring travelers. 



In Wallachia and Moldavia cattle are abundant ; in the latter district, indeed, the people con- 

 tinue in a great measure their ancient nomadic habits, making use of the services of the ox as a 

 beast of draught or burden : united in large caravans, they roam over an immense extent of 

 territory, transporting, in tall vehicles of singular construction, various articles of produce, pro- 

 •ns, and other things, to the towns scattered at wide distances about the vast plains of Mol- 

 davia. Day by day they move cheerfully on, to the slow and measured sound of the footsteps of 

 their oxen, and are often an entire month without seeing a single human habitation. At the ap-< 

 h of evening the caravan halts, the numerous wagons are disposed in the form of a squarft 

 and the oxen are turned out to -raze at large, under the watchful care of intrepid dogs who ac- 

 company the caravan. In the noddle of the square a fire is now lighted, at'which the conductor ^ 

 prepares his simple repast, and afterward disposes himself for sleep, sheltered by a warm and- 



