The asses, native to the country, are of a very inferior breed; good donkeys are, therefore, still imported from Egypt by the Djelabi. Horned cattle is more especially met with in vast numbers. There are few villages in the neighbourhood, in which large herds may not be seen at pasture; and amongst the Bakkara, the droves consist even of thousands of heads. They feed throughout the year in the open air, but suffer much from hunger in the dry season, when everything is burnt to a cinder, and are, therefore, not so fat at this period as during the rainy season, when they are, literally speaking, up to their horns in grass. Thus thousands of heads of cattle may be feeding in a meadow, and yet not one single beast will be seen; their presence is merely denoted by the motion of the grass. The kine, however, are not of very excellent breed, they yield but little milk, of inferior quality, and much worse beef. The Turks resident in Kordofan never eat this meat. Amongst the Bakkara, a particular breed of short-horned oxen is to be met with, furnished with a high hump, or deposition of fat above the fore-quarters, and a dependent flap of skin below the neck and chest, reaching downwards to the knee.[63] The oxen are chiefly used for riding, and carrying weights: a cord passed through the nose of the animal forms a species of bridle. They are instructed for these purposes at a very early age, and, indeed, by children. The instruction, however, requires immense patience, for many months frequently transpire before a young calf will allow a lad to sit quietly on its back, and the boys meet with innumerable falls, before they succeed in thoroughly breaking-in one of these animals. In many parts of Africa, where the camel will not live on account of the fly (yohara), oxen are only employed for riding, and transporting loads. There are many sheep, and among them one species of very large breed; they bear no wool, but short hair; the mutton is of good flavour, and is preferred to beef, or to the flesh of goats.