38 
THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE OX. 
Such are the floats Venetian sisters knew. 
Where, in dull marshes, stands the settling Po; 
On such to neighbouring Gaul, allur’d by gain. 
The bolder Britons cross’d the swelling main.” 
The diet of the inland Britons consisted principally of the 
flesh of their cattle, apples, bread, and milk ; and their favourite 
drink was metheglin or mead, a fermented liquor, composed of 
barley, apples, and honey. Though they had cattle in abundance, 
they were unacquainted with the art of making cheese ; and 
though their sheep were enriched with the finest fleeces, they 
never sheared their wool. 
At first it may easily be imagined that the ox was used as a beast 
of burden; but, the chief strength of the ox lying not in his back, 
accident or judgment must have soon led to the discovery that 
he was capable of drawing heavyweights; and it is generally 
supposed that this was first accomplished by attaching thongs 
of hide leather to the horns, at the ends of which a kind of sledge 
was fixed. Our ancestors, when Csesar landed, were better ac- 
quainted with the value of their cattle than this, since we are 
informed that the land was partially cultivated ; an operation which 
could not have been accomplished until those bulky animals had 
been subdued to the purposes of man. 
After the Romans had finally given up the island, its inhabitants 
were harassed considerably by their neighbours, the Scots and 
Piets, which occasioned them to invite the assistance of the Saxons, 
who soon turned out to be more formidable enemies than their 
old ones ; for, after a violent contest of nearly one hundred and 
fifty years, with the exception of Wales, Devon, and Cornwall, 
where the inhabitants had fled for safety and protection into 
the remote or inaccessible mountains of these countries, the whole 
of the country was subdued, and its inhabitants, language, cus- 
toms, and political and religious institutions, completely destroyed. 
It was in this manner that the old native breed of cattle was 
preserved in these districts; for the refugees naturally took with 
them their oxen, sheep, and horses, which constituted at that 
time their principal property ; and a single glance at the breeds 
of cattle established in these places shews, even at the present day, 
that they were originally from one stock, — the differences ob- 
served in their colour, size, and other qualities, being the natural 
consequence of alteration of climate, soil, and manner of living. 
It is upon the supplies of food that the size and strength of those 
animals chiefly depend. When food is supplied in abundance, the 
ox becomes enlarged in bulk ; and when food is deficient, what- 
ever be the nature of the climate, his size and strength become 
less : thus, the Barbary ox is as diminutive as those of the Ork- 
