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that the dog has not only the kindliest affections, but an intelligence and power of reasoning far superior to mere instinct, must occur to the recollection of every reader ; and who can think of these, without coming to the same pious conclusion with Cicero, that the dog was "created for the use of man."

ELEVENTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

RUMINATING QUADRUPEDS.-THE COW.

THE Cow is among the most useful, the most generally diffused, the most various in kind, and the longest domesticated of quadrupeds. Man may be said to be more dependent on this race, than on any other which the Creator has in his wisdom called into existence; and the readiness with which it accommodates itself to the nature of its food, and increases or diminishes in size, according to the plenty or scarcity of the pasture, and the circumstances of climate, is an obvious indication of benevolent accommodation to the varied localities in which the human family, whose habitation it was destined to accompany, were to be found.

The races of cattle, as we find them domesticated in Europe, differ from each other more in size than in any other particular; but when we pass into warmer climates, a change takes place which would almost make us believe that we were contemplating a distinct species. Instead of the straight back, the square-turned head, the small ears, and the short muscular limbs of our cattle, the Indian ox, or Brahmin bull, as it is commonly called, is distinguished by a more elongated form of skull, with a decidedly concave line of profile, an arched neck, a hump of fatty substance rising from the withers, an arched back, sinking and rounded off on the crupper, an enormous dewlap, hanging down in folds, long pendulous ears, and limbs long and taper. This race, of which numerous breeds occur, varying in size from that of a large mastiff,

to that of a full-grown buffalo, is spread, more or less extensively, over the whole of southern Asia, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and the eastern coast of Africa, from Abyssinia to the Cape of Good Hope. In all these countries, the zebu (for so is the humped variety termed) supplies the place of the cow, both as a beast of burden and an article of food and domestic economy. In some parts of India, it executes the part of a horse also, being either saddled and ridden, or harnessed in a carriage, and performing, in this manner, journeys of considerable length with tolerable celerity.*

It is well known that the Indian breed is more expert and docile than ours. Many of them, when they carry burdens, bend their knees to take them up or set them down. They are treated by the natives with a degree of tenderness and care equal to their utility; and the respect for them in India has even degenerated into blind adoration.

In turning again to the European breed, we find the most remarkable differences arising solely from difference of pasture. Among the Eluth Tartars, for example, where the pastures are remarkably rich and nourishing, the cow rises to the height of seven or eight feet; in the mountainous districts of France, on the contrary, where it is stinted in its sustenance, and driven from the most nourishing pastures, it is dwarfish and degenerated; proving that it is food, rather than climate, which encourages the growth of this animal.

Of all animals, except man, the cow is, perhaps, most extensively propagated. Its nature is equally capable of sustaining the rigors of heat and cold; of inhabiting the frozen fields of Iceland, as well as the burning deserts of Libya. It seems, in some of its forms, an ancient inmate in every climate, domestic or tame in those countries which have been civilized, savage and wild in the countries which are less peopled; but capable of being made useful in all; able to defend itself, in a state of na ture, from its enemies of the forest, and only subordinate

*The Gardens Delineated.

to man, for whose comfort it was formed, and to whose dominion it readily yields. The wild animals preserve their nature and their form with inflexible perseverance; but this, and other creatures which have acquired the title of domestic, suit themselves with astonishing facility to the appetites and conveniences of man, changing their dispositions and instincts, as well as their shape, so as to be accommodated to the peculiar locality in which he is placed, and to be subservient in all situations to his use.

I need not enumerate all the blessings which the Creator has bestowed on man in the possession of this useful quadruped. Every one is acquainted with the patient labor of the ox, and knows that the female supplies him with a delicious beverage, which, when prepared in the form of butter and cheese, furnishes agreeable varieties to the luxuries of his table; and that, when the animal is killed, its flesh affords him substantial and acceptable food, and its hide contributes in various ways to his service in the form of leather, while its very bones are ground down to manure and fertilize his fields.

ELEVENTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

THICK-SKINNED QUADRUPEDS.THE HOG.

THE domestic animals, which yet remain to be noticed, are those of the order Pachydermata, so called from the thickness of their skins. This order consists of several genera, differing from each other in various marked particulars; but of these, there are only three which deserve to be ranked among domesticated animals, namely, the hog, the horse, and the elephant.

The domestic hog is the descendant of a race still wild in the larger forests of Europe, Asia, and the northern parts of Africa. The wild race is easily reclaimed; but is distinguished from the domesticated breed by its color, which is a dark grizzled brown; by its greater length of limb; its small ears, and the greater developement of its

snout.

In his native forest, the wild boar is a most formidable animal; and, although he does not court the combat, yet, when hard beset, he defends himself with the most determined energy, his strength and tusks rendering him a terrific opponent. This animal, in his wild state, can properly be called neither solitary nor gregarious. The three first years the whole litter follows the sow, and the family lives in a herd together. They are then called beasts of company, and unite their common forces against the invasions of the wolf, and the other formidable animals of prey. Upon this, their principal safety, while young, depends; for, when attacked, they afford mutual assistance, calling to each other with a very loud and fierce note. The strongest face the danger; they form a ring, and the weakest fall into the centre. In this position few ravenous beasts dare venture to attack them. When the wild boar, however, has arrived at a state of maturity, and has become conscious of his superior strength, he then ranges the forest, fearless and alone. At this period of his existence, he dreads no single creature, nor does he turn out of his way, even for man himself.

I have already noticed the peculiarity in the form of the hog's snout, obviously contrived to constitute an instrument, corresponding to its instincts, in the selection of food, in its wild state. When tamed, the animal was intended to occupy, in the domestic economy, the useful station of a consumer of all manner of offal and garbage; and, for this purpose, it is furnished with a most accommodating taste, and powerful stomach. The reader will probably be, therefore, surprised to learn, that this grossly and indiscriminately feeding animal, is in its natural forests rather remarkable for an opposite tendency. The truth is, however, that it is, of all quadrupeds, in its wild state, the most select in its choice of its vegetable food. The cow, for example, according to Linnæus, eats two hundred and seventy-six plants, and rejects two hundred and eighteen; the goat eats four hundred and forty-nine, and rejects one hundred and twenty-six; the sheep eats three hundred and eighty-seven, and rejects two hundred and twelve; but the hog eats but seventy-two, and rejects all

the rest. * It is true that it does not refuse animal food, even in a putrescent state, when it happens to come in its way; but it does not seek for it, and seems rather to devour it from necessity than from preference; and where food is abundant it becomes quite dainty in its choice. In the orchards of peach trees, in-the United States, where the hog has plenty of delicious food, it is said that it will reject the fruit that has lain but a few hours on the ground, and patiently wait whole hours for a fresh windfall.

The hog is the most prolific of the domesticated quadrupeds, unless we include the rabbit in that number. These animals live and multiply in every climate of the world, with the exception of the polar regions. They are capable of reproduction at nine months old, and their natural life extends to fifteen or twenty years. The production of fifteen or twenty in a litter is not unfrequent, and instances have been known in which double that number has been produced. The celebrated Vauban has made a calculation of the probable production of an ordinary sow and her progeny, during the space of ten generations. After making every reasonable allowance, estimating the ordinary average of a litter so low as six, and even excluding the males, the result is, that the product of a single sow, in that period, will be six millions, four hundred and thirty-four thousand, eight hundred and thirty-eight pigs. Taking it, however, in round numbers, at six millions, we have a produce nearly equal to the whole number existing in France. "Were we to extend our observations," says this naturalist, "to the twelfth generation, we should find as great a number to result, as all Europe would be capable of supporting; and, were they to be continued to the sixteenth, as great a number would result as would be adequate to the abundant peopling of the globe." A remarkable instance of this animal's fecundity, occurred in Leicestershire, where a sow,

* [This may be correct, as a general statement; but it will occur to almost any one, that it must be rather more difficult to ascertain what plants are eaten and what rejected by a savage animal like the wild boar, than to arrive at the same knowledge with respect to the quiet and domestic animals mentioned.-AM. ED.]

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