308 
c o w 
containing about 2900 inhabitants: three leagues north- 
north-eaft of Libourn. 
COUTU'RE d’ARGENSON, a town of France, in 
the department of the two Sevres, and chief place of a 
- canton, in the diftrift of Maile : eight leagues fouth-eaft 
of Niort. 
COUTU'RE (I.a), a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Straits of Calais, and chief place of a canton, 
in the diftrift of Bethune : one league and a half north- 
eaft of Bethune. 
COUVERTOIRA'DE, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Aveiron : four leagues fouth-eaft of 
Millaud. 
COUVIGNON', a town of France, in the department 
of the Aube, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrifit 
of Bar-lur-Aube : one league weft-fouth-weft of Bar-fur- 
Aube. 
COU'VIN, a town of Germany, in the circle ofWeft- 
phalia, and bifliopric of Liege : fifteen miles fouth-foutli- 
weft of Liege. 
COUX'liA, a town of Africa, on the coaft of Upper 
Guinea, in the country of Sierra Leona. I.at. 7. 30. N. 
Ion. 9. 24. W. Greenwich. 
COU'ZON, a town of France, in the department of 
•$he Ardennes : three leagues fouth-eaft of Sedan. 
COW, f. [in the plural anciently kine, or keen, now 
commonly cows; cu, Sax. hoe, Dut.] The female of the 
bull; the horned animal with cloven feet, kept for her 
milk and calves. See the articles Bos, and Butter, in 
our third volume.—We fee that the horns of oxen and 
cows, for the mod part, are larger than the bull’s ; which 
is caufed by abundance of moifture, which in the horns 
of the bull faileth. Bacon. 
Then, leaving in the fields his grazing cows , 
He fought himfelf fome hofpitable houfe : 
Good Creton entertain’d his godlike gueft. Drydcn. 
Dr. Ebel, in a German book lately publiflied, having 
given an account of the management of cattle on the 
Alps of Swilferland, and deeming every information with 
vefpedt to that ufeful animal the cow, of real value to 
the public, we prefent our readers with the following 
extract from the above-mentioned ingenious work. “ The 
breeding of cattle, the management of dairies, and the 
making of cheefe, is carried to a high degree of perfec¬ 
tion among thefe mountaineers. Here both the rich and 
the poor are cow-keepers; though many of the latter 
do not grow fo much hay themfelves as they require for 
their cattle during the winter feafon, or have no grafs 
lands at all. To fupply this deficiency, they employ 
agents throughout the canton, who are to inform them 
where good hay may be obtained, which farmers made it 
in favourable weather, and then the fenn, or great cotv- 
keeper, who is in want of fodder, makes his agreements 
for the winter with the wealthier farmers, to whom he 
fucceftively drives his cattle as foon as they return from 
grafs. Thus the itinerant fenn, with his cows, often vi- 
lits five different j laces during the winter feafon. He 
who tells the hay furnifnes the fenn not only with fta- 
bling for his beafts, but boards and lodges him as well 
as his whole family. In return, the fenn, befides paying 
the ftipulated price for the hay, allow’s to his hoft as 
much milk, whey, and zieger, (a kind of lean cheefe,) 
as may be ufed in the houfe, and leaves him alfo the ma¬ 
nure of his cow's. In the middle of April, when nature 
revives, the fenn again ilfues forth with his herd to the 
moft fertile Alps, which he rents for the fuminer. Thus 
the life of thefe men is a conftant migration, affording 
the moft plead ng variety, and blefting them with health, 
content, and cheerfulnefs. Their original breed of cat¬ 
tle is of a black and brown caft ; but the fenns, prefer¬ 
ring a motley herd, cornpofe it of black, brown, and bay, 
cows; to complete which fet, a black cow with a w'hite 
belly and a flripe of the fame colour along the back, is 
COW 
required. The animals are curried, drefted, and tended, 
w ith the utinoft care ; and they thus have an appearance 
of fleeknefs, cleanlinefs, and health, fuperior, perhaps, 
to that of any other cattle in the world. The moun¬ 
taineer lives with his cows in a conftant exchange of re¬ 
ciprocal acts of gratitude ; the latter affording him al- 
moft w hatever he wants; and the fenn in return pro¬ 
viding for and cherifliing them fometimes more than his 
own children. He never ill-treats his cattle, nor makes 
ufe of a ftick or a whip : a perfeft cordiality feems to 
prevail between both ; and the voice of the keeper is 
fufticient to guide and'govern the whole herd. The cow, 
in the canton of Appenzell, enjoys more of that regard 
which is due to every ufeful creature, and is altogether 
more comfortable, than millions of human beings in Eu¬ 
rope ; who, placed under the influence of oppreflion, 
have too much reafon to curfe their exiltence. Is it pof- 
fible that, at the end of the eighteenth, or (as it is term¬ 
ed) the philofophical century, this parallel fltould be 
corrett to fuch a revolting degree ! 
“ Fine cattle are the pride of tire cowkeeper who in¬ 
habits the Alps : but, not fatisfied with their natural 
beauty, he will likewife pleafe his vanity. He adorns 
his beft cow's with large bells fufpended from broad 
thongs ; and the expence in fuch bells is carried even to a 
luxurious excels. Every fenn has an harmonious fet of at 
lead two or three bc-lls, chiming in with the famous ranz 
dcs vac/ics. The inhabitants of the Tyrol bring a' number 
of fuch bells, of all lizes, to every fair kept in the can¬ 
ton of Appenzell. They are fixed to a broad ftrap, 
neatly pinked, cut out, and embroidered ; which is faft- 
ened round the cow’s neck by means of a large buckle. 
A bell of the largeft fize meafures upw'ards of a foot in 
diameter, is of an uniform width at top, fwells out in 
the middle, and tapers towards the end. It cofts from 
forty to fifty gilders; and the whole peal of bells, including 
the thongs, will fometimes be worth between 140 and 
150 gilders, while the whole apparel of the fenn him¬ 
felf, when beft attired, does not amount to the price of 
twenty gilders. The fineft black cow is adorned with 
the largeft bell, and thole next in appearance have two 
fmaller. Thefe ornaments, however, are not. worn on 
every day, but only on folernn occafions, when, in the 
fpring, they are driven up the Alps, or removed from 
one pa (hire to another ; or when they defeend in the au¬ 
tumn, or travel in the winter to the different farms, 
where their owner has contradted for hay. On fuch days, 
the fenn, even in the depth of winter, appears drelfed in 
a fine white Ihirt, of which the lleeves are rolled up 
above the elbow, red braces keep up his yellow linen 
trowTers, w hich reach down to the (hoes; a fmall lea¬ 
ther-cap, or hat, covers his head ; and a new milk-bowl, 
of wood, fkilfully carved, hangs acrofs the left llioulder. 
Thus arrayed, the fenn precedes finging the ranz des va- 
ches, and followed by three or four fine goats ; next 
comes the handfomeft cow with the great bell; then the 
two other cows with fmaller bells; and thefe are fuc- 
ceeded by the reft of the cattle walking one after an¬ 
other, and having in their rear the bull with a one-leo-- 
ged milking-ftool hanging on his horns ; the procellion 
is clufed by a traineau, or Hedge, on which are placed 
the implements for the dairy. It is furprifing to fee how 
proud and pleafed the cows (talk forth when ornamented 
with their bells. Who would imagine that even thefe 
animals are fenfible of their rank, nay, touched with va¬ 
nity and jealoufy ! If the leading cow, who hitherto 
bore the largeft bell, be deprived of her honours, Ihe 
very plainly manifefts her grief at the difgrace, by low¬ 
ing incefiantly, ablhiming from food, and growing lean. 
The happy rival, on whom .the diftinguilhing badge of 
fuperiority has devolved, experiences her marked ven¬ 
geance, and is butted, wounded, and perfecuted, by her 
in the moft furious manner ; until the former either re¬ 
covers her bell, or is entirely removed from the herd. 
However" 
