166 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



TOXEK 



the peaceableness of his nature, her vanity still 

 enables her to torture him into something like ca- 

 perings and curvetings." 



The ox was one of the first of the domestic animals 

 carried over to America by the early Spanish settlers ; 

 there it has multiplied and spread, and indeed in some 

 degree has recovered its original independence. 

 Herds of wild oxen roam the Pampas, where they 

 are hunted and slain for their hides, which form an 

 important article of commerce. These wild herds 

 are in some districts exceedingly numerous ; they 

 differ in no respect from their domestic relatives, 

 and are themselves rendered tame without much 

 difficulty. According to Azara, '• Captain John de 

 Salazar, born in the city of Pomar in Arragon, 

 transported from Andalusia seven cows and a bull 

 to the coast of Brazil ; from thence he conducted 

 them overland to the river Parana at, the place 

 opposite to where it receives the river Mondai. He 

 there constructed a raft, placed the cattle on it, 

 and gave them in charge to a certain Gaete, whilst 

 he himself went by land to Paraguay. Gaete 

 descended the Parana to' its union with the river of 

 Paraguay, and steering up this, he safely arrived 

 at the city of Assumption in 1546. He spent many 

 months in this voyage, and as he had only one cow 

 given him for payment, the saying has hence arisen 

 in allusion to the great value of anything, 'It is 

 dearer than Gaete's cow.' The second founders of 

 Buenos Ayres took, in 1580, some cows from Para- 

 guay, which multiplied in the neighbourhood ; and, 

 from want of due care, many of them became wild, 

 and bent their course towards Rio Negro. The In- 

 dians of the Cordillera of Chili became acquainted 

 with these animals, which had already attained 

 their boundaries, and they commenced to carry 

 from them herds of tamed cattle to Chili, where the 

 presidents of this settlement purchased them from 

 these Indians. Those Indians who could not live 

 in their country without, some resource, established 

 themselves in the plains which were occupied by 

 these cattle, and some even mixed with the Pampas 

 Indians. In the meantime, the Indians who were 

 unsubdued destroyed the cattle to the south of 

 Buenos Ayres ; the Spaniards of those parts, how- 

 ever, did not neglect to take a portion, which they 

 conducted to Cordova and Mendoza, whilst the 

 Spaniards of Buenos Ayres made up entire cargoes 

 of the hides of bulls and cows ; for at that time the 

 animal itself was not considered of value, its skin 

 being all that was sought after. The result of all 

 this (and the same will soon take p!a,ce at Monte 

 Video) was, that towards the middle of the century 

 wild cattle no longer existed in the Pampas ; and 

 the unsubdued Indians saw themselves under the 

 necessity of stealing the domestic animals, or of 

 making incursions into the estancias of the Pampas. 

 This was the commencement and cause of the 

 bloody war which the Spaniards had with the In- 

 dians. The herds of these revolted or wild cattle, 

 which are also called oreillards in the plains of 

 Monte Video, do not pass to the north of the south- 

 ern establishments of the Guaranis Missions. The 

 following is the account which I have collected of 

 their origin : — The city authorities of Buenos Ayres, 

 in the name of certain of its inhabitants, as is proved 

 by its archives, made, at the commencement of the 

 century, contracts, on the one part, with the Eng- 

 lish, for the acquisition of Negroes, and, on the 

 other part, with certain Spaniards, who were thus 

 authorized to procure the hides of the animals on 

 the plains situate to the north of the Rio de la 

 Plata on payment to the city of a certain tax, of 

 which the sum total was shared between these 

 Spanish inhabitants, who from this circumslance 

 were called Actionnaires. The primitive source of 

 this right or this proceeding is not known, but cer- 

 tain it is that all the inhabitants did not participate 

 in it, and that its produce was the exclusive share 

 of these Actionnaires, who were the descendants of 

 the earliest of the original settlers. Such is the 

 origin of the horned cattle of these countries, where 

 they prodigiously multiplied.* About eight hun- 

 dred thousand ox-hides are annually exported from 

 Buenos Ayres and Monte Video to Europe." Mr. 

 Darwinstat.es, " that from the latter place the an- 

 nual exportation is three hundred thousand, and 

 the home consumption from waste very consider- 

 able. In order to obtain these hides, some horse- 

 men join together and arrange themselves in two 

 ranks which form an angle ; they then press on the 

 two sides a small number of cattle, and one of the 

 horsemen who goes last, in the angle hamstrings the 

 animals with a knife in the shape of a crescent or 

 half-moon, fastened at the end of a staff. While 

 this goes on the horsemen continue to ride forwards, 

 and when they have thus secured a sufficient num- 

 ber of animals they retrace their steps ; and the 

 person who hamstrung them gives each beast thus 

 maimed a finishing stroke with a sharp spear, and 



* In the Falkland Islands the wild cattle and horses were intro- 

 duced by the French in 1764 : the cattle are magnificent, hut the 

 horses small. 



the horsemen dismount to strip the carcass, some- 

 times of the fat and suet, but always of the skin: 

 this they do with such dexterity, that some men 

 without assistance will strip twenty-six cattle at a 

 day's work. When a single head of cattle is to be 

 killed for the sake of its flesh, a horseman throws a 

 lasso over its horns or neck, and anolher does the 

 same over one of its feet ; then straining in opposite 

 directions they prevent it. from struggling free, and 

 so strangle it. Admirable is the dexterity with 

 which, when the animals pass as they rush forwards, 

 the lasso is thrown, so that directed backwards 

 under its feet, the animal at the pleasure of the 

 horseman is entangled either by one foot or by two 

 together." 



It is a singular feature in the history of the New 

 World that so many of our domestic animals there 

 imported should have returned to their primitive 

 independence : the ox, the horse, the hog, the ass, 

 the rabbit, the cat, and the dog, have thus estranged 

 themselves from the control of man. Individuals 

 have at different times escaped from confinement 

 or been neglected; avast region lay before them, 

 presenting abundance of food ; they multiplied, and 

 their offspring in turn; and thus within a brief 

 period have the plains of the New World been 

 peopled by alien races of animals, which claim Asia 

 or Europe as their starting-point. 



America is not. the only portion of the globe to 

 which, by the agency of man, in modern times, the 

 ox has been introduced. We allude to Australia, 

 New Zealand, and the groups of islands which 

 sprinkle the Pacific Ocean. " With the appearance 

 of Vancouver," says Otho von Kotzebue, speaking 

 of the Sandwich Islands, "arose the fortunate star 

 of these islands. Among the innumerable benefits 

 he conferred upon them, they are indebted to him 

 for the possession of sheep and cattle; Tameamea 

 (the native king) declared these animals under a 

 tabu for ten years, which allowed time for so large 

 an increase, that they now run wild in the forests." 

 Of the benefits resulting from the introduction of 

 the ox into a country naturally destitute of it, no- 

 thing need be said; but the gift of cattle to a 

 people who, though yet uncivilized, are yet capable 

 of appreciating their value, is to commence a revo- 

 lution in their state and condition immeasurably for 

 the better : for the possession of property is one of 

 the bonds of society, and the desire of acquiring it 

 the great stimulus to industry. With the introduc- 

 tion of the ox, the condition of the people of these 

 islands must necessarily be improved. Not only 

 will cattle be reared for home consumption, but 

 for supplying the ships that, navigate these seas 

 (whalers/&c), other valuables being given in ex- 

 change ; hence will the rearing of cattle be gene- 

 rally undertaken : this involves care and attention, 

 and a state of peace ; agriculture and commerce 

 follow, and prepare the way for the arts of civilized 

 life. 



To Asia and its border-lands let us turn our at- 

 tention — regions in which the ox from the earliest 

 epoch has been in a state of domestication, and 

 where this animal, with sheep and goats, constituted 

 the riches of patriarchs, and chiefs, or princes, who 

 deemed it not beneath them to take an active in- 

 terest in the management of their flocks and herds. 

 In that age of patriarchal simplicity such scenes 

 as that (Fig. 711) delineated by the pencil of 

 Berghem were not imaginary, and the pastoral 

 poetry of classical antiquity has not only rendered 

 them familiar, but thrown an air of grace and even 

 dignity over them. 



In the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis (ver. 

 20) we read of Jabal that " he was the father of such 

 as' dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." 

 In the thirteenth chapter of the same book cattle 

 are enumerated as forming part of the riches of 

 Abraham and also of Lot; and in the previous 

 chapter we read that, oxen were presented by the 

 Pharaoh of Egypt, together with sheep, asses, and 

 camels to Abram, during his sojourn in that land. 

 In the eighteenth chapter, veal, or the flesh of the 

 calf, andbutter and milk, are mentioned as articles 

 of food. Subsequently abundant mention is made 

 of all these domestic animals, while at the same time 

 we glean that a wild race of oxen long continued to 

 exist in Syria and the adjacent regions : for instance, 

 in the Mosiac injunctions regarding animals to be 

 used as food (Beut. xiv. 5) the wild ox is expressly 

 noticed, and Isaiah alludes also to the wild bull 

 (" as a wild bull in a net"). Hence it would 

 appear, that, though a domestic breed, established 

 at a period antecedent to historic record, the Scrip- 

 ture outline excepted, formed part of the wealth of 

 man in the primeval ages of his history, that a wild 

 race still tenanted their aboriginal pasture-lands. 

 Wild oxen are exhibited in the Egyptian sculptures, 

 and the chase of them is often represented : they were 

 sometimes hunted with dogs, the huntsmen bearing 

 bows and arrows, and sometimes they were caught 

 with the noose or lasso, as depicted in our outline 

 (Fig. 7J2> 



The utility of the ox was well appreciated in an- 

 cient times, insomuch that it became an emblematic 

 object of worship among most of the nations of anti- 

 quity. The traditions of every Celtic nation enrol 

 the cow among the earliest productions, and repre- 

 sent it as a kind of divinity. Among the Egyp- 

 tians, the god Apis was worshipped in the form of 

 a bull, and Herodotus describes the ceremonies at- 

 tendant upon the choice of this bovine deity, to 

 whose honour other bulls chosen by the priests were 

 sacrificed. The goddess Isis was represented by the 

 same people under the figure of a woman with the 

 horns of a cow, as the Grecians represented Io ; and 

 the sacrificial offering was a bullock ; the cow was 

 never sacrificed, being sacred to Isis. The venera- 

 tion of the cow was equally prevalent, in Lybia. 

 The Lybians, says Herodotus, from Egypt to the 

 Lake Tiitonis, are breeders of cattle, eat flesh, and 

 drink milk, but abstain from the flesh of cows, as do 

 also the Egyptians, and will not keep swine. Nay, 

 among the women of Syrene, to strike a cow is ac- 

 counted a crime, because they celebrate the feasts 

 and festivals of the Egyptian isis. Neither will the 

 Barcsean women taste the flesh either of a hog or 

 of a cow. 



In India, where in many points the practice and 

 worship of the ancient nations were the same as 

 those of the Egjptians, the ox was held sacred, and 

 still is so by the Brahmins. The religious writings 

 of India say that the cow was the first animal cre- 

 ated by the three gods who were directed by the 

 supreme lord to furnish the earth with animated be- 

 ings. In the sculptures of the cave-temples of Ellora, 

 the sacred bull is represented with great truth and 

 spirit. Colonel Tod ('Trans. Royal Asiatic Soc' 

 vol, ii., p. 560) says, '* In Hindu mythology the 

 bull Nanda is at once the guardian of one of the 

 two gates of heaven, of Iswaro or Bal-Siva, and his 

 steed. The astronomic allusion thus blended with 

 mythology is evident, viz., the entrance of the sun 

 into the sign Taurus, the equinoctial festival of re- 

 mote anticjuity, and regarded as a jubilee by the 

 Indo-Scythic nations hemming the shores of the Me- 

 diterranean to the Indian Ocean." We need not 

 say how the idolatry of the Egyptians affected the 

 Israelites, and mingled itself with the religious ce- 

 remonies of other nations, whose worship required 

 the ox as a sacrifice to imaginary deities. 



The estimation in which the ox was held, and 

 which led to its consecration, did not arise from the 

 circumstance alone of the cow yielding milk, nor 

 from the value of the flesh of the animal as food, 

 but from its services in agricultural labour. 



It was employed as a beast of burden, for the 

 cart, for the plough, and for treading out the grain 

 from the ear. Our pictorial collection presents us 

 with many illustrations of its use in these points 

 among the ancients, and which need no detailed 

 description to render them intelligible. 



The Mosaic ritual lays down several rules respect- 

 ing the treatment of the ox : one forbids the yoking 

 together of the ass and the ox in the same plough 

 (Fig. 713), perhaps from the inequality of their size 

 and"strength, which would render the draught irre- 

 gular, and oppress both animals. Another injunc- 

 tion is, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he 

 treadeth out the corn." The fi rst idea suggested by 

 this passage is, that the operation of threshing was 

 effected simply by the feet of the cattle passing over 

 the sheaves ; and, such indeed, was the case in the 

 times of patriachal simplicity. A fterwards, as other 

 passages show, rollers and wheels of wood, and 

 threshing instruments with teeth, were used: these 

 were drawn over the sheaves by oxen, and greatly 

 facilitated the process. With respect to the pri- 

 mitive mode of threshing by means of the feet of 

 oxen, there is express allusion to it by Homer, 

 which proves that the practice was common in his 

 time and country : — 



" As with autumnal harvests covered o'er. 

 And thick bestrewn, lies Ceres' sacred floor, 

 Where round and round with never-wearied pain, 

 The trampling steers break out til' unnuinber d grain." 



Pope's Tr. Iliad, xx., lines of Orig. 493-S. 



The ancient Arabs, Egyptians, and Romans, as 

 well as the ancient Greeks, threshed their corn in 

 this manner: Virgil (' Georg.' lib. i.) describes the 

 manner in which the threshing-floor is to be laid 

 down, showing that nothing like our modern mode 

 of threshing could have been practised. In Syria, 

 Egypt, and'Nubia, at the present day, the grain is, 

 as" formerly, either trodden out by the feet, of oxen 

 or mules, or partly trodden out, and partly crushed 

 out -by means of a roller or other machine which 

 the oxen drag after them, and which more or less 

 destroys the straw, and even injures the grain. Figs. 

 714 and 715 represent two modes of threshing, viz. 

 by the drag, and by the sledge upon rollers, still 

 practised in Egypt, Syria, and Western Asia. 



Our representations of oxen drawing the ploughs 

 in ancient times (Figs. 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 721. 

 722), and in Egypt at the present day (Figs. 723 and 

 724), illustrate "many allusions in the sacred and clas- 



