han he can ride. An ox was almost a sacred
beast in Damara-Land, not to be killed except on momentous occasions,
and then as a sort of sacrificial feast, in which all bystanders
shared. The payment of two oxen was hush-money for the life of a man.
I was considerably embarrassed by finding that I had the greatest
trouble in buying oxen for my own use, with the ordinary articles of
barter. The possessor would hardly part with them for any
remuneration; they would never sell their handsomest beasts.

One of the ways in which the value of tamed beasts would be soon
appreciated would be that of giving milk to children. It is
marvellous how soon goats find out children and tempt them to suckle.
I have had the milk of my goats, when encamping for the night in
African travels, drained dry by small black children, who had not
the strength to do more than crawl about, but nevertheless came to
some secret understanding with the goats and fed themselves. The
records of many nations have legends like that of Romulus and Remus,
who are stated to have been suckled by wild beasts. These are
surprisingly confirmed by General Sleeman's narrative of six cases
where children were nurtured for many years by wolves in Oude.
(_Journey through Oude in 1849-50_, i. 206.)

_Breeding freely_.--Domestic animals must breed freely under
confinement. This necessity limits very narrowly the number of
species which might otherwise have been domesticated. It is one of
the most important of all the conditions that have to be satisfied.
The North American turkey, reared from the eggs of the wild bird, is
stated to be unknown in the third generation, in captivity. Our
turkey comes from Mexico, and was abundantly domesticated by the
ancient Mexicans.

The Indians of the Upper Amazon took turtle and placed them in
lagoons for use in seasons of scarcity. The Spaniards who first saw
them called these turtle "Indian cattle." They would certainly have
become domesticated like cattle, if they had been able to breed in
captivity.

_Easy to tend_.--They must be tended easily. When animals reared
in the house are suffered to run about in the companionship of
others like themselves, they naturally revert to much of their
original wildness. It is therefore essential to domestication that
they should possess some quality by which large numbers of them may
be controlled by a few herdsmen. The instinct of gregariousness is
such a quality. The herdsman of a vast tro