156 TRAVELS IN 
together about a thousand people to see the strangers. Before 
thej returned to their houses the king ordered four oxen to be 
slain, and the flesh to be distributed among them. For ou? 
party he intended a present of three oxen ; but these he ob- 
served must be selected from his herd with his own hands. 
The whole management of the cattle is left to the men, and 
they easily render them uncommonly expert in comprehend- 
ing their meaning. The horns of their greatest favorites are 
twisted in their nascent state into very whimsica^l forms. These 
are elfected by grasping the young horn with hot irons till it 
becomes soft, in which state the direction wished for is given 
to it. Those of the ox on which the king rode were laid 
along each side of the neck with the points just touching the 
shoulders. 
Among their cattle was a particular breed different from 
any I had seen in the colony. They were short-legged, 
short-necked, generally of a black and white color, and 
their horns were only from four to eight inches in length, 
curved inwards ; and their extremities, which were nearly of 
the same thickne&s as at the roots, pointed to the ears. These 
horns had no connection with, the skull, but were attached 
merely to the skin, and so loose that they might be 
turned round in any direction. When full grown they 
strike against the animal's face as it walks. They were 
considered as excellent beasts for riding or for bearing 
burthens. This variety of the common ox had not the dor- 
sal tuft which the loose-horned ox of Abyssinia is described: 
to possess. 
