O F N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y. 461 



prefetved his flature and his hair j but the fize of his horns h di- 

 minifiied. The fheep of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, Perfia, Sec. have 

 undergone greater changes; and, in proportion as they approach 

 toward either pole, they diminifli in fize, in ftrength, in fwiftnefs, 

 and in courage. In relation to man, they are improved in fome ar- 

 ticles, and vitiated in others. Their coarfe hair is converted into 

 fine wool. But, with regard to Nature, improvement and degene- 

 ration amount to the fame thing; for both imply an alteration of 

 the original conftitution. 



The ox is more influenced by nourifhment than any other do- 

 meftlc animal. In countries where the pafture is luxuriant, the ox- 

 en acquire a prodigious fize. To the oxen of ^Ethiopia and fome 

 provinces of Afia, the ancients gave the appellation of Bull-E/e- 

 phanis, becaufe, in thefe regions, they approach to the magnitude of 

 the elephant. This efFe£t is chiefly produced by the abundance of 

 rich and fucculent herbage. The Highlands of Scotland, and indeed 

 every high and northern country, afford ftriking examples of the 

 influence of food upon the magnitude of cattle. The. oxen, as well 

 as the horfes, in the more northern parts of Scotland, are extremely 

 diminutive ; but, when tranfported to richer paflure, their fize is 

 augmented, and the qualities of their flefh are improved. The cli- 

 mate has likewife a confiderable influence on the nature of the ox. 

 In the northern regions of both continents, he is covered with long 

 foft hair. He has likewife a large bunch on his fhoulders; and this 

 deformity is common to the oxen of Afia, Africa, and America. 

 Thofe of Europe have no bunch. The European oxen, however, 

 feem to be the primitive race, to which the bunched kind afcend, by 

 intermixture, in the fecond or third generation. The difference in 

 their fize is remarkably great. The fmall zebu, or bunched ox of 

 Arabia, is not one tenth part of the magnitude of the ^Ethiopian 

 bull-elephant. 



Tlie 



