THE BOVINE TRIBE OR OXEN. 
193 
world, tbe vai'ieties of the European domesticated 
races are almost the only animals which are used, 
few of the other species having yet been found ca- 
pable of being domesticated to any extent, or easily 
reared in confinement. 
Wherever the breeds may have originally arisen, 
or from whatever primitive stock they may have 
sprung, they have spread far and wide, over the 
European continent ; they have reached north and 
south Africa, and now exist in innumerable herds. In 
the latter countries, they form a most important 
source of wealth, and are tended with the utmost 
care, their skins regularly dressed, and their horns 
twisted and variously ornamented. In North Ame- 
rica, they are more numerous now than the wild 
buflfalo ; and in the steppes of the southern conti- 
nent they range in immense droves, almost in a state 
of unreclaimed nature. 
In tracing the origin of these breeds, so exten- 
sively spread, and affording a boon of such import- 
ance to mankind, there is much difficulty, no records 
of introduction or of produce existing ; and we are 
driven to a comparison of the parts least subject to 
variation with coiTesponding parts of the wild spe- 
cies with which we are acquainted. In the British 
collections at this moment, we believe there are not 
materials for such a comparison ; but in the works 
of Cuvier we shall find this in a great measure sup- 
plied, and whatever additional information may be 
within our reach shall be added. We shall begin 
VOL. IV. 
T 
