briefly the more remarkable foreign varieties of which Englishmen in general can only obtain a knowledge from books or menageries. One, called the gour, scours in small herds the high table-lands of central India, where even the fierce buffalo dreads their attacks, and the tiger pauses ere he advances upon a determined herd. In one high district of Bahar, the wild beasts, such as tigers and hyenas, have committed such ravages, that the region is deserted by man; yet even here the gours maintain the possession of their ancient seats in defiance of their carnivorous foes. These animals shelter themselves in the thick forests which clothe some of the mountain summits, where the wandering European is sometimes roused to watchfulness by the rush of a startled herd through the thick underwood.

Another species found in Asia is called the Indian ox, or zebu, and is remarkable for the large hump on its shoulders, and for the great veneration in which the Hindoos hold the animal. To kill one of these zebus is deemed a sin of unusual enormity; and some of the creatures wander up and down the country at their ease, leading a luxurious life on the offerings of the devotees, who, though famishing, will contrive to get some food for the sacred animals. But the natives do not object to use the services of the zebu, harnessing it to light carriages, as we do ponies, when it will convey its owners a distance of twenty or twenty-five miles in a day. The reader would not be surprised at this application of ox-power, were he to witness the light and easy movements of some zebus, which often resemble those of the deer. A line of these small trotting animals presents a pleasant spectacle, not the less interesting to the European from the strange contrast between such swift oxen and the large, solemn-looking quadrupeds of England and Holland. These animals are not confined to India, being spread over the Asiatic islands, and extending into Africa.

Two varieties of the ox must now claim a few words: the buffalo and the bison.

The first is usually found in Africa, especially in that part called Caffraria, from which it is often called bos Caffer, or the Caffre ox. Thus Africa exhibits two beasts, both different in all their qualities, except ferocity, for in these respects both the lion and the buffalo agree. In the wide plains north of Cape Colony, the buffaloes congregate in troops of many hundreds, upon which the exploring settler often suddenly comes, sometimes to the terror of the herd, at others to the peril of the disturbers. No little strength of nerve is requisite to meet calmly the startled and fixed gaze of five hundred savage creatures, the charge of which would bear down to the earth a company of well-armed men. If the courage of these animals equalled their strength, the rifle of the hunter would be of little avail against the rush of such huge beasts. Accidents have often happened to travellers and hunters

when attacked by the buffaloes, which have on such occasions transfixed with their wide-spreading horns both horse and rider. The hazard encountered by those who attack these beasts may be inferred from the ensuing brief description of the energy displayed by one, even after receiving his mortal wound. The account is taken from the travels of the enthusiastic and persevering Sparrmann, who witnessed the habits of the buffalo during his almost solitary journey into the heart of Africa. The reader must suppose that the animal has just been shot down by a party of hunters, and here follows the picture of the dying beast:-" He bellowed in a most stupendous manner; and this death-song of his inspired every one of us with no small degree of joy, on account of the victory we had gained; and so thoroughly steeled frequently is the human heart against the sufferings of the brute creation, that we hastened forwards, in order to enjoy the pleasure of seeing the buffalo struggle with the pangs of death. I happened to be the foremost amongst them, but think it impossible ever to behold anguish, accompanied by a savage fierceness, painted in stronger colours than they were in the countenance of the buffalo. I was within ten steps of him when he perceived me, and, bellowing, raised himself suddenly again on his legs. I have had much reason to believe since, that I was at the time very much frightened, for before I could well take my aim, I fired off my gun, and only hit him on the hind legs, as we afterwards discovered by the size of the ball. Immediately upon this I fled away like lightning, in order to look out for some tree to climb into."

The buffaloes are not, however, always disposed thus to attack; oftentimes the appearance of man suffices to disperse a whole herd in terror over the sandy wilds. The fright which thus fills the panic-stricken troop in the midst of those wide solitudes exhibits the powerful influence of what the ancients would call panic upon the instinct of the most powerful animals. Thus, though the buffalo will sometimes await in all the calmness of conscious strength the crushing attack of the lion, at other times a host will flee with all the speed of desperation from a foe having little power to harm. The irresistible rush of such a fear-stricken troop down the echoing valleys, or over the far-extended prairies, is indeed a sublime spectacle. Amid the otherwise deathlike stillness of those ancient plains, the distant roar of the buffalorush sounds like the murmur of subterranean thunder. The startled antelope, feeding on the banks of the Niger, hears the echoes borne by the breeze across the wilderness, and hastens for shelter to the deep woods. The lion, too, rouses himself, and hurries in the direction of the tumult, well knowing that amidst the alarm a victim may be easily secured. Nor do the jackals fail to raise their unearthly cry, adding to the commotion of the desert for many a league around.

The bison is another variety of the great family of which we are now treating; and a few remarks upon this species are necessary to complete our view of the ox-tribe.

These animals are not quite extinct in Europe; for, though we look towards the American prairies when speaking of them, they are found in some of the deepest recesses of the forests of Eastern Europe. In some of the thinly-inhabited districts along the Danube, in the woods which line the banks of the Dneiper, the Bog, and the Dneister, and over the wild tracts to the north of Turkey, the bisons may be found by the hunter or the adventurous traveller. But the progress of civilisation and the extension of agriculture have gradually driven these wild creatures farther from the localities in which they once abounded. A happy riddance, too, the ease-loving reader will exclaim, as he thinks of the trepidation which a herd would produce if now found in the neighbourhood of his quiet village or snug country town. It is utterly useless for the naturalist to grieve over the approaching extinction of the European bison; his laments would quickly be drowned in the load reproaches of tens of thousands, who have no idea of allowing wild beasts a fee-simple right to even a rood of ground. The bison must perish in this quarter of the globe; millions of busy men have voted its extermination; nor can they be blamed for this, since the most brute-loving man will admit that these animals are not much fitted to live on friendly terms with human beings; one of the contending parties-man or the bison-must therefore give place, and the rifle says to the other, "Go, or die."

But in the new world the zoologist may yet gratify his curiosity by the sight of whole troops of these animals, which are found in the immense region between Hudson's Bay and Mexico. On the vast levels extending along the Mississippi they wander by thousands, presenting to the hunter the prospect of a rich gathering of hides. There is one singular fact in the organisation of this animal, which proves that the American cannot be classed in the same species with the European bison. The latter has fourteen ribs on each side, but the former possesses fifteen pairs; a difference for which no zoologist can give a satisfactory reason. It would, of course, be utterly useless to urge the question, "Why should the American bison have more ribs than the European?" for this may be one of those mysteries in animal life which baffles alike the sagacity of a Cuvier and the queries of a child. The same difference exists between the domesticated ox and the European bison as between the latter and the American species; the ox having thirteen pairs of ribs, the bison of the old world fourteen, and that of the Western prairies fifteen. This fact may have little interest for some readers; but all must admit it to be a singular characteristic in the structure of these animals. Travellers represent the number sometimes found in a herd as amounting to many thousands, and the long column often extends for miles across the prairie.

The danger of hunting this beast is often great; for should the animal not be disabled by the first shot, it rushes upon the assailant with a degree of fury fully equal to that shewn by the African lion, or the Bengal tiger. The perseverance with which an irritated bison pursues its foe is remarkable, some having waited for hours beneath trees up which the hunters have escaped.

The risk of the pursuers is, however, generally repaid by the money obtained for the skin, horns, and hair; all of which are valuable both to the Indian and the European trader. Many ships are loaded every year on the coast of America with the skins purchased from the adventurers whose lives are passed in slaughtering the bison. The hide-trade forms an important branch of commerce on the coast of California, where, from skins being used in payment for other commodities, they are sometimes called California bank-notes. These, being dried by the hunters, are sold to the hide-ships, when the crews commence what is called the curing process. This is done by first soaking each hide in the sea water for about forty-eight hours, after which they are steeped in brine, and then, being stretched in the sun, are well scraped, to pare off all the flesh and soft parts. Salt is then sprinkled over the cleaned skins, which are dried and beaten with flails. This last operation frees the hides from all the loose dust which may have collected upon them during the curing process. The skins are then stowed on board the ships, and carried to some distant port, two or three thousand miles off, where they

R

are sold to the tanners, and lastly used for the promotion of human comfort and arts. Thus the skin, which now forms part of an atmospheric railway, the tube of a fire-engine, or a stout boot, may have been formerly on the back of a bison on the prairies of America! The history of a piece of leather may therefore carry us from the streets of London, where now it performs good service in the shape of a porter's shoe, to the wilds of the far West.

The skins are sometimes dressed in a peculiar manner with the hair on, so as to serve for blankets in the cold regions of North America, where a single hide, so prepared, has been not unfrequently sold for sixty or seventy shillings.

Some writers have asserted that the hair might be manufactured into a fine and durable cloth; and this has been done by some English workmen, though upon too small a scale to attract attention.

With these brief notices of the bison, we must conclude our remarks on the various species of the ox family, and finish this chapter by some miscellaneous matters connected with the subject.

The reader is probably aware that superstition has not failed to use this animal for the advancement of her witcheries over the minds of men.

ness.

That a people from whom the ancient world received much of its prized wisdom should have become so degraded as to rank amongst ox-worshippers, is a memorable lesson of human weakAll our readers have perhaps heard of the bull called Apis by the ancient Egyptians, and of the honours given to the animal whilst living and at its death. No superstition was ever carried to a higher degree than this; the bull being lodged in a noble temple at Memphis, and at its death solemnly embalmed, and deposited in the catacombs. When this animal died, the whole land was filled with mourning, deeming the divinity had departed; and when another, having all the sacred marks, was found, rejoicing echoed through the halls of Memphis. Herodotus, in the third book of his history, describes the rage of Cambyses, the Persian king, upon seeing the universal joy manifested on account of the discovery of a fresh Apis. The son of Cyrus had lost many of his troops, and imagined the Egyptians delighted in his calamities, upon which he ordered the oxgod to be brought before him, and not only stabbed the sacred animal with his dagger, but ordered the priests to be scourged. His godship soon after died from the wound inflicted by the Persian monarch, thus justifying the sarcasm of Cambyses, who, laughing at the trembling priests, cried out, "You blockheads! are gods formed of such creatures, which steel can force to shrink and suffer?" This animal so revered was black, except a white spot in the forehead, having the form of an eagle on the back,