Oxen are very numerous in Tartary and Siberia; and at Tobolski black
cattle abounds. In Ireland I formerly remarked that both _oxen_ and
cows were without horns; but this I find applies only to the southern
part, where there is either scarcely any grass, or it is very bad which
gives strength to my position, that horns arise from a superabundance
of nourishment. Adjacent to the sea the Irish boil their fish down
extremely soft, with which they feed their cows, and of which they are
very fond; and it is said the milk has not the smallest disagreeable
smell or taste therefrom.
In Norway both cows and _oxen_ are very diminutive; but on the
Norwegian coast they are bigger probably owing to their having better
pasture, and being allowed to range at perfect freedom; for they are
left entirely to themselves without any guides, unless the rams may be
so called who accompany them in winter and who scrape the snow from the
ground both for themselves and companions, to get at the grass. Living
in this wild state they sometimes grow very fierce, and are only to be
caught by means of ropes.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
[Illustration: FIG. 22. _Ram_]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. _Ewe_]
European cattle have multiplied in a most astonishing manner in South
America. In the vicinity of Buenos-Ayres, they hunt them merely for
their grease and hides, and frequently kill large quantities. The coast
of Brazil produces very indifferent cattle; they are small, and their
flesh has a bad savour, most probably owing to the bad quality of their
pasturage. There are great numbers of _oxen_ in some parts of Africa.
The mountains are covered with wild cows from Cape Blanc to Sierra
Leona; their colour is generally brown with black horns, and they
are so exceedingly prolific, that both Europeans and Negroes find it
necessary to be perpetually destroying them by hunting. There are also
wild cows of a dark chesnut colour in many parts of Barbary, and in the
deserts of Numidia; they are small, run fast, and frequently keep in
flocks of one or two hundred together.