"That's no serious consequence," said the Doctor, "as you will have an abundance of time on the steamer. What is it?"
"It's the curious vehicles they have here in Ceylon, drawn by bullocks, and by bullocks that trot, too. I'll write it out when I get on the ship, and make sure I don't forget any more."
They had no trouble in getting to the steamer, though they narrowly escaped a drenching from a wave that broke over the bows of the boat that took them across the harbor. As soon as they were on board Frank went below, and devoted himself to the production of the following:
A FASHIONABLE "HACKERY."
"They have carriages for hire in the cities of Ceylon which are called hackeries, and are drawn by hump-backed bullocks or sacred oxen. They are almost entirely used by natives, and it is very rarely that you see a European riding in one of them. These animals can travel thirty miles a day easily, and can trot a mile or so as fast as an ordinary horse, but you generally see them going at a walk. A nice hackery has a roof over the top in a sort of dome shape, and there are cushions on which the passengers sit. Frequently you see whole families of five or six persons crowded into one of these carriages, and the bullocks trotting smartly along as though they enjoyed their work. Then they have carts for carrying baggage and similar work; in a case where a man in New York would send for a dray, he sends for a bullock-cart in Colombo or Kandy.
"Doctor Bronson says these animals are the sacred oxen of India and the East. Their native name is zebu, and their scientific one Bos Indicus; they are distinguished by a hump on the shoulders, and are much smaller than the oxen of America. In India they are worshipped, and they run around the temples and do pretty much as they please; they give a great deal of trouble to the dealers in grain, as they have no manners at all, and help themselves to anything they want. The natives consider it a sin to kill them, but their sacred character does not save them from doing a great deal of hard work.
"There is a story that at one time the sacred bulls of the temples of Benares, in India, extended their wanderings into the part of the city where the English live; there was a slaughter-house there where the foreigners were provided with beef, and the bulls discovered that some of their number disappeared mysteriously whenever they went near the slaughter-house. What became of them was never known; but suddenly the bulls gave up going there, or even into the English quarter, and sometimes, when a young bull ventured too far, one of the old ones on watch would bellow and call him back. I cannot say if this is really so, but give the story as I heard it.