They soon learn their
names, and come to be caressed when called.
Cows.--Most breeds of cows, out of Europe, cease to give milk after their
calf dies; and the only way of making them continue their yield, is to
spread out the calf's hide for them to lick, some time before milking
them; it retains its effect for a week or more. Messrs. Huc and Gabet
give the following graphic account of this contrivance, as applied to
restive cows:--"These long-tailed cows are so restive and difficult to
milk, that, to keep them at all quiet, the herdsman has to give them a
calf to lick meanwhile. But for this device, not a single drop of milk
could be obtained from them. One day a Lama herdsman, who lived in the
same house with ourselves, came, with a long dismal face, to announce
that his cow had calved during the night, and that unfortunately the calf
was dying. It died in the course of the day. The Lama forthwith skinned
the poor beast, and stuffed it with hay. This proceeding surprised us at
first, for the Lama had by no means the air of a man likely to give
himself the luxury of a cabinet of natural history. When the operation
was completed, we observed that the hay-calf had neither feet nor head;
whereupon it occurred to us that, after all, it was perhaps a pillow that
the Lama contemplated. We were in error; but the error was not dissipated
till the next morning, when our herdsman went to milk his cow.
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