some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus himself represents the sacrifice of one's life as the highest and most generous act of friendship,-" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." How then shall we characterize the love of this most amiable and admirable of Beings, when we remember that He laid down his life for his enemies. In every way his disinterested affection exceeded that of any mere mortal. To die for a good man and a friend, is the climax of human love; but Christ died for sinners and enemies! His love was boundless, incomprehensible, God-like ;— and it is so still. He who died for our sins, rose again for our justification. He is still the shepherd of our souls. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us."

ELEVENTH WEEK-MONDAY.

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 dependant 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 scull, 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 ox, 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 the same race which Goldsmith describes under the name of bison, and of one of whose breeds, domesticated by the Hottentots, he gives the following interesting account:-" They are their fellow-domestics, the companions of their pleasures and fatigues: the cow is at once the Hottentot's protector and servant; assists him in attending his flocks, and guarding them against every invader. While the sheep are grazing, the faith*The Gardens Delineated.

ful backely, as this kind of cow is called, stands or grazes beside them; still, however, attentive to the looks of its master, the backely flies round the field, herds in the sheep that are straying, obliges them to keep within proper limits, and shows no mercy to robbers, or even strangers, who attempt to plunder. But it is not the plunderers of the flock alone, but even the enemies of the nation, that these backelies are taught to combat. Every army of Hottentots is furnished with a proper herd of these, which are let loose against the enemy, when the occasion is most convenient. Being thus sent forward, they overturn all before them; they strike every opposer down with their horns, and trample upon him with their feet, and thus often procure their masters an easy victory, even before they have attempted to strike a blow.* An animal so serviceable, it may be supposed, is not without its reward. The backely lives in the same cottage with its master, and, by long habit, gains an affection for him; and, in proportion as the man approaches to the brute, so the brute seems to attain even to some share of human sagacity. The Hottentot and his backely thus mutually assist each other; and, when the latter happens to die, a new one is chosen to succeed him, by a council of the old men of the village. The new backely is then joined by one of the veterans of his own kind, from whom he learns his art, becomes social and diligent, and is taken for life into human friendship and protection."†

There is an air of romance in this account, for which perhaps some allowance should be made; but that the bison is in some respects more active and intelligent than our domestic cow, may easily be conceived, the train

* It may be doubted whether or not the backely is trained to the combat. The Irish rebels were in the habit of employing cattle in the same manner, with considerable effect, against the King's troops. Having driven the infuriated herds, with violence, and much shouting, against the approaching troops, they sometimes succeeded in breaking the best disciplined ranks, and thus prepared for an advantageous onset.

↑ Animated Nature, vol. i. p. 532.

ing of the latter being of a kind to render its faculties more obtuse, rather than to sharpen them. 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 meat, 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 rigours of heat and cold;—of inhabiting the frozen fields of Iceland, as well as the burning deserts of Lybia. 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 nature, from its enemies of the forest, and only subordinate 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 labour 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 dies, 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-TUESDAY.

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 colour, which is a dark grizzled brown; by its greater length of limb; its small ears, and the greater development 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,