BOS. 
years, they r becomc unequal and blackifh. The horns of 
oxen four years of age, are, fmall, pointed, neat, and fmooih, 
but thick eft near the head : this thick part next l'eafon is 
pufhed further from the head by a horny cylinder, which 
is alfo terminated by another iwelling part, and lo on (for 
as long as the ox lives the horns continue to grow) ; and 
thefe fwellings become fo many annular knots, by which 
the nge may eafily be reckoned : but, from the point to 
the firft knot mull be counted three years, and every fuc- 
ceeding knot only one year. The bull, cow, and ox, gene¬ 
rally live naturally fourteen or fifteen years. 
There is fcarcely any part of this valuable animal with¬ 
out its ufc. The blood, fat, marrow, hide, hair, horns, 
hoofs, milk, cream, butter, cheefe, whey, urine, liver, 
gall, lpleen, bones,'and dung, have each their particular 
ufe in manufactures, commerce, medicirte, &c. The fkin 
has been of great value in all ages. The ancient Britons, 
before they knew a better method, built their boats with 
ofiers, and covered them with the hides, of bulls, which 
ferved them for fhort 'coatting voyages. Veffels of this 
kind are hill in ufe on the Irifh lakes, and on the Dee and 
Severn: in Ireland they are called curat A; in Englifh, co¬ 
racles ; from the Britifh cwrgwl, a word fignifying a boat 
of that ftru&ure. The hide, when tanned and curried, 
makes the bed leather. Vellum is made of the thinned 
calf-fkins, and of the fkins of abortions. Of the horns 
are made combs, boxes, handles for knives, and drinking 
veffels ; and, when foftened by water, obeying the manu¬ 
facturer’s hands, they form pellucid laminte for the fkies 
of lanthorns. Thefe laft conveniences were invented by 
the great king Alfred, who firft uled them to prelerve his 
candle time-meaiurers from the wind. The very fmalleft 
fragments, and even the duft and filings of horn, are found 
ferviceable in manuring cold lands. Horn l’aw-duft with 
mould is an excellent compoft for flowers. It is alfo of 
ufe in hardening, and giving what is called a proper tem¬ 
per to, metals. In medicine, horns were employed as 
alexipharmics or antidotes againft poifon, the plague, or 
the lmall-pox ; they have been dignified with the title of 
Englith bezoar, and are laid to have been found to anl'wer 
rhe end of the oriental kind. The teguments, cartilages, 
and griftles, and all the cuttings, parings, and lcrapes, of 
hides, are boiled in water; which mat's, when properly 
dried, becomes glue. The bones are uled by mechanics 
where ivory is too'expenfive ; by which the common people 
are ferved with many articles of convenience at an eafy 
rate. From the tibia and carpus bones is procured an oil 
much tiled by coachmakers and others in dreffmg and 
cleanfing harnefs; and the bones calcined afford a fit mat¬ 
ter for lefts for the ufe of the refiner in the fmelting trade. 
The blood is found to be an excellent manure for fruit- 
trees, and is the bafis of that fine colour the Pruffian blue. 
The finews are uled as a kind of thread in tewing laddies, 
hi making racquets, and other things of a fimilar nature. 
The hair is employed in many different ways: the long¬ 
hair of the tail is frequently mixed with horfe-hair fpun 
into ropes, and fometimes woven ; the fhort hair ferves to 
-huff faddles, feats of different kinds, mattreffes, and 
chairs; the refttfe is a good manure, and operates more 
fpeedily than the horns. The fat, tallow, and fuet, fur- 
nith us with light; and are alfo uled to precipitate the 
Jalt that is drawn from briny fprings. The gall, liver, 
fpleeri, and urine, had alfo their place in the materia me- 
dica, though they have now refigned it to more efficacious 
and agreeable medicines. The ul'es of butter, cheefe, 
cream, and milk, in domeftic economy, and the excellence 
of the fatter in fumithing a palatable nutriment for peo¬ 
ple whole organs of digeftion are weakened, are too obvious 
to be mentioned. 
The ancients ufed both the bull and cow in their facri- 
fices ; and the Egyptians fed and worthipped oxen, under 
the name Apis and Serapis. Thus we find the domeftic 
cattle are adapted to each extreme of climate, enduring 
the heats of Africa and India; and live and breed within 
a fmall diftance of the arftic circle; fo that Providence 
hath kindly ordered that cows, the moft ufefu! of quadru¬ 
peds, and corn, the great l'upport of life, thould bear the fea- 
lons of every country in which mankind can live. 
2. The bifon, or wild bull of America ; which is found 
to be of the fame race as the bifon s jit bat us , or wild cattle 
of Europe, and which was the only animal analogous to 
the domeftic kinds, found by the Europeans on their arri¬ 
val in the new world. It has fhort black rounded horns, 
with a great interval between their bafes. On the {boulders 
is a vaft bunch, confiding of a flethy fubftance, much ele¬ 
vated. The fore-parts of the body are thick and flrong ; 
the hind-parts more (lender. The bunch and head are 
covered with a very long undulated fleece, divided into 
locks, of a chefnut colour: this is at times fo long, as to 
make the fore-part of the animal of a thapelefs appearance, 
and almoft to obfeure its feni'e of feeing. During winter, 
the whole body is clothed in the fame manner ; but in 
fumraer the hind-part of the body becomes naked, wrinkled, 
and dulky. The tail is about a foot long ; at the end its 
a turf of black hairs, the reft naked. Long' thaggy hair 
hangs down from the chin and the dewlap ; and is continued 
under the neck and throat. The cow is fmaller than the 
bull, and not arrayed in the fame thaggy covering. Thefe 
animals weigh from fixteen hundred to two thoufand nine 
hundred pounds. Their moll northern refidence is in the 
countries fix hundred miles weft of Hudl'on’s Bay. They 
are feen in large droves at Cibole, a little north of Cali¬ 
fornia ; in New Mexico; in Canada, to the weft of the 
lakes; and in the rich favannahs or paftures which lie 
along the Miflilfippi, and the other great rivers that fall 
into it. They feed promifcuoufly among flags and deer : 
they appear in the plains in the morning and the evening ; 
but retire from the mid-day heats among the (all reeds on 
the banks of the rivers. While unmolefted they are thy 
and inoffenfive ; but when wounded turn furioutly upon 
their puriuer, and attack him with dangerous impetuoiity. 
The hunters of America are very fond of purfuing thele 
animals, and they are free for every one to take. They 
employ very ingenious arts to deceive the obfervation of 
the biion, and elude his fury ; and are accordingly lb fuc- 
cefsful, that many hundreds of them are frequently killed 
by only one hunting party in a fealon. The horns are 
tiled for drinking-cups and powder flafks. Ills (kin, when 
properly dreffed, makes excellent buff-leather. His flelh, 
elpecially the bunch on the back, is a delicate article of 
food. The tallow is an extenfive material of commerce. 
The hair or wool is fpun into cloth, gloves, (lockings, and 
garters. Sometimes thefe animals become tmweildy ; and, 
being unable to keep up with their companions, fall a prey 
to the wolves. In herds, they dilplay great fagacity in 
defending themielves againft the wolves. The acuteneis 
of their l'mell enables them to diftinguiih the approach of 
thefe or any other enemy, a confiderable time before they 
can be attacked. The herd immediately forms itfelf into 
a circular body ; the weakeft in the middle, the ftrong- 
geft on the outfide. Their horns then prefent to the ene j - 
my an impenetrable front. When taken by furprife, many 
of the fatted and weakeft unavoidably perifh. They pro¬ 
duce by copulation with tame bulls and cows; and, if 
taken young, may be adapted to all the ufes of the domef¬ 
tic kind. Nay, Mr Turner, who refided long in America, 
thinks the bifon litperior to our domeftic breed for the va¬ 
luable purpofes of hulbandry. We (halt date part of his 
letter to the Bath Society on this fubjett, in 1765. Im- 
menle herds of this animal roam at large, in Interior Ame¬ 
rica. From Green River to the Mhiiffippi, the (hores of 
the Ohio are lined with them. The hunters are too apt to 
deftroy them wantonly : a circumftance much to be regret¬ 
ted, and not to be prevented. Frequently have I feen 
this fine animal killed ; and, excepting the tongue and the 
tallow, left on the ground, a prey to the tigers, wolves, 
and eagles. The bos on the (houlders is, as well as the 
tongue, extremely rich and delicious, fuperior to the belt 
Engliih beef. It is ufual to cure the tongues, and.tran- 
fport them to New Orleans; where they are Cure to meet 
with 
