ART OF HANDLING AND TAMING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 43 
muleteers punish the faults of their mules is by taking off their 
bells and tying them to the back of the carriage when passing 
through a town. The animals seem to be sensible of this sort of 
degradation. The mule who has been punished or ill-treated unjustly 
retains his rancour for a long while, and, when a favourable occasion 
for revenging himself arrives, he administers his premeditated 
blows with a calmness that renders him yet more dangerous. 
On the Manner of Approaching and Seizing an 
O x or Cow. 
[Every thing that is here spoken of refers to the Foreign and not to the European ox.] 
The ox and cow have not the same means of attack and defence 
as the horse. They do not give the same kind of blow ; we must 
therefore proceed in a different way to seize and to master them. 
The horse and the mule fight and kick with their fore feet. The 
ox feebly, and on the side. He attacks with his horns, lowering 
his head and inclining it a little to the right or left ; therefore 
it is that this weapon is dangerous and occasionally mortal. At 
fairs, the fury of the bulls it prevented by tying their heads high. 
The animal is fixed by means of a cord which passes round the 
base of the horns and is attached to the tail, forming a curve on 
the flanks and sides. This attachment, which inclines the side of 
the head to the right and elevates it by its support from the tail, 
completely masters the motions of the animal. In order to attack 
the enemy, we have already said that he carries his head low ; 
but his attachment renders this first disposition impossible, as 
the cord which passes round the base of the horns and is affixed 
to the tail cannot be in the slightest degree extended without 
acting very painfully upon him. 
When the ox is at liberty, there are two methods of approaching 
and seizing him : first, by means of the head, especially by taking 
him by the horn or the ear, and carefully holding the head high 
and pulled down on the chest, thus you paralyse one part of his 
means of defence ; but in doing this you must not present your 
face, but your side, in order to avoid being wounded ; secondly, 
he may be seized by the tail, which may be drawn to the right 
or the left, or downwards, with sufficient force to give a painful 
twitch to its muscles. The animal can only kick at the side, and 
those bruises are easily avoided by getting behind the animal ; 
so that while one person holds him behind, another can seize him 
by the ears or horns until he is tied up. 
If the ox is harnessed he finds it very difficult to resist, as he 
is mastered by the yoke, and the waggon or plough. 
