rriages, the leading ox, after a little experience, will make way for
the rest to follow. On putting oxen on a ferry-boat the shipping of the
first one only is attended with much trouble. A man on each side should
take hold of a horn, or of a halter made of any piece of rope, should
the beast be hornless, and two other men, one on each side, should push
him up behind with a piece of rope held between them as a breeching, and
conduct him along the plank into the boat; if it have low gunwales, a
man will be required to remain beside him until one or two more of the
cattle follow their companion, which they will most readily do. From
neglecting this precaution in small ferry-boats, the first beast
sometimes leaps into the water, when it becomes a difficult task to
prevent some of the rest doing the same thing.

Whatever time a lot of cattle may take to go to a market, they should
never be _overdriven_. There is great difference of management in this
respect among drovers. Some like to proceed upon the road quietly,
slowly, but surely, and to reach the market in a placid, cool state.
Others, again, drive smartly along for some distance, and then rest to
cool awhile, when the beasts will probably get chilled and have a
staring coat when they reach their destination; while others like to
enter the market with their beasts in an excited state, imagining that
they then look gay; but distended nostrils, loose bowels, and reeking
bodies are no recommendations to a purchaser. Good judges are shy of
purchasing cattle in a heated state, because they do not know how long
they may have been in it; and to cover any risk, will give at least five
dollars a head below what they would have offered for them in a cool
state. Some drovers have a habit of thumping at the hindmost beast of
the lot with a stick while on the road. This is a censurable practice,
as the flesh, where it is thumped, will bear a red mark after the
animal has been slaughtered,--the mark receiving the appropriate name of
_blood-burn_--and the flesh thus affected will not take on salt, and is
apt to putrefy. A touch up on the shank, or any tendonous part, when
correction is necessary, is all that is required; but the voice, in most
cases, will answer as well. The flesh of overdriven cattle, when
slaughtered, never becomes properly firm, and their tallow has a soft,
melted appearance.

A few large oxen in one lot look best in a market on a position rather
above the eye o