CATTLE. 49 



III. 



CATTLE. 



The noble, patient ox and gentle cow 

 Kind usage claim ; and he's a brute Indeed, 

 Unworthy of companionship with them, 

 Who with neglect or cruelty repays 

 The debt he owes their race. Knox. 



I. HISTORY 



F the ox tribe (Bovidce) there are eight species 

 the ancient hison {Bos urus) ; the bison or 

 American buffalo (B. bison)', the musk ox (B. 

 moschatus) ; the gayal (B. frontalis) ; the grunt- 

 ing ox (B. grunniens) ; the buffalo of Southern 

 Africa (B. caffer) ; the common buffalo (B. bubulus) ; and the 

 common domestic ox (B. taurus). It is with the last only that 

 we have to do in the present work. 



The ox has been domesticated and in the service of man 

 from the remotest antiquity. The Bible informs us that cattle 

 were kept by the early descendants of Adam (Gen. iv. 20). 

 That their value has been duly appreciated in all ages and in 

 all climates, is shown by authentic history. Both the Hindoos 

 and the Egyptians placed the ox among their deities ; and no 

 quadruped certainly is more worthy to be thus exalted. 



The parent race of the ox is supposed by some to have 

 been much larger than any of the present varieties. The urus, 

 in his wild state at least, was an enormous and fierce animal, 

 and ancient legends have thrown around him an air of mys- 

 tery. In almost every part of the continent of Europe and in 

 England, skulls, evidently belonging to cattle, have been found 

 far exceeding in size those of the present day ; but these may 

 have belonged to exceptional individuals. 



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