44 ART OF HANDLING AND TAMING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
When a bull or an ox is furious, and apt to attack persons, their 
flesh has its price, and, therefore, it is easier and more advantage- 
ous to sell them at once to the butcher than to keep and use them. 
There are, nevertheless, circumstances under which an ox or a va- 
luable cow has been preserved in spite of their vicious character. 
The methods of preventing their attacks are by covering their 
eyes with cotton, or with a little board or cushion, which, attached 
to the base of the horns, descends below their eyes, and thus hides 
from their sight, especially in front, the view of any object. 
The Africans tame their oxen and direct them by means of an 
iron ring passed through the middle partition of the nostrils and 
muzzle ; it is a sort of bridle with which they direct the ox, who 
is in these countries saddled, and who serves in this case as a 
very good substitute for the horse. It is in this manner that they 
travel by land in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, 
and to the interior of that part of Africa. 
The bull-fights in Spain are well known, and the skill with which 
a man, armed only with a knife fights singly with a furious bull, 
and, after having irritated him to the highest pitch, immolates and 
conquers him with a single stroke. 
The race of cattle without horns are usually not so dangerous, 
but more tractable than the others. 
Staring colours, the sight of blood, scarlet cloth, the smell of 
butchers, the presence of winged insects, gnats, hornets, and bees, 
often excite the fury of the ox. Persons who have the care of 
them should remove all these annoyances, and particularly never 
approach the cattle in gaudy or scarlet clothes. 
An ox is drawn or driven from behind in a straight line, laying 
hold of him by the tail, speaking to him if he is quiet. They reach 
his shoulder by a semicircle, then the head, and scratch the nape 
of his neck or his chin. They then take him by the ear or horn 
with the left hand, while the right slides between the horns ; seizes 
the nostrils with two fingers, which serve as hooks, in the upper 
and lower part of the muzzle, to act as a lever on the head of 
the animal. This manner of seizing the ox is principally used to 
ascertain its age by inspection of the teeth, or to examine the 
mouth, the eyes, or to perform some slight and expeditious 
operation. 
In farms a bull or a cow is attached to the sides of a heavy 
waggon, or to a wall, between two rings, with a long thong or cord. 
The body of the animal being thus entangled from the point of the 
fetlock to the shoulder, the head is fixed to the wall with another 
strap. The animal cannot use any means of defence or attack. 
I have frequently castrated bulls that were fixed in this manner. 
