ORDER RUMINANTIA. 419 



that the original domestication of this species took place in 

 Western Asia, and was performed by the Caucasian nations, 

 who thereby effected a leading cause of that civilization 

 which their descendants carried westward and to the south- 

 east, where the genuine Taurine races, not multiplying or 

 yielding equal returns to human industry and human wants, 

 have caused the veneration in which they are held, and ne- 

 cessitated the prohibition of feeding on their flesh. It is 

 to these circumstances also, that we may refer the domesti- 

 cation of the Buffalo, whose strength and habit was suited 

 to supply the deficiencies of the Ox ; and a similar effect has 

 since operated in Egypt, for since the introduction of the 

 Buffalo into that country, domestic cattle are not only 

 fewer, but far from deserving the commendations bestowed 

 upon them by the Ancients. 



The character of domestic oxen is absolutely the same as 

 the fossil, and the wild breeds differ only in the flexures of 

 the horns and external appearance, occasioned by the va- 

 riations of climate, food, and treatment. An opinion has 

 lately been started that the hunched varieties of cattle 

 are derived from a different species, against which no 

 conclusive objection can well be made: when it is con- 

 sidered that the Gobia or Gayal produces a mixed race with 

 'the domestic Taurine; that the Yak of Tartary, and even 

 American Bison, are equally reported to copulate with that 

 species, notwithstanding the anatomical differences, and 

 that the times of gestation are not similar. We might be 

 led to look for the parent species of the hunched breeds in 

 the Gayal, because those races seem principally and most 

 anciently established to the eastward of the Burrampootra, 

 and that the purity of these particular distinguishing marks 

 appear less and less evident in proportion as we seek for 

 them to the westward of that river. The hunched races of 

 Africa may be regarded as introduced with the Arabian in- 

 vasions after the Hegira ; for in the numerous representa- 



