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cow they are usefully employed in agriculture. They are used in drawing burthens, and sometimes in carrying them; being guided by a ring, which is thrust through their nose. Two buffaloes yoked in a wagon are said to draw more than four strong horses; as their heads and necks are naturally bent downward, they are thus better fitted for the draught, and the whole weight of their bodies is applied to the carriage that is to be drawn forward.

Although these animals be chiefly found in the torrid zone, yet they are bred in several parts of Europe, particularly in Italy, where they make the food and the riches of the poor. The female produces but one at a time, in the same manner as the cow; but they are very different in the times of gestation; for the cow, as we know, goes but nine months, whereas the buffalo continues preg nant for twelve.

Having thus gone through the history of these animals, it may be proper to observe, that no names have been more indiscriminately used than those of the bull, the urus, the bison, and the buffalo. It, therefore, becomes such as would have distinct ideas of each, to be careful in separating the kinds, the one from the other, allowing the cow for the standard of all. The urus, whether of the large enormous kind of Lithuania, or the smaller race of Spain-whether with long or short horns-whether with or without long hair in the forehead, is every way the same with what our common breed was before they were taken from the forest, and reduced to a state of servitude. The bison, and all its varieties, which are known by a hump between the shoulders, is also to be ranked in the same class. This animal, whether with crooked or straight horns-whether they be turned towards the cheek, or totally wanting-whether it be large or diminutive-whatever be its colour, or whatever the length of its hair-whether called the bonasus by some, or the bubalus by others, is but a variety of the cow kind, with whom it breeds, and with whom of consequence it has the closest connexion. Lastly, the buffalo, though shaped much more like the cow. is a distinct kind by itself, that never mixes with any of the former-that goes twelve months with young, whereas the cow goes but nine-that testifies an aversion to the latter, and though bred under the same roof, or feeding in the same pasture, has always kept separate, and makes a distinct race in all parts of the world. These two kinds are supposed to be the only real varieties in the cow kind, of which naturalists have given so many varieties. With respect to some circumstances mentioned by travellers-such as that of many kinds defending themselves by voiding their dung against their pursuers; this is a practice which they have in common with other timid creatures when pursued, and arises rather from fear than a desire of defence. The musky smell also by which some have been distinguished, is found common to many of these kinds, in a state of nature; and does not properly make the characteristic marks of any. The particular kind of noise also which some of them are known to

* MUSK BULL.-There is a Musk Bull which inhabits the interior parts of North America, on the west side of Hudson's Bay. It is in size equal to a Guernsey cow; the hair is brownish black, occasionally marked with large white blots; it grows to a very great length, and is composed of a long, soft down, intermixed with straight hairs; the summit of the head of the male is covered by the horns, which form a kind of scalp; in the female it is covered with hair; the legs are generally white, and the hair spreads forward under the heels, so as to cover the greater part of the frog. These animals live in herds of thirty or forty. The bulls are few in proportion to the cows, caused as it appears by the mortal conflicts among them for the possession of the females; for it is observed that dead males are often found,

and that in the rutting season, the bulls are so jealous, that they run bellowing at every animal, to drive them off. They prefer mountains and barren grounds to wooded countries, climb rocks with agility and secure footing; they feed principally on grass, when in season, but mostly on mosses, the tops of pine shoots, and willows. The flesh is flavoured like that of the elk; the calves and heifers are best for the table, the meat of the old bulls being so impregnated with a musky smell as to be very disagreeable food. The genitals of the male are always lubricated with a musky, unctuous secretion, which is so powerful as to retain its smell for several years. Captain Parry met this species as far north as Melville Island, with the first ap pearance of spring: each carcass furnished him with from three hundred to three hun

make, which rather resembles grunting than bellowing or lowing, is but a savage variety, which many wild animals have, and yet lose when brought into a state of tameness. For these reasons

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Mr. Buffon, whom I have followed in this description, is of opinion that the zebu, or little African cow, and the grunting, or Siberian cow, are but different races of the bison; as the shape of the horns, or the length of the hair, are never properly characteristic marks of any animal, but are found to vary with climate, food, and cultivation.

In this manner, the number of animals of the cow kind, which nautralists have extended to eight or ten sorts, are reduced to two; and as the utmost deference is paid to the opinion of Buffon in this particular, I have taken him for my guide.

(Zebu.)

Nevertheless, there is an animal of the cow kind, which neither he, nor any other naturalist that I know of, has hitherto described, yet which makes a very distinct class, and may be added as a third species. This animal was shown. some years ago, in London, and seemed to unite many of the characteristics of the cow and the hog-having the head, the horns, and the tail of the former, with the bristles, the colour, and the grunting of the latter. It is about the size of an ass, but broader and thicker; the colour resembling that of a hog, and the hair bristly, as in that animal. The hair upon the body was thin, as in the hog; and a row of bristles ran along the spine, rather shorter and softer than in the hog kind. The head was rather larger than that of a cow; the teeth were entirely resembling those of that animal, and the tongue was rough in like manner. It fed upon hay; and, consequently, its internal conformation must have resembled that of the cow kind more than the hog, whose food is always chosen of a kind more succulent. The eyes were placed in the head as with the cow, and were pretty nearly of the same colour; the horns were black and flattish, but bent rather backwards to the neck, as in the goat kind; the neck was short and thick, and the back rather rising in the middle; it was clovenfooted, like the cow, without those hinder claws that are found in the hog kinds. But the greatest variety of all in this extraordinary creature, which was a female, was, that it had but two teats, and, consequently, in that respect, resembled neither of the kinds to which, in other circumstances, it bore so strong a similitude. Whether this animal was a distinct kind, or a monster, I will not pretend to say; it was shown under the name of the bonasus; and it was said, by the person who showed it, to have come from India; but no credit is to be given to interested ignorance. The person only wanted to make the animal appear as extraordinary as possible: and, I believe, would scarcely scruple a lie or two, to increase that wonder in us, by which he found the means of living. dred and fifty pounds of beef. It descends as far south as the province of Guivra, according to Lopez Gomara, where the Spaniards found sheep as large as a horse, with long hair, short tails, and enormous horns. Captain Turner has likewise, in his account of an embassy to Thibet, described what he calls the Yak of Tartary, or Bushy-tailed Bull of Thibet. In common appearance it resembles the English bull; but it has a hunch on its back, and is covered over with a thick coat of long hair, which is manufactured into tents and ropes. But the greatest singularity is about their tails, which is coinposed of a prodigious quantity of long, flow

ing, glossy hair, which is furnished in such abundance, that not a joint of the tail is perceptible; but it has much the appearance of a large cluster of hair artificially set on. Throughout the East these tails are in universal use, under the denomination of chowries, for driving away musquitoes, and other insects, from the face and person. These animals have a downcast, heavy look, and appear sullen and suspicious at the near approach of strangers. They do not low loud, like other cattle, but make a grunting noise, scarcely audible, when under some impres

sion of uneasiness.

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CHAP. VII.

ANIMALS OF THE SHEEP AND GOAT KIND *

As no two animals are found entirely the same, so it is not to be expected that any two races of animals should exactly correspond in every particular. The Goat and the Sheep are apparently different, in the form of their bodies, in their covering, and in their horns. They may from hence be considered as two different kinds, with regard to all common and domestic purposes. But if we come to examine them closer, and observe their internal conformation, no two animals can be more alike-their feet, their four stomachs, their suet, their appetites, all are entirely the same, and show the similitude between them; but what makes a much stronger connexion is, that they propagate with each other. The buck goat is found to produce with the ewe an animal that in two or three generations returns to the sheep, and seems to retain no marks of its ancient progenitor. (g) The sheep and the goat, therefore, may be considered as belonging to one family; and were the whole races reduced to one of each, they would quickly replenish the earth with their kind.

If we examine the sheep and goat internally, we shall find, as was said, that their conformation is entirely the same; nor is their structure very remote from that of the cow kind, which they resemble in their hoofs, and in their chewing the cud. Indeed, all ruminant animals are internally very much alike. The goat, the sheep, or the deer, exhibit to the eye of the anatomist the same parts in miniature which the cow or the bison exhibited in the great. But the differences between these animals are, nevertheless, sufficiently apparent. Nature has obviously marked the distinctions between the cow and the sheep kind, by their form and size; and they are also distinguished from those of the deer kind, by never shedding their horns. Indeed, the form and figure of these animals, if there were nothing else, would seldom fail of guiding us to the kind; and we night almost, upon sight, tell which belongs to the deer kind, and which are to be degraded into that of the goat. However, the annually shedding the horns in the deer, and the permanence in the sheep, draws a pretty exact line between the kinds so that we may hold to this distinction only, and define the sheep and goat kind as ruminant animals of a smaller size, that never shed their horns. If we consider these harmless and useful animals in one point of view, we shall find that both have been long reclaimed, and brought into a state of domestic servitude. Both seem to require protection from man, and are, in some measure, pleased with his society. The sheep, indeed, is the more serviceable creature of the two; but the goat has more sensibility and attachment. The attending upon both was once the employment of the wisest and the best of men: and those have been ever supposed the happiest times in which these harmless creatures were considered as the chief objects of human attention. In the earliest ages, the goat seemed rather the greater favourite ; and, indeed, it continues such, in some countries, to this day among the poor. However, the sheep has long since become the principal object of human care; while the goat is disregarded by the generality of mankind, or become the possession only of the lowest of the people. The sheep, therefore, and its varieties, may be considered first; and the goat, with all those of its kind, will then properly follow.

* In the Sheep kind, the horns are hollow, wrinkled, perennial, bent backwards and outwards, into a circular or spiral form, and generally placed at the sides of the head. In the lower jaw there are eight front teeth, but none in the upper; there are no canine teeth

in either. In the Goat, the horns are hollow, rough, compressed, and rise somewhat erect from the top of the head, and bent backwards. There are eight front teeth in the lower jaw, none in the upper, and no canine teeth in either; the chin is bearded.

(g) Buffon, passim.

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