Note 31 — Chapter I

These yokes are about 4 or 5 feet long by 18 inches or 2 feet broad, are made of walnut, and covered with the most intricate pierced patterns. Each parish or district, though no two are ever exactly alike, has its own design. The most elaborate, which are also often painted bright red, green, and yellow are found south of the Douro near Espinho. Further north at Villa do Conde they are much less elaborate, the piercings being fewer and larger. Nor do they extend far up the Douro as in the wine country in Tras-os-Montes the oxen, darker and with shorter horns, pull not from the shoulder but from the forehead, to which are fastened large black leather cushions trimmed with red wool.