oductions,
and represent it as a kind of divinity.

In nearly all parts of the earth cattle are employed for their labor,
for their milk, and for food. In southern Africa they are as much the
associates of the Caffre as the horse is of the Arab. They share his
toils, and assist him in tending his herds. They are even trained to
battle, in which they become fierce and courageous. In central Africa
the proudest ebony beauties are to be seen upon the backs of cattle. In
all ages they have drawn the plough. In Spain they still trample out the
corn; in India they raise the water from the deepest wells to irrigate
the thirsty soil of Bengal. When Caesar invaded Britain they constituted
the chief riches of its inhabitants; and they still form no
inconsiderable item in the estimate of that country's riches.

The parent race of the ox is said to have been much larger than any of
the present varieties. The Urus, in his wild state at least, was an
enormous and fierce animal, and ancient legends have thrown around him
an air of mystery. In almost every part of the continent of Europe and
in every district of England, skulls, evidently belonging to cattle,
have been found, far exceeding in bulk any now known.

As the various breeds of cattle among us were introduced into this
country from Great Britain, we propose, before going into the details of
the leading American breeds, to glance somewhat briefly at the history
of

THE BRITISH OX.

In the earliest and most reliable accounts which we possess of the
British Isles--the Commentaries of Caesar--we learn that the ancient
Britons possessed great numbers of cattle. No satisfactory description
of these cattle occurs in any ancient author; but, with occasional
exceptions, we know that they possessed no great bulk or beauty. Caesar
tells us that the Britons neglected tillage and lived on milk and flesh;
and this account of the early inhabitants of the British Isle is
corroborated by other authors. It was such an occupation and mode of
life as suited their state of society. The island was divided into many
little sovereignties; no fixed property was secure; and that alone was
valuable which could be hurried away at the threatened approach of the
invader. Many centuries after this, when--although one sovereign seemed
to reign paramount over the whole of the kingdom--there continued to be
endless contests among the feudal barons, and therefore that property
alone continued to be val