328 TRAVELS IN 
hand, and a fufee in the other, and, prote£led 
by my dogs which preceded us, we went ia 
queft of them, and ibon reached the place 
where they were. When we arrived, I found 
that the piece of the pole which the oxen 
had carried with them being caught between 
two trees had flopped them: they were all in 
a clufter, and fo embarrafled in the traces^ 
that there were no other means of extricating 
them but by cutting them to pieces. Three 
of the oxen were n.iffing; they had broken 
their yokes, and we imagined that they were 
devoured ; but when we returned to our fires, 
I learned that they had juft made their ap- 
pearance. 
Were thefe animals taught by an inftind: 
merely mechanical that near fires they had 
nothing to dread from their enemies ? Had 
cuftom infpired them with this refleftion, 
that for more than the fpace of a year, fpent 
in travelling along with me, voracious ani- 
mals, which at firfl caufed fo much uneafi- 
jiefs to them, dared neither to attack them 
nor come near them ? Or did they conceive 
fo high an idea of man, as to fee in him a 
powerful protestor, and an irrefiftible de- 
fender ? This fubjedl I fhall not attempt to 
explain i 
