162 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

ORDER VI, The Sea Cow is an aquatic vegetarian who
The Sea _ lives on the coast. Of the three genera which
Cow. constitute the family Maenatide one is now said
to be extinct. The genus Manatus contains two species, one
belonging to South America and the other to the West Coast
of Africa. The Dugong (Halicore Dugong) which attains to

a length of nine or ten feet at maturity produces oil having

_ similar medicinal properties to that obtained from the Cod’s

liver. It inhabits the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the neigh-

bourhood of the Malay Islands and the North and East
coasts of Australia.

ORDER Vil, The order of hoofed animals includes a
Hoofed number of well known species, of which the
Animals. Horse, the Ass, the Ox and the Sheep among

the tame, and the Rhinoceros, the Hippopotamus, the Boar and
‘the Bison among the wild are familiar examples. The order
is divided into two sub-orders and these into numerous
families. The sub-orders are, I, The Perissodactyla, which
includes three families of animals characterised by an odd
number of toes in their hind feet, the horse having one, and
the Rhinoceros three. II, The Artiodactyla which includes
seven families of animals all having an even number of
70es.

The Horse. The horse stands first among the hoofed ani-
mals, as the friend and servant of man. He has a history
which is full of interest but which it is quite impossible to
give within the limits of our present opportunity. He is
mentioned in both classical and Biblical history at an early
period, but there is reason to believe that he flourished in pre-
historic times. He was used by the Greeks in their public
games, the chariot race being one of their most popular forms
of entertainment; he was also employed by them for the
purposes of war, of which the writings of Homer and other
classical authors give abundant proof. First used apparently
to draw the chariot only, the adaptation of the means to the