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SCIENTIA
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The First Prize Animal of the Royal Agricultural Society at Derby, 1845.
DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
2492
ON THE
BRITISH ISLANDS:
-
OF THE
**
THE NATURAL AND ECONOMICAL HISTORY OF
SPECIES AND VARIETIES ;
COMPREHENDING
THE DESCRIPTION OF
THE PROPERTIES OF EXTERNAL FORM;
AND OBSERVATIONS ON
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.
BY
DAVID LOW, ESQ., F.R.S.E.,
PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;
3
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURE OF SWEDEN, AND OF THE ROYAL ECONOMICAL SOCIETY
OF SAXONY; HONORARY AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ECONOMICAL SOCIETY OF LEIPZIG,
AND OF THE SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE AND BOTANY OF UTRECHT; CORRESPONDING
MEMBER OF THE CC CONSEIL ROYAL D'AGRICULTURE DE FRANCE ""
·
THE "
SOCIETE ROYALE ET CENTRALE," &c.
OF
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY.
MDCCCLIII.
CH-6-36 MUIS
ENGLISH CART HORSE
A LEICESTER RAM
A WEST HIGHLAND Ox
AN ABERDEENSHIRE POLLED BULL
A NORTH DEVON STEER
A FIRST-PRIZE SHORT-HORNED BULL
د.
Figure 1. ANATOMY OF THE HORSE
2.
3.
4.
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LIST OF WOOD-CUTS.
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5.
6.
7.
8. RACE HORSE, CHARLES XII.
9. DRAY HORSE OF ENGLISH BLACK BREED
10. OUTLINE OF A GALLOWAY HEIFER
11. BULL OF LONG-HORNED DISHLEY BREED
12. OUTLINE OF DAIRY Cow oF AYRSHIRE BREED
13.
14.
15.
16.
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SHORT-HORNED BULL
SIAMESE BREED OF HOGS
ARABIAN HORSE
SCOTTISH DEER HOUND
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OF A RAM OF THE NEW LEICESTER BREED
OF A WILD BOAR AND SOW
OF AN OLD ENGLISH Sow
OF A GRADE BREED
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To face Titlepage.
Page 190
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PREFACE.
FROM early times, Great Britain has been distin-
guished for the numbers and excellence of the Animals
reared for the uses of the inhabitants. The cultivation
of the Horse began in the earlier periods of our history,
for the purposes of war and the tournament, and has
subsequently been carried to great perfection, for the
race-course, the chase, the saddle, and for draught.
The cultivation of Sheep was early the subject of pub-
lic attention, and, as being connected with the woollen
manufactures of the country, was favoured by numerous
laws; and within a period comparatively recent, extra-
ordinary attention has been devoted to the means of
cultivating animals for human food. It is during this
latter era, which began about the middle of last cen-
tury, that the greatest additions have been made to the
value of the Live-stock of the country, and that the
practice of breeding has been reduced to a system, and
founded
upon principles.
Of the species of the Domesticated Animals natural-
7
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vi
PREFACE.
ized in the British Islands, numerous varieties present
themselves, to which we apply the term Breeds. The
characters of species may have been imprinted by ori-
ginal organization, or may have been the result of laws
of organic development and change, of whose nature
and operation we are ignorant. The characters which
distinguish varieties are those which may reasonably be
ascribed to known agencies, as climate, and the supplies
of food. The differences of character, indeed, produced
by agencies of this kind, may be very great; and, in
the case of many animals, the naturalist may be left in
doubt, whether the differences observed are the result
of original organization, or of more recent changes.
But however species may have originated, or varieties.
have been produced, all animals submitted to domesti-
cation are subject to modifications of size, form, and
other characters, dependent on the conditions under
which they are reared; and by breeding, we can com-
municate the distinctive properties of parents to the
progeny.
In the rural economy of this country, a high degree
of importance is to be ascribed to a knowledge of the
distinctive characters of Races or Breeds. Much of
the profit of the owners depends upon adapting the
breed of any animal to the circumstances in which it
is to be placed. By rearing, for example, a breed of
large and delicate oxen, in a country unsuited, from its
natural or artificial productions, to maintain it, we
incur the hazard of loss in various ways; while, on the
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PREFACE.
vii
other hand, by rearing an inferior breed in situations
where one of greater value could be maintained, we
deprive ourselves of the profit which the natural or
acquired advantages of our situation present.
An error of another kind is the subject of constant
observation, the result likewise of imperfect knowledge
of the distinctive characters of breeds. For the pro-
curing of a breed adapted to the situation in which it
is to be reared, two general methods may be pursued ;
either a new breed may be substituted for that which
exists, or the old one may have its characters modified
There are
or changed by crossing with other races.
many cases in which scarcely an error can be commit-
ted in our practice in these respects, provided we resort
to a really superior race; but there are many other
cases in which a change of this kind may be injurious,
or attended with doubtful benefit. Animals become
gradually adapted to the conditions in which they are
placed, and many breeds have accordingly become ad-
mirably suited to the physical state of the country in
which they have been naturalized. Thus, the West
Highland Breed of cattle has become suited to a humid
climate and a country of mountains; the beautiful
breed of North Devou, to a country of lower altitude
and milder climate. In these, and many cases more,
an intermixture of stranger blood might destroy the
characters which time had imprinted on the stock, and
produce a progeny inferior in useful properties to either
of the parent races. Not only have individual breeders
4
+
viii
PREFACE.
erred in the application of this kind of crossing to
practice in particular cases, but several entire breeds.
have been lost which ought to have been preserved.
There are many breeds, indeed, so defective in them-
selves, that time and capital would have been lost in
endeavouring to cultivate them; but not a few, as will
be seen in the sequel, might have been improved to
the degree required, by mere selection of parents, and
attention to the known principles of breeding.
Not only do animals become adapted in constitution,
temperament, and habits, to the situations in which
they have been naturalized, but characters communi-
cated by art become permanent by continued repro-
duction. Thus, in the case of the Dairy Breed of
Ayrshire, by breeding from females that possess the
property of yielding a large quantity of milk, a pecu-
liar breed has been at length formed, exceedingly well
suited to the purposes of the dairy, and at the same
time hardy and fitted to subsist on ordinary food.
Now, such a breed might be injured, and not im-
proved, by crossing even with a race superior to itself
in many properties. Thus, a cross with the Durham
or Hereford Breeds would produce animals of larger
size and superior fattening properties to the native
race; but even in these properties, the progeny would
be inferior to either the Herefords or the Durhams,
and inferior, as a hardy race of dairy cattle, to the
Ayrshire Breed itself. Hence, the crossing of a breed
of cattle with a race apparently superior, will not
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PREFACE.
ix
always be attended with ultimate good; and caution
and knowledge of the end to be arrived at are required
even in the cases where the good seems most easily
attained.
Another error of a different kind, but proceeding like-
wise from imperfect knowledge of the relative value of
breeds, prevails to a great extent. Breeds, in themselves
bad, are obstinately retained in districts fitted to sup-
port superior races. In every part of the kingdom, we
see breeds which are unworthy of being preserved, while
the easiest means are at the command of the farmer
of supplying their place by others suited to the lo-
cality. Thus, over the greater part of Wales, there are
races of wild diminutive Sheep, which, in economical
value, can bear no comparison with those which could be
supplied from other places. In Kerry, and other
mountainous districts stretching along the western
coast of Ireland, in place of such Sheep as the coun-
try could maintain, are to be seen assemblages of
animals of the size of dogs, and as wild as antelopes,
neither having wool fitted to the manufactures of the
country, nor being capable of fattening to any size.
Even in the heart of Yorkshire, as we shall see in the
sequel, a breed of Sheep is preserved, covering a con-
siderable tract of country, which, from its coarseness
of form, and inaptitude to fatten, ranks in the lowest
class of cultivated Sheep in England; and in every
part of the kingdom, we may see examples of the vast
public and private loss which results from unacquaint-
S
X
PREFACE.
ance with the relative value and economical uses of the
different breeds of our domesticated animals.
To remove the causes of mistaken practice, in a
branch of industry so important to the interests of
producers and consumers, may be regarded as matter
of national interest. From the produce of live-stock
in this country, a large part of the subsistence of the
people, of the materials of our manufactures, of the
profits of the farmer, and of the revenue of the land-
holder, is derived. In many parts of the kingdom
tillage is difficult or impracticable, and the only valu-
able production is live-stock; and it is not too much
to assert, that half the rental of the British Islands
is derived from this source. These considerations will
make it appear, how much the study and advancement
of this department of rural economy merit the atten-
tion of those who seek to widen the channels of native
industry.
Several years ago I published an account of the
Breeds of the more important Domesticated Animals
of this country, the Horse, the Ox, the Sheep, the
Goat, the Hog,-accompanied by an extensive series of
coloured lithographic prints, being portraits of animals
of the different races, selected from the stocks of the
most eminent breeders in different parts of the king-
dom. This Work, in two large Volumes, is before the
public, and has been republished in other countries.
It has appeared to me,,that the substance of it might
be presented to agriculturists in a different and less
2
PREFACE.
xi
use.
expensive form, and thus be adapted to more general
I have, accordingly, re-written the description of
the species and varieties, adding such remarks on the
properties of external form, and the principles and
practice of breeding, as may supply, in part, the want
of the original figures. I have likewise added to the
description of the other animals, that of the Dog, both
on account of the general interest of the subject, and
of its particular relation to the production of varieties,
and the effects of breeding.
↑
INTRODUCTION.
1. DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM,
2. PROPERTIES OF EXTERNAL FORM,
I. THE GOAT.
CONTENTS.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES,
II. THE SHEEP.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES,
WOOL,
BREEDS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS, viz. :—
1. The Breeds of the Zetland and Orkney Islands,
2. The Soft-Woolled Sheep of Scotland,
3. The Breed of the Higher Welsh Mountains,
4. The Soft-Woolled Sheep of Wales,
5. The Breed of the Wicklow Mountains,
6. The Kerry Breed,
7. The Forest Breeds of England,
8. The Black-Faced Heath Breed,
9. The Cheviot Breed,
10. The Old Norfolk Breed,
11. The Penistone Breed,
12. The Old Wiltshire Breed,
13. The Dorset Breed,
14. The Merino Breed,
15. The Ryeland Breed,
16. The South Down Breed,
17. The Old Lincoln Breed,
18. The Romney Marsh Breed,
19. The Older Long-Woolled Breeds,
20. The Cotswold Breed,
21. The New Leicester Breed,
•
·
•
•
•
•
PAGE
xvii
1xx
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41
58
63
64
67
71
75
80
84
93
114
118
120
122
126
155
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169
174
180
186
190
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xiv
III. THE OX.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES,
CONTENTS.
THE DAIRY,
BREEDS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS, viz. :-
1. The Wild or White Forest Breed,
2. The Zetland Breed,
3. The West Highland Breed,
4. The Pembroke Breed,
5. The Kerry Breed,
6. The Angus Breed,
7. The Polled Aberdeenshire Breed,
8. The Galloway Breed,
9. The Polled Suffolk Breed,
10. The Polled Irish Breed,
11. The Falkland Breed,
12. The Alderney Breed,
13. The Ayrshire Breed,
14. The Devon Breed,
15. The Sussex Breed,
16. The Glamorgan Breed,
17. The Herefordshire Breed,
18. The Long-Horned Breed,
19. The Short-Horned Breed,
IV. THE HOG.
V. THE HORSE.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES,
BREEDS, viz. :—
The Siamese Breed,
The Breeds of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
The Old English Breeds,
The Berkshire Breed, &c.,
SPECIES AND VARIETIES,
CLASSES AND BREEDS of British Horses,
1. THE RACE-HORSE,
•
2. THE HUNTER,
3. HORSES FOR LIGHTER CARRIAGES AND THE SADDLE,
viz. :-
The Old English Coach-Horse,
The Cleveland Bay,
The Hackney,
The Cavalry Horse,
4. HORSES FOR HEAVY Draught, viz.:-
1. The Old English Black Horse,
2. Breeds of the North-Eastern Counties,
•
PAGE
207
267
296
ib.
300
304
309
312
315
317
322
327
328
333
339
345
351
356
362
367
379
395
425
429
ib.
431
435
503
525
587
601
602
604
ib.
608
613
1
2
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T
3. The Clydesdale Breed,
4. The Suffolk Punch Breed,
VI. THE DOG.
CONTENTS.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF THE CANIDE,
CLASSIFICATION OF THE DOMESTICATED RACES :-
1. THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
Dogs of the Arctic Regions,
Shepherd's Dogs,
Great Dog of Newfoundland,
2. THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.
Greyhounds,
Irish Wolf-Dog,
3. THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
Mastiff,
Bull-Dog,
Dog of St Bernard,
Old British Blood-hound,
4. THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
1. THE TRUE Hound,
Stag-Hound,
Fox-Hound,
Harrier,
Beagle,
2. THE MUTE HOUND,
Pointer,
Setter,
3. THE SPANIEL,
4. THE BARBET OR WATER-Dog,
5. THE TERRIER,
D
•
•
•
ERRATUM.
Introduction, p. lxxiii, line 15 from bottom, for scapula read sternum
XV
PAGE
615
618
622
700
706
711
715
722
723
728
732
734
736
739
740
741
742
743
ib.
744
ib.
746
747
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INTRODUCTION.
FIIVERSITY
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I. DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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ALL bodies may, with relation to their modes of existence,
be divided into two great classes, the first comprehending
those which consist of common matter, subject to the laws
of chemical action; the second comprehending the bodies in
which matter is further subject to those other laws to which
matter endowed with life is subject. A stone, a metal, or a
piece of earth, is common matter, subject to known chemical
actions. A plant or an animal is likewise matter, subject to
changes of place, or disposition of its constituent particles, by
chemical forces. But, while the plant or the animal lives, it
is under the influence of other powers, and has its form, ac-
tions, and relations, determined and controlled by a distinct
system of laws. It is then a living body, and it is only when
it ceases to live that it becomes wholly subject to the chemi-
cal laws of common matter.
Of the laws which produce the condition to which we ap-
ply the term Life, we know nothing but from certain pheno-
mena which the living body presents. The essential cause is
amongst those ultimate truths which human reason cannot
reach. No approach has been made to solve the mystery of
Life; and at this hour we are as ignorant of the cause of life,
and of the agency which connects the powers of mind and
the mechanism of the body, as at the first dawning of human
inquiry.
xviii
Of living bodies there are two great divisions, the Vege-
table and the Animal. In the vegetable there is life, but, so
far as we know, there is no sensation, nor power of motion
dependent upon the will. In the animal there is sensation,
and the power of voluntary motion. An aphorism frequently
quoted is, that plants grow and live; that animals grow, live,
and feel. Life, then, pervades both kingdoms; but life, in the
animal, performs other functions, and sensation is added to
the powers merely vital.
INTRODUCTION.
Besides that distinction between common matter, and mat-
ter under the influence of the vital principle, which is founded
on the different powers and functions of bodies, there is an-
other distinction, obvious to the senses, founded on the dif-
ferent structure and form of the bodies. Matter uninfluenced
by the powers of life, presents itself in masses, or in regular
forms termed crystalline. In living bodies, the particles con-
stituting the organism do not arrange themselves in masses
or crystals, but form fibres, sacs, tubes, or other parts, suited
to particular functions. This structure is termed organiza-
tion, and is proper to the living kingdom, vegetable and ani-
mal. Hence the further distinction exists between the mine-
ral and living kingdoms of nature, of Organic and Inorganic.
Inorganic matter has its substance increased by the addi-
tion of further particles. Organic matter is likewise increas-
ed by the addition of further parts, but then it adds to its
own substance by the action of its proper organs. A mineral
is increased in volume or weight by the simple addition of
new parts: a plant, or an animal, deriving matter from other
substances, converts it, by the action of its organs, into the
various tissues which constitute its own substance. Organic
bodies, therefore, only can be said to grow.
As the particles of living bodies are determined and con-
trolled in their actions and relations by peculiar forces, so
living bodies resist changes, physical and chemical, which, in
the dead state, would take place. The influence of heat,
moisture, or other agents, which would subvert the union of
PORN
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xix
the particles of a body when dead, can be resisted by the
same body when it is endowed with life. Animals, when alive,
have the power of resisting extremes of heat, which acting
upon the dead body would dry up and dissipate its fluid parts,
nay, reduce it to a cinder. Many persons have subjected
themselves to a temperature of the air far exceeding that of
boiling water, and yet the heat of the body itself has very
little exceeded that of its natural state. A few years ago
a French mountebank exhibited, night after night, to thou-
sands of spectators, in London, his power of entering a heat-
ed oven, in which he remained while a piece of flesh was
roasted. A coal-mine in Scotland, in the valley of the Forth,
having taken fire, burned for years, and long resisted all the
attempts to extinguish it. Miners frequently worked in the
vicinity of this burning mine, when the heat of the air was
nearly equal to that of boiling water. They pursued their
labour in this torrid atmosphere, without seeming injury to
their health, or other inconvenience than continued perspira-
tion and many more examples could be given of the power
of the animal frame to resist extreme heat, while the tempe-
rature of the blood and other fluids within the body remained
without sensible change.
:
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
As the vital powers of the animal enable the body to resist
intense heat, so they enable it to resist excessive cold. At
degrees of temperature at which all the fluids of the dead
body would be frozen, the living body retains its natural
temperature, and performs its wonted functions. Even in
these latitudes of ours, there every year occur periods of
cold, when the temperature of the external air is below that
at which water congeals, and at which all the fluids of the
body would freeze were they separated from it. In countries
of the higher latitudes, the mean temperature of the year falls
below the melting point of ice, and yet such countries are in-
habited by numerous animals. The recent voyages of intrepid
travellers, the Parrys, the Franklins, the Rosses, and others,
have shewn that, at a degree of cold below that at which
+
XX
INTRODUCTION.
mercury freezes, the human beings subjected to it can take
their wonted exercise and perform their accustomed duties.
Nay, there are cases to shew that certain animals may have
the great mass of their fluids frozen, and yet be preserved
from death. Fishes have been dragged up from the circum-
polar seas, which froze, as the nets were in the course of be-
ing raised, into masses so hard that they might have been
shivered to pieces by a stroke, and yet they would recover if
thawed. A common eel has been frozen like a piece of ice,
and been conveyed in a state of torpor thousands of miles,
and then been restored to its state of activity by the applica-
tion of warmth.
But there are degrees of cold to which the frame of cer-
tain animals in their state of activity is unsuited. Nature
here provides a remedy by rendering them torpid in the ab-
sence of necessary heat. Thus innumerable insects are ren-
dered insensible to the action of the external air during the
winter season. In the case of the animals termed hyber-
nating, sensation becomes suspended, the fluids of the body
circulate more slowly, and respiration and all the vital ac-
tions become less active. The torpor of the creature is like
death rather than sleep, and yet enough of vital action re-
mains to preserve it from the external agents, which, in its
condition of activity, would destroy it. It remains as if dead,
but as soon as the air recovers the due warmth, the vital
functions of the animal regain their powers, and it awakens
from its long trance. The dormouse, the marmot, the hedge-
hog, the bat, are with us familiar examples of animals that
undergo this state of winter sleep, during which they are
so dead to feeling that they may be tossed about, nay,
sometimes have the limbs separated from the body, or the
most vital parts exposed, without their exhibiting symptoms
of sensation. The swallow, which migrates to us in the
early part of summer, quits us on the approach of the colder
season. But some, too young or too feeble for flight, remain
behind. These betake themselves to holes in walls and the
1
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xxi
earth, to remain in their state of slumber till the return of the
warmer season shall call them again into life. And other mi-
gratory birds, as the cuckoo and the corn-rail, are sometimes
overtaken by this sleep of winter before they have been able
to make their periodical flight, during which they may be
tossed about without their moving a joint of the body.
The lower tribes of animals, whose sensations are obtuse,
present examples yet more striking than the higher tribes of
the power of the living principle to preserve the animal organ-
ism from the action of external agents. Many species will
survive the most cruel torments, and revive after a long
period of seeming death. Certain species of vibrio have been
so dessicated by the sun that they have become like dust,
and, after twenty years, have been restored to life by sprink-
ling them with a little water.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
W
Of the power of the living body to resist those agents
which would otherwise act upon and decompose it, an ex-
ample is furnished by a substance, the production of the
body itself. The gastric juice is secreted from the interior
of the stomach, and is employed to dissolve the food which is
received into the alimentary canal. This substance possesses
a prodigious solvent power, yet it never acts upon the living
organs with which it comes into contact in the body, although
capable of dissolving all animal matters when deprived of
life. Numerous parasitic creatures are formed to live in the
stomachs of other animals. When alive they resist all the
actions of the powerful solvent by which they are surrounded,
but the moment life is extinct in them, they become subject
to its powers, and undergo decomposition.
Examples, too, of the property of bodies having life to
resist those agents which would destroy them in their dead
state, may be everywhere drawn from the vegetable king-
dom. All the hardier forest trees resist the intensest cold
of the climates where they are naturalized, and the vegetable
juices remain without being frozen. Every perfect seed con-
tains within itself an embryo plant, which only requires the
...
xxii
INTRODUCTION.
fitting influence of heat and moisture that it may become a
living plant similar to the parent. But seeds which had been
buried deep in the earth for a period beyond computation,
have been found to vegetate and grow when exposed again
to the influence of air, heat, and moisture. Earth turned up
from the bottom of wells and mines, has been found to give
birth to plants whose seeds had been mixed with it, and
which may have remained for many thousand ages beneath
the surface of the ground.
Death, as well as life, is a law of Nature, and life with all
its powers is but the gift of a season. The organised fabric,
so marvellously formed, contains within itself the germs of
decay. The circulating fluids become more thick, the textures
more rigid, and the vital organs less fitted to perform their
functions. The balance is lost between the waste of the
system and the means of supplying its parts with nutriment;
and thus, independently of all external injury, the time ar-
rives when the mechanism of the body can no longer work
with the vigour required to maintain the animal functions.
And when life at length ceases to animate the organised
fabric, the change that ensues in the body marks the cessa-
tion of all those powers which had enabled it to resist the
chemical effects of the agents with which it had been sur-
rounded from the period of its existence. Some of its parts
are exceedingly hard and durable, as the bones; but they
are no otherwise distinguished, in their subjection to che-
mical agencies, from the flesh and softer parts which are
subject to so rapid a change. The heat which pervaded the
animal frame, and which may be believed to have arisen from
within by the exercise of the vital actions, is gone, the muscles
have lost their power, and all the gifts of thought and con-
sciousness have been seemingly taken away.
The living kingdom, we see, comprehends two great divi-
sions, the vegetable and the animal; and each of these king-
doms is divided into innumerable species and tribes of crea-
tures, distinguished by their form, powers, functions, and
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xxiii
relations with the world which they inhabit. In both king-
doms, we find not only an infinite diversity of organised
structures, but a passing from simple to more complex forms.
In the beings, the lowest in the scale of either kingdom, the
organs are few, or imperfectly developed. As we ascend in
the scale, further parts appear, further organs are called into
play, and further powers are given. At the lowest point,
the tribes of the two kingdoms seem allied, and proceed, as
it were, from a common root, and then progressively diverge.
In the simplest of plants, little can be discovered beyond a
series of minute cells. As we ascend in the scale, we find
tubes traversing this tissue, leaves unfolded, and other or-
gans called forth. So, in the animal kingdom, we find a pro-
gressive advance from simple to complex forms of structure.
At the limits of the descending scale are creatures so simple
in their organism, that they are scarcely to be distinguished
by the eye from plants; and, like plants, they are fixed to
the spot which they inhabit. Ascending higher, we find
creatures with more expanded powers and more developed
organs, and so, in an ascending series, until we reach those
in which the highest development is presented to us of the
organs necessary for the exercise of the animal functions.
By the term Species, naturalists designate those animals.
which are essentially alike in themselves and their progeny.
The number of animal species is exceedingly great. Many
thousands have been examined and arranged by the unspar-
ing labour of naturalists; thousands are known imperfectly;
and thousands must for ever escape our observation. Of the
individuals comprehended under these species, the numbers
exceed our powers of conception. The air is alive with liv-
ing creatures; every plant has its crowds of inhabitants; and
all the waters of the sea and land teem with life. Numbers
of these creatures are so minute, that some hundred thou-
sands may exist in a drop of water.
In order to classify these innumerable forms of life, they
are arranged into Groups, the members of which agree in
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
レン
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xxiv
certain characters. The most general or comprehensive of
these divisions are termed Kingdoms, Sub-Kingdoms, &c.
These, again, are divided into Classes, Orders, Families, or
Tribes; and these, again, into Genera or little Families,
consisting of one or more Species, that is, of animals essen-
tially alike in themselves and their progeny. The lowest
division that can be made is into Varieties, Races, or Breeds,
which consist of animals agreeing in the characters which
we term specific, but differing in certain minor characters,
assumed to be the result of known agencies, as climate,
temperature, and food. The classifications most commonly
received are founded upon that of the illustrious Cuvier, who
divided the whole animal kingdom into four great groups,
namely, 1. Radiata, or Radiated Animals; 2. Articulata, or
Jointed Animals; 3. Mollusca, or Soft Animals; 4. Verte-
brata, or Animals having the basis of the nervous system
enclosed in vertebræ, or hollow bones.
The Radiata are so named from the general tendency of
their organs to proceed like radii from a common centre.
They may be regarded as the simplest in their forms of ani-
mated creatures. The nervous system, which, in the higher
order of animals, is developed in ganglia and a brain, is in
them rudimental, visible, when it can be discovered at all, in
a few fibres, surrounding the entrance of the alimentary
canal. Many of them present the appearance of a simple
digestive sac or tube, furnished with little arms or tenta-
cula, or with mouths for fixing themselves to the substances
on which they feed. Many of them are so small as to be
invisible to the unassisted eye, nay, some so inconceivably
minute, that a million of millions, it has been calculated, might
be comprehended within the space of a cubic inch. The spe-
cies, however, present a vast variety of size as well as of
form, from the simplest of all, to those in which new organs
are developed, suited to more varied functions. They are
all the inhabitants of water, and almost all those whose ha-
bits can be observed are predaceous, seizing their prey by
INTRODUCTION.
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
XXV
means of their numerous arms, and myriads of cilia. Many
of them are, like plants, fixed to the spot on which they live
and perish, as the varied species of Sponge, which are met
with on every rocky coast from the equator to the polar seas;
and such are the innumerable Polypi, whose calcareous se-
cretions stud the ocean as with bushes and forests, and form
new islands and continents of Coral. Many species are ge-
latinous, and so transparent as scarcely to be distinguished
by the eye from the element in which they live. Yet such
creatures have a will, the faculty of motion, and the force to
prey on other animals. Such are the Medusa, some large,
some microscopic, which float in myriads together, so that
the whole ocean seems to be alive with them, giving often a
tinge to the waves over many hundred miles, and in the
dark emitting sparkles of phosphorescent light. The Radi-
ata, passing through almost every conceivable form, from the
simple digestive sac, to the sea-urchins, star-fishes, and simi-
lar creatures, which we may see studding the submerged
margins of our coasts, advance, by insensible gradations, to
the groups above them.
The divisions above the Radiata, are the Mollusca and Ar-
ticulata, nearly of an equal rank in the organic scale, but
differing from one another in the conformation which they
tend to assume. In the Articulata, the nervous system
begins to be extended in length, and with this the form
of the body. Some of them are minute transparent ani-
malcules, invisible to the naked eye; and some of them are
like little wheels, continually revolving, and preying upon
the yet feebler creatures with which every drop of water
seems filled.
A little higher in the scale are the innumer-
able parasitic creatures which suck the fluids of other ani-
mals, living within their bodies, and frequently proving dan-
gerous enemies even to man and the larger animals. Above
these are the annulose, or worm-like animals, whose skins
are furnished with rings, giving the articulated form typical
of the group; next are the creatures formed with numerous
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xxvi
INTRODUCTION.
moveable segments and feet, as the Earwig and Scolopen-
dra; next the innumerable tribes of Insects, most of which
feed on plants, but many of which are predaceous; next the
Arachnida, comprehending the Spiders and Scorpions, crea-
tures strong, voracious, and endowed with wonderful in-
stincts, and frequently supplied with poison to destroy their
prey, or with secretions to form nets for entangling it; and,
lastly, are the Crustacea, as the Lobster and Crab, having a
horny skeleton, enveloping the softer parts, and formed with
articulations or joints, to allow of the requisite freedom of
motion.
K
The Mollusca differ from the Articulata in not having
jointed bodies and limbs, but a soft body, covered by a mus-
cular integument, which assumes various forms in the differ-
ent tribes, and in most of them gives out a calcareous secre-
tion, which, hardening, forms a shell to serve for the pro-
tection of the animal. They are aquatic, with the exception
of a few tribes. They are infinitely diversified in size and
form; but they are generally either slow-moving or fixed to
a spot, as the Oyster, the Mussel, and other animals termed
shell-fish. There are many of them phosphorescent, and
emit a brilliant light. They abounded in the past ages of
the world; and whole mountains, and immense calcareous
strata, are formed of their remains. The lowest in the scale
are those which are soft, without heads, and destitute of cal-
careous secretion without or within the body: the next are
those which have shells, but are without heads, though fur-
nished with mouths, and numerous eyes around the mar-
gins of their integument: the next are those which have
shells, and a muscular disc extended under the abdomen, and
serving like a foot for crawling along the surface: the next
are those which are especially adapted for swimming, and
are either with or without a shell: the last and highest in
the scale are those which have feet and arms disposed around
the head, and which are, many of them, powerful beasts
of prey, furnished with large tentacula with which they
xxvii
entangle their victims. Amongst these are the Sepiæ termed
Cuttle-fish, which have the property of emitting an inky fluid,
either to conceal themselves from their enemies, or permit
them to approach their own prey.
In all the kinds of animals enumerated, no brain, pro-
perly so called, exists, the rudiments of it merely appearing
in ganglia, or knots of nervous filaments. Now, the nervous
system is the instrument by which the knowledge of external
objects is conveyed to the sentient being, and by which the
dictates of the will are transmitted to the various organs of
the body. In proportion to its development, the animal rises
higher in the scale of living beings, and is endowed with
more varied powers. In the lowest tribes of all, it is merely
developed in bundles of fibres, surrounding the alimentary
canal; ascending higher, it forms knots or ganglia, and still
higher, it changes its place, and expands towards the head,
and stretches along the dorsal region. In the highest order
of animals of all, it enlarges into a true brain, and, extending
along the back, is inclosed in numerous bones termed vertebræ.
The Vertebrata, or animals possessed of vertebræ, are
usually divided into four groups, which may be termed sub-
kingdoms.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
1. Pisces.
2. Reptilia.
3. Aves.
4. Mammalia.
All the Vertebrata have a series of bones moveable upon
one another, and bound together, termed the Spine. Each
vertebra has a perforation through it, so that, when the whole
vertebræ are joined together, a long continuous canal passes
through the spinal column. At the upper or anterior termi-
nation of the column, the vertebræ change their form, become
flat, and, being fixed together, form a rounded cavity termed
the Cranium; connected with which, but distinct from it, are
the bones of the face, in which are the receptacles of the special
senses, namely, sight, smell, hearing, and taste.
The cra-
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xxviii
nium encloses the brain, the substance of which is prolonged
through the canal of the vertebral column, forming the spinal
chord, terminating in the lower vertebræ. From the under
part of the brain, and from the spinal chord, proceed bundles
of nervous filaments, which, dividing, subdividing, and inter-
mixing, communicate with every sensible part of the body.
All the vertebrata have ribs, or hoops of bone, for protect-
ing the lungs and other organs, with the exception of a few
tribes in which the ribs are rudimental. Their limbs con-
sist of two pairs, though one and sometimes both pairs are
rudimental or wanting. The upper or anterior limbs may
be arms and hands, as in man and the monkey tribes; legs
and feet, as in quadrupeds; organs for flight, as in birds;
fins, as in fishes: the hinder or inferior limbs may be feet,
legs, or fins, according to the uses to which they are des-
tined.
INTRODUCTION.
All the vertebrata have a muscular organ, the heart, con-
tained within the chest, for propelling the blood through the
system. They have all respiratory organs, in which the
blood, passed through innumerable capillary tubes, finer
than the finest hair, is acted upon by the air of the surround-
ing medium. In fishes, and certain reptiles, the respiratory
apparatus is termed branchiæ or gills, over which the water,
containing air, passes; in all the other vertebrata, the res-
piratory apparatus, termed lungs, consists essentially of a
congeries of minute cells, into which the air is drawn through
the trachea or windpipe from the mouth and nostrils.
In all the vertebrata there is a continued canal, which,
commencing at the mouth, extends through the body, and
which, enlarging within the abdomen, forms the stomach,
consisting of one or more cavities, in which the food is re-
tained for a time. The food is then acted upon by various
fluids, secreted from the interior surface of the stomach, by
the action of which it becomes a pulpy mass, to which is ap-
plied the term Chyme. The chyme thus formed passes on-
wards by the extremity of the stomach towards the remain-
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
xxix
ing part of the canal, termed the intestines, which consist
of a tube of prodigious length, convoluted and packed within
the abdomen. The chyme, as it passes onward, mixes with
other fluids secreted from the liver and other organs, and is
separated into two portions, one of which, termed Chyle, is
to form the matter of nutrition to the body, and the other to
be excreted at the termination of the intestinal canal. Com-
municating with this canal is a vast system of vessels, termed
absorbents, which drink up, or absorb, the matter of the chyle,
and which, gradually uniting into larger branches, carry on-
ward the matter of the chyle, and at length uniting, pour it
into veins which are carrying the blood to the heart, and
thus mingle the nutrient matter of the aliment with the blood.
The blood, carried to every part of the system in myriads of
vessels, gives off the various matters which form the tissues
of the body, as the matter of muscle or flesh, where that is
required to be formed, bone, where bone is to be deposited,
nerve, fat, and all the other matters which form the animal
substance.
In all the vertebrata, the sexes exist in distinct indivi-
duals. The female has one or more organs from which the
ova, which contain the germ of the young, are detached after
conception. In the greater number of tribes, fecundation
takes place before the ovum leaves the body; in certain rep-
tiles, and in most fishes, impregnation takes place after the
exit of the ovum.
The vertebrata, it has been seen, are divided into four
groups; each distinguished by peculiarities of organization,
but all conforming to a common type. The simplest are
Fishes, the next Reptiles, the next Birds, the last, and most
perfectly developed in their organs, Mammalia.
Fishes have organs suited to the liquid medium which they
inhabit. They breathe by means of gills; and have but
the rudiments of lungs, which are presented in the form of
simple air-sacs. Their bones are more soft and cartilaginous
than in the orders above them. Their limbs are short and
*
XXX
INTRODUCTION.
expanded into fins, which, with the tail, are the organs of
progression. By contracting or expanding the air-sac, they
are enabled to alter the specific gravity of their bodies, and
rise or sink in the liquid in which they float. Their brain is
small; their blood is red, but cold; and the temperature of
their bodies is little above that of the surrounding element.
They are exceedingly voracious, preying incessantly the
strong upon the weak. Like all the other creatures, they
pass progressively from the simpler to the more developed,
until they are connected with the group above them, namely,
the Reptiles.
The division Reptilia comprehends creatures varying greatly
in their forms, but all conforming to a common type. Some,
like fishes, have gills in the young state, the lungs being
only developed when they are able to quit the liquid me-
dium in which they are born, while a few retain both gills
and lungs through life, so that they are true Amphibia.
This group comprehends the Batrachian reptiles,—the frogs,
the toads, the salamanders, and others; the Chelonian rep-
tiles, as the tortoises and turtles; the Saurian tribes, as
the lizard and crocodile; and the Ophidean, comprehending
the snakes and serpents of all kinds. All the reptiles are
cold-blooded, and have a languid circulation. A few have
wings, and in a former age of the world the winged reptiles
were numerous, and of huge dimensions.
The serpents,
partly aquatic, and partly living on land, are without feet,
and those which are inhabitants of land crawl upon the
ground, and many of them are furnished with a poison, with
which they are enabled to inflict deadly wounds. This sub-
stance, secreted by glands situated beneath the eyes, is con-
veyed to large tubular teeth in the mouth, by which the
venom is conveyed to the wound.
RAD
Rising higher in the scale of organization are the beauti-
ful and varied tribes of Birds. The bodies of these creatures
are protected by light plumage: their posterior extremities
are limbs of support when at rest, and instruments of pre-
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
xxxi
hension and progression on land, and their fore-extremities,
expanded, covered with strong feathers, and moved by pow-
erful muscles, serve as the organs of flight. Their jaws ter-
minate in a pointed beak; and their necks are long and flex-
ible, so that by moving it, they may vary the centre of gra-
vity of the body, bringing it forwards when in flight to be
more under the wings, and backwards above the limbs of
support when at rest. The external air permeates the body,
passing from the lungs even into the bones, so that the body
may be rendered buoyant. Their respiratory action is strong,
their blood warm, and their movements are agile and power-
ful. Impregnation takes place within the body, and the egg,
when protruded, is covered by a calcareous shell; the heat
required to hatch it being usually supplied by the body of the
parent. In birds, the nervous system is more developed than
in the tribes below them, and their intelligence may be be-
lieved to be superior. In them we first find animals resign-
ing their natural wildness, changing their form and instincts
with the new conditions in which they are placed, and thus
submitting themselves to true domestication.
The Mammalia derive their distinctive name from mam-
ma, a breast, having glands by which the female is en-
abled to supply milk to the young. The mammalia are, most
of them, inhabitants of land, but some of them are formed to
live wholly in water, and some of them live partly in water,
and partly on land. The greater number are quadrupeds,
the members of both extremities being limbs, formed to sup-
port the animal, and serve the purpose of locomotion, and in
numerous cases of prehension. The monkey tribes possess
four members, having hands, but their natural motion is on
all-fours. Man possesses but two limbs of support, and is
formed to walk erect, his upper extremities or arms being
left free for the various uses to which they are to be applied.
All the mammalia bring forth their young alive, and so are
termed viviparous. They are divided into various groups,
which may be termed Orders.
*
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xxxii
1. Cetacea, the Whale tribes, which, though viviparous,
breathing by means of lungs, and suckling their young by
mammæ, are formed on a plan which fits them to live in
water. Some are formed like fishes, as the Porpoise and
the Dolphin, having a smooth and glossy skin without hairs,
and connected with the skin the fatty tissue termed blubber,
from which oil is obtained. The next in order are the true
Whales, of which some are the hugest creatures to which
life is given on this planet. They have no teeth, but they
have enormous mouths, which enable them to take in, along
with the water, shoals of worms, little shell-fish, and innu-
merable animalcules. It is when they rise to the surface to
breathe that they spout forth from their nostrils the water
which they had swallowed with their prey, in great jets.
They yield a vast quantity of oil, for which production they
are pursued in the seas which they inhabit, and harpooned
when they rise to the surface to breathe.
2. Ruminantia, so named from the faculty possessed by
them of returning to the mouth the food which has passed
into the stomach, and subjecting it to a second mastication.
All the ruminantia live on vegetable food, have the feet
cloven, and defended at the extremities by horn. They con-
stitute an order of creatures of the highest interest, com-
prehending the Stag, the Antelope, the Giraffe, and others,
amongst the wilder races; the Goat, the Sheep, the Ox, the
Camel, amongst those which have been subjected to human
control. Living on vegetables alone, they are never incited,
by the appetite for food, to prey on other creatures. Some
of them are fitted to save themselves from their enemies by
flight, and are amongst the fleetest of quadrupeds, as the
Elks, the Deers, the Gazelles, which delight the eye by their
graceful motions. Some dwell on the summits, and amid
the crags, of mountains, as the Ibex, the Chamois Antelope,
and the Wild Sheep. Some are supplied with organs placed
in the head, which can often be used with deadly effect for
protection or revenge. These arms are antlers, or horns,
:
INTRODUCTION.
1
xxxiii
the former being cast off and renewed every year, the latter
enduring for the life of the animal. The Stag and other
allied species are furnished with antlers; the Antelope, the
Goat, the Sheep, and the Ox, with horns. The ruminating
tribes may be said to be the most important of any other to
the interests of the human race, some of them being endowed
with instincts which cause them to relinquish their natural
wildness, and submit themselves entirely to our purposes.
The Camel is fitted beyond all other creatures to traverse the
burning sands of the desert; the Ox, the Sheep, and the
Goat, have been the servants of man from the earliest records
of our race. The very species have been subjected to our
will: they till the ground for our support, and bear our bur-
dens; they yield us milk, and hair, and wool; and, finally,
they render up their bodies for our food, and their skins for
our covering.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
3. Pachydermata, or thick-skinned animals, comprehend-
ing,—(1.) The Tapir, the Wild and Ethiopian Hogs, the Pec-
caries, and others, of which the Wild Hog is formed, beyond
any other animal, to submit himself to human control, and
multiply in the state of slavery; (2.) The Hippopotamus,
the Rhinoceros, and the Elephant, of which, in a former age
of the world, many species abounded, whose bones alone now
remain to attest their former existence; (3.) The Solidungu-
la, comprehending the Horse, the Ass, the Zebra, and other
allied species; some of which beautiful creatures remain in
a state of liberty, and refuse to resign themselves to bond-
age: while others—the Horse and the Ass-have been sub-
mitted to domestication from the earliest records of human
societies; (4.) The Dugongs, usually classed with the Whales,
which live in the sea, but crawl on shore to feed; creatures
strong, but harmless and timid, and betaking themselves,
when alarmed, to their natural element.
4. Edentata, or animals destitute of incisor teeth, as the
gigantic Megatherium and Myolodon, now extinct; the family
of Sloths, fitted to pass their lives in trees; the Armadilloes,
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xxxiv
INTRODUCTION.
supplied with a natural armour; the Ant-eaters, and two re-
markable creatures of New Holland, the Duck-billed Water-
Mole, and the Porcupine Ant-Eater, which connect this order
with the Birds.
5. Rodentia, or Gnawing animals, as the Mouse, the Rat,
the Hare, the Squirrel, the Beaver, and the Porcupine. These
creatures are some of them predaceous, and others live wholly
on vegetable food. There are several of them possessed of
wonderful instincts for constructing their dwellings, and
many of them remain torpid during the season of cold. Some
visit our dwellings, as the Rat and the Mouse, without sub-
mitting themselves to our power; and the greater number
are timid, and shun the presence of man.
6. Marsupialia, animals of different orders, having a pouch
underneath the abdomen, where the young receive their milk
from glands, to which they attach themselves,-as the Opos-
sum, the Kangaroo, and the Phalangers.
7. Carnivora, or Feræ, animals especially destined to feed
on flesh, and which may be termed beasts of prey, comprehend-
ing, (1.) the Seals and Walruses, not less fierce and bloody in
the ocean than the others are on the land; (2.) the Dog tribe,
comprehending the domesticated Dogs, the Wolves, the Jack-
als, the Foxes, and other wild Canidæ ; (3.) the Ursidæ, com-
prehending the Bears, the Raccoons, and other allied ani-
mals; (4.) the Civet and Weasel tribes, as the Ichneumon,
the Polecat, the Ferret, the Badger, the Otter; and, lastly,
the sanguinary family of Cats,-the Lion, the Tiger, the Leo-
pard, the Panther, the Wild Cat, and others.
8. Insectivora, animals that live chiefly on insects, and
which are, most of them, subterranean in their habits, as the
Hedgehog, the Shrew, the Mole.
9. Cheiroptera, constituting the varied tribes of Bats, which
alone, of all the mammalia, are endowed with the power of
flight. To this end their anterior limbs are expanded into
broad membranes, and their posterior limbs are furnished
with hands, by which they hang from trees and the roofs of
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
XXXV
caverns. Some of them live on fruits, most of them feed on
nocturnal insects, which they pursue from twilight to dawn,
and a few have the singular propensity of sucking the blood
of larger animals while asleep.
10. Quadrumana, comprehending the Apes, the Monkeys,
the Baboons, and others; creatures approaching the nearest
to man in the form and disposition of their organs, living
in some cases amongst rocks, but for the most part on trees,
and forming marvellous commonwealths in the rich forests
of the warmer countries.
11. Bimana, having two perfect hands, and comprehend-
ing a solitary genus, Man, classed with the Mammalia by
the relations of form and animal attributes, but raised far
above them all by those powers of mind which fit him to
perform the functions for which he is destined. He alone
is endowed with force of reason to know that the marvellous
system of which he forms a part has been ordained by a
Superior Power, and to believe that, when the frail fabric by
which he is permitted to communicate with the external
world shall have been resolved into its elements, the con-
sciousness will be preserved to him of his former being.
In the Mammalia, as in the groups before them, a pro-
gression may be traced of animal forms, not indeed in a
merely linear series, such as the imperfection of our know-
ledge causes us to adopt in our systems of natural classifica-
tion, but in a certain relation, which we can trace to the
degree of being assured, that the Mammalia, like the groups
before them, pass from lower to higher degrees of organic
development.
And when we look to the past history of the organic world,
as it is revealed to us in the innumerable remains preserved
in mineral depositions, we are presented with the like evi-
dences of a gradation of animal forms, from the simpler to
the more composite. Nay, there is just reason to believe
that animal life was first introduced on our planet in its
simpler forms. For, in the oldest fossiliferous strata, the
xxxvi
organic remains which we discover are always those only of
the simpler forms, but chiefly the Mollusca, whose calcareous
coverings have remained after the softer parts have decayed.
At a long posterior era, we find the remains of Fishes, the
next in order of the animal tribes above the Mollusca; and,
at length, as successive periods rolled on, we find the remains
of Reptiles, and at length of Birds and Mammalia, all con-
forming to the more general types of animal forms, but all
distinct as species from any now inhabiting the land or wa-
ters of the globe and continually, as the earth approaches.
to the present conditions of its surface, new species appear,
until at last we discover animals identical with those now
existing, or differing slightly from them.
By Species we designate animals resembling one another
in their essential characters, and possessed of the power,
common to the vegetable and animal kingdoms, of reproduc-
ing individuals similar to themselves and to one another.
Now, in the past eras, as in the present, we find animals
essentially alike, and which we infer were possessed of the
power of reproducing the like forms. A question which
enters into the fair range of philosophical inquiry may arise,
whether, in the course of immense periods of time, these
species have been so modified, in obedience to some grand
system of natural laws, as to become suited to new conditions
of external nature, or whether each mutation has been a new
act of creative power, called forth as the occasion arose, to
produce a new race of beings? We cannot certainly resolve
this problem by any knowledge we possess of the actual
changes of animal species; and it is only from analogy that
we can venture to infer, that the operation of the same laws,
under which species have been called forth by the decrees of
an Omnipotent Power, may have adapted species to new
states of existence. Animals, it may be believed, must be
suited to the conditions of external nature under which they
are called to exist. The digestive organs must be adapted
to the nature of the aliment from which the system of the
INTRODUCTION.
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body is built up and sustained, and the respiratory organs
to the physical and chemical constitution of the elements
which the living creatures respire; and when great changes
take place in the relations of living bodies with food, air,
and other external agents, either we must suppose that the
species perish utterly, or that they become adapted to the
new conditions in which they are placed. The temperature
of this earth, and, consequently, of the air and water with
which it was in contact, must at one period have been ex-
ceedingly great, as measured by the sensations of animals
now living; and with the temperature, the physical and che-
mical relations of the solids and fluids of the globe must
have varied. We cannot suppose that the pristine ocean
contained the same earthy, saline, and other constituents, in
the same proportions as the present seas, or that the at-
mosphere, with respect to density and other conditions, was
the same as now. But variations in the conditions of ex-
ternal nature, having taken place from era to era, we
have equal reason, at least, to believe that corresponding
changes have taken place in the form and attributes of
species, as that alternate destruction and creation have been
the law of nature. For what periods of time the condi-
tions of the earth, with its waters and surrounding gases,
have changed so little as to have remained suited to the
maintenance of existing species, we do not know; but the
period must be believed to have been vastly great, when
measured by our ordinary conceptions of duration, though
but as a drop, perhaps, in the stream, when compared with
the whole duration of the period since animal life was called
forth upon our planet. The age of the gigantic mastodons,
the huge tapirs, and the extinct carnivora of the tertiary de-
posites, which must have long preceded the era of man, is
yet but as yesterday compared with the age of the great
reptiles of the lias and oolite; and the age of these again
must have been inconceivably posterior to the era of the
fishes and mollusca of the first fossiliferous strata. Although,
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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Xxxviii
then, we cannot, with many physiologists, maintain that
species are immutable, and exempt from the laws of change,
to which all organic matter seems subject, we can say that
species may remain unchanged for periods of time beyond
any to which our inquiries, for the purposes of useful infer-
ences, need extend. It is matter of merely speculative in-
quiry, whether now, as in all the period of the past, the
earth, the air, and the relations which connect external
nature with the living kingdom, are not undergoing pro-
gressive though insensible changes, which may in the course
of unmeasured periods of time, react upon all the existing
species, not excepting man himself. It suffices for us to know
that species are to us realities, and remain constant in their
essential characters for a time which we cannot compute.
But there is a class of changes in organic forms which fall
more within our cognizance, and which merit our attention
in an especial degree ;-this is the class of changes, which
produce what we term Varieties or Races, in which the spe-
cific type is generally so far preserved that the animals may,
with more or less certainty, be referred to it, although very
often the divergence is so great that nothing can be traced
beyond the affinities which we term generic. The human
races, as well as the lower tribes, are subject to this class of
changes, under the influence of temperature, food, habitudes,
and other agencies.
INTRODUCTION.
Man, it has been seen, of all the Mammalia, constitutes a
Genus, into the circle of which none of the tribes, even the
nearest to him in conformation, enters. Many divisions have
been made of the different groups of men according to the
external characters, habits, traditions, and affinities of speech,
which have been supposed to connect them.
One great division has been supposed to comprehend, gene-
rally, the inhabitants of Western Asia and Europe, from the
first historical records to the present time. This group of
nations has been termed Caucasian, from the mountainous
regions of the Caucasus, where the inhabitants have been
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
xxxix
supposed to present the characters most typical of the group.
Similarities of speech, customs, and traditions, strongly indi-
cate a common lineage of these people, and we naturally
look to some region of Western Asia as the great centre
whence they have been spread. Let us assume for the mo-
ment that this region is near to the western termination of
the great Himàlaya range, termed Hindû-koh, signifying
literally the Indian Mountain, and corresponding in part
with the ancient Aria, and that the race spread itself south-
ward beyond the Indus, northward to near the Arctic Circle,
westward into Arabia, and, by the Don and Bosphorus, to the
extremities of Europe, and again into Africa by the Isthmus.
of Suez and the Red Sea; and then we may understand the
meaning of the term Caucasian as it has been employed by
some, and Arian by others, to designate a great section of
the human family. In this sense, the Arian or Caucasian
Family comprehended the ancient Hindoos, who are supposed
to have migrated southward beyond the Scinde; the Assy-
rians, Medes, and Persians, who founded early empires in
the East; the Scythians and others, who migrated north-
ward, and were afterwards known in Europe as Goths, Scan-
dinavians, Sarmatians, &c.; the ancient Chaldeans, Arme-
nians, Phoenicians, and other people, formerly inhabiting
Asia Minor and Syria; the Arabians of Asia and Africa;
the Celta, Iberi, and other early colonists of Europe, who
are supposed to have migrated westward from the countries
south of the Euxine; the Greeks, the Latins, and others,
who occupied the same countries at a subsequent age.
Amongst these people a certain relation exists, in customs as
well as languages employed, from early times. Thus, traces
of the Sanscrit, of which a dialect is still spoken near the
Hindû-koh, is found in the Scandinavian and German lan-
guages of Northern, and in the Celtic of Western, Europe.
Further, the members of this group are supposed to be dis-
tinguished from all the others by certain physical and psychi-
cal characters. Their complexion varies with the climate,
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from the dusky colour of the Hindoo to the fine dark olive of
the Central Asiatics, the swarthy tinge of the Greeks and
Italians, and the florid complexions of the nations of the
north. The face is oval, straight, and relatively small, with
the features distinct, the nose tending to the aquiline, the
mouth small, the teeth perpendicular. The hair is soft and
slightly curling, black in the warmer countries, and of
various colours in the colder, as black, flaxen, brown; red.
The irides are generally dark when the skin is of that colour,
but in other cases light-blue, with intervening shades. In
this race the intellectual endowments of the species have
been the most highly developed. With it have originated
nearly all the sciences, and the most useful of the arts; and
in literature and arms it has hitherto surpassed, and yet sur-
passes, the other races.
INTRODUCTION.
Turning to the elevated regions of Central Asia about the
70° of longitude east, at the great Altaic chain of mountains,
termed by the ancients Imaus, and held by them to separate
the Scythi of the West from the Scythi of the East, another
group of races, or, as we may rather say, another great
Family of mankind, presents itself, as if derived from some
region to the east or south-east. This family is commonly
termed Mongolian, from the supposed name of a great country
of Eastern Asia, comprehended within the boundaries of
Chinese Tartary. But the name Mongolia, it is believed, is of
European origin, and applied erroneously to a great country
of Asia; the term Mog-huls, from which the name seems to
have been taken, being merely applicable to a certain tribe of
Tartars. Be this as it may, the Mongolian Family, so called,
comprehends all the Kalmuks, and other allied tribes of East-
ern Asia. It comprehends the inhabitants of Thibet, of China
Proper, of Japan, of Corea, of the greater part of the coun-
tries termed Indo-China. The Mongolian Family thus in-
cludes a great proportion of the whole human race. It is
characterised by the head tending to the square form, by
the face being broad, the nose flat, the cheek-bones promi-
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nent, the eyes oblique, and the ears large. The colour of the
skin tends to an olive-yellow; the eyes are dark, the hair is
black, straight, and thin, and the beard is scanty or wanting.
These, the most striking characteristics of this immense
group, distinguish the Mongolians, so called, from all the
races of the family termed Caucasian. They have in certain
cases been conquerors, formed great empires, and arrived at
a considerable degree of stationary civilization; but they are
suspicious of strangers, tenacious of old usages, and have
never arrived at distinction in science. They have formed a
written language, eminently copious, but rude, inartificial,
and wanting in the precision of grammatical construction.
The term Malay, or Polynesian, has been applied to the
inhabitants of the peninsula of Malacca, and the greater
part of the inhabitants of Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and other
Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, of New Zealand, and
the Islands of the South Sea. In this race, or group of
races, the head is somewhat narrow, the bones of the face
are prominent, the nose is broad, the lips are thick. The
colour of the skin varies from a tawny olive to nearly black,
and the hair is dark and curled, but not what is termed
woolly. These people, however, extending over a vast tract
of ocean, and being in certain cases mixed in blood with
other races, their characters vary so greatly, that it is impos-
sible to reduce them to a common standard. They have the
habits of islanders, and are, for the most part, bold, active,
and of warm temperaments, but unforgiving, treacherous,
and cunning. Within the limits, too, of the region of this
group, are tribes altogether distinct in speech, customs, and
external characters, and remaining in the savage state.
Such are the inland tribes of some of the great islands of
the Eastern Seas, and the black inhabitants of the insular
continent of New Holland.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
In the great African Continent, the human race presents
itself with characters which, like those of the other animal
species of the same region, may be said to be peculiar to it.
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Of all the African Races, the most distinct is the true Negro,
inhabiting a prodigious extent of country on either side of
the equator, and fitted, by all the characters impressed upon
his race, to inhabit the wild and burning regions which
are proper to him. In the true Negro, the skull is narrow
laterally, the forehead is sloping, the cheek-bones are pro-
minent, the jaws elongated, the front teeth oblique, the lips
thick, the nose is broad and flat, the irides are dark, and
the hair is black and what is popularly termed woolly, and
the colour of the skin approaches to a jet-black. This race
has never yet exhibited great intellectual powers; although,
under the guidance of humane instruction, the youthful Afri-
can has proved to be not unapt to learn all that we can
teach to Europeans at a tender age. The temper of the
people is eager, light, and joyous; but their actions indicate
want of reflection. They have, in some cases, united to
form large communities, but these have been always barbar-
ous, and maintained by the present tyranny of the chief.
Although possessed of physical powers far exceeding those
of the tribes which have settled in their country, they have
seldom united their arms to arrest the progress of their ene-
mies, or avenge the wrongs inflicted upon themselves. Few
useful arts have yet penetrated their native wilderness, and
the race seems at this hour to be little advanced beyond what
it may be conceived to have been in the earliest times.
But the African characters recede from the grosser forms
typical of the true Negro, until they approach nearer to the
Caucasian type.
Of this character are some of the races of
the interior, and above all, those which extend from the
great Sahara towards the shores of the Mediterranean, east-
ward through the Libyan deserts to the Nile, and southward
through Nubia to the high lands of Abyssinia, and again
into the countries of the Caffres; and of this character, judg-
ing from their delineations of the human figure, were the
ancient Egyptians; so that the Negro form, however typical
of the African race, becomes insensibly modified under the
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INTRODUCTION.
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
xliii
influence of external agents. Through the Berebers, that
is, the ancient inhabitants of Northern Africa, the Nubians,
the Abyssinians, and others, there is a chain of connexion,
indicated by physiological characters and ancient dialects,
between the great African Family, and the Arabians, now
termed Asiatic. But the Arabians are included, by almost
all geographers and naturalists, in the Caucasian division
of mankind, although grave doubts may exist with respect
to the justness of this classification. The Arabians, in-
deed, were early mixed in blood, and connected in speech,
with the Western Asiatics; but if we regard locality, ancient
dialects, habits, and physical characters, the Arabians are
more connected with the Berebers, the Nubians, and other
Africans, than with the people of Asia or Europe. What
contrast of form, temperament, and character, can be more
striking than that between the pale Hollander, beside the
dikes of mud which his labours have raised up, and the
light and dusky Arab in his tent of skin, amid the burn-
ing sands of his wild and desolate country. Yet, if we
assign a common lineage to the Caucasian and Arabian
groups, we must believe that the squat and clumsy peasant
of the marshes of the Zuyder Zee, with his brawny limbs,
is not only of the same species, but of the same variety
or race, as the wild wanderer of the southern deserts, with
his swarthy skin, his coal-black hair, his keen dark eye, his
well-braced muscles and sinewy form, properties of the body
which, reacting, as it were, on the mind, have rendered him
active, enthusiastic, bold, and free, enabling him to roll back
the tide of conquest on the Northern Family, and become
for a time the master of the fairest portions of the globe,
nay, to found a religious faith which has enslaved, for more
than a thousand years, a third part of the human race.
Turning to the great American Continent, termed New,
with relation to our knowledge of it, but which we have no
reason to believe posterior in the order of existence to
those parts of the world which we term Old, we find innu-
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merable animal species, and amongst these Human Beings,
apparently as proper to the regions where they are found as
those of Europe, Africa, and Asia, are to the Eastern hemi-
sphere. But America, extending over all the varieties of
climates in which living creatures can exist, its human in-
habitants present great diversities of form and aspect,
though conforming to a general order of characters, which
may be termed American. The great distinction of the in-
habitants is between those on either side of the elevated
countries on the Caribbean Sea. The northern races gene-
rally resemble the Eastern Asiatics more than they resemble
the other families of mankind. The forehead is sloping, and
the middle part of the cranium elevated, the irides are dark,
the face is broad across the cheeks, the mouth is wide, the
lips are thick, the ears very large. The colour of the skin tends
more or less to a copper-red, and the hair of the head is black,
straight, and long. The southern races, again, exhibit cha-
racters proper to their own region. If we compare the wild
warrior of the Canadian forests with the feeble remnant of
the misused Peruvian, the black Indian of the Caribbean
Sea, the savage horseman of Paraguay, or the athletic hun-
ter of Patagonia, we find differences as great as are employed
to distinguish the inhabitants of the Caucasus from the Kal-
muks of Eastern Asia; but there is a relation between even
the most distant tribes, as in the copper hue of the skin, the
darkness of the eye, the lankness of the hair, which connects
the American nations by a certain general similitude. There
were in early times, it may be believed, partial mixtures
with Asiatic, Polynesian, and even perhaps African colo-
nists, yet we have no more reason to question that the
Americans were, from the earliest distribution of animal
species, as proper to the regions which they inhabited, as the
Negroes to the intertropical countries of Africa, or the Cau-
casians, so called, to Western Asia. Most of them had not
advanced beyond the hunter state, though there are traces
in the country of anterior inhabitants, and though empires
INTRODUCTION.
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had been formed of considerable power and splendour, yet
destined to fall an easy prey to European strangers.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
Looking at the great diversities which present themselves
in these different races of the human family, a natural curio-
sity prompts us to inquire whether they are of one species;
and whether, on the assumption that they are of one species,
they have sprung from the same stock, and spread over the
earth from some common centre; or whether they have been
called into existence, either contemporaneously, or at diffe-
rent epochs, according as the different parts of the earth be-
came fitted for their reception.
If, by species, we understand animals possessing certain
characters in common, which we term specific, and having
the power, which we see them to possess, of reproducing
creatures having the same characters, there can be no diffi-
culty in admitting that all the races of man, in so far as they
have yet been examined, are of one species. If, indeed, we
were to place beside a Persian of Ispahan, or a mountaineer
of the Caucasus, a Negro of the Gambia, with his sooty skin,
his wool-like hair, his projecting jaws; or a Bushman of the
Gariep, with his pigmy form, his yellow hue, his restless
eye; or a savage of Van Dieman's Land, with his lank hair,
his large head, his slender limbs; we might find it hard to
believe that creatures so unlike were identical as species.
But, great as the differences of external form here are, we
fail to discover any difference of conformation which can be
regarded as essential, or which we should call specific. The
individuals of the most dissimilar tribes breed freely with
one another, and the progeny has nothing of a hybridal cha-
racter, but is as fruitful as the parents from which it springs:
and, however dissimilar the races in question may appear in
their external characters, there is nothing like that great
dissimilarity which we continually see in creatures admitted
to be of the same species,-as the wild and domesticated Hog,
and our Dogs of all sorts.
The other question, whether the human races have all
xlvi
sprung from the loins of the same parents, or been called
into existence in different regions contemporaneously, or at
different epochs, though continually mixed with the question
as to the identity of the species, is in no respect necessarily
involved in it. Although we see far greater differences in the
characters of animals produced by agencies which we can
trace than in the different races of mankind, and therefore
may reasonably believe that all men have proceeded from a
common centre, and then have assumed, in the course of
great periods of time, the characters which they now retain,
yet this does not resolve the question as to which was the
mode which the Creator, in his infinite wisdom, ordained for
peopling the earth which he had called into existence; whe-
ther, by diffusing the species from one region of the earth,
or from more than one. We are not entitled to assume
that identical species cannot have been called into existence
in different regions of the globe, either at the same or at
different times. We know nothing of Creation, whatever
fancies we may build up on our assumed knowledge. We
may imagine that we can observe something of the first ap-
pearance of life, as in the fungus, when it multiplies its or-
ganized cells at the rate of some millions in an hour, or in
the globules of the chyle, which, in their passage to the heart,
become organized beings; but of the modes or times in which
species first manifest themselves in any given place, we are
as ignorant as of the laws which determine species to their
allotted forms. We may suppose that different parts of the
world have produced identical species, as much as that differ-
ent parts of the world have produced different species; and
it were absurd to seek to limit, as it were, the Creative power
to our narrow conceptions, by arguing that, under the same
laws by which unlike animals have been called forth in dif-
ferent parts of the world, the like animals cannot have been
so. It is no solution of the problem regarding the origin of
man, to adopt, as has been recently done, peculiar definitions
of the term species,-as that a species consists of the like ani-
INTRODUCTION.
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xlvii
mals proceeding from the same stock, or, in other words, from
the same individual or pair of individuals. For this is not a
logical definition, but a proposition, which itself involves the
very question at issue. It may be believed by every one
that all men fall within the limits of the same specific form;
but it were to reason in a circle, to define species as being
the like animals derived from a common stock, and thence to
infer that all men are derived from a common stock, because
they are like one another. All that we know of species, it
has been said, is the similarity of the characters which we
call specific, to which we may add the possession of a power,
which we observe in all known species, to reproduce creatures
possessing the like characters. But there is nothing in any
known phenomena of the organic kingdom to shew, that in
the animal any more than in the vegetable kingdom, it is a
law of nature, that animals which fall within the limits of
what we regard as the same specific form, must have been
derived from a common stock.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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We can know nothing, then, by means of the unassisted
reason, of the production of the human species; and if we
are permitted to reason concerning the times and modes of
its diffusion over the earth, we must call to our aid analogy
and reasonable probabilities, unless we are to assume that
the dispersion of man was itself a miracle, exempt from the
common course of natural events. It were rash, nay, impi-
ous, to assert that man could not be, or has not been, called
into existence in one part of the earth's surface, and dis-
persed, as from a common centre, to all the parts of the
world which he now inhabits. But treating the question as
one on which we may lawfully employ our judgment, it is
reasonable to inquire whether it be more consonant with the
known course of natural events to infer that different races
of men-though within the limits of the same specific form, and
so creatures of the same kind—had been called forth in differ-
ent regions of the earth to occupy it, or that one race only,
and this produced in a single spot of a boundless surface, had
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xlviii
been called into existence. We must remember that the
time which chronology assigns to the period of the disper-
sion, little more than 2000 years before the birth of our Sa-
viour, is a period wonderfully short for such mighty changes.
And it is hard to conceive, that, within periods of time ap-
proaching to this, human creatures can have transported them-
selves through desolate, and even yet almost inaccessible, re-
gions, to the most distant islands of the remotest seas, nay,
lived and multiplied until every trace of their ancestry had
been lost, until every art which they had carried with them,
even to every word of their own tongue, had been forgotten,
and until they themselves had receded so far from the pris-
tine type of their race, as to leave the naturalist to question
whether they were not to be classed with an inferior tribe
of beings. These are great difficulties, not to be removed
by tracing the similarity of speech and customs, by which
different sections of mankind are connected. For what does
this similarity of speech and customs, even where it seems
to be the most clearly established, prove? It may prove the
relations established between tribes and nations after ages
of strife, migrations, and admixture of races, but it cannot
prove the relations between pristine tribes, every trace of
whose very existence may have been lost. It has been be-
lieved, that the people we call Hindoos extended themselves
beyond the Indus within the historical æra, but who were the
pre-existing inhabitants whom the Hindoos, under their Brah-
minical leaders, subdued? There are the vestiges of anterior
races in the country as distinct from the Hindoo as the lat-
ter is from the Kalmuk, in aspect, speech, customs, and tra-
ditionary legends; and in several of the great Islands of the
Eastern Seas, are insulated tribes of savages wholly distinct
from the other inhabitants, the manifest relicts of an anterior
people. In Europe the Celta are known to have settled from
a period beyond the records of any history, and yet the Celta
were a people possessed of a religion, laws, an order of
priests, and arts, comprehending the knowledge of metals.
INTRODUCTION.
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But all over the north of Europe, the relics are found of
people assuredly anterior to the Celta, who used stone-
hatchets and flint-headed arrows, inferring a condition en-
tirely savage. Now, when we compare languages as the
proof of a common descent amongst tribes and nations, we
must, in order to make our argument worth anything, com-
pare the languages of people in the first ages, all the traces
of whose speech we may suppose to have perished with the
people themselves. When we compare the languages of a
posterior era, after unknown periods of war, colonization,
and the mixture of races, we may prove the connexion esta-
blished between countries and their inhabitants, but cer-
tainly not the pristine relation of the first people with one
another, or with any common stem. Thus a race of men,
we have seen, is assumed to have extended from the ancient
Aria, southward into the plains of India, and northward
into the wilds of Scythia, the manifest traces of whose lan-
guage, the Sanscrit, are found in the speech of the Teutons
of the north, of the Greeks of the west, of the Indians of
the south. This proves the relation between the members
of this people, but not the relations between races who, for
anything we know, may have previously inhabited the same
countries long before written speech was known.
It is no-
thing strange that there should be analogies in the language
of different countries, when we consider that, beyond any re-
cords of history and tradition, tribes and nations have been
engaged in endless migrations and strife, exterminating or
mingling with one another; and that within the period called
historical, empires have been formed, embracing large sec-
tions of the whole human family. Further, all men have
the like faculties and organs of speech, and it is not possible
that there should not be analogies in the structure of lan-
guages, even of the most distant and divergent tribes, and
even similarity of words derived from the same natural
sounds. But when we consider the faint similitudes which all
the unsparing labour of philologists has been able to trace
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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INTRODUCTION.
between the dialects of the rudest nations, whose language
alone bears upon the question, we have less cause to wonder
at the resemblance between them than at the radical diver-
gence which they present, in sound, words, and construction.
And with respect to similarities of customs, all men have,
within certain limits, the same wants, and must, in innumer-
able cases, be conducted to the same means of satisfying
these wants; and when we connect with this general cause,
the effects of intercourse during unknown periods of time,
we have far less cause to wonder at the resemblances, than
at the differences, in the customs of nations.
It will be seen, then, that great difficulties present them-
selves to the supposition of the derivation of all the varieties of
mankind from a common centre, at least within the period
which chronology assigns to the existence of the human race;
nor are difficulties of a different kind wanting, under any hypc-
thesis we can form. It is not, however, necessary, with relation
to our present inquiry, to pursue this subject. Whether we
suppose all men to be of the same species, derived from a com-
mon centre, or of the same species, derived from different
centres, we equally reason on the assumption, that great
changes have been produced on the individuals by the influ-
ence of the agents affecting them. If we adopt the hypothesis
of one centre of dispersion for all the races of mankind, we
must suppose that change of place has converted the White
man into a Negro, and may convert the Negro into a White
man. If we suppose that the Primary Races of the species
were spread from different centres, as the Negro from some
part of intertropical Africa, the Caucasian from some country
of Western Asia, the Mongolian from some region of the East,
the Polynesian from one or more foci in the innumerable
islands over which he is spread, and the American from re-
gions proper to the great Continent to which he belongs, and
so on; we do not, therefore, infer that these Races are not
severally subject to the influence of external agencies, and
capable of undergoing great mutations, under different con-
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ditions of food, temperature, and habits. The Negro has all
his grosser features softened as he recedes from the burning
regions of swamp and jungle, where his most typical form is
developed; the Kalmuk loses much of his harsher features,
as he becomes naturalized towards the confines of Europe, and
even assumes a new aspect, when forced to inhabit the glacial
regions of his own continent; the Turcoman approaches
more to the squat and sturdy form of the Mongolian Tartar
as he extends eastward, while the Hindoo, acclimated in the
valley of the Ganges, differs so widely from the native of the
plains of Germany, that the aspect alone of the individuals
would not allow us to identify them as being of a common
lineage. These changes are the result of external agencies,
and may be regarded as the adaptation of the animal form
to new conditions. But the effect, as it may act on the or-
ganism of the Negro, the Mongolian, the Caucasian, the
Malay, must differ in each, and hence a great apparent mul-
tiplication of races throughout the world may take place,
although it may be the effect of the same agents acting on a
few distinct primary forms.
If, from the human species we turn to the inferior animals,
we shall find the like evidences of the power of external
agents to modify the animal form, and adapt it to new con-
ditions of life. Certain animals, in the state of nature, have
a limited habitat, and so present characters nearly uniform
throughout; others have a very wide range of place, in
which case we never fail to find them more or less modified
in their form and habits. The Common Wolf, the most
bold and savage of the canine family, stretches over the
greater part of the Old Continent, and is found in the New,
from Behring's Straits to near the Isthmus of Panama.
Under these immense limits he often seems so changed that
he can scarcely be referred to the same specific type. The
Bear extends from Norway along the limits of the Arctic
Regions, and thence to the Caucasus and all eastward,
wherever woods suited to his habitudes exist, but so changed
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
1
lii
INTRODUCTION,
that he can scarcely be identified with the Brown Bear of
the Norwegian Alps. In these and other cases, the changes
produced furnish continual matter of debate to zoologists,
whether the animals are to be regarded as distinct species,
or as varieties of the same species.
The changes produced on animals in a state of nature by
different circumstances, as the nature of the country they
inhabit, the means of obtaining their food, temperature,
and altitude, are often very great; but it is when they are
reduced to the domesticated state, that all the changes which
they are capable of undergoing are manifested in the great-
est degree. Sometimes, as in the case of the Dog, it would
seem as if the influence of human reason worked a charm
upon their nature, nay, modified the form of their bodies, as
if to suit them for new services. Sometimes by the mere
supply of aliment, different in kind from that which they
procure in the natural state, or in greater quantity, the
form of the body changes, and with this their instincts and
habits; and further, this change in their conformation is
capable, under certain limits, of being transmitted to their
descendants, and, by continued reproduction, of producing a
new breed, variety, or race.
The Wild Hog, which extends over the greater part of the
Old Continent, is the undoubted progenitor of the common
domesticated races of Europe. When this powerful and soli-
tary creature is subjected to domestication, we shall find, in
the sequel, that not only his form, but all his habits change.
He may be said, in fact, to become a new species; and he
transmits all his acquired characters to his descendants. The
parts of his conformation regarded as the most constant in
the discrimination, not only of species but of genera, change
under the new relations in which he is placed. In the
wild state, he has six incisor teeth in the upper, and six in
the lower jaw; but, under the effect of domestication, the
number is generally reduced to three in each jaw. The num-
ber of his dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and caudal vertebræ, vary
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liii
so much, that it may be asserted, that he differs far more
from the Hog in the state of liberty, than many animals re-
garded as distinct species differ from one another.
Amongst ruminating animals, the Ox and the Sheep are
subject to great changes of form and character, dependent
upon the kind and abundance of aliment. With increased
supplies of food, the abdominal viscera become enlarged, and
other parts partake of corresponding modifications of form.
To suit the increased size of the stomach and intestinal canal,
the trunk becomes larger in all its dimensions; the respira-
tory organs adapt themselves to the increased dimensions of
the alimentary canal, which is indicated to the eye by a
change in the form of the chest; the limbs become shorter
and farther apart, and the body being nearer the ground,
the neck becomes more short; various muscles, from disuse,
diminish in size, and the tendency to obesity increases. With
the form of the animals, their power of active motion dimi-
nishes, and they acquire habits adapted to their changed
condition. These new characters they communicate to their
progeny; and thus races differing from those which, in the
state of nature, would exist, are produced.
The Carnivorous animals, in like manner, when taken from
the state of nature, and made to reproduce in a state of
slavery, manifest their subjection to the same laws of change.
The size and proportion of their organs of digestion and re-
spiration, nay, of the brain, the organ of thought, change;
and with these, the relative proportion of the head, limbs,
and other parts, as we shall see in the sequel, in the case of
the Dog, who becomes almost plastic under the habitudes to
which we inure him.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
And if we turn from quadrupeds to the feathered tribes,
we shall find the like proofs of the power of food and habi-
tudes to change the form, and with it the very instincts of
the animals. The Domestic Goose is derived from the Wild
of the same species, which inhabits the boundless marshes
of northern latitudes. This noble bird visits us on the ap-
*
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INTRODUCTION.
proach of the arctic winter, in those remarkable troops which
all of us have beheld cleaving the air like a wedge, often at
a vast height, and sometimes only recognised by their shrill
voices amongst the clouds. When the eggs of this species
are obtained, and the young are supplied with food in unli-
mited quantity, the result is remarkable. The intestines,
and with them the abdomen, become so much enlarged, that
the animal nearly loses the power of flight, and the powerful
muscles that enabled him, when in the wild state, to take
such flights, become feeble from disuse, and his long wings
are rendered unserviceable. The beautiful bird that out-
stripped the flight of the eagle, is now a captive without a
chain. A child will guide him to his resting-place with a
wand, and he is unable to raise himself by flight above the
walls of the yard that confine him; and he gives birth to a
race of creatures as helpless and removed from the natural
condition as he himself had become.
The Wild Duck, too, affords us a similar example. This
wary bird arrives in flocks from the vast morasses of the
colder countries. Many pairs remain in the swamps, pools,
and sedgy rivers, of lower latitudes; but the greater number
retrace their flight to the boundless regions where they
themselves have been hatched, and where they can rear their
young in safety. If the eggs of this bird be taken, and the
young be supplied with food in the manner usual in the do-
mestic state, the animals will have changed the form, in-
stincts, and habits of their race. Like the Goose, they lose
the power of flight by the increased size of their abdomen,
and the diminished power of their pectoral muscles; and
other parts of their body are altered to suit this conforma-
tion. All their habits change; they lose the caution and
sense of danger which, in their native state, they possessed.
The male no longer retires with a single female to breed, but
becomes polygamous, and his progeny lose the power and
the will to regain the freedom of their race. The Swan, the
noblest of all the water-fowls, becomes chained, as it were,
i
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DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
lv
to our lakes and ponds, by the mere change of his natural
form.
The common gallinaceous fowls, in the state of nature,
live amongst trees, and, when subjugated, still retain the
desire to roost on elevated objects. But they can now with
difficulty ascend the perches prepared for them; their abdo-
minal viscera having extended, their bodies have enlarged
posteriorly, the breast has become wider, and the neck more
short, and their wings having become insufficient to support
the increased weight of their bodies, they have almost lost
the power of flight; and so changed is their entire conforma-
tion, that naturalists can but conjecture from what parent
stock they have been derived.
Besides the effect of increased or diminished supplies of
food in modifying the animal form, much is to be ascribed to
temperature, humidity, altitude, and, consequently, the rarity
or density of the air. The effect of heat is everywhere ob-
served, as it modifies the secretions which give colour to the
skin, and the degree of covering provided for the protection
of the body, whether wool or hair. In the case of the human
species, the effects of temperature on the colour of the skin,
and, with this, on the colour of the eyes and hair, are sufficient-
ly known. We cannot pass from the colder parts of Europe
to the warmer, without marking the progressive diversities of
colour, from the light complexion of the northern nations,
to the swarthy tinge of the Spaniards, Italians, and Greeks;
and when we have crossed the Mediterranean into Africa,
the dark colour, which is proper to all the warmer regions of
the globe, everywhere meets the eye. The Jews, naturally
as fair as the other inhabitants of Syria, become gradually
darker, as they have been for a longer or shorter time accli-
mated in the warmer countries; and in the plains of the
Ganges, they are as dark as Hindoos. The Portuguese who
have been naturalized in the African colonies of their nation,
have become entirely black. If we suppose, indeed, the great
races of mankind to have been called into existence in differ-
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lvi
INTRODUCTION.
ent regions, we must suppose that they were born with the
colour, as well as the other attributes, suited to the climates
of the countries which they were to inhabit. It accords with
this supposition, that the Negro remains always black, even
in the highest latitudes to which he has been carried; and
that the black races of the Eastern Islands retain the colour
proper to them in the mild temperature of Van Diemen's
Land. The Mongolian, even in the coldest regions of North-
ern Asia, retains the hue distinctive of his family, but with a
continually deepening shade as he approaches to the inter-
tropical countries. The native of China, of a dull yellow
tint at Pekin, is at Canton nearly as dark as a Lascar. The
American Indian retains his distinctive copper hue amid the
snows of Labrador; but, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea,
becomes nearly as black as an African.
Temperature likewise affects the size and form of the body.
The members of the Caucasian group towards the Arctic
Circle are of far inferior bulk of body to the natives of tem-
perate countries. The Central Asiatics, in elevated plains,
are sturdy and short, the result of an expansion of the
chest; the Hindoos are of slender form and low physical
powers, so that they have almost always yielded to the
superior force of the northern nations, from the first in-
vasion of the Macedonians, to the ultimate establishment
of European power in the Peninsula. The Negro, on the
other hand, in the hottest and most pestilential regions of
the habitable earth, where the Caucasian either perishes, or
becomes as slender as a stripling, is of a strength and sta-
ture which would be deemed great in any class of men,
affording a strong presumption in favour of the opinion of
the distinctness of his race, and its special adaptation to the
region in which it has been placed.
In quadrupeds, the effects of temperature are everywhere
observable in the covering provided for their body, whether
wool or hair, and which, in the same species, is always more
abundant in the colder than in the warmer countries. In
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
lvii
all quadrupeds there is a growth of down or wool under-
neath the hair, and more or less mixed with it. In warm
countries, this wool is little if at all developed; but, in the
colder, it frequently becomes the principal covering of the
skin, forming, along with the hair, a thick fur. In the warm-
est regions, the domestic sheep produces scarcely any wool;
in temperate countries he has a fleece properly so called;
and in the coldest of all, his wool is mixed with long hair
which covers it externally. The wool, an imperfect conduc-
tor of heat, preserves the natural temperature of the body,
and thus protects the animal from cold, while the long hair
is fitted to throw off the water which falls upon the body in
rain or snow. But in the warm season the wool, which
would be incommodious, falls off, to be renewed before win-
ter, while the hair always remains. The Dog, too, has a
coat of wool, which he loses in countries of great heat, but
which, in colder countries, grows so as to form, along with
the hair, a thick fur, so that, in certain cold countries, there
have been formed breeds of dogs to produce wool for cloth-
ing. The dogs of Europe conveyed to warm countries fre-
quently lose even their hair, and become as naked as ele-
phants, and in every country their fur is suited to the nature
of the climate.
Similar to the effects of temperature is that of humidity,
the hair becoming longer and more oily in the moister coun-
tries. Even within the limits of our own Islands, the Ox of
the western coasts, exposed to the humid vapours of the At-
lantic, has longer hair than the Ox of the eastern districts.
Even the effect of continued exposure to winds and storms
may modify parts of the animal form. There are certain
breeds of gallinaceous fowls which are destitute of the rump
so called. Most of the common fowls of the Isle of Arran,
on the coast of Scotland, have this peculiarity. This little
island consists of high hills, on which scarcely a bush exists
to shelter the animals which inhabit it from the continued
gales of the Atlantic. The feathers of a long tail might in-
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lviii
INTRODUCTION.
commode the animals, and therefore, we may suppose, they
disappear; and were peacocks to be reared under similar
circumstances, it is probable that, in the course of successive
generations, they would lose the beautiful appendage which
they bring from their native jungles.
The effects, likewise, of altitude are to be numbered
amongst those which modify the characters of animals. In
general, the animals of mountains are smaller and more agile
than those of the same species inhabiting plains. In man,
the pulse increases in frequency as he ascends into the at-
mosphere, so that, while at the level of the sea the number
of beats is 70 in a minute, at the height of 4000 feet the
number exceeds 100. The air being rarer, a greater quan-
tity of it must be drawn into the lungs to afford the oxygen
necessary to carry off the excess of carbon in the system.
But gradually, as man and other animals become naturalized
in an elevated country, the digestive and respiratory organs,
and with these the capacity of the chest and abdomen, become
suited to their new relations. Humboldt remarks on the ex-
traordinary development of the chest in the inhabitants of
the Andes, producing even deformity; and he justly observes,
that this is a consequence of the rarity of the air which de-
mands an extension of the lungs.
The effects have been referred to of use or exercise in mo-
difying certain parts of the animal form. The limbs of many
animals inured or compelled to speed become extended in
length, as of the dogs employed in the chase of the swifter ani-
mals. The limbs of an animal deprived of the means of mo-
tion become feeble and small, as the wings of domesticated
birds. In the natural state, the cow has a small udder, yet
sufficient to contain the milk which her young requires; in
the domesticated state, by milking her, the organ becomes
enlarged, so as to contain a quantity of milk, beyond what
the wants of her own offspring demand. Nor are the charac-
ters thus acquired confined to the individuals on which they
have been impressed, but may be transmitted to their pos-
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lix
terity. Some of the wild horsemen of the plains of South
America are, from infancy, continually on horseback, and
their limbs are observed to become slender and almost unfit
for walking, which characters reappear in the children of the
tribe. Amongst the causes, then, which tend to form va-
rieties, are to be numbered the habitudes of animals, whether
in the wild or domesticated state.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
Of the means by which the animal organism becomes
adapted to new relations we know nothing. We see that
within the limits of the specific form, animals become suited
to the nature and abundance of their aliment, to the condi-
tion of the external air with respect to temperature, humi-
dity, and density, and to the habits imposed upon them for
obtaining their vegetable food when they are herbivorous, or
capturing their prey when they feed on flesh; but how or
why this is, we know no more than how or why animals as-
sume and preserve the form proper to their species. We
may well believe that species are called forth, and their
forms placed in the fitting relation with external nature, in
obedience to some grand system of Natural Laws, the results
of which we may hope in certain cases to trace, but of the
efficient cause of which we cannot hope to obtain a know-
ledge. But when we speak of causes in common language,
we do not, it is well known, refer to what metaphysicians
term efficient causes, but to the antecedents of those pheno-
mena which we term effects; and it is in this sense that we
say that the causes of the varieties of animal species are
food, climate, habitudes, and the other agencies whose effects
we have the means of observing.
But all the causes enumerated would not of themselves be
sufficient to form permanent varieties or breeds, were it not
for that other law of the animal economy by which animals
are enabled to communicate the characters acquired to their
progeny, and by which the latter are enabled to retain those
characters with more or less constancy.
That animals which, from any cause, have acquired a pecu-
Sh
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lx
liar conformation, may transmit the same properties of form
to their young, and these again to their descendants, has been
matter of observation in every age. The greyhound com-
municates to his progeny, the flexible neck, the long back,
the slender agile limbs, which fit him for capturing his prey
by speed; the blood-hound transmits his expanded nostril,
fitted for that surpassing sense of smell which enables him
to follow the evanescent traces of his victim upon the ground;
the bull-dog transmits to his young his muscular form and
powerful jaws. No one ever expects to see two greyhounds
produce an animal like a terrier; two blood-hounds, one re-
sembling a shepherd's cur; two bull-dogs, any animal dif-
ferent in essential characters from themselves. And in all
those varieties of the other domesticated animals which we
term breeds, the constancy of the law of transmitted proper-
ties is alike manifested. The Merino sheep communicates to
its young the properties which it has acquired on the moun-
tain pastures of Spain, of producing a short unctuous wool,
and this in localities so different as in the granitic soils of
Sweden, the plains of Silesia, the sands of the Cape of Good
Hope, and the myrtle forests of New Holland. The Horse
of the Arabian deserts, wherever he is carried, communicates
to his descendants the properties distinctive of his race. The
great Black Horse of the meadows of Flanders transmits to
his progeny the massive form and very colour which he has
himself acquired; the Race-Horse of England, the conforma-
tion which adapts him to rapid motion; the Pony of Norway,
the characters which have fitted him for a country of heaths
and mountains: and so on in every case where animals, by
successive reproduction with one another, have acquired the
common properties which constitute a breed.
In the human species, that similarity of features which is
termed family likeness, is a familiar example of the same
effect, not only manifesting itself in the immediate descend-
ants, but reappearing often after several generations. The
community of character which constitutes national resem-
INTRODUCTION.
V
lxi
blance, is matter likewise of common observation. By the
successive reproduction between the individuals of a tribe or
nation, a common set of characters is by degrees acquired,
which, becoming permanent, generate a true race. This
effect is most notable in small and insulated tribes, whose
members intermarry only with one another. In the Ameri-
can forests, many of the tribes of Indians can be distinguished
from one another at a glance. In the case of the Celtic na-
tives of Europe, the Clans became frequently as much dis-
tinguished from one another by feature as by their mutual
hatred; and the characters which they had acquired are in
many cases retained by their descendants to the present
hour. In the countries of the East, where the barrier of
castes had been established, all the distinctions of race are
seen to be established, so that the members of different castes
can be discriminated from one another as readily as the in-
habitants of distant countries.
-
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
It has been frequently observed, that what are termed ac-
cidental variations are susceptible of being transmitted and
rendered permanent characters. Some persons have been
born with six fingers or toes, and this peculiarity being trans-
mitted, has continued in the same family for generations.
The case of a family in England, whose bodies were covered
with cuticular appendages resembling the quills of porcu-
pines, has been often cited; and a breed of sheep in America
was procured, having short limbs resembling those of an
otter, and therefore termed the otter breed. We cannot,
however, term such varieties accidental. . There is nothing
in the phenomena of nature, to which the term accident can
be justly applied. The characters were doubtless the result
of some organic change proper to the animals in which they
appeared, and their transmission to their progeny is only the
exemplification of a law common to other cases of transmitted
characters.
GRE
The permanence of characters acquired by varieties is often
wonderfully great. In the sculptured monuments of the
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lxii
INTRODUCTION.
Egyptians, are to be found the delineation of features which
may still be traced in the degraded Fellahs of the country.
The Jews, after the lapse of many centuries, retain, in in-
numerable cases, the lineaments of their race, and although
influenced, in the colour of the skin, by effects of temperature,
may yet be discriminated, in countries where they have been
naturalized, as a distinct people. The wandering tribes of
Gipsies, which are spread over a great part of Europe, retain,
after many centuries, the essential characters of their race,-
the swarthy visage, the keen dark eye, the lank black hair.
In India, there exist whole tribes as much distinct in aspect,
as in speech and customs, from all around them, although
every trace of their ancestry has been lost; and in the same
country the Parsees, driven beyond the Indus by the Moham-
medans, seem to be nearly the same people as when expelled
from their Persian homes. The Laplanders, amid the snows
of the Arctic regions, have preserved the colour and features
indicative of their Asiatic descent; and the Negroes, reduced
to bondage in a distant land, have preserved from age to age
all the essential lineaments and characters distinctive of the
African family.
In the case of the domesticated quadrupeds, we find simi-
lar evidences of the wonderful permanence of characters once
acquired and imprinted on the animals. In certain breeds of
oxen and sheep, the animals retain from generation to gene-
ration their distinctive marks, the presence or absence of
horns, the length and peculiar bending of these appendages,
and even the minutest variations of colour, as spots of white
or black on certain parts of the body. We are made ac-
quainted with the peculiar colour of the horses of some of the
barbarous hordes that entered Italy when the empire fell,
as piebald and clouded; and the colour is yet preserved in
some of the races of modern Italy.
The degree of permanence of the acquired properties of
races may be supposed to bear some ratio to the time during
which an intermixture of blood has been continued amongst
2
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lxiii
the members of a common stock. When two animals of dis-
similar characters breed together, the progeny partake of the
properties of both parents. It is only by continued repro-
duction between their descendants, that a common class of
characters is acquired, and a true variety formed; and the
longer this successive reproduction and intermixture of blood
are carried on, the more permanent may the transmitted
characters be supposed to become.
It appears, too, that the nearer animals are allied in blood,
the more quickly is the similarity of characters distinctive of
a breed acquired. In the practice of English breeders, it has
not been uncommon to unite brothers with sisters, and pa-
rents with their direct progeny, and to carry on this system
for a long period. The physiological effect is remarkable,
not only producing more quickly that community of charac-
ters which constitutes a breed, but affecting the temperament
and constitution of the animals. Under this system long
continued, the animals manifest symptoms of degeneracy, as
if a violence had been done to their natural instincts. They
become, as it were, sooner old; the males lose their virile
aspect, and become at length incapable of propagating their
race, and the females lose the power of secreting milk in suf-
ficient quantity to nourish their young. These effects may
not for a time be very observable, but, by carrying on the
system sufficiently far, they never fail to manifest themselves.
Dogs continually reproduced from the same litter exhibit,
after a time, the aspect of feebleness and degeneracy. The
hair becomes scanty, or falls off, the size diminishes, the
limbs become slender, the eyes sunk, and all the characters
of early age present themselves. Hogs have been made
the subjects of similar experiments. After a few generations,
the victims manifest the change induced in the system. They
become of diminished size, the bristles are changed into hair,
the limbs become feeble and short, the litters diminish in
frequency and in the number of the young produced, the
mother becomes unable to nourish them, and, if the experi-
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGHOM.
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INTRODUCTION.
ment be carried as far as the case will allow, the feeble and
frequently monstrous offspring will be incapable of being
reared up, and thus the miserable race will utterly perish.
In the state of liberty these effects do not manifest them-
selves. The instincts of the animals, it may be believed,
cause them to choose the fitting mates for propagating their
own race. In man, the continued alliance of individuals too
near in blood, is prevented by conscience, and by feelings
which seem innate. In carnivorous quadrupeds, what we
term instinct supplies the place of judgment and reflection,
and the females make choice of certain males in preference
to others, by which means, it is to be believed, the race is
preserved from deterioration by unsuitable combinations. In
the case of the social herbivorous quadrupeds, the end is at-
tained by the males being possessed of the power and desire
to expel the feebler members of the herd during the season
of sexual intercourse. The bull, with his powerful neck,
possesses only short blunted horns, fitted, not to destroy his
rivals by shedding their blood, but to expel them for a time
from the herd. Thus he drives away the younger and feebler
members, until compelled in his turn to yield to younger
rivals. The ram is furnished with a thick forehead fitted for
butting, by which means he is enabled to stun, without de-
stroying, his rivals of the flock. In the deer tribes are pro-
duced, at the season of sexual desire, those huge antlers by
which the stronger males are enabled to terrify and subdue
the weaker; but these organs are temporary, and, after the
season of rutting, fall off, to be renewed at the fitting time
in the following year. By these and other means we are
entitled to infer that a natural provision is made against the
effects of unsuitable alliances of animals in the natural state.
It is only when in the state of absolute slavery, that we are
enabled to overcome the instinctive feelings of the animals
subjected to our power, and to compel them to relinquish, as
it were, their natural appetites. -
The characters which animals of the same species trans-
3
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lxv
mit to their descendants so as to constitute varieties, are, we
have seen, those of the body; but the mechanism of the
body reacts upon the mind, and faculties which we term
mental are therefore transmissive. No one can doubt that
instinct is due to the mechanism of the nerves, and that
even the higher attributes of reason are due to the develop-
ment of the nervous system in the brain. But we can ob-
tain, by breeding, animals with crania of different size and
form, and consequently, with brains of different capacity and
powers. Thus we can produce, by exercise, and by selection
of the parents, a dog, whose cranium shall be small and flat,
corresponding with the elongation of the muzzle, and who
shall possess different propensities from another, whose brain
being rounder, is larger, and who is enabled to exercise facul-
ties for our preservation and defence, which we cannot dis-
tinguish from reason.
The Hog, we have seen, communicates to his posterity,
along with his change of form, instincts and habits as diffe-
rent from those existing in the natural state as if he had be-
come a new species. From being a nocturnal animal, he has
acquired a desire to seek his food during the day, and, from
being solitary, he has become social, so that the male never,
in a state of the utmost liberty we allow him, separates from
his fellows of the herd. The subjugated birds convey to
their descendants a new set of habitudes and propensities:
they lose the once irresistible desire to retire in single pairs,
and bring up the young apart, and become entirely polyga-
mous. The greyhound, whose nose is small, and his body
fitted for rapid motion, conveys, with the conformation of
his organs, the desire of capturing his prey by speed alone.
A puppy greyhound will, the first time he springs a covey of
partridges, dash after them at speed; while the young pointer,
with the great development which has been communicated to
his nasal organ, will stand as if entranced, nay, if of a highly
cultivated breed, will couch upon the ground like the parents
e
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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lxvi
who had been disciplined to the act. The young terrier, the
first time he sees a rabbit, will track him to his burrow; the
young water-spaniel will strive to seize the objects which he
sees floating in the stream, though he has never before be-
held a rivulet; the young bull-dog will fly at the throat of
the first animal that assails him. The race-horse, to whom
we have communicated the conformation which suits him for
rapid motion, will manifest the fiery spirit proper to him, by
his mother's side, a few hours after birth. The Arabian
horse, with his broad and high forehead, indicating a larger
development of the brain, manifests a far superior sagacity
to the humbler horse of inferior lineage. Of the breeds of
the domestic sheep, some are acclimated in countries of heaths
and mountains, and some in the richer plains. Each has
acquired the conformation which suits him to these condi-
tions. If we take the mountain-lamb from its mother's teat
at the very birth, and bring it to the valley below, we shall
find it still, when grown to maturity, prefer the smaller
grasses, the wild thyme, and other plants of mountains, to
the richer herbage, and betake itself to the arid eminences
of its pasture-fields in preference to the sheltered hollows,
and communicate these desires to its offspring. Are not
such propensities as these mental, and the result of a con-
formation of the animal organs, and consequently transmis-
sive from the parents to the young? Thus, habits acquired
may assuredly be communicated from animal to animal. We
cannot indeed suppose that a young puppy would turn a spit,
or dance to a tune, because its parents had been taught to
do so, but we can suppose that if a race of dogs had been
compelled, from generation to generation, to dance and turn
spits, they would acquire the conformation which would suit
them to perform these offices; which would be nothing more
than one of innumerable examples of the progressive adap-
tation of the form of animals to the uses to which they are
habituated.
Even mutilation of the body may, in certain cases, produce
INTRODUCTION.
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
lxvii
partial changes of conformation, which, being communicated,
become permanent characters. If one organ is injured or
removed, a provision is frequently made to compensate the
loss. In some parts of Scotland it appears to have become
a practice to scoop out the horns of young cattle, on the sup-
position that the animals would become more quiet, and less
apt to attack or gore one another. It would appear that the
system of the animal tended to repair this injury by a larger
development of the bony ridge of the forehead, from which
the osseous nuclei of the horns proceed; and that this pro-
cess, carried on from generation to generation, became at
length a character, so that a hornless breed was produced.
There is a race of shepherds' dogs in this country, in which
it appears it had become a fashion to shorten the tails of
the animals. Now, a diminution of the caudal vertebræ may
produce a modification of the sacral in contact with them,
and thus a peculiar conformation be communicated to the
animals, which may become permanent by successive repro-
duction. Whether this be the origin of the peculiarity of
the race of dogs in question, cannot be determined; but it
is known, that when, from any cause, dogs are born destitute
of tails, the peculiarity may be communicated to their de-
scendants, and become permanent.*
Characters, then, of form, and of habits and instincts the
results of form, may be communicated from animals to their
progeny, and form Varieties, Races, or Breeds. We distin-
guish a species from a variety by this, that in the species.
we regard the modification of a higher or more general type,
namely, of a genus, tribe, or family; in the variety, the modi-
fication of a lower or less general type, namely, of a species.
But the variety is likewise the modification of the more gene-
* There is an authentic record, quoted by Dr James Anderson, of a cat
which was accidentally deprived of its tail when young. The kittens of this
animal were born without tails, which character their descendants retained as
long as they were kept free from intermixture with other breeds; and in the
Isle of Man, at this day, all the native cats have the tails short or rudimental.
$
+
lxviii
ral type, and there is, thus far, no distinction between the va-
riety and the species. It may be said, indeed, that the charac-
ters of the species are more lasting than those of the varie-
ty: but, unless we are to assume that the forms of animals are
immutable, this is a difference in degree and not in kind;
and a variety, therefore, does not differ in kind from a spe-
cies. It may readily be supposed, then, that with respect to
certain animals, questions may arise, whether they be species
or varieties. But if the only real difference between a spe-
cies and variety be, that the characters of the one are more
lasting than those of the other, innumerable cases must pre-
sent themselves, in which we cannot determine whether a
given animal be what we call a species or a variety. Yet
eager debates are continually carried on by naturalists whe-
ther certain animals are to be regarded as species, or as
varieties. Thus, the Common Wolf of America differs some-
what in aspect from the Wolf of Europe, and some natu-
ralists hold that he is specifically distinct; but all that we
can truly say is, that the wolf of Europe and the wolf of
America present varieties of that form which we term Wolf,
and our knowledge of the animal conducts us no further.
The Domesticated Dogs present greater varieties of form
and characters than many animals which are considered
to be specifically different. The question has arisen whe-
ther these dogs are of different species or of one species?
The resolution of the question, it is manifest, depends mainly
upon the meaning which we assign to our own terms. If we
are to include, under the same specific form, the long muzzle
and slender limbs of the Greyhound, and the short muzzle
and stout limbs of the Bull-dog, then the Greyhound and the
Bull-dog are of one species; if we hold that the elongated
muzzle and slender limbs of the one constitute a specific dis-
tinction, then the Greyhound and the Bull-dog are of different
species according to our definition.
But a species, it has been supposed, differs from a variety
in this, that while animals of different species will not breed
INTRODUCTION.
C
-
[
lxix
together and produce a fruitful progeny, varieties of the
same species will breed together, and produce a fruitful pro-
geny. We shall be able, perhaps, in the sequel, to shew the
fallacy of this rule, as it is applied to many animals. It is
true that observation shews that animals which diverge from
one another beyond certain limits do not breed together, or,
breeding together, do not produce a fruitful progeny; but it
is equally true, that animals may diverge from one another
beyond the limits of forms which we call specific, and yet
breed together. Many examples of this occur in the case of
the gallinaceous fowls which we rear in poultry-yards, and
of the little singing-birds brought up in cages; and in the
case of fishes, experiments, from the facility of fecundifying
the sperm, are easily made to shew that not only animals
so divergent as species, so called, but as genera, may be
made to produce a fertile progeny. The Sheep and the Goat
breed together, and produce a progeny as fruitful as the pa-
rents; yet the sheep and the goat are held to be distinct ge-
nera. They are distinct genera, indeed, according to our
classification, but it appears, from the effect, that they do
not diverge so much from one another in those characters
which enable animals to breed together, as to be incapable
of producing a common race; and so it will be seen, in the
sequel, it is with other animals reduced to the state of do-
mestication. In the natural state, indeed, unions of this
kind rarely take place, a provision having been apparently
made against their occurrence, in the habits and instincts of
the animals themselves. Species in the state of nature will
very rarely intermix; and even varieties, produced by arti-
ficial breeding, tend to preserve themselves unmixed, when
in a state of liberty. If a flock of Merino Sheep, consisting
of rams and ewes, be mixed together in the same field with
a similar flock of the Heath Sheep of Scotland, there will be
no mixture between them, the females of each selecting the
rams of its own variety. In Wales, there are two varieties
of Sheep, one of which inhabits the higher mountains, and
So
DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
+
!
·
I
lxx
the other a lower range; yet these sheep, though mingled in
the commons of the country for ages, preserve themselves
distinct; and even the female of the Dog, if left free to
choose her mate, will almost always make the selection of
one of her own kind, a greyhound of a greyhound, a terrier
of a terrier, and so on. Were not some natural provision of
this kind made, we might expect to meet innumerable hy-
bridal animals in the state of nature; for there can be no
reasonable doubt that many animals which we call distinct
species, are capable of breeding together, and producing a
fruitful offspring.
INTRODUCTION.
II. PROPERTIES OF EXTERNAL FORM.
The characters, in animals, of external form, may be com-
municated, it has been seen, from the parents to the young;
and upon the constancy of this effect may be said to be
founded the whole principle of what is termed Breeding,
whether pursued to the degree of forming distinct varieties,
or of merely communicating to individuals the peculiar cha-
racters which we desire them to possess. If we would form
a variety or breed, we must select the animals possessed of
the characters sought for, and, by breeding from the progeny,
endeavour to give permanence to the characters acquired.
If we wish to procure individual Horses possessing the fa-
culty of speed, we unite in blood those which possess, in the
requisite degree, the form and properties which we seek to
reproduce in the progeny; if we design to procure Horses
having the strength fitted for labour, and the exertion of their
powers in draught, we select the males and the females whose
external form indicates their adaptation to the uses required;
if we are to propagate animals for the production of muscle
and fat, we choose for the parents those whose conformation
indicates the faculty of soon arriving at maturity, and readily
assimilating nourishment.
A
EXTERNAL FORM.
Of the domesticated animals, that whose form and proper-
ties have excited the greatest observation and interest, is
the Horse, whether designed for the exercise of the powers
of speed, for the bearing of burdens and drawing of loads, or
for any other use to which he is adapted.
In the Horse, as in all the mammiferous animals, there is
the long chain of distinct bones termed vertebræ, which,
bound together by joints, cartilage, and ligaments, consti-
tute the vertebral or spinal column. Each vertebra has a
perforation through it, so that, when the whole vertebræ are
connected together, there is a continued canal passing along
the interior. Besides the perforation for forming this canal,
each vertebra has exterior projections, two lateral, termed
transverse processes, and one upwards, termed the spinous
process, the latter forming that sharp elevation of bones
which commences with the withers, and extends along the
back. At the anterior termination of the spinal column is
the cranium, connected with which are the jaws and other
bones of the face. The bones of the face consist of two divi-
sions, the first, the lower jaw in one large piece; the second,
the upper maxillary bones, and various other pieces united
together. In the sockets of the bones of both jaws are in-
serted the teeth. These consist of 6 incisor teeth in each
jaw, that is, of 12 incisors, or, as they are called, nippers; of
2 canine teeth or tusks in each jaw, one on each side of the
incisors, that is, of 4 canine teeth; and next to these, and
at a distance from them, of 6 molar or grinding teeth on both
sides of each jaw, that is, of 24 molar teeth in all. The dis-
position of the teeth, the organs of mastication, may be re-
presented thus:
N
Canine. Incisor.
1
6
6
lxxi
Canine.
1
1
Molar.
6
6
Molar.
6
6
1
Upper jaw,
Under jaw,
in all 40 teeth, the canine teeth being generally wanting in
the female.
The cranium is composed of ten distinct pieces, namely,
the two frontal bones which form the forehead, the temporal
**
lxxii
bones which lodge the internal organs of hearing, and others.
It forms a cavity separated from the chambers of the nose,
the eyes, and the mouth. Contained within it, and filling it,
is the Brain, the substance of which passes along the whole
vertebral column, and terminates in the upper vertebræ of
the tail, so that the spinal cord is a prolongation of the
nervous matter of the brain. Proceeding from the brain and
spinal cord, pass to the organs of the special senses, and to
every sensible part of the body, the fine cords termed Nerves,
made up of minute tubular filaments, each of which filaments
is finer than the spider's thread, and separately invisible to
the unassisted eye.
Next to the cranium are the cervical vertebræ, or bones of
the neck, in number 7; next to these are the dorsal vertebræ,
or bones of the back, 18 in number; next are the lumbar ver-
tebræ, or bones of the loins, 5 or 6 in number; next is the sa-
crum, so called, consisting of 5 vertebræ united together, and
forming a single piece; and last are the caudal vertebræ, or
bones of the tail, varying in number from 13 to 18.
In the following figure, 1 is the lower jaw, 2, 3, 4, 5, are
Fig. 1.
u
U
✔
d
P
INTRODUCTION.
d c
ASELZOR
MA
папилло
n
m
k
-78
+
h
7
lxxiii
the other bones of the face, bb the cervical vertebræ, c c the
dorsal vertebræ, dd the lumbar vertebræ, ee the sacral ver-
tebræ united into one piece, and ƒ is the caudal vertebræ or
bones of the tail.
EXTERNAL FORM.
With the vertebral column are connected, (1.) the ribs iii;
(2.) the scapula or shoulder-blade g; (3.) the bones of the pel-
vis p. With the shoulder-blade are connected the fore-limbs,
consisting, (1.) of the humerus or great bone of the shoulder
k; (2.) the fore-arm 7 m, of which m is the elbow; (3.) of the
bones of the carpus or knee n; (4.) of the cannon-bone or
shank o; and (5.) of the bones of the pastern and foot 6.
With the pelvis, p, are connected the bones of the posterior
limbs, namely, (1.) the femur or great bone of the thigh q;
(2.) the patella or stifle-bone r; (3.) the tibia or great bone
of the legs; (4.) the bones of the hock t; (5.) the cannon-
bone u; (6.) the bones of the pastern and foot 6.
It is from the dorsal vertebra, or bones of the back, that
the ribs proceed, forming hoops which enclose the chest and
a part of the abdomen. The number of dorsal vertebræ, and,
consequently, of ribs on each side, is eighteen, but sometimes
one, or even two more are developed. The ribs are mostly
connected by cartilaginous bands with the scapula or breast-
bone, of which the upper termination, h, appears in the figure.
The breast-bone, flat and of a spongy consistence, is formed
of several pieces united together, and is sometimes likened,
from its form, to the keel of a ship. The chest contains the
lungs and heart, and is separated by a muscular partition
from the abdomen, which contains the liver, the stomach,
the intestinal canal, the kidneys, and other organs.
The shoulder-blade or scapula g, of which there is one on
each side of the chest, is a flat triangular bone, with its nar-
row end pointing obliquely downwards. It is attached to
the chest by intervening muscles, and strengthened in its
position by other powerful muscles with which it is con-
nected.
Into a shallow cavity at the lower part of this bone, is in-
1
lxxiv
serted the humerus or bone of the shoulder. The humerus
corresponds with the bone of the same name in man, that is,
with the portion of the human arm which is between the
elbow and shoulder, but is so covered with muscles in the
horse, as to seem to form a part of the trunk. It is bent
downwards and backwards in a direction opposite to that of
the shoulder-blade, by which disposition the parts act like a
spring to lessen the effects of those terrible shocks which
they sustain, when, the animal being raised from the ground,
his weight is received upon his fore extremities. The head
of the humerus working in a very shallow cavity in the shoul-
der-blade, the bone has great freedom of motion. Its lower
extremity is fitted by a hinge-like joint into the next in
order of the bones of the limb, namely, the bone of the fore-
arm.
INTRODUCTION.
The bone of the fore-arm corresponds with that portion of
the human arm which is between the elbow and the wrist,
but the fore-arm, in the human subject, consists of two bones,
termed respectively radius and ulna. In the horse, there
were likewise two bones in the young state, but they became
joined together; though the ulnar portion, as in the figure,
is still to be distinguished projecting behind the upper part
of the fore-arm, and receiving the name elbow in the horse
as in man. To the elbow are attached powerful muscles,
for extending the limb; and its size is one of the points
looked to by jockeys, as indicative of what is termed action.
The part termed the knee in the horse corresponds with
the wrist of the human arm, and is for this reason termed
carpus. It is composed of seven, and sometimes of eight,
small bones. These bones serve for the attachment of
muscles, and for giving flexibility to the joint. By being
many, the weight is divided amongst them, and thus the ha-
zard of fracture or dislocation is lessened. They are sepa-
rated by elastic cartilage, bound firmly together by ligaments,
and kept constantly lubricated by a secreted liquid. They
form an exceedingly strong and perfect joint, scarcely subject
8
EXTERNAL FORM.
to dislocation of parts, although, being the farthest removed
from both extremities of the limb, they are at the part of it
most apt to be injured.
The next bones form what is termed the fore-leg of the
horse, which consists of three bones, namely, the large can-
non-bone, or shank, with the two smaller splint-bones, as
they are called, behind. The splint-bones extend downwards
for about two-third parts of the length of the principal bone,
with which they are united by a ligamentous matter. This
matter tends to become bone, and the ossification extending
beyond the point of union of the bones, there is formed the
bony tumour so common in the horse, Splint.
The last of the series of bones of the
limbs are those of the pastern and foot.
The uppermost of these, the upper pas-
tern, is jointed to the lower part of the
cannon-bone. Inferiorly it is jointed to
the lower pastern, or coronet-bone; and
the coronet-bone, again, is articulated
with the coffin-bone, which is of a soft
and spongy nature, and inclosed within
the horny covering of the hoof. These
several bones of the limb are more dis-
tinctly represented in the accompanying
figure, where s is the lower part of the
shoulder-blade, h the humerus, work-
ing, by its rounded head, into the socket
of the scapula, f the fore-arm, e the
elbow, c the carpus or knee, o the can-
non-bone, or shank, with its splint-bones.
behind 7, p the upper pastern, q the
lower pastern, or coronet-bone, r the
coffin-bone, x the hoof.
Besides the bones enumerated, there
are small bones, g, v, placed behind the
others, and acting somewhat in the manner of pulleys,
<
r
XC
h
Fig. 2.
f
TUNY
lxxv
V

lxxvi
namely, (1.) the sesamoid bones, g, behind the joint commonly
termed the fetlock; and, (2.) the navicular bone, v, placed
behind the common joint of the coronet and coffin bones.
Over these small bones pass, from the cannon-bone, a liga-
ment and tendons, which, being connected with the bones
of the foot, give surpassing elasticity combined with strength,
to these parts. In the an-
nexed section of the foot, L
is the ligament, T the ten-
dons, and N the navicular
bone. The hoof, by which
the foot is covered, is of a
substance tough and elastic
in an eminent degree.
Fig. 3.
INTRODUCTION.
Directing attention to the
hinder part of the vertebral
column, Fig. 1, there is the
pelvis, p, formed by two large
bones, one on each side of
T
N
-L
the spine, and firmly united to it. The upper part of each
pelvic bone, termed the ilium, forms the haunch-bone, or
hip-bone; and into a cavity in the lower part of the same
bone is inserted the round head of the first of the bones of
the posterior limbs, namely, the femur, q, or great bone of
the thigh. The femur is not vertical, like the thigh-bone in
man, but it has an oblique direction from behind forward.
It corresponds with the thigh-bone in man, but being covered,
in the horse, with the thick muscles employed in moving it,
it appears to be a part of the trunk. The size of this bone
is connected, in an important degree, with the power of pro-
gression of the animal; for, being extended backwards by
the action of the muscles, while the foot remains fixed, it
forces the body forward.
In front of the lower extremity of the femur is the patella,
or stifle-bone, r, which corresponds with the pan of the knee
in man. It is one of the class of bones termed sesamoid, and
lxxvii.
is designed for the attachment, and passing over it, of ten-
dons of muscles.
EXTERNAL FORM.
Jointed to the lower part of the femur is the tibia, or great
bone of the leg, connected with which, by ligamentous mat-
ter, is the small bone termed the fibula. These two bones
form properly the leg of the horse; but they are, in popular
language, termed the thigh, although they correspond, not
with the bone of the thigh in the human species, but with the
leg.
Fig. 4.
Next to these bones are those of the hock, which corre-
spond with the bones of the ankle or instep in man; and on
one of them the tibia works by means of a hinge joint. They
are six in number, and one of them, corresponding with the
great bone of the heel in man, pro-
jects backwards, and has powerful
muscles for extending the limb in-
serted into its extremity, so that it
acts as a strong lever in aiding the
forward motion of the animal; and,
as in the fore extremities we look to
the size of the elbow as a point to
be regarded, so, in the posterior
limbs, we look to the size of the
bone of the heel.
The next bones below correspond
entirely with those of the fore extre-
mity. They are, (1.) the cannon-
bone, or shank, with the two splint-
bones attached; (2.) the pastern ;
(3.) the coronet bone; (4.) the cof-
fin bone, with the sesamoid and na-
vicular bones, as in the fore extre-
mities. These several bones of the
hinder limb are represented in the e
annexed figure, where p p are a part
of one of the pelvic bones, q the femur, r the stifle bone,
X
Camping
q
W
20
ע.
1
*
B+ />
lxxviii
7 the leg, formed of the two bones tibia and fibula, h the
hock, whereof c is the bone of the heel, u the cannon-bone,
with its splint bones g, f the upper pastern, d the lower pas-
tern, e the coffin bone, t the sesamoid bones, v the navicular
bone, the hoof.
X
INTRODUCTION.
This chain of bones being extended, performs the functions
of a lever in moving forward the body, the foot fixed to the
ground being the fulcrum. In like manner, the other move-
ments of the animal are performed by the flexure and exten-
sion of the bones, thus-
(
Fig. 5.
RE/MAX
C
INMAAK
VTTOMIA FEMENIN
It is by means of the muscular forces that all the flexure
of the bones, and movements of the other parts, are performed.
The muscles constitute the greater part of all the solid matter
of the body, forming the flesh of the animal, and entering
into the composition of vessels, ducts, and sacs within the
虞
​4

'
body. They are possessed of the property of contracting
under the influence of the will, and often independently of
it, and, by this contraction, of producing motion in the parts
with which they are connected; and all the movements of
animals, from the smallest inflexion of the voice to the most
extended motions of the limbs, are produced by the contrac-
tile power of these organs. When they are to give motion
to bones, the fleshy part terminates in tendons, which are
attached like ropes or cords to the parts to be moved. The
muscles of the horse, as of other animals, may be divided
into classes, according to the functions which they have to
perform, or the parts of the body to which they pertain.*
Fig. 6.
y
t'
EXTERNAL FORM.
a
W
b
cc
R
T-
n
The muscles belonging to the head are numerous. They
*The figure represents the principal external muscles, namely,
Dilatator Naris Lateralis.
Nasalis Longus Labii Superioris.
Levator Labii Superioris Alæque Nasi.
lxxix
I
f
lxxx
d
e
ƒ
I
h
i
k
τ
ι
po
are thin on the external parts of the face and cranium, so
that the head of the animal may be said to be nearly of the
form indicated by the bones which compose it.
112
n
น
บ บ
0
p
g
Trapezius.
Complexus Major.
Splenius.
ተ
s and e é Serratus Magnus.
é
t
Pectoralis Magnus.
Latissimus Dorsi.
น
x x
z z
b'b'
c'c'c'
ď ď
ƒ
g
h
i
k' 'm'
n'
Ó
p
g
2
s' 8'
{
ť
u'
v
w
x
y
22.
INTRODUCTION.
}
Orbicularis Oris.
Levator Menti.
Zygomaticus.
Depressor Labii Inferioris.
Masseter.
Orbicularis Palpebrarum.
Levator Palpebræ Superioris.
Attollentes et Adducentes
Retrahentes et Abducentes
Sterno-Maxillaris.
}
Subscapulo-Hyoideus.
Levator Humeri.
Pectoralis Parvus.
Triceps Extensor Brachii.
Flexor Brachii.
May
Extensor Metacarpi Magnus.
Extensor Pedis.
Obliquus Externus Abdominis (rolled up to shew the
muscle beneath).
Obliquus Internus Abdominis.
Gluteus Externus.
Gluteus Maximus.
Adductor Tibialis.
Biceps Abductor Femoris.
Vastus Externus.
Antea-Spinatus.
Postea-Spinatus.
Teres Minor.
Aurem.
7
5
Flexor Metacarpi Externus.
Extensor Suffraginis.
Lumbrici, Anterior et Posterior.
Extensor Pedis.
Peroneus.
Gastrocnemius Externus.
Plantaris.
Flexor Pedis,
Extensor Metacarpi Obliquus vel Parvus.
Flexor Pedis Accessorius.
5.
lxxxi
The movements of the external ear are effected by a set of
small muscles in contact with them on the upper part of the
head. By their means the external ear is erected, depressed,
or rotated, so that it may collect the sounds as they come
from different points; and the spirit and temper of the ani-
mal may frequently be judged of by the movements of these
organs.
EXTERNAL FORM.
Various muscles are employed in the movement of the eyes
and eyelids. Some of them are within the sockets, and vary
the position of the globe, so as to suit the relative position
of external objects.
A set of muscles are connected with the movements of
the jaws, the mouth, and the nostrils. These cover the
maxillary bones, form the cheeks, and, stretching to a circu-
lar muscle which surrounds the mouth, form the lips. By
means of these muscles the jaws are moved upon one another
with great force, the nostrils are dilated to admit the air into
the trachea, and the varied movements of the lips are pro-
duced. In the horse of high breeding the nostrils are dilated,
and the muzzle is delicate.
Another numerous class of muscles, which are internal,
are connected with the varied movements of the tongue.
They produce the actions connected with deglutition, and the
inflexions of the voice.
The bones of the neck are enveloped in a vast mass of
muscles, subservient to the numerous motions of the head
and neck. They stretch from the head to the chest, and their
expansion therefore indicates power of the fore-extremities."
The chest and abdomen are covered with muscles, several
of them flat, and expanded over a large surface. Some lie
beneath the shoulder-blade, and are otherwise connected with
it, retaining it in its place, and, aided by several muscles of
the neck, producing those changes of position which are re-
quired by the motions of the fore-limbs. Along the back
extend very powerful muscles, producing the necessary flexure
of the back; and some pass along the inner side of the ver-
f
•
:
lxxxii
tebral column, acting upon the pelvis and thighs; and a
set extending backwards cause the motions of the tail and
other parts. The ribs are connected together, and moved,
by numerous muscles passing between them; and the abdo-
men is covered by flat tendinous muscles, which support
the contained viscera. The diaphragm, extending within
the trunk from the spine to the breast-bone, separates the
cavities of the chest and abdomen. The hinder extremities,
which are the main instruments of progression, are moved
by muscles of prodigious force, connected with the spine,
sacrum, and bones of the pelvis, giving motion to the thigh
and leg. One set is employed in bending the limb under
the body, another in extending it backwards. The muscles
which extend downward to move the lower part of the limb,
become tendinous as they descend, until, having reached the
hock, they are almost wholly tendinous. By this mechanism
the various pieces of the limb are either flexed or extended,
without loading with muscle the parts to be pulled.
The fore extremities are moved by a series of muscles at-
tached to the shoulder-blade, and by others, extending from
the higher parts of the limb downwards. These last, like
the muscles of the hinder extremity, become tendinous down-
wards, until, at and below the knee, they are almost wholly
tendinous. They are distinguished into those which extend
the humerus and other pieces of the limb forwards, and
those which bend them backwards. The parts of the limb
being extended, and at the same time bent, the limbs clear
the ground, when the animal is propelled forwards. In
order that they may be raised sufficiently to clear the ground,
and move in harmony with the hinder limbs, there must be
a peculiar adaptation of parts, and fitting strength of muscle.
The due performance of these functions constitutes chiefly
what is termed action in the horse, and we judge essentially
of his safety and usefulness from the form and movements
of his fore-extremities.
The horse, when we regard him in profile, is compre-
INTRODUCTION.
-
lxxxiii
hended, abstracting from the neck and head, within a square,
the limbs occupying somewhat more than one-half.
EXTERNAL FORM.
Fig. 7.
Jus
Were the limbs to occupy too large a proportion of the
square, the horse might be full of mettle, and possessed of
great power of speed, but he would be wanting in the power
of endurance necessary to suit him for useful services. A
certain depth of chest and body is required in every horse
from which we look for continued labour. This is essential
in the horse of heavy draught, the hackney, the ordinary
saddle-horse, and the hunter. A horse having this conforma-
tion is said to be short-legged. A length of the limbs dis-
proportionate to the depth of chest and trunk, is only admis-
sible in the case of the race-horse, in which the property of
speed is alone regarded. In an ordinary horse, the charac-
ter of too long legs is universally regarded as a defect. Such
a horse, whatever spirit he may possess, is easily tired, and,
after severe exercise, is frequently unable to take his food.
He is subject to be purged often by a draught of cold water,
lxxxiv
or a quick gallop. Such horses are familiarly said to be
light in the carcass, to stand high in the legs, and so forth.
A section of the chest of the horse, at its commencement
at the breast, approaches to an oval form, and, proceeding
from the first rib backwards, it enlarges in capacity in both
directions. This progressive enlargement should go on to
behind the shoulders, where the depth, and consequently the
girth, should be relatively large. This conformation shews
that there is due space for the action of the respiratory or-
gans; and, it may be said, that no horse will be found pos-
sessed of health and endurance without a sufficient depth of
chest.
INTRODUCTION.
But an enlargement of the chest may take place by means
of increase in width as well as in depth. When, how-
ever, the chest approaches too much to the circular at the
breast and shoulders, it deviates from the form adapted to
speed and action. A cart-horse may possess a circular
breast, and this class of horses have always more or less of
this character; but we desire to see the chest deep as well
as broad. If the breast be very wide, the fore-limbs will be
placed far asunder. But this is a disposition of parts which,
though fitted for physical force, is not so for speed, and the
power of active motion. Independently of the too great
weight before the limbs, which renders the horse too heavy
before, the further evil results, that a straddling motion is
communicated to the animal in the gallop, which is alto-
gether unfavourable to the exercise of this movement. The
fore-limbs, therefore, must not be too far asunder, by the ex-
tension of the chest in width at the breast. In other quad-
rupeds possessed of great powers of speed, we invariably
find that the fore-limbs are somewhat close together, as in
the case of the greyhound as compared with the mastiff
amongst dogs, and in the case of the deer as compared
with the sheep amongst ruminating animals; but yet a
certain lateral expansion of chest is connected with physi-
EXTERNAL FORM.
{
t
lxxxv
cal strength, health, and the property of readily assimilating
nourishment. In the case of the horse employed entirely in
slow labour, the possession of a round wide breast is not only
of no detriment, but it is a property to be desired. A cer-
tain width of breast is desirable, but in a less degree, in
the hackney and common saddle-horse, in which the power
of speed is held to be secondary to other properties. In
the hunter it should exist to a medium extent, and it is
only in the race-horse that we can afford to regard it as
a secondary property; yet even in the race-horse, although
too great a width of breast is to be deprecated as utterly
unsuited to his destination, we still desire to see the chest
expand gradually to behind the shoulders, so that its capa-
city shall be sufficient for the action of the respiratory organs.
The ribs, rising from the vertebræ of the back, increase in
length until the ninth, and in curvature to the last, so that
the body gradually passes from the elliptical form, and be-
comes nearly circular. The ribs should possess the proper
degree of curvature, so that the sides shall not be flat, and
the body narrow. A horse having the body narrow is said to
be flat-sided, and has frequently the belly pendent, because the
abdominal viscera have not sufficient space laterally. Such
a horse never possesses endurance, and rarely good action.
The head of the horse should be symmetrical, and rather
small than large, a large head not conducing to any pur-
poses of active motion, and frequently indicating sluggish-
ness of temper, and coarseness in other parts. Yet the
mere difference in the size of heads of horses of the same
race is not a very important character, and, other points
being good, may be disregarded. A certain breadth and
height of forehead, however, indicates the horse of high
breeding, and may be supposed to be connected with greater
sagacity and spirit.
The ears should be free from coarseness. The spirit of
the animal is judged of by these parts being pointed, and
1
lxxxvi
INTRODUCTION.
frequently erect. He manifests momentary irritation, or ha-
bitual ill temper, by retracting them firmly backwards; but
often this is done in play, or when he is tickled in the skin.
The ears of certain horses hang habitually down, as if the
muscles wanted power to sustain them. Such horses are
termed "lob-eared." They are sometimes good and endur-
ing; but, for the most part, the character indicates a slug-
gish temperament.
The eyelids should be thin, and the eyes large, and some-
what prominent, as expressive of vigour and spirit. When
the eyes are sunk in the sockets, and the surrounding muscles
are thick, the horse is said to be "pig-eyed." When the
horse is apt to shew much of the white of the eye, his tem-
per may be suspected; though, in some cases, the white or
sclerotic portion is large in proportion to the coloured or
corneous, and then its habitual appearance does not neces-
sarily indicate badness of temper,
The profile of the face should be nearly straight. When
it is concave, there is often a defect of temper; when con-
vex, the animal is usually good-tempered, and may possess
useful properties. But yet the latter conformation is not of
itself to be desired. A horse possessing it is familiarly said
to be "Roman-nosed." Many excellent horses possess this
character, which is, therefore, to be regarded as trivial, when
the other points are good.
The nostrils should be expansive, and not thick and nar-
row. The horse breathes through the nostrils, and the power
of expanding these cavities is connected with his power of
filling the lungs with air, and, consequently, with the pro-
perty of speed. All horses having the power of rapid motion
have expanded nostrils; and there is, perhaps, no example
of narrow nostrils in combination with the property of rapid
progression. The lips should be thin, and the mouth exter-
nally of some depth, characters which render the horse sen-
sible to the guidance of the rein; whereas thick, short, and
·
D
lxxxvii
coarse lips, indicate a dulness of feeling in the parts, and
are only tolerable in the horse employed in labour.
The muscles which cover the face should be distinctly
marked, and not loaded with integument and fat: The su-
perficial bloodvessels should be distinct, and somewhat pro-
minent.
EXTERNAL FORM.
The windpipe should be prominent and large. The bones
of the lower jaw should be thin, and the branches between
which the windpipe passes should be sufficiently wide; for,
otherwise, the horse will be incommoded when reined up,
and will be apt, accordingly, to bore upon the hand.
The neck should be of medium symmetrical length. A
too great length of neck unnecessarily loads the fore-extre-
mities, while a too short one renders the horse unapt to the
guidance of the rein, incapable of easy flexure of the body,
ungraceful, slow, and often unsafe. All horses possessed of
much speed have the neck somewhat long; and, comparing
the two kinds of conformation, it is better that the neck
shall approach to the extreme of length than of shortness.
The bones of the neck are covered by powerful muscles
connected with the motions of the head and fore-arm. Pro-
ceeding from the head, the muscles should progressively in-
crease in volume to the breast, where a want of muscular ex-
pansion indicates a want of action. The upper part of the
neck, formed of the splenius and other muscles, frequently
termed the crest, should be sufficiently, but not excessively,
developed. Considerable elevation of the crest is connected
with high and powerful action; but its excessive expansion
has relation to vigour of the fore extremities rather than to
speed, and hence, in the race-horse, the crest is' compara-
tively thin. But the character is not inconsistent with the
power of rapid motion. The Flying Childers, one of the
fleetest horses,that ever was upon the English turf, had the
crest remarkably large.
The neck should be somewhat arched or convex, a charac-
-
---
*
lxxxviii
INTRODUCTION.
ter depending, in part, upon the obliquity of the shoulder;
but when mere speed is regarded, the neck may be straight,
or even concave above. The latter conformation forms what
is termed the "ewe-neck." It renders the horse unapt to
the guidance of the rein, uneasy to the rider, and unsafe;
but may exist in the class of horses in which speed alone is
sought for. Many excellent race-horses have exhibited this
conformation, which is that likewise of the deer and other
swift-footed ruminants.
The back consists of the dorsal and lumbar vertebræ, with
the powerful muscles covering the parts. It commences
with the elevated ridge formed by the spinous processes of
the first dorsal vertebræ, termed withers, and familiarly
known as the part between the pommel of the saddle and the
termination of the mane. Elevation of withers is connected
with the vigorous movement of the fore-extremities, and is,
consequently, indicative of action. All jockeys look to the
height of the shoulder, which is indicated by the elevation
of the withers, as a point connected with usefulness and
safety in the saddle-horse; and dealers, accordingly, usually
seek to exaggerate the height of the horse before, by placing
him, when he is to be examined, with his fore-feet on the
higher ground. Great elevation of the withers, however, is
more connected with good action than extreme speed; and
in the race-horse it is regarded as a secondary character.
A great proportion of the horses distinguished on the turf
have the withers of moderate height. In Eclipse, whose
form has been minutely scrutinized, the withers were very
low; and the same conformation is observed in other species
of animals fitted for great speed. But although the power
of speed is connected with another class of properties than
elevation of the withers, yet the latter character is never to
be disregarded, when we look to utility and safety in the
saddle-horse. It gives not only grace to the animal, but a
sense of ease and security to the rider. When the withers
lxxxix
are low, the saddle bears upon the shoulder, and the rider
neither feels nor possesses that security which the elevated
shoulder gives. The horse of this form, however suited for
direct progression, is rarely well adapted to quick turnings,
and the other movements which we seek to communicate by
education. The want of space for the attachment of the
muscles of the neck, if compensated at all, must be so by an
enlargement of the muscles themselves, which renders the
shoulders thick, and what is called "cloddy." Cloddy shoul-
ders, indeed, are not inconsistent with good properties in the
saddle-horse; but the far greater presumption is, that they
will have the effect of rendering him heavy before, unplea-
sant to the rider, and unsafe. They are not even absolutely
inconsistent with great speed, though their existence is' ad-
verse to the expectation of this character. In Eclipse, the
shoulder was cloddy in a remarkable degree, but this proves
only that one defect may be counterbalanced by great excel-
lencies, as was the case in this remarkable horse, whose obli-
quity of shoulder, and vast expansion of the posterior extre-
mities, were sufficient to produce his surpassing powers of
progression, without our being allowed to infer that those
powers would have been less, had the spinous processes been
increased, and the muscular substance attached to them di-
minished.
EXTERNAL FORM.
The dorsal and lumbar vertebræ, with the muscles cover-
ing them, form the back. Debates have sometimes taken
place regarding the proper length of this part. But the pro-
portion of this, as of other parts of the frame, is not subject
to any definite rule. A short back, like a short rod, is more
strong than one of the same substance which is extended in
length. A short back, in the horse, indicates strength and
capability of bearing the burden of the rider. Further, it
indicates hardiness of constitution, the power of supporting
fatigue, and the property of subsisting on a small quantity
of food. When we seek, then, for a horse, as the road-horse
J
2
:
1.
1.
xc
INTRODUCTION.
and hackney, in which strength and endurance of long fatigue
are regarded as essential properties, a short back, like short
limbs, indicates that the animal is suited to our purposes.
But a horse whose back is short, is less easy in its paces,
shorter in its step, and slower in its motions, than one which
has a longer back; and when we regard speed, a certain
length of back is necessary to suit the longer stride which
rapid progression demands. The property of shortness of
back, therefore, is disregarded in the race-horse; but we
may say that a medium length of back, tending to the short,
is to be desired in horses where a reasonable degree of speed
is to be combined with strength, that is, in all ordinary
horses employed for the saddle, not excepting the hunter,
and even, though in a less degree, in the horse employed in
the lighter vehicles in harness. In a horse whose back is
short, the last of the ribs is brought nearer to the pelvis.
Such a horse is said to be "well-ribbed home," and this
point is looked to by jockeys, as characteristic of hardiness
and good constitution.
The back of the horse sometimes declines considerably
from the withers, forming a concavity or hollow. This form
produces easy motion of the rider, but it is not consistent
with strength and the best position of the parts in other re-
spects. Even when we look for a certain length of back, as
in the horse designed for rapid motion, we should see that it
is straight as an indication of strength. In certain cases,
the back is convex, and not hollow. A horse thus formed is
said to be "roach-backed;" but when this conformation
exists, the horse is uneasy in all its motions, awkward in his
paces, slow, and unapt to turn, and bend himself to the move-
ments which we seek to communicate by training.
The lumbar portion of the back should be broad, which is
the result of the lateral extension of the transverse pro-
cesses of the lumbar vertebræ. This conformation indicates,
in all cases, strength, is not inconsistent with speed, but con-
+4
EXTERNAL FORM.
xci
ducive to it, and therefore is to be desired in horses of every
kind. One may see well the advantages of this form from
the coach-box of our heavily-loaded public vehicles, where
animals of different conformation are yoked together. While
the narrow-loined horses will be seen to be suffering from
the combined effects of the rapid pace and heavy load, the
broad-loined horses will be observed performing their task
with comparative facility.
With the sacrum commences the part of the horse termed
the haunch or quarter, which extends from the sacrum back-
wards to the tail, and downwards so far as the larger muscles
extend. The upper line of the haunch formed by the sacrum,
and part of the caudal vertebræ, is usually termed the croup.
The croup has a natural convexity, forming a kind of arch.
In certain horses, the croup is much elevated. But this con-
formation is not to be desired: it is a usual accompaniment
of the hollow back, and is less favourable to speed than if
the parts were extended in length rather than in curvature.
In other cases, in place of an elevation, the croup suddenly
declines to the tail. This conformation is ungraceful, inju-
rious to the breeding-mare by diminishing the size of the
pelvis, and less favourable to progression than a horizontal
extension of the part. In the highly-bred horse, the croup
is so gently curved as to appear nearly straight; and this is
the form which may be regarded as the most symmetrical
and perfect. In the larger horses employed for labour, the
croup is never so straight as in the horses of superior breed-
ing; but even in them, it is desirable to see an approach to
the more perfect conformation.
The main indications of the power of progression in the
horse, as in all swift-footed quadrupeds, are afforded by the
posterior extremities, which contain the bones, whose exten-
sion backwards, when the foot is placed on the ground, forces
the animal forward. We look, therefore, as an essential
character in horses of every kind, to the expansion in every
direction of the haunch or quarter, understanding by these
xcii
terms the bones of the pelvis and femur, together with the
muscles which cover or are attached to them.
INTRODUCTION.
The upper or iliac portion of the pelvis, commonly termed
the haunch-bone, projects more or less outward. To this
part large muscles are attached, subservient to the move-
ments of the posterior limbs. The haunch-bone should,
therefore, be relatively large, and even an apparent coarse-
ness of it may be tolerated. A horse in which the projection
is so great as to appear unsymmetrical, is said to be "ragged
in the hips." It is not, however, to be desired that the part
shall be ragged, as it is called, but simply that the width of
the haunch, measured over the iliac protuberances of the
pelvis, shall be large, as indicating the lateral expansion of
the haunch.
The pelvis and femur form an angle with one another, and
by the forcible extension of the latter backwards by the
action of the muscles, the main spring is given by which the
body of the animal is urged forward. Hence will appear the
advantage of an increased length of the femur, by which the
means are afforded of giving a large sweep or spring, when
it is extended by the action of the muscles. Further, the
length of the femur is indicated externally by the length of
the haunch, measured from the haunch-bone backwards; and
hence it is, that length of haunch in this direction is charac-
teristic of the power of progression of the horse. Further,
as the movements of the posterior limbs must be performed
by muscles of great power, we desire that the muscles of the
haunch shall be of sufficient volume. This, too, is indicated
to the eye by the expansion of the haunch in its different
directions.
In the English race-horse, the character of a large quarter
is developed in a greater degree than in any other known
race of horses. And not in the horse only, but in all swift-
footed quadrupeds, the power of rapid motion has an inti-
mate relation with the expansion of the posterior extremity.
In the greyhound, which is the fleetest of all the races of
EXTERNAL FORM.
cxiii
dogs, the haunch is large and high, as compared with the
shoulder. The same character is seen in the deer and ante-
lope tribes; and yet more in the hare, an animal whose
swiftness far surpasses that of the horse, the greyhound, or
the antelope, when the relative size of the animals is taken
into account.
Important points in the conformation of the horse are the
form of the limbs, and their disposition with relation to the
parts with which they are connected.
The humerus, it has been seen, works into a shallow cavity
in the scapula; and, moving forward on this point as a pivot
it describes an arc of a circle, so that the limb is raised above
the ground. To admit of this action being performed with
the required facility, the scapula should have considerable
obliquity, rendering the shoulder what is termed oblique.
Further, the humerus should be relatively short, because its
function being to move in a circle, the same arc will be de-
scribed by a smaller radius as by a larger, and this with less
displacement of the parts. Further, when the humerus is
too long, the breast is placed too far in front of the fore-
limbs, and thus the horse is rendered heavy before.
The next bones of the limb, forming the bones of the fore-
arm, should be somewhat long relatively to the cannon bone
below, for the fore-arm being muscular, while the parts lower
down are tendinous, its length increases the volume, and,
consequently, the power of the muscles subservient to the
movements of the limb. Further, the muscles of the fore-
arm should be well developed down to the carpus or knee.
The elbow or ulnar part of the fore-arm should be long,
so as to be adapted to its function of moving the arm, which
it does in the manner of a lever. A good size of the elbow
is, accordingly, regarded by jockeys as one of the points con-
nected with action in the horse.
The bones of the carpus or knee should be sufficiently large
for the attachment of muscles, so that the knee shall appear
broad when seen from the front.
A
<+
1
xciv
INTRODUCTION.
The cannon bone must be of sufficient strength, but its
thickness will vary with race, being greater in the breeds of
larger horses than the more delicate and higher bred, whose
bones are more dense than those of horses of inferior breeding.
When viewed from the side, the limb should appear compara-
tively broad in any kind of horses, indicating the size of the
sesamoid bones behind, and the sufficiency of space for the
tendons and ligaments connected with the pastern and foot.
The pastern, formed of the upper and lower pastern bones,
should be more oblique and long in proportion as the animal
is destined for more rapid movements. In the race-horse
they are peculiarly long and oblique, affording a more yield-
ing spring to the animal when at speed. But a medium
length and inclination only is suited to the horse in which
strength is to be combined with ordinary powers of speed,
as in the saddle-horse and lighter carriage-horse. When the
parts are too short and upright, the animal becomes unsafe
for the saddle, and unsuited for the exercise of even common
speed; and it is only in the horse employed in slow and
heavy labour that a short and upright pastern is an admis-
sible character.
The hoof should be well formed, and of symmetrical size.
Its colour will depend upon that of the integument, but it is
better that it be dark in colour than light.
On the suitable conformation of the shoulder and fore-
limbs depends the property of what is termed action, which
consists in a ready elevation and flexure of the fore extremi-
ties. This property is less regarded in the race-horse, in
which it is only required to the degree that the horse shall
have the power to clear the level surface over which his
powers of speed are exercised; but in all the classes of horses
which undergo continued fatigue, and bear the burden of a
rider, good action is an essential property.
In the hinder limbs, which are designed essentially for
progression, is the femur, which, for the reasons before
given, should be relatively long. The tibia or leg proper
3
·
î
EXTERNAL FORM.
XCV
should, for the same reasons, be long with relation to the
part below the hock, and the muscles which cover it should
be well developed. The patella or stifle bone should be of
good size. The hock should be large, indicating an adequate
extent of surface in the bones which compose it. When seen
from the side it should appear to the eye broad, and the os
calcis, or great bone of the heel, should be long, to adapt it
to its function of a lever in extending the limb backwards.
To the cannon bone, the pastern, and the foot, the same re-
marks apply as to those of the fore-extremities.
The aspect of horses must greatly vary with size, and the
conformation acquired either naturally or by artificial breed-
ing. Whatever be the race, those characters should be cul-
tivated in the individual which adapt them to the uses to
which they are especially destined, whether for the course,
the chase, the ordinary uses of the horseman, or the duties
of heavier labour. The following figures will exhibit the
contrast between animals destined for different uses, yet each
exhibiting the characters proper to its own condition. The
one is an outline of a race-horse, Charles XII., the other of
a dray-horse of the old English Black Breed:-
Fig. 8.
{
*
1
4
3
xcvi
INTRODUCTION.
Fig. 9.
In the case of the Horse, we have considered the proper-
ties of external form, which we seek to communicate to an
animal whose physical powers we call forth for particular
ends. But other kinds of animals are destined for other
uses, and each has a conformation proper to itself, and in
them we endeavour to produce a class of characters depen-
dent upon their own nature and our purposes in rearing
them. Amongst these animals, the Ox, the Sheep, the Goat,
and the Hog, are domesticated chiefly for the purpose of pro-
ducing human food and clothing, but, above all, for the pro-
duction of food, either the flesh of the animals themselves,
or the milk of the females, produced for the nourishment of
their young.
The characters indicative of the faculties best
suited for these different purposes differ in the different
species. But there are certain characters common to all of
them, which indicate in a greater or less degree their adap-
tation to the production of flesh or muscle, which, along with
the fatty secretion, constitutes food.
The muscular tissue or flesh consists of a series of fine
tubular fibres or threads. These fibres united form fasciculi,
7
xcvii
or bundles of fibres, which, again, being united, form larger
fasciculi. These fibres and fasciculi are separated by a fine
intervening tissue of cells, in which is secreted the oily sub-
stance, fat. This latter substance is intermingled with the
muscular or fleshy tissue, and is found in large quantity be-
neath the skin and in the muscular tissue connected with it,
and surrounds, or is intermingled with, the various viscera
within the body, as the intestines, the heart, the kidneys, and
other organs. It affords nourishment to the system, is ex-
hausted when the animal is deprived of food, and increases
largely in quantity when abundant sustenance is supplied.
The muscular tissue or flesh grows with the animal, and
is essential to its existence and power of motion. When it
arrives at its full growth, little further addition can be made
to it by means of food. But it is otherwise with the fatty
matter which surrounds and is intermingled with its sub-
stance. When the food which the animal assimilates by the
action of its organs is no longer needed to form muscle and
bone, it produces fat; the muscles become enlarged, and the
integuments extended, and the accumulation of fat takes place
in great quantity within the trunk. By merely feeding an ani-
mal, we may not have the power of increasing its muscular
substance, but we have a great power over the increase of the
fatty matter, which, along with the fleshy fibre, forms food.
Now, a certain set of characters indicates in all the ani-
mals enumerated the property of arriving speedily at ma-
turity of bone and muscle, and of readily secreting fat. As
the property of quickly assimilating nourishment depends on
the action of the digestive and respiratory organs, so it has
been inferred that a large chest for containing the organs of
respiration, and a capacious trunk for containing the stomach
and other viscera employed in digestion, are connected with
the property of easy digestion and assimilation. But what-
ever be the causes assigned, experience shews that, in every
case of a healthy animal, the property of fattening quickly
is combined with a capacious body. Further, as an indica-
tion of the property of secreting fat, we find an absence of
EXTERNAL FORM.
'
•
:
·
4
9
xcviii
INTRODUCTION.
thickness or coarseness, as it is termed, of the bones of the
extremities, as of the head, limbs, and caudal vertebræ or
tail. A thick and large head, massy limbs below the hock
and knee, and a thick tail, may indicate strength and large
muscles; but they do not manifest that peculiar delicacy of
form which experience shews to exist in an animal that can
be fattened with facility.
Besides those indications of a tendency to fatten readily,
which are exhibited by the conformation of the animal, there is
one of essential importance indicated by the touch. The skin
is found to be soft, and, as it were, expansive. This property
differs from mere thinness of the integuments, which, as in-
dicative of want of hardiness, would be regarded as a defect.
It is a softness combined with elasticity, conveying the idea
of a fine membrane spread over a soft cushion. The differ-
ence between the mellow feel, as it has been termed, of an
animal which fattens readily, and the hard inexpansive skin
of an animal which does not possess this property, is readily
discriminated.
These characters, the broad chest and expanded trunk,
the fineness of the bones of the extremities, and the soft ex-
pansive integuments,-have been found indications of the
property of secreting the fatty tissue in all the animals which
we domesticate. They extend to the horse, the rabbit, the
domesticated fowls, and even to the dog, nay, it is believed,,
to the human species. In the most numerous kennel of
hounds, we should have little difficulty in pointing out, by
means of the wide chests, the round bodies, and soft skins,
all the individuals which became the most quickly fattened
by the food consumed by them.
The Horse may, for the uses for which we design him, be
too much loaded with muscle and fat. This can never be to
the degree of being defects in the animals which we rear for
the production of these substances. The greater the volume
of muscular and fatty substance which such an animal bears,
and the larger the space which his body occupies in proportion
to his limbs, the more adapted is his form to the uses to which
xcix
he is to be applied. In all cases, then, of animals to be fat-
tened, we desire that the trunk shall be large in proportion
to the limbs, or, in other words, that the limbs shall be short
in proportion to the trunk.
In the Horse, we cultivate the characters of form which in-
dicate the power of active movements of the body. In ani-
mals which we design to rear up to the earliest possible ma-
turity of muscle and fatness, we desire no other power of
active motion than consists with the means of procuring their
own food; and when the state in which we keep them is per-
fectly artificial, so that food is supplied to them in unlimited
quantity, we cultivate characters entirely the opposite of
those which indicate activity.
EXTERNAL FORM.
Of the animals reared in this manner for human food, the
Ox is one whose form has, in this country, been brought to
great perfection with relation to his power of arriving at
early maturity, and becoming soon fat.
The Ox differs essentially from the Horse in his internal
conformation and exterior form. Being of the class of Ru-
minants, his body is largely extended in the abdominal re-
gion, and the form and capacity of his chest are modified in
a corresponding degree. While the Horse stands within a
square, of which his body occupies about one-half, the Ox
stands within a rectangle, of which his body occupies a larger
proportion than the half, as in the following figure, which is
the outline of a Galloway Heifer.
Fig. 10.
}
1
+
}
M
C
The teeth of the ox consist only of two kinds, namely, the
sharp-edged, or incisors, which perform the office of cutting
the substances presented to them, in the manner of shears
or chisels, and the molar teeth, which are situated farther
back in the jaw, and are designed for grinding or bruising.
In the ox, there are 8 incisors in the lower jaw, and none
opposite in the upper. In place of incisors in the upper jaw,
there is a kind of cartilaginous pad, against which the incisor
teeth press in the act of dividing the food; and it is by means
of the incisors and this pad, that the ox partly cuts and partly
tears the herbage plants on the ground. He has 8 incisors,
then, in the lower jaw, and 6 molars in the upper jaw, and 6
in the lower, on each side, in all 32 teeth, disposed thus:
INTRODUCTION.
Molar.
6
6
The Ox, like most of the ruminating tribes, is furnished
with horns, which are the weapons of defence given to him.
In certain cases, under the influence of domestication, the
horns disappear, yet even then the animal instinctively strikes
with his forehead, which, in the absence of horns, is strength-
ened by a greater expansion of the frontal bones. In other
cases, the horns become short and lose their sharpness, or
even assume a direction which unfits them for inflicting
wounds, as in the following figure of a Bull of the Long-
horned Dishley Breed.
Upper jaw,
Under jaw,
PYTHINGLESIA ►
Canine.
0
0
Fig. 11.
Incisors.
0
8
Canine.
0
0
AP
Molar.
6
Calg
6
ci
The Ox possesses 7 cervical, 13 dorsal, 6 lumbar, and 5
sacral vertebræ united into one piece, with a varying number
of vertebræ of the tail.
EXTERNAL FORM.
Proceeding at first horizontally from the spine, the ribs
bend downward somewhat vertically, so that the back is
broad. The ribs are very broad, and as they proceed back-
ward, each projects more outward than the anterior one, so
that at the abdomen the trunk is very large. As compared
with the horse, the scapula is less oblique, and, with the
humerus, forms a more upright shoulder; the vertebræ of the
loins and back are of greater size, the transverse processes
are larger and stronger, the sternum is broader, presenting
a larger surface to support the more extended chest of the
animal, and for the attachment exteriorly of that mass, partly
muscular and partly cartilaginous, which is termed the
brisket, and which, in these animals, when largely fed, be-
comes sometimes of great dimensions, almost reaching to the
ground. The bones of the limbs are analogous to those of
the horse, but at the fetlock-joint divide into two sets, so that
in each limb there are two pastern, two coronet, and two
coffin bones. The hoofs are thus said to be cleft, and each
division has its own defence of horn.
—,
The muscular system of the ox is very large, covering in
great mass the breast, the shoulder, the back, the haunch,
the sides. The blood-vessels are of great size, the quantity
of blood is large, and the circulation, as compared with many
other quadrupeds, slow. The integuments consist of a thick
skin covered with hair.
As the natural conformation of the Ox differs greatly from
that of the Horse, so there is an equal divergence in those
characters of form, which we endeavour to communicate to
him for the purpose of suiting him to our purposes. In the
horse we require the exertion of physical force for the carry-
ing of loads, for the drawing of weights, or for rapid motion.
These purposes may be sought for in the ox intended for
labour; but generally our purpose in rearing the ox is the
L
cii
INTRODUCTION.
production of human food, either the flesh of either sex, or
the milk of the female for the products of the dairy.
For the former of these purposes, namely, the production
of the muscular or fatty tissue, we require in the Ox, as in all
the other animals cultivated for the same productions, that
the chest shall be wide and deep, and the trunk capacious,
that the body shall be large in proportion to the limbs, or, in
other words, that the limbs shall be short with relation to
the bulk of the body, and that the bones shall be what is
called fine, as indicated by the delicacy of the extremities.
The head should be somewhat small, and rather elongated
than short and thick. But in the bull, the forehead is na-
turally more broad than in the female. When the head of
the bull approaches to the narrow and elongated form of that
of the female, he may be docile, and apt to fatten readily,
but he will have lost too much of his masculine character,
and may give birth to too delicate a progeny. Even in the
refinement of breeding, therefore, we should desire to see the
bull possess so much of the masculine characters as to com-
municate a sufficient degree of strength and hardihood to his
descendants. On the other hand, should the head of the
female approach too much to the masculine character of the
bull, we shall have reason to infer from experience, that she
will be deficient in the faculty of yielding milk. The chan-
nel of the lower jaw should be wide, and the eyes, as indica-
tive of health, prominent and clear.
S
The bony ridge on the summit of the head, from which the
horns proceed, should be somewhat raised, so that the horns
shall appear to be slightly attached to the head. The length
and size of the horns vary with temperament and race, and
in certain breeds they do not exist. But, cæteris paribus, it
is to be desired that the horns shall be delicate rather than
coarse and thick; great thickness and coarseness of horn
being usually connected with coarseness of the cuticular
system.
The neck, in the natural state, must be of such length that
EXTERNAL FORM.
ciii
the animal can reach the ground, and collect his food; but if
the limbs be short, so will the neck be in proportion to the
size of the trunk; and hence shortness of neck, with relation
to the size of the body, is one of the points of character re-
garded in the Ox. But an undue shortness of neck, like all
deviations from the natural form, may likewise indicate dimi-
nution of strength and hardiness. By refinement in breed-
ing, and by giving the animal his food from the birth in stalls
and mangers, his neck may become so short as to render him
unable to reach the ground, and collect his natural suste-
nance.
A capacious trunk being connected with the property of
fattening, the ribs should be widely arched, rising almost
horizontally from the spine, and then bending downwards
with a sweep, producing a wide and flat back, and likewise
round sides, as far as the natural form of the animal will
allow. This is an important character in the Ox, in which
narrowness of back, and too great flatness of sides, scarcely
ever consist with the property of fattening quickly. In the
Horse, we have seen, this conformation indicates weakness,
and in a no less degree it indicates, in the Ox, the want of
that vigour which is connected with the power to fatten. In
the Horse designed for active motion, we required that the
chest, at its commencement, should not be too wide, so as to
place the fore-limbs too far asunder, and that the breast
should not extend too much in front of the fore-limbs, so as
to render the animal heavy before. In the Ox, none of these
characters can exist to the degree of being injurious. We
require that the breast shall be wide and well extended for-
ward, and that the fore-limbs shall be far asunder.
The shoulders should be broad at the top, and well covered
with muscle. The spines of the back and loins should be so
enveloped in muscle as to cause the back to appear nearly
straight from the neck backwards. The back and loins
should be somewhat long; for although a short and compact
body indicates greater robustness and tendency to fatten, yet
M
·-
civ.
length of body increases the space for muscles, and conse-
quently the weight of the animal. Breeders, therefore, look
to length of trunk as connected with economical value; yet
if this character be not combined with others which are good,
as depth and roundness of trunk, and strength and breadth
of back and loins, there will be more of loss by the dimi-
nished tendency to fatten, than of gain by the larger extent
of muscular surface.
INTRODUCTION.
The size of the haunch of the ox is not connected with the
property of fattening; but it is connected, in an important
degree, with the weight and economical value of the animal.
The haunch commences with the iliac portion of the pelvis,
or haunch-bone, commonly called, in the case of this animal,
the hook-bone or huckle-bone. These protuberances should
appear as if nearly on a level with the back, and they should
be distant from one another, indicating breadth over the
loins. The upper line of the haunch should be long and
straight to the bending downwards of the tail. The femur and
tibia should be long, so that the size of the haunch shall be
increased, and a larger space afforded for muscular substance.
By enlarging the haunch in all its directions, the weight of
the animal is increased, and this in a manner which does
not, as in the case of extending the back alone, tend to pro-
duce weakness.
Corresponding with the width of the trunk, the fore and
hinder limbs respectively will be far apart; and this, accord-
ingly, is a point of form looked to by breeders as indicative
of that lateral expansion of the body, which is sought for in
the Ox, as in every animal to be fattened. The limbs, it has
been seen, should be relatively short; but the fore-arm to the
knee should be long in proportion to the part from the knee
to the hoof; and, in like manner, in the posterior limbs, the
leg to the hock should be long in proportion to the part below
the hock. This character is desired in the Ox, 1st, because the
parts above the knee and hock, respectively, contain muscle,
while those below consist almost entirely of tendon; 2dly,
-
EXTERNAL FORM.
CV
because the character indicates that delicacy of the extremi-
ties which experience shews to consist with the property of
fattening quickly.
The Ox, when viewed in profile, should exhibit a square
and massive form, filling the greater part of the rectangle in
which he is contained. When viewed from behind, he should
present the same square and massive aspect; and the muscles
on the inner side of the tibia, forming what is technically
termed the twist, should be largely developed. The large
flat muscles which surround the abdomen should be of suffi-
cient strength to keep the belly from hanging. Generally,
the muscular parts should appear to pass without abruptness
from the one to the other. Thus, the muscles of the neck
should gradually expand into those of the breast, and these
again into the shoulders, while the muscles of the shoulders
should pass into those behind, so as to leave little hollow-
ness; and the flanks before the stifle-bone should be well
filled up.*
* The following are the popular characters usually given as indicative of
the property of fattening, and the suitable form, in the Ox; from which it will
be seen, that the results of observation and experience accord with those which
may be derived from an examination of the functions and structure of the
parts.
1. The head shall be fine, somewhat long, and diminishing to the muzzle,
which shall be thin.
2. The horns shall be fine, and placed on the summit of the head; the eyes
shall be prominent and clear.
3. The neck shall be free from coarseness, large where it joins the shoulder
and breast, and diminishing to the head.
4. The breast shall be wide, and project well in front of the fore-limbs.
5. The shoulder shall be broad, but join without abruptness to the neck be-
fore, and to the chine behind.
6. The back and loins shall be straight, wide, and flat.
7. The girth behind the shoulders shall be large, and the ribs well arched.
8. The hook-bones shall be far apart and nearly on a level with the back-
bone; and from the hook-bone to the bending down of the tail, the quarter
shall be long, broad, and straight.
9. The tail shall be broad at the upper part, and small and progressively
diminishing towards the extremity.
10. The legs shall be short, fleshy to the knee and hock, and below the joints
flat and thin, and the hoofs shall be small.
11. The skin shall be soft to the touch, the belly shall not hang down, there
shall be little hollowness behind the shoulders, and the flanks shall be well
filled up.
+
I
:
cvi
INTRODUCTION.
These are the principal characters which indicate, in the
Ox, the property of adding to the fatty matter of the body,
and, consequently, of becoming sooner fitted for human food.
Those which indicate, in the female, the faculty of yielding
much milk, differ in certain respects. The extreme broad-
ness of chest, so important in the case of the fattening animal,
is not required in the case of the milch cow, although there
is nothing inconsistent between this conformation and the
power of yielding much milk. But the points essential to
the milch cow are rather connected with the hinder than with
the anterior extremities. The loins should be wide, and the
trunk deep from the loins to the mammæ. This form exist-
ing, the more the cow possesses of the other characters, the
better is she fitted to combine the property of yielding milk
with that of fattening. In a cow designed for breeding ani-
mals to be fattened, the milching property is only secondary,
yet a cow will produce the better calves that she is wide and
deep in the lumbar region. A purely dairy cow should have
a soft skin, clear eyes, and a narrow and elongated head;
the udder should be of good size, but have sufficient muscular
power to prevent its being flaccid. The superficial veins
near the udder should be well marked, but especially the
large vein which runs along the lower side of the belly on
each side, termed the subcutaneous abdominal vein. This
last is popularly called the milk-vein, although it is not
directly connected with the mammary organs. The follow-
ing is an outline of a Dairy Cow of the Ayrshire Breed.
Fig. 12.
1
EXTERNAL FORM.
cvii
The skin of the ox, it has been said, should be soft to the
touch, but not thin; it should likewise be unctuous, and well
covered with soft hair. By refinement in breeding, and espe-
cially by breeding from animals near of blood, the hair be-
comes short and scanty; but when this is so, we are reminded
that we are deviating from the natural characters in a point
connected with hardiness of constitution. The colour of the
hair depends upon causes which we have not yet been able
to trace. In this country, certain races tend to the black
colour, while others are never found but of the lighter. The
Short-Horned and Hereford breeds are never found but red
or white, while the Long-horned, like the cattle of the moun-
tains, are often black. It does not appear that the colour of
the hair is of very great moment with regard to the hardi-
ness of the animal, though, in cases of high breeding, as in
the Short-horned variety, the white colour seems to be a con-
sequence of constitutional deviation from the natural state.
The muzzle, in certain breeds, is light or flesh-coloured, and in
others black; and this character frequently affords an indica-
tion of the purity of an animal, or, in other words, its free-
dom from intermixture of blood with other races.
The Sheep differs greatly from the Ox in size and form;
but there are certain characters common to both, which in-
dicate their adaptation to the same uses. In the Sheep, the
cranium is relatively larger than in the Ox, the pieces are
more closely united, and the frontal bones forming the fore-
head comparatively more thick, as if to fit the animal for that
method of attack which is natural to him; but generally the
bones of the sheep are of a greatly less dense consistence
than those of the ox. The Sheep has usually horns, which
are rough, angular, and tending to the spiral, but under the
effects of domestication, the horns frequently disappear in
one or both sexes; and the largest and most highly culti-
vated races of this country are destitute of horns. The or-
bits of the sheep are large, and the eyes correspond in size
and prominence with this conformation.
<
The Sheep, like the Ox, is furnished with a cartilaginous
7
!
:
:
C
C
!
A
cviii
pad in the upper jaw, on which the incisor teeth of the lower
press. His incisors have a certain power of motion, so that
the animal can suit them to sinuosities of the surface when
pasturing; and his upper lip being partially cleft, he has the
power of placing his mouth close to the ground, so that he
can crop the shortest herbage. He has 8 incisor teeth in the
lower jaw, and 6 molars on each side of both jaws, so that
the disposition of his teeth may be represented, precisely as
in the case of the ox, thus :
Upper jaw,
Under jaw,
INTRODUCTION.
Molar.
6
6
Canine. Incisor.
0
0
0
WE ARE AN IN
اد
8
MIRA
Canine.
0
0
The Sheep has 7 vertebræ of the neck, 13 of the back, 6 of
the loins. The sacrum terminates in the caudal vertebræ,
which vary in number to 21. The sternum is thin, and has
attached to it the projection, partly cartilaginous and partly
muscular, termed the brisket.
The integuments of the sheep are thick and dense, covered
partly with hair and partly with wool, kept soft by an oily
secretion from the skin. In the wilder races the hair is
largely mixed with the wool; under artificial treatment, the
hair diminishes in quantity, and at length is confined to the
face and legs, all the rest of the fleece being woolly. The
filaments of the wool possess more or less tenuity, softness,
and length.
Molar.
6
6
The following figure is an outline of a ram of the New
Leicester breed, divested of his wool.
Fig. 13.
1
*
EXTERNAL FORM.
1
cix
The Sheep may be cultivated chiefly for the production of
human food, or chiefly for wool for clothing. In this country
the Sheep is chiefly cultivated for the former of these pur-
poses; and the same general characters which indicate the
facility of fattening readily in the Ox, indicate it in the Sheep.
But in producing those characters in the Sheep, there is a
class of considerations to which we must pay regard even
more than in the case of the Ox, namely, those which relate to
health, and the conditions under which the animal is to subsist.
The Sheep is subject to a multitude of dangerous maladies;
and great losses, extending to the destruction of whole flocks,
may result from increasing his fattening properties, at the
expense of robustness and general health. In certain cases
he is maintained in an artifical state in a country of enclosures,
but in others he is compelled to submit to the inclemency of
all weathers, and to travel to great distances over the steril
mountains, heaths, and downs, which afford him herbage.
The same delicacy of form which might adapt him to one
condition of external agents might unfit him for another;
and even under the most favourable circumstances, his deli-
cacy of form and fattening properties may be increased at
the expense of others not less necessary to be taken into
the account.
The Sheep, like the Ox, may be said to stand within a rect-
angle ; and the more of the rectangular space his body occu-
pies in proportion to his limbs, the better is he fitted for
producing a large quantity of muscle and fat in propor-
tion to his dimensions. When we look, therefore, for this
property alone, we say that in the Sheep, as in the Ox, the
body should be large in proportion to the limbs, or, in other
words, that the limbs should be short in proportion to the
body.
The head should be relatively small, as indicating that
delicacy of the extremities which denotes an animal that
readily assimilates his food. The face should be covered
with short hair, the channel of the jaws should be wide, the
I
I
#
CX
INTRODUCTION.
external ears should be thin, the eyes prominent and clear,
the neck should be short and well covered with muscles,
which should expand quickly from the points of attachment
at the cranium and jaws towards the breast and shoulder.
A thinness of the neck, although not inconsistent with the
property of fattening, usually indicates a deficiency of muscle
on the breast and shoulder, and, generally, a want of vigour
in the animal.
The neck should be slightly arched; but in certain races
it is nearly level with the back. From the neck to the pel-
vis the upper line of the back should be straight, and nearly
so from the loins to the bending downward of the tail. The
back should be of medium length, and the distance between
the last rib and the pelvis relatively short. Breeders, in-
deed, desire a long sheep; but the character of length, de-
rived from extension of the dorsal and lumbar parts, does
not indicate vigour or disposition to fatten, but merely a
larger extent of muscular substance. But the haunch should
always be long from the haunch-bones backward,-this con-
formation never indicating the weakness which may result
from a too great extension in length of the back and loins.
The upper line of the haunch, it has been said, should be
long and straight from the haunch-bones backward. When
it droops considerably, as in the less cultivated breeds, the
conformation is regarded as defective. Further, the whole
haunch or quarter should be broad and deep, corresponding
to the depth of trunk, and the muscles should be largely de-
veloped in the inside of the tibia, forming what is popularly
called the twist.
The ribs should be very curved, proceeding at first hori-
zontally from the spine, from which conformation it will re-
sult that the back will be broad as well as straight. In cer-
tain highly cultivated breeds, the horizontal expansion of the
ribs is so great that often it seems to the eye as if the body
were more broad than deep. The transverse processes
of
the lumbar region should, in an especial degree, be large,
}
EXTERNAL FORM.
cxi
indicating broad loins, a character denoting, in the case of
all animals, strength of back and general hardihood.
The haunch-bones should be distant from one another, in-
dicating the character, before referred to, of broadness of the
haunch; the breast should be wide, largely covered with
muscle, and projecting well in front of the fore-limbs. In
consequence of the width of the breast, the fore-legs will be
distant from one another, and the same character should ex-
tend to the posterior limbs, indicating the lateral extension
of the body at every part. The limbs should be fleshy down
to the knees and hocks, and below these joints, narrow when
seen from the front, and flat when seen in profile. There
should be a general absence of angular points and hollows,
as where the neck joins the shoulder, the shoulder the parts
behind, and the loins the haunch.
The skin, too, should present that softness to the touch
which indicates facility in fattening in all animals known to
us. It should be closely covered with wool, extending to
the face, which is covered with a short hair, and to the knees
and hocks, where the tendinous parts of the muscles begin.
The characters which indicate the property of producing
wool of different length and fineness have not been so accu-
rately determined. It is known merely that different races
have the faculty of producing wool different in the length,
tenuity, softness, and other properties of the fibre. In gene-
ral, the sheep long naturalized in countries of abundant
herbage produce long thick wool, while those acclimated in
countries yielding the finer herbage plants, produce wool
more or less short and fine. But whatever be the conditions
under which different kinds of wool are produced, it is known
that the property can be transmitted from the parents to the
young, in the same manner as other characters acquired.
The Hog differs greatly in conformation and habits from
the animals that have been described. His face is termi-
nated by a cartilaginous disc, endued with great strength
and exquisite sensibility, with which he grubs up the roots,
2
WED
BUT
cxii
INTRODUCTION.
larvæ, and other food which he finds under ground. His
neck is strong and muscular; his limbs in the natural state
are short and stout; his skin is very thick, and covered with
bristles. He possesses the kind of teeth suited to animals
that are omnivorous, and the canines bending upward, be-
come in the male formidable weapons. His feet are cloven,
and defended by strong hoofs, and he has toes behind which
do not reach the ground. The following is an outline of the
Wild Boar and Sow, brought from the south of Europe.
H
Fig. 14.
Gang
!
F
Differing so greatly in conformation as this animal does
from those which have been described, yet the same general
characters indicate in him, as in all the others, the faculty
of readily assimilating his food, and of quickly arriving at
that maturity of muscle and fatness, which fits him for the
uses for which he is destined; and there is no other animal
known to us which so easily receives the characters which
we seek to impress upon it, or transmits them more faith-
fully to his offspring,
The breast should be wide and deep, and the trunk capa-
cious. The extremities, namely, the head, the tail, and the
lower part of the limbs, should be delicate; and the legs
should be short in proportion to the size of the trunk.
$
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EXTERNAL FORM.
cxiii
The skin should be soft and expansive, and the bristles soft
and approaching to the character of hair. The following
figures will shew the surprising deviation from the natural
form which the animal, under the influence of domestication,
exhibits. The first is an outline of the Old English Sow,
exhibiting almost all the characters of external form which
breeders study to avoid; the second is an outline of a cross
between a female of the Siamese race and a native male of
a fine breed, shewing the characters which are held to be
good, and the consequent tendency to obesity which these
characters indicate.
Fig. 15.
Fig. 16.
1
اروری
The physiological effects have been referred to of breeding
from animals nearly allied to one another in blood. When
carried to the degree of continually reuniting animals of the
nearest affinities, as parents with their offspring, and brothers
with sisters, the effect, after a time, is manifested in the im-
h
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cxiv
INTRODUCTION.
pairment of the constitution of the animals, and at length
in unfitting them for reproducing their own kind. In the
practice which has existed in England of forming artificial
breeds of sheep and cattle, this class of experiments has
been made to the degree of shewing the limits to which
it can be carried, under a regard to the safety, and even
existence, of the animals. In the original formation of some
of the finer artificial breeds of this country, animals were
sought for having the characters which it was designed to
cultivate. But the breeders, unwilling to mix the blood of
inferior races with that of their own improved stocks, con-
tinued to breed from them alone, and found, by experience,
that the nearer in affinities of blood, and consequently of
characters, the parents were, the more their progeny re-
sembled them. Hence the extensive system of breeding
in-and-in," as it was called, pursued by the earlier breed-
ers, as Bakewell, Colling, and others. The effect was very
quickly to produce a distinct family, distinguished by the
characters communicated to it. But this effect was followed
by another which was not contemplated, and could scarcely
have been inferred independently of experience. The ani-
mals arrived sooner at maturity, and thus became more
quickly adapted to the uses for which they were intended,—
the supply of human food: so that one of the most import-
ant ends of the breeder was attained, the procuring of ani-
mals fitted to arrive at early maturity of muscle and fatness,
in which respects some of the artificial breeds of England
became the finest in the world, and still surpass those of any
other country. But the practice was soon discovered to have
its limits, and, when carried too far, to produce all the effects
on the system which have been referred to. The animals,
with their earlier maturity, and increased tendency to obe-
sity, became less hardy; their skins became thinner, and
the hairy or woolly covering more scanty; their limbs be-
came more slender; the males lost so much of the masculine
characters as often to be incapable of propagating their race,
66
my ho
*
EXTERNAL FORM.
3
1
CXV
while the power of the females to secrete milk diminished;
and both sexes were rendered more subject to diseases, as
apoplexy, and inflammation of the digestive and respiratory
organs. While, then, it is important to be aware of this
mean of communicating certain properties to animals culti-
vated for human food, it is no less important to be aware
of its tendency to impair that sound health, and constitu-
tional hardiness, on which the profit of the breeder may
often more depend, than even on an early maturity of the
animal system.
:

COATS OF THIBET.
1. THE GOAT.
THOMPSON
resses
Or the Ruminating Animals, the most varied in their
forms, the most beautiful and swift, are the Deer and Ante-
lope tribes; the former furnished with solid antlers of bone,
which, in all the species but one, are confined to the male,
and which fall off after the season of sexual intercourse; the
A
2
THE GOAT.
--
latter possessed of hollow horns, like those of the Ox, the
Sheep, and the Goat, enveloping permanent nuclei of bone
proceeding from the forehead. Of the many species of Deer,
only one, the Reindeer, an inhabitant of the northern glacial
region, has been subjected to true domesticity, although in-
dividuals of the other species may be readily tamed to sub-
mission and dependence. Of the Antelope tribes, all the
species remain in a state of liberty, apparently endowed with
instincts which cause them to shun the dangerous vicinage
of man. But the Antelopes, wild, timid, and indocile as they
seem, are most of them gentle and submissive when reared
up under human protection, and might, doubtless, like their
congeners, be reduced to domestication: and further, the
Antelopes approach by insensible gradations to the forms of
those animals which Nature has fashioned to subject them-
selves most readily to the physical force and moral influence
of our race. At one point they are connected with the mas-
sive forms of the Bovine group, and at another they pass
into the Goats so nearly, that the line which separates the
species scarcely forms a natural boundary. The chief dis-
tinction between them and the Goats is in the bony nuclei of
the horns, which, in the Antelopes, are hard and solid, in the
Goats cellular, and communicating with the frontal sinuses.
As the Antelopes pass into the Goats, so the latter pass into
the Sheep. The internal organization of both the families is
the same; they bear their young for the same period, have a
similar sound of the voice, and they breed with one another,
giving birth to a progeny partaking of the characters of the
parents. Both are covered with a mixture of hair and wool;
but in the Goats the true wool rarely predominates over the
hair, so as to form the essential covering of the body. The
horns of the Goat are more straight and upright than those
of the Sheep, though in some varieties of Goats the horns
are spirally twisted, and in some varieties of Sheep, as in
the short-tailed kinds of northern Europe, the horns are as
straight as in the Goat. The Goat has generally bristly
HISTORY.
3
hairs on the breast, throat, and lower jaw, forming a distinct
beard; but in some Goats these are wanting, and in some of
the ruder varieties of Sheep a beard appears, although it is
never so fully developed as in the male of Goats. The Goat
has a short tail, naked below, and carried more or less up-
right;
but this character likewise exists in certain races of
Sheep, as in those of the Zetland Islands, and generally in
the other races of the extreme north of Europe. The skin
of the Goat emits a peculiar musky odour, which, so far as
is known, does not exist in any race of Sheep; yet there are
Goats in the countries of the East which are destitute of the
hircine odour. It is said, indeed, that the Sheep is distin-
guished from the Goat by the former possessing interdigital
glands; but this character is not ascertained to be univer-
sal; and it must, therefore, be admitted that all the charac-
ters of form employed to discriminate the two groups are
technical and trivial. It is chiefly by the general aspect and
habitudes of the species that we can separate them into ge-
nera. The Goat always approaches more in form and habits
to the Antelope tribes than the Sheep, and may be regarded
as the connecting link between them. While the Sheep, in
the state of domestication, is comparatively submissive and
timid, the Goat is restless, bold, and independent, even when
most enslaved. He is familiar and capricious, wanders at
will from his fellows of the flock, and seeks the craggy sum-
mits of the mountains where his native plants are to be found.
He boldly faces the enemies that assail him, and manifests a
greater confidence in his human protectors than the Sheep.
From the earliest period of human societies, this wild and
erratic creature seems to have been subjected to the power
of man.
We read of him as coeval with the Ox and the
Sheep in those fair regions of the East where the first dawn
of civilization appears through the mists of time. He en-
tered into the mythological systems of the first nations, and,
by the earlier observers of the heavens, was appointed to be a
sign in the Zodiac, with Aries and Taurus, his fellows in the
service of man ; although, in ancient Indian delineations of the
-
*
1
NA
4
THE GOAT.
Zodiac, the Antelope, and not the Goat, is used as the sign
of Capricorn. The Sacred Writings continually refer to the
Goat as forming, along with the Sheep, the Ox, and the Camel,
the riches of the patriarchal families. He is one of the ani-
mals permitted by the laws of Moses to be used as human
food, and he is ordained to be employed in a remarkable re-
ligious ceremony. He was cultivated by the Hindoos from
the earliest times; and he is figured on the sculptured monu-
ments of the Egyptians, in their representations of mystic
emblems, religious rites, and rural labours. By the earliest
writers of Greece and Rome he is continually referred to as
yielding food and raiment; and superstition connected him
with the attributes and service of the Gods. He was dedi-
cated to Jupiter Conservator, and sacrificed to Apollo, Diana,
Bacchus, and the Paphian Venus, and his skin was the Ægis
of the Goddess of Wisdom and Arms. His form was one of
the attributes of Pan and the Satyrs, indicating the procrea-
tive power and rustic plenty. He was domesticated by the
Lybians and the nations that stretched along the southern
shores of the Mediterranean inland to the mountains of Atlas.
He was cultivated by the Dacians, Sarmatians, and other
nations stretching from the Euxine into the wilds of Scythia.
The Gauls and all the Celtic people of Europe appear to have
been possessed of him in the domesticated state, using his
hair and skin for garments, and his flesh and milk for food.
Up to nearly the present day, the descendants of the pristine
Celtæ cultivated the Goat, as one of the most useful of the
animals given to them for food. Until a recent period, the
Cambro-Britons and the Celtic people of the mountains of
North Britain and Ireland, made greater use of the Goat
than of the Sheep; and many of their appellations of families,
places, mountains, rivers, and natural objects, are derived
from the name which it bears in the Celtic tongue. In like
manner, the Scandinavian, the German, and other Teutonic
nations, who had migrated in the first ages into Europe from
the East, were possessed of this gift of Providence, used his
spoils for raiment and food, and coupled him with their wild
5
HISTORY.
5
superstitions. In short, the Goat appears to have been
domesticated wherever the traces are found of that great
Western Family of mankind, which, united by analogies of
form, speech, and traditionary legends, appears to have been
derived from a common source, and spread from a common
centre. But the domesticated Goat was not confined to this
division of the human race. It extended, beyond a question,
all through the boundless regions of Eastern Asia to the
ocean, comprehending tribes and nations, which, however
distinct from the western family of the human race in aspect,
character, and speech, yet agreed with it in this, that the
same domesticated animals ministered to the wants of both.
But the insular continent of New Holland never possessed
the Goat; for no trace of this, or of any of the ruminating
animals which had elsewhere followed the footsteps of man,
as instruments of civilization, was found at the discovery of
this new world. Neither did it exist in any of the Polyne-
sian Islands; and, more strange and incomprehensible still,
no vestige either of the domesticated Goat, or of his uni-
versal companions in the ancient world, the Sheep, the Ox,
and the Horse, was found in the great American Continent,
though peopled from end to end.
The wild animals of the Caprine group which have been
as yet discovered, and described by naturalists, are the fol-
lowing:
1. CAPRA IBEX, the Alpine Ibex.
2. CAPRA CAUCASICA, the Caucasian Ibex.
3. CAPRA SIBIRICA, the Siberian Ibex.
4. CAPRA NUBIANA, the Nubian or Abyssinian Ibex.
5. CAPRA ÆGAGRUS, the Ægagrus.
6. CAPRA JEMLAHICA, the Jemlah Goat.
7. CAPRA JAHRAL, the Jahral Goat.
The ALPINE IBEX, the Bouquetin of the natives of the
Alps, the Stein-bok, or Rock-Goat of the Germans, inhabits the
Pyrenees, the Alps of Switzerland, and the Tyrol, and pro-
bably other mountainous parts of Europe. He resembles the
.:
2:
...
:
:
ļ
!
;
6
THE GOAT.
domestic Goat in his external form, but surpasses it in sta-
ture. He is protected by a coat of lank hair covering å down
of delicate wool, which falls off in the warmer season. The
colour of his fur is a grayish dusky brown, fawn-coloured on
the belly, and whitish on the inner part of the thighs, the in-
side of the ears, and a part of the tail. He has a beard, and
a dark brown ridge of bristly hairs extending from the neck
to the tail, which is short and naked underneath. He has
large black horns, bending backwards, and turning outward
towards the points. His hoofs are large, widely cleft, and
sharp at the exterior edges, so that he can fix himself se-
curely on the points and shelving sides of rocks. This con-
formation, joined to his surpassing power of balancing his
body, and the great strength of his posterior limbs, enables
him to make those amazing bounds from crag to crag, by
which he is enabled to traverse the wilderness of rocks which
he inhabits. He has been seen to spring up the steep side
of a precipice of many feet, nay, striking the sides to give
himself a fresh impetus, ascend to the perilous summit as if
by a single effort; and, on the other hand, to precipitate
himself from an eminence, alighting securely on the verge of
the precipice. It is believed by the hunters of the Alps, that,
when springing from a great height, he bends his head be-
neath his forelegs, so as to break his fall by striking the rock
with his horns. It is rather to be believed, that his power of
thus precipitating himself is due to his nice power of balanc-
ing his weight, and the conformation of the horny covering
of his feet. The female resembles the male, but her horns
are shorter, more slender, and less curved. She has two
mammæ, forming an udder. She goes with young somewhat
more than twenty weeks, and produces one, or often two, at
a birth. She receives the male about the end of October, so
that the kids may be born when the new shoots and leaves
of the vernal season appear. When about to give birth to
her young, she seeks some lonely place where she may be
safe from surprise, usually near some rivulet or spring, pro-
ceeding from the glaciers and mountains of snow which sur-
7
round her. The kids, when born, are covered with a short
gray fur of hair and wool; their limbs are stout, and their
bodies light and buoyant; and in a few hours they are able
to follow the dam, who vigilantly guards them from the at-
tacks of eagles and other beasts of prey.
These wild and powerful Goats are gregarious, and found
in small flocks; but individuals separate from the herd, and
form their solitary lairs, like the stag and other deer. At
the rutting season, desperate conflicts take place for the pos-
session of the females, the stronger expelling the weaker, and
thus fulfilling a natural provision for preserving the proper-
ties of the race, by giving the privilege of propagating it to
the most vigorous. They inhabit the highest part of the
mountains, near the line of perpetual congelation and the
limits of vegetable life, and beyond the range of the wildest
of the Antelopes. They feed on the herbaceous willows, the
juniper, the crowberry, and other plants of the higher moun-
tains. In winter they descend to the lower slopes of the
hills, but never venture into the plains and woods of the
level country. They have the senses of sight, smell, and
hearing, in exquisite perfection. Perched on the loftiest
peaks, in the region of clouds and mist, they watch the mo-
tions of their enemies, and on their approach give signal of
danger to their comrades by a shrill whistle, when all betake
themselves to the neighbouring mountains of rock and ever-
lasting ice, where human foot cannot follow them. Yet they
are made the subject of the chase by the hardy hunters of the
Chamois Antelope, who steal upon them in their lonely lairs,
or bring them down by the fatal ball from the distant preci-
pice. When brought to bay, it is said they have been known
to precipitate themselves upon their pursuers, and hurl them
down a precipice. Incessant persecution has thinned their
numbers; so that, in the mountains of Europe, where they
once abounded, they are now scarcely to be found.
This creature, so powerful, vigilant, and wild, is yet formed
to submit himself to human control. When the kids are
HISTORY.
K
+
•
Co
THE GOAT.
taken young, they are tamed with facility, and adopt the
habits of the domesticated flock. They breed with the tame
race, when kept together; and it is an old opinion of the
shepherds of the Pyrenees and Alps, that Bouquetins some-
times come down from the higher mountains and mingle with
the females of the flock. The offspring of these supposed
unions are said to be larger and more robust than the com-
mon Goats, and are selected by the shepherds to be leaders
of the flock.
The CAUCASIAN IBEX, inhabiting the mountains of Taurus
and the Caucasus, so nearly resembles the Alpine Ibex, in
habits, colour, and form, that there seems to be no sufficient
reason for regarding it as specifically distinct. The princi-
pal divergence is in the horns; but how greatly the horns of
the ruminating tribes vary with age and place, is known in
other cases; and it is altogether probable, that the Ibex of
the Caucasus is no other than the Ibex of the Alps of Eu-
rope: and the same remark applies to the Ibex of the Ura-
lian mountains, termed Siberian. If future observation shall
shew that these species are identical, then the Ibex must be
characterized as having a surprising range of country. He is
an inhabitant of most of the great mountain ranges of Asia
and Europe, stretching from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus,
and thence, it may be believed, eastward to the snowy heights
of central Asia, and northward, by the Uralian and other
mountain chains, to Siberia and the Sea of Okotsk.
But Africa, where the forms of animal life present them-
selves under a new aspect, possesses likewise its mountain
Goats. The NUBIAN or ABYSSINIAN IBEX, has been found
at the eastern termination of that prodigious chain of moun-
tains, which, more or less continuously, seems to intersect
the continent from east to west. It is believed, but upon
doubtful grounds, that the same species is found in the moun-
tains of Arabia. The Abyssinian Ibex is described as being
larger than the Ibex of Europe; as having little beard, but
a ridge of long hairs on the throat and sternum, and a dark
a
1.4
HISTORY.
9
line on the anterior part of the legs and along the back; and
as having very large horns bent in a half circle.*
The ÆGAGRUS, Capra Ægagrus of Pallas, inhabits the
mountain chains of Western Asia, from the Caucasus east-
ward, by the countries of the Caspian, to an unknown dis-
tance, and southward, through the high lands of Persia and
Caubul, into Hindostan. It is the Pazan of the Persians; and
is believed to be one of the animals which yield the concre-
tion termed Bezoar, to which certain healing virtues are
ascribed by the Orientals. It resembles the common Goats
in its general form : it has very large horns, sometimes want-
ing in the females, of a brown ashy colour, marked with
tubercles, and sharp at the anterior edge, bending backward
and turning outward at the points. The hair of the body is
a grayish-brown, with a dark ridge along the spine, extend-
ing to the termination of the tail. The beard, of a rufous
colour, is long in the male, but shorter in the female, and
coarse hairs extend from the throat down the breast. This
creature is exceedingly wild, but inhabits a lower range of
altitude than the Ibex. It is numerous in the higher parts
of Asia Minor, and is believed by many naturalists to be the
parent stock of most of the domestic Goats; and by some to
be the common Goat restored to a state of liberty.
The JEMLAH GOAT, Capra Jemlahica of Colonel Hamilton
Smith, is found in the most elevated parts of Central Asia.
It is described by this eminent naturalist, from a skin trans-
mitted to the British Museum, as being nearly of the size of
the Ibex, and as having the horns nearly in contact at the
base, of a pale ashy-buff colour, nodose, very depressed, nine
inches long, bending outwards, then turning suddenly, so as
to meet nearly over the neck. The bones of the head are
dense and ponderous, the tail is very short, and there is no
true beard. The colour of the hair, with the exception of
some darkish streaks, is a dull light fawn, with locks of
*Colonel Hamilton Smith.
1
[
E
3
.....
•
10
..
THE GOAT.
brown interspersed; and on the cheeks the hair is long and
coarse, hanging like a lion's mane on each side of the head.
Nothing is known of the habits of this beautiful Goat. Its
external characters shew it to be distinct from the Ibex of
the Caucasus and Europe.
The JAHRAL GOAT, Capra Jahral of Hodgson, has been
found in the mountains of Nepaul. It is described as having
the head finely formed, full of expression, clad in short hairs,
and without any vestige of beard. It is of a compact and ro-
bust make; is found solitary or in flocks; is bold, capricious,
wanton, pugnacious, and easily domesticated. It has the
horns nine inches in length, smooth, and sharpened towards
the points, and not turned inward or nodose, like those of the
Jemlah. It is clothed with a coat of hair covering a fine and
delicate wool, of one length and colour. Superficially the
hair is brown, but internally it is blue, and the mane is for
the most part of the same colour. The tongue, the palate,
and the skin of the lips, are black, and the iris is of a deep
reddish hazel.*
In America, the Goat is represented by the Wool-bearing
Antelope, which approaches so nearly in character to the
Goat, that it is by some naturalists included in the latter
genus.
Such are the wild of the Caprine family which naturalists
have discriminated; but how far the list yet remains to be
corrected, or extended, is unknown. The great mountains
and elevated plains of Central Asia have as yet been imper-
fectly opened to European research, and the paths of the tra-
veller are but as specks and lines in the countries to be ex-
plored. The boundless terraces and interior mountains of
the African continent, which may be regarded as the centre
of a distinct order of living beings, may be said to be as yet
untrodden by the foot of civilized man; and we know nothing
of the treasures which this vast wilderness may contain, be-
* Hodgson-Proceedings of the Zoological Society.
1
11
yond the animals which approach the coasts, or are found in
the few countries which are accessible. We may expect that,
as future explorers advance into the wilder regions of the
two continents, the natural history of the Caprine family will
be illustrated and extended. But, as domesticated Goats are
found in the possession of almost all the nations of the Old
Continents, a natural inquiry, even in the present state of
our knowledge, arises, as to the parent stock from which
these animals, so generally diffused, have been derived.
HISTORY.
Ancient writers frequently speak of Wild Goats in a man-
ner which leads us to conclude that they regarded them
merely as the wild of the common race. But the notices of
these writers are so vague and imperfect, that we do not
know whether they referred to the Ibex, the Ægagrus, the
Chamois Antelope, or any other species formerly inhabiting
the same countries, but now driven away or destroyed. The
opinion prevalent until a recent period was, that the Ibex
was the parent stock of the common Goats; but since the
Ægagrus has been admitted to be a distinct species, the
general opinion of naturalists has been, that the latter rather
than the Ibex, is the wild of the common Goat. But the
Ægagrus does not approach nearer in habitudes and form to
the common Goats than the Ibex; and although the latter
inhabits a higher range of mountains, he seems to resign his
natural liberty with equal readiness. Further, the Jemlah
Goat, and, by analogy, we may believe, others of the genus,
seem to be all endowed with the faculty of resigning their
natural freedom, and submitting to domestication. The most
probable supposition, therefore, is, that the domesticated
Goats have been derived not from one, but from different
species. Not only do the Goats of different countries differ
from one another, but there exist in the same country, under
the same conditions of climate and food, races so divergent,
that it is scarcely possible to believe that they have not been
derived from stirpes distinct in the wild state. The Syrian
Goat, so called, with a convex face and with an udder in the
1
12
THE GOAT.
female hanging to the ground, is as different from the Com-
mon Goats of the same country as the Jackal from the Wolf,
and has retained, as we know from ancient notices, its dis-
tinctive characters for twenty centuries at least; that is, for
nearly two thousand generations of the race. The little
Goats of the coast of Guinea have been acclimated in America
and the West India Islands for more than a hundred years,
without making the least approach to those carried to the
same countries from Europe. These and similar facts are
irreconcilable with the supposition of a common descent, and
lead to the conclusion, that different species of Goats, having
the property of procreating with one another, have produced
the domesticated races.
The Goat, extended throughout so many climates and dis-
tant countries, and subjected to conditions of life far different
from those to which his natural instincts adapt him, must
present himself to us with great variations of form and aspect,
independently of the diversities arising from those of the
parent stock. Sometimes the horns disappear in one or
both sexes, and in certain cases the animals become poly-
cerate; sometimes the hair is long, and sometimes it is as
short as in the fallow deer; and sometimes the beard is very
long, and sometimes it is rudimental. The colour assumes
every variety, from sandy-black to milk-white, and the size
and form of the body are greatly varied. Of the Goats of
Central Asia the most celebrated and best known in Europe
are those of Thibet, which are noted beyond all others for
the soft and delicate wool they produce, and which falls off
in the warmer season, affording the material of one of the
most beautiful fabrics of the Eastern looms. These Goats
are long in the body, having large falcated horns, stout
limbs, and long glossy hair, frequently a foot and a half in
length, trailing almost to the ground. The colour is fre-
quently milk-white, but more generally it is brown, with
points of a golden yellow. The wool, tending of itself to fall
off at a certain season, is easily separated by means of combs,
1
HISTORY.
13
while the hair is left. It is then spun by females, and after-
wards the threads are dyed of the colours required. A shawl
of the finest fabric takes a year or more in making. Four
persons, and in the case of plain shawls, two, sit at a frame,
using numerous needles. In working, the rough part of the
shawl is uppermost. A superintendent regulates the pattern,
and when the shawl is woven it is carried to the custom-
house, stamped, and a duty paid upon it corresponding to its
fineness and value.* In the province of Cashmere alone, it
is computed that 30,000 of these beautiful fabrics are manu-
factured every year. They are in universal demand over the
East for their softness, durability, and the beauty of their
colours. The Goats which yield the wool are chiefly derived
from Thibet; Cashmere itself being too warm for the growth
of the finest wool. The Goats of Thibet and the neighbour-
ing countries have been introduced into Europe, in the hope
of producing the fine wool which gives them so great a value
in their native clime. In France especially, eager endeavours
were made to establish the manufacture of shawls similar to
those of Cashmere; but from the small quantity of wool
yielded by the Goats, and the great manual labour required,
the manufacture did not succeed as a branch of national
industry. Attempts, too, were made to introduce these Goats,
for the production of wool, into England, but with still less
prospect of a favourable result, from the humidity of the
climate. The native country of these Goats, it is to be
observed, being vastly elevated, is subject to extremes of
temperature; and the growth of fine wool being a natural
provision for keeping the animals warm, it would probably
soon cease to be produced in more temperate climates.
Stretching from the mountains of Thibet into the elevated
steppes of the interior, northward to the Arctic Regions,
eastward through Chinese Tartary to the ocean, and westward
through the vast dominions of Russia to the confines of Europe,
* Tour in the Upper Provinces of Hindostan.
+1
1
î
✔
14
the Goats of the settled inhabitants and nomadic tribes
are in prodigious numbers. These Goats are thickly covered
with long coarse hair, usually of a dark hue; but in the cul-
tivated countries, they vary greatly in colour and other cha-
racters. In the northern provinces of China, there are Goats,
of a small size, which yield wool as abundantly as the sheep
of the same country. Extending over the varied surface of
Hindostan, the Goats assume a prodigious diversity of colour,
aspect, and form. Sometimes they have horns, and some-
times they are destitute of horns; sometimes they have long
pendulous ears; sometimes they have a short fur, like that
of a fawn, and sometimes fine silky hair falling in glossy
ringlets on each side of the dorsal line. The largest of the
Goats of Hindostan are brought from Caubul, Thibet, and the
high lands of Persia.
In the Turkish dominions in Asia, the races of Goats are
greatly varied, and often very beautiful. The Goat of Angora
is the native of a district of Asia Minor, and is remarkable
for its long waving silky hair, which is spun into threads, of
which a kind of camblet is made, esteemed beyond all other
cloths of the East for its durability. The Goats of Angora
have been brought to France, where they have become readily
naturalized, and do not appear to be more tender than the
common kinds. They have been carried likewise to Sweden,
and other parts of Europe; but it may be believed that, after
a time, they will lose that peculiar softness of the hair which
characterises them in their native country. The soil of An-
gora is a chalky marl, which seems to have the property of
communicating to the animals that live upon it a silky tex-
ture of the hair. The Dog and Cat of the same country are
distinguished by the glossy softness of their fur, and are very
beautiful.
THE GOAT.
Of the other Goats of Asiatic Turkey, one is so peculiar,
that it is plainly to be referred to an origin distinct from that
of the Common Goats. It is frequently termed the Syrian
Goat, though it is not confined to Syria, but extends, by the
HISTORY.
15
countries of the Euphrates, into Arabia, and, with some slight
change of characters, into Upper Egypt and Nubia. This
kind of Goat was known to the ancients, who mention it by
the name of the Syrian, and sometimes of the Damascus Goat.
It is generally without horns, has the face singularly con-
vex, long pendulous ears, delicate limbs, and short hair,
usually brown. The mammæ of the females hang almost to
the ground. These Goats are more docile than any other,
and, yielding a large quantity of milk, are greatly valued in
the arid countries over which they are spread.
The same
form of the Goat appears in Hindostan, and doubtless in
other countries of Eastern Asia. In Nepaul a beautiful Goat
is domesticated, which so much resembles the Syrian that
both appear to be derived from a common stock. It is of a
slender form, with a convex face, without horns, and with
long pendulous ears, which are generally white, or of a paler
tint than the rest of the body.
Africa abounds in Goats as well as Sheep. Along the
Barbary coast, the Goats are very fine, resembling those of
Greece, and other countries of the Mediterranean. From this
country the Romans derived their choicest breeds. But
southward of the mountains which bound the great basin
of the Mediterranean, Nature presents a new aspect, and
beyond the great Sahara, every living thing, up to man him-
self, seems changed. But of the Goats of the interior we
learn little from the casual notices of travellers.
We are
told only that Goats are very numerous, and often so nearly
resemble Sheep, that the one might be mistaken for the other.
On the coasts of Guinea, however, the cruel visits of Europeans
have made us acquainted with a race of Goats, which differ
from any other known to us. They are of diminutive size, very
pretty, with short pricked-up ears, and generally with slender
falcated horns. They have been carried by the slave-ships
to the settlements of the Spaniards and Portuguese in Ame
rica, and to the West India Islands, and they have multiplied
and remained distinct from the other races.
F
16
THE GOAT.
Of the Goats of Europe, the most varied and beautiful are
those which inhabit the countries of the Mediterranean.
They have generally horns, long flowing beards, and hair of
divers colours, from milk-white to black. Those of Greece
and the Islands of the Archipelago have been in esteem from
early times. The writers of Greece refer to the Achaian, as
a breed greatly valued The Romans cultivated the Goats
largely, and their rustic writers give us numerous details
regarding the modes of rearing and treating them. In
modern Italy, Goats are very numerous, especially in Cala-
bria and the mountainous countries. They abound likewise
in Spain and Portugal, where they are cultivated chiefly for
their milk, and the flesh of the kids. The Goats there are
to be seen driven into the cities in the morning, and milked
at the doors of the houses. In France, there are consider-
able numbers of Goats, but of no peculiar beauty of race. A
strong prejudice exists against them on account of the injury
they cause to the vines and forests. The district in France
most celebrated for Goats is the Canton of Mont d'Or, where,
in a space not exceeding two leagues at its largest diameter,
upwards of eleven thousand are kept, chiefly for the supply
of the city of Lyons with cheese. In the northern countries
of Europe, Goats are in considerable numbers; but for the
most part they are inferior in size and beauty to those of the
countries of the Mediterranean. In the heathy mountains
they become of small size, and are covered with a shaggy
coat of long brown hair. Sometimes they have escaped from
servitude, and become as wild and difficult to be approached
as the Deer of the same countries.
The Goat, though obeying the law to which all the domesti-
cated animals are subject, and presenting itself under a great
variety of aspect, retains many of the characters and habits
which distinguish it in the state of liberty. It is lively,
ardent, robust, capable of enduring the most intense cold, and
seemingly little incommoded by the extremes of heat. It is
wild, irregular, and erratic in its movements. It is bold in
17
its own defence, putting itself in an attitude of defiance when
provoked by animals, however larger than itself. Its horns
turning outward at the points, it rises when it fights upon its
hinder legs, and throwing the weight of its body sidewise,
endeavours to maim its enemy by oblique strokes of the horns.
The Ram, on the other hand, whose horns are turned inward,
cannot use this method of attack, but rushes blindly upon his
enemy, endeavouring to stun him by the violence of the shock:
while the Bull must lower his head to the very ground, in
order that he may receive his adversary on the points of his
horns. A dog that will despise a ram, and assail a bull, is
frequently cowed by the peculiar mode of attack and bold de-
meanour of the Goat. The domesticated Goat, like those of
the wild species, is capable of nicely balancing its body; and
its hoofs being widely cleft, moveable, and sharp at the exte-
rior edges, it possesses the faculty of fixing itself on the shelv-
ing edges of rocks, and of leaping from crag to crag. The
Arabs teach a curious feat to their Goats, which manifests the
wonderful power in the animals of balancing the body. A
cylinder of wood is placed on the ground, on the top of which
the Goat places all his feet; another piece is then added, on
which the animal likewise mounts; and then another, and
another, until he stands at the summit of the column. When
two Goats meet on a narrow ledge of rock, or the top of a
high wall, the one crouches down, that the other may pass
over his body. The Goat, obeying his pristine instincts, de-
lights in high places, climbs to the tops of walls and houses,
and leaps over the barriers intended to confine him. When
kept in herds, individuals continually stray from the flock,
and station themselves on the heights. In feeding, the flock
gradually ascends to the higher grounds, preferring the
shrubs and aromatic plants of the mountains to the richer
herbage of the plains. Goats will eat of many bitter and
narcotic plants which other animals reject, nay, of some
which are deemed poisonous, as the hemlock and foxglove.
They gnaw the bark, and crop the tender shoots, of shrubs
B
HISTORY.
¦
:
18
and trees; and hence they are the pest of the cultivated
country, destroying the hedges, the woods, and orchards of
the planter. In the countries of the vine, they are regarded
as enemies whose trespasses must be curbed by the severest
means. When mingled in the flock with Sheep, the Goats
invariably assume the guidance of their more timorous com-
panions, leading them from the richer pastures to the more
steril hills. When the Goat is kept apart from the flock, he
becomes attached to his protectors, familiar and inquisitive,
finding his way into every place, and examining whatever is
new to him. He is eminently social, attaching himself to
other animals, however different from himself. He is fre-
quently kept in stables, under the belief that he contributes
to the health of the horses. The effect, if any, is probably
to be ascribed to his familiar habits, it being known that
horses in their stalls are fond of companions to cheer their
solitude. The Goat is frequently attached to the little car-
riages of children, and appears to delight in the gay equipage,
and capricious commands, of the youthful charioteers. Two
children, in London, having escaped from their nurse, seated
themselves in their tiny vehicle, and set off, whip in hand,
along the Strand, The Goat, apparently enjoying the frolic,
carried them full tilt through the most crowded parts of the
city, nicely avoiding every obstacle, and foiling every attempt
of the passengers to arrest him. Having satiated himself
and his young masters with their morning's drive, he brought
them back to their home in safety.
The female of the Goat produces, in the natural state, in
spring; but when food is supplied to her, she will receive the
male at almost any season. She goes with young upwards
of twenty weeks, and is very prolific, generally producing
two at a birth, and often breeding twice in the year. The
Kids are exceedingly hardy, and the most sportive of animals.
The mother watches them with tender care, protecting them
from every assailant. She yields a large quantity of milk in
proportion to her size, a common produce being two quarts in
THE GOAT.
i
÷
HISTORY.
19
the day for five or six months. Her milk is viscid and nourish-
ing, little productive of oil, but abundant in the matter of
cheese. She allows herself to be milked without reluctance,
and readily adopts other animals, and nurses them as if they
were her own. When she has suckled such animals as the
foal and the calf, it is interesting to observe how she attaches
herself to them, and still watches over their safety, when
their own habits cause them to separate themselves from her.
In India, the children of the Hindoos, who have lost their
parent, are frequently suckled by Goats. Travellers report
that, in the countries of the Negroes, this is very frequent.
The Goat comes to the cradle where the infants lie, and ma-
nifests the utmost tenderness towards them; nay, when they
are able to walk and play, she does not forget her maternal
cares, but follows them as if to keep them from harm.
The Goat, besides the milk of the female, affords hair,
which is shorn from the body, and made into certain coarse
fabrics of the nature of camblets. Of this substance are
formed the tents of the Arabs, of the Turcomans, and of all
the migratory tribes of the Tartar countries. The hair of
the Goat is likewise fabricated into ropes. With such ropes,
the hardy natives of St Kilda used to swing themselves over
the dreadful precipices of their coasts, in search of the eggs
of sea-fowls. The skin of the Goat is made into leather,
which is more useful and durable than that of Sheep. It
forms the fine Morocco leather of commerce, and is largely
used for sandals, boots, gaiters, and similar parts of dress.
In the countries of the East, the skin is likewise made into
bags, for containing water, wine, and oil; and on many rivers,
as the Nile and Euphrates, it is made into bags, for floating
the inhabitants across the stream. The skin of the kid is in
universal demand for the manufacture of gloves. The flesh
of the kid, when very young, is nearly as delicate as that o
the lamb. The flesh of the older Goats is hard and ill-
flavoured, and therefore always gives place to that of the
Sheep, as countries become cultivated.
•
....
1
20
THE GOAT.
In the British Islands, the number of Goats has been con-
tinually diminishing, with the extension of sheep, and the
progress of agriculture. In the Highlands of Scotland, they
used to be very numerous, but are now confined to a few of
the remoter districts, where their milk is employed for the
making of cheese. Wales long abounded in Goats: they are
now in small and decreasing numbers, and the finer and
larger kinds have been lost. But in Ireland, there are still
great numbers of Goats, scattered throughout the country,
and kept by the poorer inhabitants for supplying them with
milk. The Goats of Ireland are many of them very fine: those
of Kerry and the other mountain districts, resemble the best
Goats of the Mediterranean, and even exceed them in size.
In this country, it is chiefly for the supply of the domestic
dairy that the Goat can be regarded as of economical value.
This arises from the want of demand for the flesh, even for
that of the kid, which is so delicate. Were it otherwise, the
Goat could be cultivated in the mountainous parts of the
country with perhaps greater advantage than the Sheep.
The hair of the Goat is indeed less valuable than wool, yet
the skin is of greater value than that of the Sheep. The
animals, too, are more hardy, and exempt from those fatal
diseases which yearly destroy so great a proportion of the
Sheep of the higher countries. The Goat, too, is more easily
maintained, especially in countries of heath, and the females
are more prolific. But an insurmountable objection exists to
the extension of the husbandry of the Goat, from the want of
all demand for the flesh of the fattened animal. Yet if the
caprice of taste could be reconciled to the use of the kid, the
Goat could be kept for the rearing of her young as a substi-
tute for the house-lambs, now produced at so much cost.
The females, in this case, could be made to yield their kids at
any season. They could be kept in houses and fed on the
commonest hay, with occasional portions of turnips or green
food of any kind. They could be maintained at less expense
than the Sheep; and as they are more prolific, and yield a
21
large supply of milk after the kids are taken away, the profit
would certainly be greater than from the ewe under the same
circumstances. But as the habits of a people, with respect to
food, cannot without great difficulty be changed, it is probable
that, in these Islands, the Goat will continue to be only par-
tially cultivated, as now, for the milk of the female. But for
this purpose its value, as a source of household economy, is
much greater than many imagine. Families who keep a
single cow would find a Goat or two always useful, as sup-
plying milk when that of the other was wanting; and expe-
rience shews, that the humbler cottagers would derive a profit
from having one or two of these animals, which could be
maintained on food which the cow would reject. Persons
even in large towns could, by means of the Goat, readily sup-
ply themselves with milk far superior to that which they can
now obtain; and it is surprising that a method so simple, of
avoiding the frauds too much practised in the case of this
kind of food, should be neglected. Goats bear well the
motion and confinement of shipboard, and are better fitted
for supplying milk on sea-voyages than any other animal.
HISTORY.
·
4

12
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SOUTH DOWN EWE AND LAMB.
II. THE SHEEP.
Southe
The OVINE FAMILY, it has been seen, differs so little in
conformation from the Caprine, that zoological characters can
scarcely be found to discriminate them. Yet, in every coun-
try where these animals are known, they are separated in
popular language, shewing that each possesses habitudes
and external characters sufficient to distinguish it from the
other. Sheep have the bodies more massive, and deviate
more from the Antelopian type, than Goats; the horns, where
they exist, are generally more angular, furrowed, and spiral;
and the rams are destitute of the hircine odour. Of the spe-
HISTORY.
23
cies of true Sheep which have been found in the state of na-
ture, those most generally admitted into zoological systems
are:-
1. OVIS AMMON, the Argali of Asia.
2. OVIS MONTANA, the Rocky-Mountain Sheep.
3. OVIS TRAGELAPHUS, the Bearded Argali.
4. OVIS MUSIMON, the Musmon.
The ARGALI of ASIA is somewhat less than the size of a stag.
He has enormous horns, measuring about a foot in circum-
ference at the base, and from three to four feet in length,
triangular, rising from the summit of the head so as nearly
to touch at the root, ascending, stretching out laterally, and
bending forward at the point. He has a fur of short hair,
covering a coat of soft white wool. The colour of the fur
externally is brown, becoming brownish-gray in winter: there
is a buff-coloured streak along the back, and a large spot of
a lighter buff colour on the haunch, surrounding and in-
cluding the tail. The female differs from the male in being
smaller, in having the horns more slender and straight, and
in the absence of the disc on the haunch. In both sexes the
tail is very short, the eye-lashes are whitish, and the hair
beneath the throat is longer than on other parts of the body.
These creatures inhabit the mountains and elevated plains
of Asia, from the Himmalaya Mountains westward to the
Caucasus, and eastward and northward to Kamschatka and
the Ocean. They are agile and strong, but very timid, shun-
ning the least appearance of danger: their motion is zigzag,
and they stop in their course to gaze upon their pursuer, after
the manner of the domestic Sheep. They are usually found
in very small flocks; and, at the rutting season, the males
fight desperately, using their horns and forehead in the man-
ner of the common ram. They are hunted by the people of
the countries for their flesh, which is esteemed to be savoury,
and for their skins, which are made into clothing. In autumn,
after having pastured during the summer on the mountains
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24
and secluded valleys, they are fat, and in request; but as
winter advances, and they are forced to descend from the
mountains in search of food, they lose their plumpness, and
are sought after only for their skins. When taken young
they are easily tamed, but the old ones never resign their
natural wildness.
THE SHEEP.
The ROCKY-MOUNTAIN SHEEP, or Argali of America, is
allied to this species, or identical with it. It inhabits the
loftiest mountain chains of North America. It was long
ago described by Spanish writers as the Sheep of California,
and is familiar to the Indians and fur-traders of Canada.
It equals or surpasses the Asiatic Argali in size, and is taller
than the largest of our Domestic Sheep. Its horns are very
large, approaching, but not touching, one another at the base.
The horns of the female are small, and slightly curved. The
fur is of a reddish-brown colour, but becomes paler in winter,
and in spring the old rams are nearly white. The face and
nose are white, and the tail and buttocks present the buff-
coloured disc which distinguishes the male of the Asiatic
species. They collect in flocks, under the guidance of a
leader. They pasture on the steepest parts of the moun-
tains, and on the approach of winter descend into the plains.
They are wild and timid, betaking themselves on the least
alarm to the summits of the mountains. They are pursued
and killed by the Indians for their flesh and skins, and have
never been subjected to domestication.
The BEARDED ARGALI inhabits the inland steeps of Barbary
and the mountains of Egypt. It is larger than a fallow deer,
and nearly equal in size to a stag. The horns are thirteen
inches in circumference at the base, approaching near to one
another on the top of the head, angular, black, bending back-
wards and downwards, and about two feet in length. The
hair on the lower part of the cheeks and under-jaw is long,
forming a divided beard. The under part of the neck and
shoulders is covered by coarse hair; on the upper part of the
neck, and especially at the withers, the hair is long and
HISTORY.
25
bristly, forming a mane; the knees are covered by long
dense hairs, as if to protect them when the animal kneels ;
the hair on the rest of the body is short, and underneath the
whole is the rudiment of a soft fine wool. It is a gentle and
petulant creature, fond of ascending to high places, as the
roofs of houses, capable of running swiftly, and of bounding
with prodigious force.
The MUSMON inhabits the lofty regions of the Caucasus
and ancient Taurus, and still lingers in the islands of Crete
and Cyprus, and the mountains of Greece. It is smaller than
the Argali. In the male the horns are two feet in length;
in the female they are often wanting. They are very thick,
and they turn inward at the points, in which respect they
differ from the horns of the Argali, which bend outward.
The fur consists of a brownish hair, concealing a short, fine,
gray-coloured wool, which covers all the body.
The Musmons, although resembling the Argalis, are small-
er and less powerful, and inhabit, apparently, a lower range
of mountains. They are gregarious, assembling in large
flocks during the summer months; but, at the rutting season,
fierce contests take place between the rams, and the herd
divides into smaller bands, consisting of a male and several
females. These animals are readily domesticated, and exhi-
bit all the habits of the Domestic Sheep, although, in the first
generation at least, they do not entirely resign their natural
wildness. They breed freely with the Domestic Sheep, and
the offspring is fruitful. Pliny mentions such alliances as be-
ing common, and states that the progeny were termed Umbri.
A species, or variety, termed by M. G. St Hilaire, Mou-
flon d'Afrique, appears to resemble the Musmon of Asia
and Europe. It has been found on the mountains bordering
upon the plain of the Nile. It is about the size of a com-
mon ram. The horns are two feet long, and eleven inches
in circumference at the base, diverging outwards, so that the
extremities are about nineteen inches from one another.
Another species of Musmon, or an animal nearly allied to
cof
1
26
it, has been found in Nepaul, both on the Indian and Thibe-
tian sides of the snowy crests of the Himmalayas. It is de-
scribed as having horns twenty-two inches along the curve,
diverging greatly, but scarcely spiral; and as having fur of
a bluish-gray colour inclining to red, the hairs concealing a
scanty fleece of fine soft wool.*
THE SHEEP.
These are the wild species of Ovide which have as yet been
described. But there is just reason to believe that others
exist, although as yet too imperfectly known to be placed in
the catalogues of naturalists. It is certain that Wild Sheep,
approaching even more to the characters of certain domesti-
cated races, exist in the immense countries bordering on the
Hindoo Koosh, namely, Caubul, and the countries of the Tur-
comans, Persians, and others, towards the Caspian. One of
these is described by Mr Fraser, in his interesting travels in
these wild countries, as having been killed by the hunters of
his party, and as being a fine animal, equal in size, and supe-
rior in strength, to the largest of the common races. It pro-
bably resembles a race of Sheep widely domesticated in the
same countries, which has by some been termed the Persian
breed, but which is to be distinguished from another race, to
be afterwards referred to, found in the same country, and
likewise termed Persian. The Sheep in question are covered
with a very coarse hairy fur of a gray colour. Their horns are
bent outward in the manner of the Argali, and, what is worthy
of note, the head entirely resembles that of the Ram, as it is
depicted on Eastern sculptures. This domesticated race is
very widely diffused, extending to the Tartar countries inland;
to Arabia, where it forms the most common breed of the Be-
douins; and across the Indus over a great part of Hindostan.
Ancient writers, too, speak of Wild Sheep, but with notices
so indistinct, that no conclusions can be founded upon them.
It is not certainly known whether Wild Sheep existed in the
west of Europe. Boetius, a chronicler extremely credulous,
* Proceedings of the Zoological Society, and the Asiatic Transactions,
ŵ
*
27
yet worthy of trust as to what he says he heard or saw,
mentions the existence of a race of Wild Sheep in the deso-
late island of St Kilda. He describes them as being larger
than the largest goats, and as having tails hanging to the
ground, and horns more bulky than those of the ox; and, ac-
cording to Mr Pennant, an animal corresponding with this
description is figured on a bas-relief taken from the wall of
Antoninus, near the modern city of Glasgow.
Looking at the vast diversities in the Sheep of different
and distant countries, and the constancy with which certain
races preserve their distinctive characters under the same
conditions of temperature, food, and treatment, we are
conducted to the conclusion, that Wild Sheep proper to
different countries have been domesticated by the inhabi-
tants; and, accordingly, that the domesticated races are
not of one, but of various species, having the property of
procreating with one another in the reclaimed state. The
same hypothesis, we have seen, has been applied to the Goat,
there being no other which satisfactorily explains the per-
manent differences which races of those animals exhibit
under the same conditions from age to age. A like suppo-
sition, we shall see in the sequel, must be made in the case
of the Dog, in order to enable us to account for those great
variations which the domesticated races present in almost
every country. The opinion, we shall see, that may most
reasonably be entertained regarding the origin of the Do-
mestic Dogs, is, that they are descended from the Wolf and
other Canidæ yet found in the wild state; and there is no
more difficulty in assuming the derivation of the Sheep than
of the Dog from species yet existing in the state of nature,
since the habits and forms of the Argalis and Musmons as
nearly resemble the cultivated Sheep as the Wolf and other
species of Canis resemble the common breeds of Dogs. Even
the blood of the Goat, though of a species admitted, under
every zoological system, to be distinct, has certainly been
HISTORY.
28
mixed with that of the Sheep of various countries. Sheep
and Goats, indeed, when left free to select their own mates,
do not breed together, but the union is readily produced
when the males of one species only are present at the rutting
season; and it has been long known to shepherds, though
questioned by naturalists, that the resulting progeny is fruit-
ful. Breeds of this mixed race are numerous in the north
of Europe, and can scarcely have failed to take place in every
country where Sheep and Goats are herded together.
We may believe, then, that the Domesticated Sheep, the
OVIS ARIES of naturalists, is a factitious species, and not one
which has been called forth in the natural state. A species
of this kind, however, having been formed, by whatever mix-
tures of blood, the members of it must have been subject, like
every other family mixed or pure, to vary under the influence
of external agencies; and thus, independently of the differ-
ences produced by differences of origin, there are those which
have been produced by climate, food, and domestication, giv-
ing rise to those great varieties which, even under the nar-
rowest geographical limits, present themselves.
From whatever sources derived, these valuable animals,
we know, have been subjected to servitude from the earliest
times. The most ancient written records of the Southern
Asiatics refer to the Domesticated Sheep; and he is figured
on the oldest monuments of the past, which time has left us,
in Western Asia. On the sculptured remains of Egypt,
the Sheep continually appears, and of a form which we can
identify with that of the same animal still existing. The
Sacred Writings record its existence along with the first
known inhabitants of the earth; and the flocks and herds of
the wandering Shepherds of the East, are described with a
minuteness, which enables us to compare the pursuits of the
most ancient people with those of the inhabitants of the same
countries at the present hour. Scarcely any thing seems to
have changed in the habits of men in those countries of pas-
THE SHEEP.
29
toral tribes. Where Abraham pitched his, tent, with his
"sheep and oxen," and "asses and camels,"-where he sat
at the door of his tent,-where the stone was rolled from the
wells from which his maidens drew water, there the Arab
or the wandering Turcoman encamps, and all the scene is
like a vivid panorama of the past. In the case of the present
people of the Desert,-their tents, their journeyings, their
household cares, their flocks, their camels, their wells,-all
inform us with what a matchless fidelity the Sacred History
has been told.
HISTORY.
Of the Sheep, we learn that its fleece was used by the
Shepherds of Syria for the purposes to which it is now ap-
plied, and that it was shorn from the skin. "Then Jacob
rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels; and he
carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had
gotten, the cattle of his getting which he had got in Padan-
aram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan :
And Laban went to shear his sheep." *
"And Judah was
comforted, and went up unto his sheep-shearers at Zim-
nath." And at a long subsequent period, when the de-
scendants of Judah had become a nation, and acquired the
Land of Promise, the season of sheep-shearing is referred to
as one of rustic labour. Further the wool was woven into
cloth, which infers an advancement beyond the ruder stages
of the arts. The mere barbarian uses, for raiment, the skin
of the Sheep or Goat, with its covering of hair, as was prac-
tised by the Scythians, by the Gauls and Britons, and at the
present day by the Kalmuks and other nomadic people of
Asia, and by the Hottentots and other inhabitants of Southern
Africa. When cloth is made by barbarous tribes, it is simply
by pressing the wool together in a moist state, so as to form
felt, as we yet see done in the case of hats and beavers; by
* Genesis, xxxi. 17, 18, 19: And it is worthy of note, that the undergoing
of a period of servitude to acquire a wife, recorded in the history to which
these passages refer, exists at the present day amongst a wild tribe in the heart
of India, which is designated by the term Laban-a.
† Genesis, xxxviii. 12.
L
i
30
HISTORY.
1
which means the fibres adhere, and become intertwined in
such a manner as to form a species of cloth; and of this
simple manufacture were the woollen garments of the rude
people in the north of Asia and Europe. The use of the dis-
taff and the shuttle infers a considerable advancement in the
arts. Yet at this stage, we know, by indubitable records,
the wandering tribes of Syria had arrived, long ere the golden
fleece had been acquired by Jason, or ere Minerva had com-
municated to her Athenians the gifts of spinning and weaving.
And besides the spindle and the simple loom of the East, the
Syrian Shepherds had, from early times, acquired the know-
ledge of the art of communicating to their cloths and gar-
ments those beautiful colours which so much please the eye.
The fondness of a parent, and his gift of a many-coloured
garment to a favoured child, gave rise to a tale which, in
beauty and pathos, cannot be surpassed; and even yet,
amongst the people of India, the practice exists of giving to
a favourite boy a garment of many colours, as a charm
against evil. The flesh of the Sheep was likewise used, but
with that temperance which still distinguishes the people of
those countries in the use of animal food. It was from the
milk of their flocks that they derived the chief part of their
daily food. They understood the art of curdling the milk of
their goats and ewes; and cheese and butter, with fat and
honey, formed the simple repasts of these early. shepherds,
as of the Kurds, the Turcomans, and Arabs, of the present
day.
Domestication renders the Sheep more suited to our uses,
but diminishes his physical powers, and adapts him to another
condition of life. When once completely subjugated, he never
again appears to acquire the faculties which fit him for a life
of liberty. Give him afterwards what freedom we may, he
remains more or less dependent upon us, and would fall a
prey to wolves, and the swifter feræ, were he not under
human protection. Yet he is not the stupid and insensible
creature which some represent him to be. When entirely
31
subdued, indeed, his natural instincts are blunted, and he
loses the providence and sense of danger which are natural
to him; but when left in a state of comparative liberty, as on
the mountains of Scotland and Wales, he shews that, though
comparatively feeble, he is not without the power of guard-
ing himself from danger. When attacked by dogs or foxes,
the flock forms a circle, with the rams in front, presenting a
face to the enemy. The rams rush forward on the assailant,
and strike him with their powerful horns; and in their con-
tests with one another for the possession of the females, they
fight with amazing determination, stunning one another with
the violence of the shocks. The Sheep is an exceedingly hardy
animal with respect to temperature, his close covering of wool
defending him well from cold. He foresees an impending fall
of snow, and takes shelter from its violence. When buried
underneath the snow, as he sometimes is, he often survives
for many days, and even weeks, and may be digged up with-
out injury, provided he have escaped suffocation; for in such
a situation, his thick fleece, which, as well as the snow, is a
slow conductor of heat, retains the natural warmth of the body
in such a degree as to preserve life. The ewe bears that affec-
tion to her offspring which Nature has imprinted, as it were,
on the heart of every animal. Should mishap befal her young
one, she mourns over it, and will not be comforted: should it
wander from her side, her anxious bleatings are everywhere
heard; and the little creature rewards her cares with surpris-
ing fondness. Who that has seen shearing of the flock, has not
marked the startled aspect of the lamb when the mother first
runs toward it divested of her covering, and how quickly it is
reassured, and how sensibly it expresses its joy, when it hears
the well-known voice, and receives the wonted caresses! The
Sheep appears insensible and stupid, because it is rarely at-
tached to us by acts of familiarity and kindness. But let the
orphan lamb be brought up at the shepherd's cot, and fed
from his hand, and we shall find it to be nearly as fami-
liar as a dog,-fond of being caressed, and unwilling to leave
HISTORY.
32
its protector to join its fellows of the flock. In countries
where the shepherd guides his flock, and does not herd it by
dogs in the manner practised in other places, the docility
which the animals acquire is wonderfully great. Where the
shepherd leads they follow; they observe his motions and
hear his voice, and when he uses a pipe or horn, they listen
to the well-known sound, and obey the signal. In the Alps
of Switzerland, and in the mountainous parts of Italy, in
Greece, and elsewhere, we are yet charmed with this rem-
nant of pastoral simplicity and innocence. The shepherd
boy knows all his little favourites, he remembers their
names, and, when called, they leave the flock and come to
him. When the numbers are great, he selects a few, teaches
them their simple lesson, and they become the guides of the
rest to their allotted pastures, and learn to collect the wan-
derers. The music of the mountain shepherd we find to be
no poetic fiction. In the mountains of the South, we yet
hear the soft and artless tones of his pipe. In the morning
he leads forth his little flock, and plays as he marches at their
head, and at sunset returns in like manner to the fold, where
he pens them, that they may be kept from the wolves.
The fur of the Sheep consists partly of hair, but essentially
of wool. In cold, moist, and elevated countries, the hair
often becomes so long as to cover the wool; and when the
wool falls off in the early part of summer, the covering of
hair remains to protect the animal. In warm countries, the
wool is often scarcely developed, and nearly the whole coat
is of hair, just as in the case of the Deer, the Antelope, and
the Goat; yet this is not always the case, even in the warmer
countries, in which the fur is sometimes fleecy, soft, and thin.
Often the wool is long, and the filaments thick, without being
hairy, as in the case of the Sheep of the richer plains of Eng-
land; sometimes it is short, fine, and curling, as in the case
of the Mountain Sheep of Spain. We can sometimes trace ·
the influence of climate in modifying the characters of wool,
but often it is affected by causes which we are unable to dis-
THE SHEEP.
3
1
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cover.
HISTORY.
It is often affected by domestication and artificial
treatment. The difference in the character of wool renders
it more or less valuable, and more or less suited to different
manufactures. Thus, the long thick wool of the Sheep of the
plains of England is suited to the manufacture of flannels;
that of the South Down, Ryeland, and Merino breeds, to the
fabrication of cloths; that of the Blackfaced Heath Sheep of
Scotland, to the making of carpets and coarser stuffs. The
colour of the wool of Sheep is yet less dependent upon any
known causes than its texture, length, or fineness. Some-
times it is black, sometimes it is gray, sometimes it is brown,
and in other cases it is white, or partly black and partly
white. We know no law which determines these colours.
There is reason to believe that the colour of the fleece in the
earlier Sheep tended to the darker colours rather than to the
lighter, as it yet does in Sheep that are left long in their
natural state. But the white colour came to be more valued,
as being more agreeable to the eye, but chiefly because white
wool is better fitted to receive those bright and beautiful
colours which we are enabled to communicate by the dyeing
process. But the desire to obtain white wool being formed,
it was easy to procure white Sheep, by using males and
females for breeding which were possessed of that colour.
With respect to the races of Sheep which have been domes-
ticated in different countries, a diversity so great is presented
in the form and size of the animals, nature of the fleece, and
other characters, that nothing beyond the most general classi-
fication can be made when we refer to Sheep extended over
many and distant countries.
33
Looking to Asia, which may be considered as the cradle of
the principal domesticated races, it may be said that there
are two groups of cultivated Sheep, each, however, compre-
hending innumerable breeds ;-first, those with flat tails
naked underneath; and, secondly, those with long round
tails covered with wool. The Flat-tailed races have a won-
derfully wide range, extending from Caubul northwards to
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34
near the Arctic Circle, eastward through the boundless wilds
of Chinese Tartary, and westward through Persia into Asia
Minor and Syria. In the higher latitudes of Asia, the same
character is retained; but the Sheep themselves become di-
minutive, and the tail is small, and carried upwards in the
manner of the Goat. The small Sheep with this character
have been regarded by naturalists as a variety or class,
which has been termed Brevi-cauda. In the more tem-
perate latitudes, the flat tail becomes long, and, in certain
countries, is loaded with fat, so as to form a great part of
the weight of the animal. This peculiarity is the most deve-
loped in the Sheep of the countries of the Euphrates, in Asia
Minor, Syria, and part of Arabia; where, when the animals
receive rich food, or are kept in pens and houses, the tail
becomes of such large dimensions, that it trails upon the
ground, so that it is frequently supported by little sledges to
keep it from incommoding the animal. The Sheep having
these broad fat tails are frequently designated the Syrian
Breed, and are sometimes brought to England under the
name of Turkish Sheep. Aristotle, Pliny, and others, refer
to them; and there is reason to believe, from certain no-
tices in the Levitical laws, that they were the kind of Sheep
cultivated by the ancient Jews. They are a very valuable
race in the countries which produce them. The large tail,
weighing sometimes of itself 40 or 50 lb., is greatly valued,
and the fat is used along with other food as butter or oil.
The ewes are prolific, producing twice in the year, and yield-
ing a larger quantity of milk than any other known race of
Sheep.
But towards the countries of the Caspian Sea, a remarkable
deviation from this form occurs. The tail becomes short, or
rudimental, and the fat accumulates on the haunches, form-
ing two great cushions. This character is chiefly observed
in the Sheep of the countries bordering on the Caspian, and
the great saline lake of Aral, becoming less prominent as we
recede from the immense basin which contains these seas,
THE SHEEP.
35
and ultimately disappearing. It has been conjectured that
the character itself arises from the Sheep feeding on the bit-
ter and saline plants found in these countries; and it is said,
that when they are removed from the places in which these
plants grow, the fatty excrescence becomes less. It may
justly be assumed, indeed, that this character is the result of
peculiarities of food, although we cannot determine physiolo-
gically in what manner the effect is produced. The Sheep
in which this singular character appears have been regarded
as a natural variety, and termed Steatopyga.
The races of Sheep, again, having round tails covered with
wool, are widely diffused over the Asiatic Continent. From
this group of breeds the finest wool is produced, though, in
the greater number of them, the wool is extremely coarse,
and largely mixed with hairs. Some of them are of a large
size, as in Thibet, where they are employed for carrying bur-
dens. The Sheep of the Tartars may be referred in part to
this group, and in part to the broad-tailed. The Tartar Sheep
are remarkably strong and hardy, but, for the most part, of
bad form, and covered with coarse wool. But when we speak
of Tartary, or rather Tahtary, it is to be remembered that
we use a vague term for a region which comprehends a great
part of all Asia, and includes tribes and nations entirely
distinct from one another in speech, customs, and country.
The inhabitants, however, generally agree in this, that they
are rude shepherds, subsisting on the produce of their flocks
and herds, with which they migrate from place to place;
but their domesticated animals differ greatly with place, so
that the Sheep of the Turcomans and other western Asiatics
are distinct from those of the Kalmuks, Mantchoories, and
others. Towards the Eastern Ocean, comprehending the
fertile plains of China Proper, the Sheep, like the Horses of
the same country, become of small size; and the same re-
mark applies to those which are found in the luxuriant Islands
of the Eastern Archipelago. Hindostan contains races more
diversified in size, form, and the character of the wool, than
HISTORY.
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2
36
THE SHEEP.
•
those of any other country of Asia of the same extent. The
finest and largest are derived from Caubul and the other
countries westward of the Indus; towards the more arid re-
gions of the south the Sheep become of diminutive size, and
are in many cases covered with short hair, with scarcely the
vestige of a fleece. Some of the Indian Sheep have very pe-
culiar characters, as the Mysore Breed, the Pürek Breed, and
others.
Africa abounds in Sheep, as in Goats and all the ruminat-
ing tribes. In the countries of the great Mediterranean
basin, comprehending Barbary, from the Atlantic to the de-
serts bordering on Egypt, the races are greatly varied. In
many parts, chiefly in the Regency of Tunis, are found the
Broad-tailed Syrian Sheep. Some are many-horned, having
a coarse fleece. The more common Sheep of the Barbary
States have long limbs, ungainly forms, and shaggy hair.
They have been termed by naturalists the Long-legged Breed
of Africa, which, however, rather indicates a character than
a breed. They have a mixed fur, chiefly of hair; but towards
the great mountains inland are found races of Sheep entirely
different, covered with a fine wool fitted for the most delicate
fabrics of the loom.
In Abyssinia and the countries of the Red Sea is found a
race of Sheep differing entirely from any existing in Europe,
and which, if we are to pay regard at all to external cha-
racters in discriminating species, must be regarded as a dis-
tinct species. These sheep are covered with short glossy
hair, with scarcely the rudiment of a fleece. They have thick
necks, with well-formed heads. The head, and part of the
throat and neck, are black, and the rest of the body is pure
white, without any tendency to the rufous colour characteris-
tic of our common Sheep. They have short or rudimental
tails, and are destitute of horns; and the fat accumulates
largely on the buttocks and inside of the thighs. This race is
found in Arabia, and has been carried, by the countries of the
Euphrates, into Persia, whence it has been sometimes erro-
1
37
neously termed the Persian Breed, though in no degree pro-
per to Persia. These Sheep thrive on the withered herbage
of the countries they inhabit, and where the Sheep of Europe
would perish. They are found in Madagascar, and along the
south-eastern coast of Africa, together with the broad-tailed
breeds.
Of the races of the boundless countries of the interior of
the African Continent we know scarcely any thing. Travel-
lers, indeed, speak of Sheep as being numerous in the
countries they have traversed, but they give us no characters
by which the races can be discriminated. But in the rich
and pestilential countries of the Negroes of the western
coasts, the Sheep are better known to us. They are in great
numbers, and of characters as distinct from those of Asia
and Europe as other quadrupeds of the same countries.
They are covered with short hair without any wool, and have
tails like those of swine; and some of them have singular
enlargements on the cheek, throat, and sometimes on the
forehead. They are familiar to the slave-traders, who carry
them away as sea-stock, along with their human victims.
In the milder countries southward to the extremity of the
Continent, there are large flocks of Sheep reared by such of
the nomadic tribes as their own endless wars and the cruel
avarice of European colonists have spared. The Hottentot
Sheep are of slender forms, resembling foxes rather than
Sheep, and having long tails on which the fat accumulates.
They have been confounded with the broad-tailed Syrian
race, from which they are distinct. They have been long
available to the Indian voyagers as sea-stock; but they are
of delicate constitution, and frequently perish with the first
gales on quitting the Cape of Storms. Few of them, how-
ever, now exist in the pure state in the territory of the Cape,
a mixed race having been formed by the Dutch and English
colonists.
HISTORY.
Turning to Europe, we find the Sheep varying in every
country, and, like the human inhabitants, exhibiting the most
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THE SHEEP.
marked traces of a mixed descent. It has been questioned
whether the pristine inhabitants of Europe possessed the
domestic Sheep, and did not, like the wild tribes of the North
American forests, live solely by the spoils of the chase. We
cannot resolve this question, because we do not know who
were the pristine inhabitants of Europe. But we have reason
to believe, that the early Celtic and Teutonic nations were in
possession of Sheep, which, indeed, they could hardly have
failed to bring with them in their migrations westward,—the
Teutons from the countries north of the Black Sea and the
Caspian, and the Celts from those other regions of the East
where the Sheep had been cultivated from the first ages.
Yet the greater part of Europe was long a great forest, un-
favourable to the cultivation of Sheep; and they are rarely
mentioned by early chroniclers. It is a mistake, however,
to contend, as some have done, that Sheep did not find their
way into Western Europe until about the Christian era.
Indisputable proofs to the contrary exist, as in Spain, which
was long before this era inhabited by Sheep, and even in
North Britain, where the remnants of the Celtic Sheep are
still to be found, and where the early language of the people
shews their familiarity with these animals. In the south of
Europe, we may suppose that the Sheep of Asia were added
to those of the pre-existing races. They may be believed
to have found their way into Greece by the Hellespont, with
the introduction of civilization and letters. The Sheep of
Arcadia became at length the boast of Greece; and innumer-
able allusions in the writings of her poets, historians, and
philosophers, shew us in what estimation this gift of the Gods
was held. Italy likewise possessed her Sheep from an un-
known period; but the inhabitants, even up to a period com-
paratively recent, seem to have directed their attention to the
Goat more than to the Sheep. Long after Rome was founded,
the inhabitants had not learned to shear the fleece; and,
until the time of Pliny, the practice of plucking it from the
skin was not wholly abandoned, so long had the humble shep-
1
HISTORY.
39
herds of Syria preceded, in their knowledge of necessary arts,
the future conquerors of their country.
In the highest latitudes of Europe are found the short-
tailed Sheep of Northern Asia, which had even found their
way from Scandinavia to the most northerly of the British
Islands, where they still exist. In certain countries, too, of
the north of Europe, are found Polycerate Sheep; but the
greater part of the Sheep of Europe are of the common long-
tailed varieties, though manifestly derived from different
sources. For the most part, the Sheep of the richer countries
are larger than those of the poorer; but this is not without
exception, since, in fertile countries, are found races of Sheep,
which, amidst the most abundant herbage, remain diminutive
in size.
In European Turkey and Greece, the Sheep do not now
correspond with their ancient fame. They are of small size
and indifferent form. They are often of the broad-tailed race
of Asia Minor; and some of them have the horns twisted like
certain Antelopes, forming the race designated Strepsiceros,
and sometimes termed the Cretan breed. In the Islands of
the Archipelago few Sheep are reared. Some of them are of
the Cretan, some of the Syrian breed, and some of them are
polycerate.
Ascending the Danube, the Sheep are found to be of the
long-tailed varieties, with more or less of the characters of
the Cretan race. The breed of Wallachia may be regarded
as the type of the races which extend through Moldavia,
Transylvania, and westwards towards Vienna. They have
black faces, and long wiry wool, much mixed with hair.
Italy, once so renowned for her Sheep, can now boast
little of this production of her bounteous clime. The Ro-
mans, whose dress was woollen, cultivated in an especial
degree the fineness of the fleece; and it was not until the
days of the Empire that the silk and cotton of the East be-
gan to supersede the ancient raiment of the Roman people.
The finest wools of ancient Italy were produced in Apulia
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and Calabria, being the eastern parts of the present kingdom
of Naples. Pliny informs us that the best wool was that of
Apulia, on the Adriatic Sea; that the next best was further
to the south, on the Gulf of Tarentum; that the Milesian or
Asiatic Sheep carried the third prize; and that, for white-
ness, there was none better than that produced on the Po.
The care of the Romans in causing the wool to grow fine,
exceeded, in the case of certain breeds, any thing that is
now attempted. The sheep were kept in houses, and con-
tinually clothed, so that the filaments of the wool might be-
come delicate: the skin was smeared with fine oil, and mois-
tened with wine; the fleece was combed, so that the wool
might not become matted; and the whole was washed seve-
ral times in the year. Under this artificial treatment the
breed became tender, subject to diseases, voracious of food,
and the females so incapable of nourishing their young,
that many of the lambs were obliged to be destroyed. The
Apulian and Tarentine breeds probably ceased to exist even
before the fall of the Empire, or were swept away by barbar-
ous conquerors, with all the arts of the lovely land. There
are still in Italy many fine-woolled Sheep, but of small bad
form, and ruined by neglect. The same remark applies to
the Sheep of Sicily, which were greatly celebrated for the
fineness of their wool, and which have not yet lost this an-
cient character.
THE SHEEP.
Of all the countries of Europe, Spain has been the longest
distinguished for its Sheep. This fine country, more varied
in its surface and natural productions than any other region
of the like extent in Europe, produces a great variety of
breeds, from the larger animals of the richer plains, to the
smaller races of the higher mountains and arid country.
Besides the difference produced in the Sheep of Spain by
varieties of climate and natural productions, the diversity of
character in the animals may be supposed to have been in-
creased by the different races introduced into it, 1st, from
Asia, by the early Phoenician colonies; 2d, from Africa, by
5
41
the Carthaginians, during their brief possession; 3d, from
Italy, by the Romans, during their dominion of several hun-
dred years; and 4th, again from Africa, by the Moors, who
maintained a footing in the country for nearly eight centuries.
The larger Sheep of the plains have long wool, often coloured
brown or black. The Sheep of the mountains, downs, and
arid plains, have short wool, of different degrees of fineness,
and different colours. The most important of these latter
races is the Merino, now the most esteemed and widely dif-
fused of all the fine-woolled breeds of Europe.
In the British Islands the races of Sheep present extraor-
dinary diversities of size, form, and other characters, caused,
it
may
be believed, in part, by a difference of descent, in part
by the long-continued influence of climate, food, and other
agencies, and in part by the effects of breeding and artificial
treatment. But before describing the breeds proper to, or
naturalized in, these Islands, it will be well to direct atten-
tion to the nature of Wool, which forms an important pro-
duction of the Sheep in all countries.
WOOL.
WOOL.
The Hair of animals, of which Wool is a variety, springs
from the cellular tissue, immediately underneath the corion
or true skin. It grows from a soft pulp included in a little
sac, into which nerves and bloodvessels pass from the sur-
rounding tissue. It extends outwards, passing through the
true skin and epidermis in the form of a fine cylinder. It pos-
sesses externally a scaly texture, the lamina pointing in one
direction from the root to the tip, and is protected by an
unctuous secretion. Wool is chiefly distinguished from hair
by its growing in a spiral form, by its greater softness and
pliability, and by a property to be referred to, by which the
separate filaments adhere under the influence of moisture
and pressure.
On account of these properties, wool is
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42
THE SHEEP.
greatly better suited than hair for being spun and woven
into cloth.
Hair is often largely mixed with the wool of Sheep, and,
in the wilder races, forms the principal part of the animal's
covering. By frequent shearing of the fleece, the hair di-
minishes in quantity, and the wool is proportionally de-
veloped, until at length, under the influence of continued
domestication, the essential covering of the animal becomes
wool, of greater or less tenuity and softness. In the culti-
vated Sheep of England, hair covers only the face and part
of the limbs, but often hairs are mixed with the wool of
other parts of the body; and this, as it regards the manu-
facture, is an imperfection, and it is a process of art to
separate the intermixed hairs from the wool.
Generally speaking, the wool of Sheep in these latitudes
is yearly renewed, the older part falling off at the com-
mencement of the warmer season, and it is then that we
anticipate the process of nature by shearing the fleece. But
the wool may be shorn at any time, and, like hair, will grow
again. In this country, however, it is never thought bene-
ficial to shear the wool more than once in the year, and this
at the commencement of the warmer season, when the older
portion is about to fall off. In certain parts of this country,
favourable with respect to the mildness of the climate, the
wool of lambs is shorn; but the practice is unsuited to a
cold climate, and is only, therefore, very partially pursued.
The wool of lambs employed in the manufactures of this
country is chiefly derived from the skins of animals that
have been killed for the butcher, though largely, also, from
the importation of the skins of lambs with the wool from
other countries.
The wool of different races or families of Sheep is greatly
distinguished by the length of the staple and the tenuity and
softness of the filaments. And not only does the wool of
different Sheep differ in these properties, but the wool of
the same individual is more or less soft and fine, according
WOOL.
43
to the parts of the body from which it is derived. In gene-
ral, the wool becomes less fine, proceeding from the neck
towards the extremities, so that the wool on the breech is
more coarse than that on the back and sides. It is a pro-
cess of art to separate the finer from the coarser parts in an
individual fleece, and this into such number of divisions as
suits the nature of the wool, or the manufacture intended.
The number of these divisions varies from six to ten, or, in
many cases, to a greater number. The fleece being un-
rolled, the workman at his table, with a clear light thrown
upon him, and guided by the eye and touch, culls out the
several locks, as distinguished by the fineness of the fila-
These being put into baskets placed around him,
are afterwards collected into distinct packages; and thus the
manufacturer is supplied with wool of the peculiar quality
required. This operation is sometimes performed under the
direction of the manufacturers themselves, but more com-
monly by a class of persons termed wool-staplers, who pur-
chase the raw material from the grower, and dispose of it
after being assorted to the manufacturer. The operative
part of the process is one of great nicety, to which men are
trained, as to. the other mechanical arts, by a regular ap-
prenticeship.*
ments.
Wool is eminently suited to the reception of colours by
the dyeing process, excelling in this respect silk, and much
more cotton, and all other vegetable substances. White
wool receives the colouring matter more readily than black,
the finer parts of the fleece more readily than the coarser,
and the wool of healthy Sheep more readily than that of
those which are unhealthy. The natural colour of wool is
often black, and black filaments are frequently mixed with
the white. The intermixture is regarded as a great defect,
the black filaments being unsuited for the reception of the
brighter and more delicate colours in dyeing. The inter-
mixture of black wool with white is most apt to take place
* Remarks by the Author on Wool, aliunde.
L
**
44
in the case of the breeds of Sheep whose legs and faces are
covered with dark hair.
THE SHEEP.
The kinds of wool, as distinguished from one another by
the length of the staple, are termed Long and Short. In this
country the long wools are the produce of the larger Sheep of
the plains, and possess a staple of seven inches and upwards.
The short wools are the produce of the smaller Sheep of the
mountains, downs, and generally of the drier or less fertile
country, and have wool of a staple from two to four inches.
Wool is prepared for being spun into thread by two pro-
cesses entirely different in the effect and mode of execution :
the first is termed Combing, and prepares the wool for being
spun into worsted yarn, which is the kind of thread employed
for the stuffs called worsteds; the second is termed Carding,
and prepares the material for being spun into woollen yarn,
which is the kind of thread suited for the manufacture of
woollen cloths.
In combing, the process consists in dividing the wool by
means of fine steel teeth, acting in the manner of the com-
mon comb on knotted or entangled hair. The comb is kept
hot, and the wool is oiled, in order that it may pass more
easily between the teeth of the comb. In this manner, the
filaments are smoothed and arranged side by side, some-
what in the manner in which the fibres of hemp and flax are
assorted for spinning, and being then drawn out to the de-
gree of tenuity required, are twisted or spun, forming worsted
yarn. The tenuity given to these threads is of every degree,
suited to the various kinds of manufacture, from the thickest
and stoutest substances, to the most delicate articles of
clothing and dress. The fineness to which woollen threads
can be spun almost exceeds belief. It has been computed
that, in ordinary spinning at Norwich, a pound of wool may
be extended to 13,440 yards, or in superfine spinning, to
37,200 yards, or about 224 miles, so that a fleece yielding
7 lb. would produce a thread of 155 miles in length: and
even this degree of fineness can be exceeded. The exporta-
1
45
tion of worsted yarn was formerly prohibited by law; it is
now permitted, and forms an increasing and profitable branch
of trade.
WOOL.
The preparation of wool by carding, for the manufacture
of woollen cloth, is performed in an entirely different manner.
In this process, the filaments are not kept entire and laid
parallel to one another in the direction of the thread to be
spun; but they are torn and broken into innumerable minute
fragments, and then mingled together in every direction. By
the spiral growth of wool, as distingushed from that of hair,
each filament, or portion of a filament, is curled at its ex-
tremity, and the broken or divided parts tend to hook them-
selves to one another, so that, when a portion of wool is
forcibly broken into pieces, the fragments remain loosely
adherent, and may then be twisted or spun. The operation
of breaking the wool by means of the card is performed by
machinery; but the principle of the process will be under-
stood from the following explanation :—
Let there be supposed to be a board with a handle attached,
and that in this board is fixed a great number of crooked
wires, all bent in one direction. These wires are then par-
tially filled with wool. Another board with the same kind of
wires or teeth is then pulled in such a manner as that its
teeth shall pass through amongst those of the other board.
By the repeated action of these two cards, the wool is broken
into minute fragments, which, from the curling property of
the wool referred to, hook themselves together, and are
formed into long rolls or cardings, which, being drawn out
and twisted, form the thread.
This peculiar mode of forming the thread of woollen yarn
has relation to the kind of fabric to be formed, namely,
woollen cloth, which is a substance of a dense and close tex-
ture; while the fabrics formed of worsted thread are of a
lighter and looser texture. The denser consistence is given
to the woollen cloth by means of the property termed Felting.
The property of felting consists in a tendency of the fila-
I
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46
THE SHEEP.
ments of wool to unite or adhere when moistened and com-
pressed. By compression in the moist state, a mass of wool
becomes a dense body, as we see in the case of hats or beavers,
which are formed of the wool and down of animals subjected
to pressure and moisture. Nay, by this process alone, with-
out the intervention of spinning or weaving, cloth can be
formed. Thus, in ancient times, and among certain people of
the East at the present day, caps, mantles, blankets, carpets,
and the covering of tents, are formed by felting alone. In
England, recent experiments have shewn, that tolerably good
cloths, both with respect to durability and fineness, may be
formed by this means. The property appears to depend on
the form of the filaments before referred to. Each filament
is seen to be notched all round with minute serrations, formed
by fine sharp laminæ, proceeding from the pile like the leaves
of an artichoke, all pointing in one direction from the base
to the extremity. Now when, by the process of carding, the
filaments are broken into minute fragments, the parts are in-
termingled in every direction, and the serrations tend to lock
themselves into one another by meeting in opposite direc-
tions. But when wool is prepared by combing, the serrations
lie in one direction, and do not in the same degree tend to
lock themselves together.
In the manufacture of woollen cloth, the felting process is
not called into operation until the threads are spun and
woven, and in the preparatory process the tendency of the
filaments to cohere is prevented by oiling the wool. But
when the cloth is woven, it is subjected to a process termed
Fulling, for the purpose of freeing it from the oily matter.
The fulling is performed by machinery, and consists in
press-
ing the cloth in water along with clay, the aluminous matter
of which combines with the oil of the cloth. It is in under-
going this operation that the threads and filaments cohere
together, so that the cloth becomes more thick, and does not
unravel when cut.
From this account, it will be seen that, while the facility
1
47
of felting is an important property in the case of all wool
designed for the manufacture of cloth, and prepared by the
card, it is not required in the case of wool intended for
worsted, and prepared by the comb. Certain kinds of wool
have this property in a higher degree than others, and are
consequently better adapted for the making of woollen cloth.
In general, the shorter kinds of wool having also fine fila-
ments, are those of which the laminæ are most numerous
and distinct, and are those accordingly in which the felting
property is the greatest. The property, however, is not in
proportion to the tenuity of the fibres, since certain short
and slender wools possess it in an inferior degree. Of all
known wools, that derived from the Merino race possesses
the felting property in the greatest perfection, and is accord-
ingly the best adapted of all others for the making of cloth;
while the long and tough wool of the larger sheep is imper-
fectly adapted to the preparation of woollen yarn, and ac-
cordingly is never prepared by the action of the card. It is,
therefore, the short and felting wools which alone are fitted
for this process; and until a period comparatively recent, they
were, with few exceptions in this country, never prepared by
any other means. This gave rise to a popular distinction,
long in use, and not yet entirely abandoned. The long wools
were termed Combing wools; the short, Carding wools. But
these designations are no longer applicable. By improve-
ments in the woollen manufacture, the means have been
found to prepare the shorter and more delicate wools by the
comb as well as by the card; and now a great proportion of
all the short wool of this country is converted into worsted
yarn. The South Down wool, which was formerly, and until
a recent period exclusively, prepared by the card, is now in
a still larger degree prepared by the comb for the manufac-
ture of worsted. It has fallen.in price, indeed, from its being
no longer used for the finer cloths, but the range of its utility
has been greatly extended. Thus it is also with the wool of
the Cheviot, the Norfolk, and other Short-woolled breeds;
WOOL.
+
48
and there cannot be a doubt, that, although individual in-
terests may have been injuriously affected by the fall in the
price, the nation has been benefited by an extension of the
purposes to which this class of wools can be applied. Nay,
the general good of the wool-growers themselves has been
eminently served. The demand for their commodity has be-
come more steady, and the trade been placed on a surer basis,
by being founded on an enlarged demand, and supported, not
by artificial regulations and fiscal restraints, but by an exten-
sion of the woollen manufacture. Soon after the peace of
1814, alarm was raised among the British wool-growers lest
the price of the raw material should be reduced below what
they chose to term a remunerating price. The Government
of the day, in an evil hour, yielded to the influence exerted;
and in the year 1819, heavy duties were imposed on foreign
wool, with the design of keeping up the price of the native pro-
duce, under the specious pretext of encouraging British agri-
culture. In six years this monstrous law was repealed, but
not until it had done all that the shortness of the time allowed
for establishing the manufactures of foreign rivals, and giv-
ing them the ascendency in the markets of Europe. But the
price of short wool continuing to decline, renewed efforts were
made by the wool-growers to induce the Legislature to re-
store the former restrictions. This, in 1828, led to a parlia-
mentary inquiry, when a mass of evidence was produced,
proving beyond all cavil the danger and evil of interfering,
through the medium of duties and fiscal regulations, with the
raw material of a manufacture which could only be sustained
by freedom of trade and production. It was proved by the con-
current testimony of witnesses from all parts, that the cloth
made from British wool alone could no longer find a market
in Europe, and was even deemed too coarse for the clothing
of the labouring classes at home; and that, without a free
command of the wool of other countries, a great part of the
woollen export trade of Great Britain would be for ever lost.
It may well excite surprise that any class of men amongst
THE SHEEP.
7
0
49
us should have dared to demand that the manufacturers of
the country should be prevented from procuring the materials
of their manufacture where they could be obtained cheapest
and best; nay, should not only be prevented from exercising
this natural and necessary right, but compelled to take from
the wool-growers at home, and at a price enhanced by fiscal
regulations, what was absolutely unsuited for the purposes
of commerce. The disgraceful law of 1819 had already
shewn, that, by refusing to take the wools of other countries,"
we depressed the price of the raw material abroad, and thus
gave an indirect premium to the foreign manufacturer; and
that, by forcing our manufacturers to employ wools of inferior
quality and higher price, we directly unfitted them for com-
petition in the general market of the world. It was of the
repeal of the law of 1819 that the wool-growers thought fit
to complain, as having produced the depreciation which had
taken place in the price of the clothing wools, not perceiving
that, in admitting the depreciation from this cause, they ad-
mitted at the same time the magnitude and injustice of a
burden, which had been so heavily taxing the manufacturing
industry of our own country, and fostering that of others.
What, it may be well asked, did the wool-growers hope for
by forcing up the price of wool by such expedients? To the
mere occupier of the land a forced rise of the raw material
could only be beneficial during a passing term. On the ter-
mination of the lease, the benefit would go to the owner of
the land in the shape of increased rent. Thus, in order to
raise the rent of the land, the wool-growers were prepared to
lay a tax on every consumer of wool, that is, on every indi-
vidual in the kingdom, and to cripple the trader in his means
to maintain his equality in the foreign markets. It is known
that, in these times, the great danger to the manufacturing
prosperity of the country is the progress of other nations in
those arts in which we have hitherto excelled, and that our
relative superiority in such arts can only be maintained by
our being enabled to supply the productions of them on the
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THE SHEEP.
cheapest terms; and granting that the wool-growers could,
by means of an ill-judged monopoly, have forced up for a time
the price of the native wool, would they not thereby have
abandoned a yet more safe and permanent means of effecting
the end, namely, that which would have resulted from in-
creasing the demand for the manufactured commodity? The
injurious measure contended for was, however, happily re-
sisted, never, it is to be trusted, to be brought forward again;
and the trade of wool, by being thrown open to the world,
has been placed on a far surer foundation than if it had been
made to rest on the narrow and insecure basis of monopoly
and restriction.*
The woollen trade of England has been cherished by the
laws from early times, and has long been regarded as a main
branch of the industry of the country. The Romans extended
and perfected the arts of spinning and weaving in Britain, as
in other of their provinces, and taught the natives to clothe
themselves after the Roman fashion. They established fac-
tories, of which that at Winchester was long distinguished.
But the garments and woollen fabrics of the people were for
the most part spun and woven by themselves, under that
system of domestic manufacture which is the first in order of
time in all rude countries. The employment of spinning and
weaving was chiefly devolved on females, whence the term
Spinster, which has been in use from time immemorial. Ed-
ward the Elder, who died in the year of our Lord 925, mar-
ried, we are told, the daughter of a shepherd or countryman
of mean rank; and being desirous that his children should
have a princely education, "he sette his sons to scole, and
his daughters he sette to woll werke, takyne example of
Charles the Conquestour."+
In the succeeding times of the Norman princes, the state
of the woollen trade is made known to us by the records of
customs, subsidies, fines, and fiscal regulations. Wool formed
* Remarks on Wool, aliunde, by the Author.
† Fabian's Chron.
}
WOOL.
51
the chief revenue of the prince, and the subject of continued
exaction on the people. Sometimes the woollen subsidies
were paid in kind, but more generally in heavy duties laid
upon the sale or exportation of the wool. In these early
times the raw material alone was exported. It was carried
chiefly to the Low Countries, where it was manufactured into
cloths and worsted stuffs by the Flemings, then become the
great weavers of Northern Europe. These industrious people
maintained their superiority in the woollen manufacture for
many ages, and during this period acquired that wealth which
enabled them to render their country the most populous and
fruitful in Europe. Their chief dependence for the raw mate-
rial was on England, which alone could supply them in the
due quantity with the wool which their innumerable looms
required. They returned the manufactured commodity at a
high price; and yet the trade was mutually beneficial, and
calculated to advance the industry of the ruder, as well as the
more cultivated, people. But Edward III., soon after his ac-
cession to the crown, resolved to wrest the woollen manufac-
ture as much as possible from the Flemings, and establish it
at home. He encouraged the resort of foreign artisans to
England; and, availing himself of certain discontents in
Flanders, he invited over weavers, dyers, fullers, and others,
and established them in different parts, affording them pro-
tection and privileges. He caused it to be enacted, that all
merchant strangers and denizens might buy and sell within
the realm, freely and without interruption, and that all foreign
clothmakers should be received from whatever foreign parts
they came. To encourage the home manufacture, he even
resolved to prevent the exportation of English wool, and the
importation of foreign cloths. At a parliament held in March
1337, it was enacted that no wool of English growth should
be transported beyond sea, and that none should wear any
cloths made beyond sea. But this statute soon gave way
the exigencies of the exchequer, and the temptation of im-
posts, licenses, and fines.
to
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52
THE SHEEP.
This prince has been regarded as the great founder of the
manufacturing prosperity of England,-with what justice, let
the records of his exchequer, and the complaints of his harassed
subjects, declare. He bestowed his favour upon the woollen
trade, it is true, but merely as an engine for extorting money;
and in no previous reign had the exactions on this part of the
industry of the country been more grievous. We are amazed
at the sums he drew from forced subsidies, customs, fines,
and otherwise. On one occasion having, without the sanction
of Parliament, and contrary, accordingly, to Magna Charta,
laid a heavy impost on all wool sold within the kingdom, the
Commons agree to give him 30,000 sacks of wool for his re-
lief, on condition that he should keep to the customs ordained
by law; and the Lords, after humbly praying "that the great
wrong set upon wool be revoked," offer him in return the
tenth sheaf of all the corn of their demesnes, and the tenth
fleece of wool, and the tenth lamb of their own stores, to be
paid within two years. The clergy sometimes assisted him,
as, on one occasion, by raising for him 20,000 sacks. When
these woollen subsidies were to be levied, care likewise was
used that the king's market was not interfered with. Pro-
clamation was sometimes made, "that no person buy any
wools before the king be served, whereunto all customers
shall have an eye. ""* On one occasion, the king having re-
solved to export 20,000 sacks on his own account, his ready
Parliament enacted that no man before that time should pass
over any wool on pain of treble loss, life and member!
Such was the protection afforded to the woollen trade on
the part of our earlier governments. By the increasing power
of the people, the exactions of the prince were better resisted
in the following reigns; but yet we recognise little of just and
liberal principles in the legislation of the times. Guilds and
corporations with exclusive privileges were multiplied, and
thus monopoly crept into all the departments of the woollen
* Smith's Memoirs of Wool.
WOOL.
53
trade; foreigners were treated with jealousy and injustice;
and restrictions were extended to every branch of the manu-
facture. Still, the woollen manufactures of the country con-
tinued to extend; but it was not until the more settled times
of Henry VII. that cloth began to be exported in any quan-
tity. But how little of this advancement was due to the wis-
dom of the laws, may be seen from the statutes which were
before and afterwards enacted. Certain towns and districts
were frequently allowed the exclusive privilege of manufac-
turing and selling certain kinds of goods. An act of Henry
VIII. declares, that worsted yarn is the "private commoditie"
of the city of Norwich, and county of Norfolk; and therefore
enacts" that none shall be transported, nor shipped to be
transported, nor bought, nor caused to be bought, by any but
weavers in the said city or county." Another act recites,
that "the city of York afore this time hath been upholden
principally by making and weaving coverlets, and that the
same have not been made elsewhere in the said county till of
late, and that this manufacture had spread itself into other
parts of the county, and was thereby debased and discredited;"
and therefore ordains, "That none shall make coverlets in
Yorkshire but inhabitants of the city of York." An act of
the same prince revives certain older laws against enclosures,
and another limits the number of Sheep which any one shall
keep, on account, it is stated, of the rise in the price of
victual and clothing. By an act of William and Mary, it is
ordained that no clothier out of a burgh, market town, or
corporate town, shall have above one loom; that no weaver
dwelling out of a city shall have above two looms; that no
weaver shall be either tucker, fuller, or dyer; that no fuller
or tucker shall keep a loom; that no person shall cause any
white broad woollen cloths to be made but in a city, or where
such cloths have been made for the space of ten years before;
that no weaver dwelling out of a city shall have above two
apprentices at one time; and that none shall set up weaving
unless he have been apprentice to, or have exercised the
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same, for seven years, and so forth. Absurd as are these,
and many more of the laws of the times, the woollen trade
and manufacture had been continually extending; and, in
the glorious reign of Elizabeth, became one of the main
sources of national opulence and power.
-
With the progressive increase, during the preceding reigns,
of the foreign export trade in manufactured goods, the ex-
portation of raw wool had been gradually declining, and
became continually less a means of supplying the wants of
needy princes. Elizabeth, with a provident sagacity, did not
prohibit the exportation of the raw material; and thus, while
she supported the manufacturer, she encouraged the growth of
native wool, by suffering the growers to send their produce
to the most suitable market. This wise policy had a happy
effect; while events arose, in connexion with the melancholy
history of other countries, which gave a new vigour to the
manufacturing industry of England.
Charles V. had succeeded, together with his other fair
dominions, to the sovereignty of the Low Countries, then
including the Dutch provinces. The doctrines of the Refor-
mation, so well suited to the genius of a frugal and calcu-
lating people, had early made a silent progress in the coun-
try; but here, as elsewhere, the strength of authority was
put forth to repress the spreading heresy. Civil grievances
were added to religious quarrels. Charles lived to witness
and deplore the growing discontent of his once faithful people;
but it was reserved for his son and successor Philip II. to fan
the embers of rebellion into flame, and complete the ruin of
his rich and peaceful provinces. The people, who had been
termed in contempt Geux, or beggars, by the minions of the
Court, assumed, with bitter irony, the wallet and the staff as
the ensign of their confederacy, and everywhere made head
against their oppressors. A civil war ensued, rendered hor-
rible by the merciless severity with which it was carried on;
by the sacking of rich towns, and other excesses of merce-
nary soldiers; by confiscations and judicial murders. After
THE SHEEP.
WOOL.
55
a time, ten of the provinces remained subjugated, but seven
achieved their independence, and became, under the name of
the Seven United Provinces, or Republic of Holland, one of
the most powerful nations of Europe. On the death of Philip,
in 1598, the subdued provinces enjoyed a kind of repose; but
the commerce that made them powerful was gone, and all
their arts were in a state of decay. During forty years of
war and misrule, multitudes of artisans had migrated with
their families to other countries, and in an especial degree to
England, where they were received with sympathy and fa-
vour. It is supposed that about 50,000 of these unfortunate
refugees found shelter in England soon after the first inva-
sion of the barbarous Duke of Alva. They were settled in
all parts of the kingdom, and contributed to give that perfec-
tion to the English manufactures, particularly of the finer
stuffs, in which they were formerly deficient. This, in con-
nexion with the growing commerce of the country, extended
the woollen trade of England to every part of the world, and
made it be regarded as the most important department of
national industry. The illustrious De Witt, in lamenting
the destruction of the woollen manufacture of the Nether-
lands, first by injurious laws at home, and then by the cruelty
of the Duke of Alva, observes, that afterwards "The English
by degrees began to vend their manufactures throughout
Europe, and then they became potent at sea; and he who is
powerful at sea is a lord at land, and more especially a king
of England.-"
During the reigns of the princes of the House of Stuart,
the woollen trade continued in a languishing condition. The
commercial legislation of this period, with respect to wool,
was marked by the spirit of monopoly and exclusiveness, a
short-sighted regard to little interests, a petty intermeddling
with the details of trade, and a jealousy of particular classes,
interests, and countries. The Dutch, then becoming a ma-
nufacturing as well as a trading people, were the subjects of
especial jealousy and dislike. They had become the princi-
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56
THE SHEEP.
(C
pal dyers of Europe. King James I., in the plenitude of his
wisdom, resolved to take the process of dyeing into his own
hands. He gave exclusive patents to persons at home to
perform it, and ordained that no cloth but that dyed in Eng-
land should be exported. The Dutch and Germans retaliated,
and refused to take cloth dyed in England. But jealousy
was not confined to aliens. The woollen manufacture had
taken root, and was making progress in the sister Island,
when addresses were presented to the King and both Houses
of Parliament, beseeching his Majesty to take effectual
measures to prevent the growth of the woollen manufactures
in Ireland." The exportation of Irish wool to any country
but England was rendered a felony; and the importation of
manufactured goods into England itself was prevented by
restrictions equivalent to a prohibition. The exportation,
even, of our English wool, was rigidly prohibited; and the
protection given to stranger artisans was so counteracted
by the miserable laws of corporations, that numbers of the
former refugees quitted the country in disgust.
During the reigns of Queen Anne and the two first sove-
reigns of the House of Hanover, the home consumption of
woollen goods greatly increased, but the foreign woollen
trade remained nearly stationary. During the first part of
the reign of George III., it progressively extended, but yet
not to a degree corresponding with the increasing wealth of
the country. The chief demand was for the West India
Islands and the North American Colonies. After the year
1773, a revolution occurred in manufacturing industry, which
may be said to have changed the condition of human society.
Machinery was applied to the fabrication of cotton, and the
stupendous power of steam was called into more extended
action. First came the Spinning-jenny, by which a child
could direct a hundred spindles and more, all at a time; then
the beautiful Frame of Arkwright, which required merely
that the raw material should be supplied, in order to be spun
into threads of surpassing fineness; then the Mule-jenny;
57
and last the Power-loom, which substituted mechanical for hu-
man power in the forming of the cloth. A similar machinery
was applied to the spinning and weaving of wool, and the
whole processes of the art were changed. The variety, qua-
lity, and cheapness of the productions increased in a won-
derful degree; and, notwithstanding the amazing extension
of the use of cotton in furniture, clothing, and dress, the con-
sumption of wool in England has not only not diminished,
but is at this time greater than in any former age.
The number of Sheep in the British Islands has been va-
riously computed at from thirty to thirty-five millions. Tak-
ing the latter sum, which probably falls below the real
amount, and assuming the produce, after making allowance
for the deficient weight of the wool of slaughtered sheep and
lambs, to be 43 lb. the fleece, the total quantity produced
will be
157,500,000 lb.
4,603,799
Whereof are exported in the raw state,
Leaving to be manufactured,
152,896,201 lb.
WOOL.
And assuming the price to be 1s. 3d. per lb.,
the value of the raw material will be
The value of foreign wool imported,
56,700,895 lb. at 2s. 6d., is
L.9,556,012 11 3
7,087,611 17 6
L.16,643,624 8 9
Supposing, then, the value of the manufactured commo-
dity to be 21 times that of the raw material, the value of
manufactured woollen goods produced in Britain will be
L.41,609,061: 1:10.
This great national manufacture supplies a larger internal
consumption than takes place in any other country; and affords
a surplus, valued at between six and seven millions sterling,
besides yarn, valued at about half a million, for an export.
trade to all parts of the world, being more than one-eighth
I
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58
part of the whole export trade of the kingdom. The woollen
trade is, therefore, of surpassing importance to the nation.
It has to contend with the fiscal regulations, and the increas-
ing production and rivalry of other countries; but hitherto
the superior capital, machinery, and industry of the country,
and the facilities of an extended commerce, have given advan-
tages to the British manufacturer which no European coun-
try as yet possesses.
This brief account of the nature and properties of wool,
will prepare us for considering the characters of the various
breeds of Sheep which have been naturalized in these Islands.
THE SHEEP.
I. THE BREEDS OF THE ZETLAND AND ORKNEY
ISLANDS.
The Sheep of this race inhabit the group of Islands and
Islets which lie to the north of the Pentland Firth, extending
to about the sixty-first degree of north latitude. They have
been in numerous cases intermixed with Dutch Sheep, brought
by the fishing-craft which frequent these northern seas, and
likewise with the Sheep of the Main. They thus differ in
some degree in the different islands, and even in different
flocks of the same island; but they have manifestly a common
origin with the Sheep of Norway and other parts of Northern
Europe.
These wild little Sheep are possessed of a fur consisting
partly of hair and partly of fine wool. They are of different
colours, black, brown, or white; and more often they are of
a gray colour, from the mixture of black and white, and are
often curiously streaked. There are horns in both sexes, but
more generally they are wanting in the females, and some-
times in the males. Their horns are short, and often so straight
and upright, as to resemble those of the Goat. Their tails are
short and broad, and their limbs slender, their aspect is
wild, and their motions are active.
4.
BREEDS OF THE ZETLAND AND ORKNEY ISLANDS. 59
These Sheep have acquired the characters which fit them
for the condition in which they are placed. The country
which they inhabit possesses a climate eminently cold and
humid, and is exposed to continual gusts and storms. Scarce
a tree is to be found, or a shrubby plant, beyond the heath
which covers the soil. Many of the islets are little else than
rocks, with a covering of peat, washed by the spray of the
boisterous seas which surround them, and occupied only by a
few Sheep left to find their own food. Under these circum-
stances, the Sheep are small in size, but hardy, and capable
of subsisting under great privations of food. The wethers
may be fattened, on a medium, to 6 or 7 lb. the quarter. At
certain seasons they find their way from the mountains to the
shores, and feed on the fuci and other marine plants. It is
remarkable to see them, on the receding of the tide, running
down from the hills, as if possessing an instinctive knowledge
of the time of ebb. They remain feeding while the sea allows;
and sometimes they are caught by the surrounding tide and
drowned. Sometimes they are unable, from exhaustion, to
ascend again the cliffs of the coast, and so perish; sometimes
they are driven into coves, where they are imprisoned until
the retiring tide permits them to escape. It is remarkable
that these Sheep feed readily on animal substances. One of
the greatest resources in some of the islands for keeping
them, when no other provender exists, is fish, which are dried
on the rocky shores for that purpose. These Sheep manifest,
in their habits, the rudeness of their condition. The rams
will often set upon the other sheep of the flock if wounded,
and destroy them. They will furiously attack the females
and new-born lambs, as if, in the dreary circumscribed islets
which they inhabit, they had acquired the instinct of endea-
vouring to prevent the too great multiplication of their num-
bers. The ewes, conscious of the danger, make their escape
at the time of lambing, that they may bring forth their young
in secret. When brought to the richer countries, these wild
creatures make every effort to escape from the enclosures
•
·
•
4
:
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60
THE SHEEP.
which confine them, find their way to the nearest elevated
grounds, and wander from place to place. They crop the tops
of herbs in the manner of goats, and endeavour to reach the
branches of shrubs and trees. Their descendants, for more
than one generation, retain the wild habits of the race.
Of these Sheep, the least mixed with foreign blood are those
of the remoter Islands, chiefly of Zetland. The Sheep of
Orkney are of a more mixed descent, and the impure breeds
have not the fineness of wool which distinguishes the ancient
race. In these animals, the hair grows mixed with the wool
all over the body. The wool falls off at the commencement
of the warmer season, leaving the hair to protect the animal.
Previous to the winter months, the wool has again grown,
and, along with the hair, forms a thick fur, suited to afford a
covering during the intense rigour of the colder season.
The
usual practice is to pluck off the wool, and not to shear it.
This practice has been described as rude and cruel. It is,
however, the method of treatment which is the best adapted
for obtaining the wool unmixed with the hairs, which would
render it unsuited for being spun and woven. The wool may,
in this manner, be taken from the skin without violence, and
would fall off naturally, and be left amongst the heaths and
in the bogs. The wool is scarcely ever washed before being
pulled, and the quantity is very small, not exceeding from 1½
to 2 lb. in the unwashed state. It is remarkable for its soft-
ness and the tenuity of its filaments. It is admirably suited
for being made into hose and fine flannels, but is deficient in
the property of felting, and is therefore ill adapted for the
making of cloths. The black-coloured wool is the most
valued for the making of hose and caps, because it does not
require the addition of dyes. The hides with the wool form
beautiful pelisses, and would be valuable on this account,
were such dresses in demand in this country.
The Sheep, over a great part of these islands, are pastured
in common, and the general treatment of them is rude in a
remarkable degree. The animals are often left entirely to
:
61
BREEDS OF THE ZETLAND AND ORKNEY ISLANDS.
their own resources in the bleak and desolate islands in which
they are imprisoned. They are collected by being hunted to-
gether once a-year, stripped of their fleeces, marked by their
respective owners, and then turned adrift, until such as sur-
vive are caught again in the following year, and subjected to
the same treatment. In all cases, the number of Rams is
allowed to be disproportioned to that of the Ewes; and, in
many cases, the number of the sexes are nearly equal. When
Sheep are wanted from the pastures, they are run down by
dogs; and hence these poor creatures acquire as great a ter-
ror for the dog as in other countries they do for the wolf or
other beasts of prey. The dogs, termed Had or Sheep Dogs,
are taught to select a particular Sheep, and run him down ;
and curious old laws existed regarding the property and con-
trol of these animals. Under the whole of this barbarous
system, the mortality is excessive; all the profit to be de-
rived from a proper management of a flock of sheep is lost;
and all the means are foregone of improving the breed, by the
selection of the male and female parents.
It is painful to draw such a picture of neglect, as appli-
cable to the rural economy of any part of a country like Bri-
tain. Yet it is consoling to know that the seeds of improve-
ment are scattered in these long-neglected Islands. In seve-
ral of them are settled various landed gentlemen, who are
equal in intelligence to any in the kingdom, and who have
begun to give the due attention to the resources of their
country. The efforts of such individuals to improve the do-
mestic animals of their estates cannot fail to meet with suc-
cess, nor the benefits of their example to be gradually dif-
fused. The power of steam has further been called into ope-
ration, to bring those remote Islands into contact with the
markets of the South; and now the breeders, instead of suf-
fering their Sheep to become the prey of eagles, ravens, and
gulls, and to perish through hunger and neglect, have the
means of carrying their rich and delicate mutton direct to the
best markets of consumption in the kingdom.
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THE SHEEP.
A question of economical interest for these Islands is,
whether the existing breeds should be preserved, or new
ones substituted. The interests of individuals may be ex-
pected to lead them to the latter course, at least to the ex-
tent of crossing the native races with superior stock. In
this manner an immediate profit may be expected; and it is
not to be supposed that individual breeders will abandon a
mean of present profit for one more distant and contingent.
Under this system, indeed, the pure Scandinavian Breed will
diminish in numbers, and ultimately disappear; but this
could scarcely be regretted, if a more useful class of animals
were to be substituted. If it were wished to preserve the
ancient race in such of the Islands as yet produce them, then
the attention of breeders should be directed to the proper
management of their flocks, to better feeding, and to long
and persevering care in the selection of the males and females.
Without attention to these things, the present race of Zet-
land Sheep can never be recovered from the degeneracy into
which it has fallen during ages of maltreatment and neglect.
The Merino Sheep have been tried for the purpose of cross-
ing the native race; but, as might have been anticipated
from the habitudes of the Merino parents, the progeny was
found unfitted to withstand the rigour of the climate, and the
exposed situation of the country. The Cheviot Sheep have,
however, been used for crossing with advantage, and appear
to be the breed which is greatly the best for the purpose.
The Short-tailed Sheep of Northern Europe had also been
early carried to the Hebrides, doubtless by the Norwegians.
Some of the descendants of these Sheep remain, but only in
scattered remnants, which are rapidly disappearing, their
size being diminutive, and the interest of the breeders having
everywhere led them to adopt breeds of more economical
value. Polycerate Sheep, too, are sometimes found in the
Islands of Scotland, doubtless the descendants of the same
race in Iceland and the north of Europe, but they are gene-,
rally worthless, and are nearly extinct.
I
THE SOFT-WOOLLED SHEEP OF SCOTLAND.
63
II. THE SOFT-WOOLLED SHEEP OF SCOTLAND.
Although the early inhabitants of North Britain directed
more attention to the Goat than to the Sheep, it appears
that Sheep were reared by them in some numbers in the
higher countries, and largely in the plains, when the country
had become cleared of wood and partially cultivated. Rem-
nants of the older races existed up to a late period in the
last century; but on the introduction of Sheep of a larger
size, and of more economical value, the older races progres-
sively disappeared, until a few scattered flocks only were
left in some of the more distant parts of the country, chiefly
in the Hebrides and Central Highlands. These Sheep pre-
sented different characters, according to the nature of the
localities in which they were reared; but they may be de-
scribed, in general, as being of small size, and lank agile
forms; as having generally short slender horns; and as hav-
ing a soft wool, fitted for the making of flannels, but not
well adapted for felting. They had the tails long, and not
short and flat like the Sheep of northern Europe; so that
they differed entirely in race from those which, at a sub-
sequent period, were introduced into the remoter Islands
by the Scandinavian pirates. They were of various colours,
frequently brown, and often this brown colour remained on
the face when the rest of the body had become white; on
which account they sometimes received the name of the Dun-
faced breed. They were exceedingly wild, and hardly to be
confined by common enclosures. They were hardy in a re-
markable degree, subsisting on scanty fare, and bearing the
rudest treatment, and were remarkably exempt from those
maladies which frequently produce such ravages in the mo-
dern races.
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The Soft-woolled Sheep may be said to be now nearly ex-
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still exist in Wales and Ireland, the remnants, we may be-
lieve, of the ancient Sheep of the country.
THE SHEEP.
III.—THE BREED OF THE HIGHER WELSH
MOUNTAINS.
The Sheep of Wales, inhabiting a country partly of moun-
tains and partly of valleys and plains, may be expected to
present great diversities of character. Accordingly, we find
a variety of breeds, from the wilder races of the higher
mountains to the larger Sheep of the lower country. The
latter classes of Sheep, however, are not truly Welsh. They
are the Leicester, Cotswold, and other Sheep of the English
plains, either pure or mixed with the races of the mountains.
It is the Mountain Sheep alone that we are to regard as the
genuine Sheep of Wales, the descendants, it may be believed,
of the ancient Sheep of South Britain.
Of the Mountain Sheep of Wales there are numerous
minor varieties, but generally they may be divided into two
groups, which may be regarded as the types to which all
the others have more or less affinity. A great part of the
mountains of Wales, it is to be observed, is absolute com-
mon, in which animals of every kind may be mingled to-
gether; and however distinct the original races may have
been, it is not to be supposed that they can have remained
without intermixture during the many ages in which Wales
has existed nearly in its present state. Notwithstanding,
however, of this amalgamation, there may be traced the
characters of two very distinct groups; the first, the wilder
Sheep of the higher mountains; the second, a race generally
inhabiting a lower range of pasturage, and possessed of pecu-
liar characters. The first may be termed the Sheep of the
Higher Mountains, as indicating their habitat; the second,
the Soft-woolled Sheep of Wales, as denoting the character
of the fleece.
1
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The Sheep of the higher mountains are of small size,
scarcely capable of fattening to above 5 lb. the quarter, and
have horns, both in the male and female, slightly curved, and
stretching backwards in the manner of the Goat; their tail
is of ordinary length; they have a ridge of coarse hairs pass-
ing along the spine to the tail, surrounding the neck and
reaching to the dewlap; the wool on the sides is of medium
fineness, and on the haunch it is coarse and wiry. The colour
of the fleece is black, gray, or brown.
This remarkable race has the wool and aspect of the
Sheep, but in habits it rather resembles the Goat. It seeks
the summits of mountains; it vaults, rather than runs ;
and feeds on the dry aromatic plants of mountains in prefer-
ence to the herbage of the lower valleys. Like all the na-
tive Sheep of elevated regions, the fleece of these wild little
animals is a mixture of hair and wool, so that their bodies
may be better protected from the inclemency of the weather.
They are almost as difficult to be approached in their native
haunts as the Deer or the Antelope. Some say that they
station sentinels on the higher ground, who give notice to the
scattered flock of the approach of danger by a kind of shrill
bleat resembling a falsetto tone. As in the case of the An-
telope, no sooner is one alarmed, than all the others bound
off together, gazing behind them as they run in the manner
of the Musmon and Argali. The rams attack the ewes at
the period of bringing forth their young-a singular instinct,
existing, it has been seen, in the wild races of the Zetland
and Orkney Islands, and given, it may be believed, to pre-
vent the multiplication of their numbers beyond the means
of subsistence.
THE BREED OF THE HIGHER WELSH MOUNTAINS.
It
may appear remarkable that this race should preserve
itself distinct from the others with which the commons and
mountains of the country are stocked. It is to be observed,
however, that this is in accordance with the habits of all
Sheep possessing a peculiar character and temperament.
Thus, the naturalized Merino Sheep never amalgamate tho-
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THE SHEEP.
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roughly with the races with which they are mingled in the
same pastures; they collect in separate flocks upon the
higher grounds, and crowd together when alarmed; in like
manner, if any of the breeds of Forest Sheep are mingled
with those of the lower country, they congregate together,
and pursue their own range of pasturage. Now, from what-
ever causes the wild Sheep of Wales assumed their existing
character, they have acquired the habits proper to their
situation. They keep by choice to their natural habitat, and
herd together; and hence it is that the original characters
of the race have not merged in those of other varieties.
This race of Sheep, though with some change of character,
is found all over the most elevated parts of Wales, from the
inland mountains of Glamorganshire to those of Merioneth
and Caernarvon. They are numerous in Caernarvon, and
when seen by the traveller have more the aspect of Dogs and
Foxes than of Sheep.
As this race becomes naturalized in a lower range of
mountains, or in any way is placed under more favourable
circumstances with respect to the supplies of food, it becomes
enlarged in size, and loses part of its natural rudeness. Ac-
cordingly, gradations are observed in the character of the
race, from the more elevated and barren mountains, to those
which are of a lower altitude, or more productive of herbage.
The Sheep of Radnor and some other parts are of the same
descent, but are so changed by the more favourable circum-
stances under which they are reared, that they are looked
upon as distinct breeds. They have manifestly, however, a
common origin with the wilder Sheep of the higher moun-
tains; and there are everywhere examples to shew the pro-
gressive steps by which the wilder race may assume a new
set of characters, in consequence of better food and atten-
tion to the parents in breeding. All the varieties of the
Welsh Sheep which have an affinity with the race of the
higher mountains have horns, and have more or less of black
hair on the face and legs.
67
The wildest race of Sheep in Wales is susceptible of im-
provement; but, to accomplish this to the required degree,
a long course of selection, combined with a proper practice
with respect to feeding, is required. But this wilder breed
presents no characters which can render it expedient to
expend time and capital in cultivating it in preference to
others already formed. The basis is bad, and the inter-
ests of breeders will be served, either by substituting at
once a superior breed, or by crossing the native race until
one with better properties has been produced. Two races
of improved Sheep exist in this country, which might
either supplant the existing races of the Welsh mountains,
or be employed for crossing until a new class of properties
were produced. These are the South Down and the Cheviot
breeds. The South Down is rather suited to a dry than a
moist climate, and its natural habitat is not similar to the
humid soils of Wales. It is conceived, therefore, that the
Cheviot breed, though inferior as a breed to, the South Down,
presents a combination of properties which may adapt it
better to this part of the country. It is, in all useful pro-
perties, vastly superior to the indigenous race, and has al-
ready been acclimated in countries more elevated and inhos-
pitable than the highest ranges of the mountains of Wales.
THE SOFT-WOOLLED SHEEP OF WALES:
IV. THE SOFT-WOOLLED SHEEP OF WALES.
C
The most characteristic race of Sheep in Wales is that
which has been termed the Soft-woolled breed. It may re-
ceive this name on account of the quality of its wool, which,
though mixed with hairs, is much less so than that of the
wilder breeds referred to, and has a softness and tenuity of
filament which peculiarly fit it for the making of flannels,
one of the staple native manufactures of the Principality. It
may, however, be more appropriately termed the White-nosed
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Breed, from a character which distinguishes it from every
other in Wales.
THE SHEEP.
This race of Sheep is spread over the whole of Wales, and
is truly the distinctive breed of the country. The animals
are of small size, usually weighing from 5 lb. to 7 lb. the
quarter, when grown and fat. They are of the long-tailed
variety of Sheep, thus agreeing with the Sheep of the Celtic
nations of Europe, and differing from those of the Scandina-
vians. The males have horns, which are thin, slightly curved,
and bent backwards; the females are generally destitute of
horns, and sometimes the males. Their noses are white, or
pink-coloured. They have lengthened hair beneath the throat
like a beard. Their figure is very slender, and their posterior
limbs long, as if to fit them for vaulting as well as running.
Their neck is thin, and thrown back in the manner of the
Antelope or Deer. The fur of the face and body is white,
but sometimes, as in almost all breeds of Sheep, individuals
wholly brown or black present themselves.
These Sheep have all the wild characters of a mountain
breed. They are of wandering habits, and range from pas-
ture to pasture; they prefer the plants of mountains to the
more succulent and nutritive herbage of plains; they delight
to browse on the leaves of the ivy, and on the shoots of bitter
shrubs, and they rise upon their hinder legs to reach them
after the manner of the Goat. They are fond of taking their
station on elevated points, and making their way amongst
crags and cliffs. They are wary and timid, and, like the
wilder Sheep of the mountain summits, give notice of ap-
proaching danger by a signal. They steal down from the
hills at night, and make inroads into the fields of wheat and
other green plants. They are with difficulty confined by arti-
ficial barriers, leaping over walls, and making their way
through the interstices of hedges; nay, sometimes they have
been known, when driven to a distance, to escape from the
vigilance of their keepers, and regain their native mountains.
They are driven to London and other markets of consump-
7
THE SOFT-WOOLLED SHEEP OF WALES.
69
tion, being generally kept by the way to be fattened in the
richer pastures. Their mutton, like that of all the Sheep of
Wales, is excellent, and, when fat, brings a high price.
Many carcasses are sold in London under the name of Welsh
mutton, when, in truth, they are the produce of crosses of dif-
ferent kinds.
The wool weighs from 1 lb. to 2 lb. the fleece; it is never
free from hairs or kemps; it possesses the character of long
wool, and is, therefore, suited for the making of flannels,
hose, and similar loose fabrics, rather than cloths; never-
theless, all the home stuffs for country use were formerly
made of this and the other kinds of native wool. The Welsh
long preserved the simplicity of ancient manners, and manu-
factured their woollen stuffs at home. The cheapness of
mechanical labour is rapidly putting an end to this domestic
manufacture; to the increase, doubtless, of the resources of
the country, though not perhaps to the advancement of
rural industry and happiness. A singular character exists
in the case of this race of sheep. The wool of the neck
tends to fall off that part of the body, and hence it is a fre-
quent practice to clip the wool of the neck and face before
winter.
The Sheep of Anglesea are allied to this race, but, being
reared in a lower country, they are larger than the common
Sheep of the mountains. Crosses have been made from
time to time with the Sheep of Anglesea, but the affinity of
the native race with the Soft-woolled Sheep of the mountains
is easy to be traced, in the height behind, the low and narrow
forequarters, and the character of the wool. The attempts
to improve the old breed of Anglesea by crossing have not
been successful, owing, it may be believed, to the want of per-
severance and system; and graziers and butchers prefer the
native to the mixed races.
The Old Radnor Sheep have some characters in common
with the White-nosed Breed, but they are more distinctly
connected with the Sheep of the higher mountains. They
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are of larger size and better form than the White-nosed
Breed, fattening to from 7 lb. to 9 lb. the quarter. Their wool
is of the long or combing character, but, like that of all the
Sheep of Wales, is soft, and suited to the making of flannels.
It is to be observed that the modern Sheep of the district,
known commonly as the Radnor Breed, differ considerably
from the true Radnors, having been crossed with the Shrop-
shire and other breeds of the low country.
THE SHEEP.
A staple production of Wales being its Sheep, a question
of much interest is the manner in which the different breeds
may be improved. The people of Wales, with the attach-
ment to old habits which distinguishes them, are averse to
changes, and, in the case of their Sheep, there are obstacles
to improvement, independent of the habits of the people. A
great part of the whole mountain pastures is common.
Under such a system, it is difficult to introduce a beneficial
management of sheep. At present, the treatment of the
animals is defective in a high degree. No care is used in
the selection of the breeding parents, and no provision is made
for the proper feeding of the animals in winter: they are left
in a state of nature, and scarcely looked to but when they are
to be caught for divesting them of the fleece. It is not un-
common to shear the lambs in the first year, a practice highly
detrimental in a moist and elevated country; but the still
worse practice exists of weaning the lambs at an early season,
in order to milk the ewes. The lambs born in March are
frequently weaned in May, and the ewes are milked night
and morning until the middle of September. This miserable
system is calculated to destroy the vigour of the Sheep, and
take away the means to produce and rear a healthy offspring;
and, until it is abandoned, we may be assured that the Sheep
of the Welsh mountains will continue puny and degenerate.
The substitution of another breed would not remedy the evil,
if this destructive management were continued, and there-
fore, the primary improvement of the Sheep of Wales must
be a change of the system of management.
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It were certainly to be desired, that the ancient breeds of
these mountains could be preserved, as being naturalized to
the country, and producing a kind of wool, which is suited to
a useful class of manufactures; yet, undoubtedly, individual
breeders will find it more for their interest to adopt a breed
already improved, than to incur the long delay and expense
of improving the existing ones. Crossing will probably be
resorted to more frequently than an entire substitution of a
new breed; and it is important, that the breeders proceed
with judgment in the system of crossing which they adopt.
They should select the breed which experience shews to be
the best calculated to amalgamate with the existing race.
The most suitable for this purpose seems, as has been already
said, to be the Cheviot, as being the inhabitants of an elevated
country, and producing a kind of wool, which, though dif-
ferent from the Welsh, yet brings a good price in the
market. The Southdowns, with all their valuable properties,
seem scarcely so well suited to these humid mountains, as the
more robust Cheviots; and it is remarkable, that the South
Down Breed is less in favour with breeders in the moist cli-
mate of the western parts of this country, than towards the
eastern coasts, where the drier climate is nearer to that of
the Chalky Downs which may be regarded as the native
country of the race. Some attempts have been made to cross
the Welsh Sheep with the Black-faced Heath Breed of Scot-
land. But a race superior to the Black-faced Heath Sheep
could exist in the mountains of Wales, and the effect of such
an intermixture would be to destroy that fineness of fleece
which is proper to the existing breeds.
}
THE BREED OF THE WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.
V. THE BREED OF THE WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.
Ireland, from the fertility of the soil, and the mildness and
humidity of the climate, is in an eminent degree adapted to
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the production of the grasses, and consequently, to the rear-
ing of Sheep. It is known, that from early times Sheep were
amongst the domestic animals of the country, affording by
their skins and fleeces covering to the inhabitants. After
the country fell under the dominion of England, the estima-
tion and importance of this native production is chiefly made
known to us by cruel laws, prohibiting the exportation of the
wool of the country; which, notwithstanding, found its way
in great quantity from the west of Ireland to Flanders and
other countries where a demand for it existed. There were
then no large manufactories in the country itself; but the
inhabitants, like the Welsh, prepared their wool at home.
This system, the happiest that could be for the industry and
virtue of the people, remained even when the rural popula-
tion was undergoing an unhappy change; and a great deal
of coarse stuff is still made in this way by the poor peasantry.
There are now also large manufactories of wool in Ireland;
and, after supplying these, there is an extensive exportation
of the raw material and of worsted yarn to this country.
THE SHEEP.
The Sheep of Ireland consist partly of mountain breeds,
and partly of a large long-woolled race, which exists, with
very uniform characters, over the greater part of the country.
This latter race, which resembled the coarser extinct breeds
of the midland and western counties of England, is not now
to be found in its unmixed state. It has undergone an entire
change by the effects of crossing, and is every where greatly
improved.
Of the Mountain Sheep of Ireland there are several breeds,
with characters more or less distinctly marked. Those of
Kerry and the west of Ireland are the most extended and
remarkable: that of the Wicklow Mountain's has a more li-
mited range, but is the most valuable.
This breed inhabits the Wicklow Mountains in the county
of that name. These mountains are of considerable eleva-
tion, exposed to high winds, and possessing a humid climate.
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Remnants only of the pure breed remain, chiefly in the vale
of Glenmalure, the original race having been very generally
crossed by the South Down and other breeds.
THE BREED OF THE WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.
The Sheep of the Wicklow Mountains have an evident affi-
nity with the Sheep of Wales. They are of small size, but
of tolerably good form, and the mutton is excellent. They
are very wild, and at night steal down to the lower grounds
to pilfer the growing corn. They are destitute of horns in
both sexes. Their faces and legs are white, but there is a con-
stant tendency to the production of black lambs; and there
cannot be a doubt that the breed, if left to itself, would be-
come wholly of that colour. A local law exists that all black
lambs shall be destroyed. The wool is soft and fine, and
somewhat long in the staple; but it is always more or less
mixed with hairs. The quality of the wool, however, as well
as the general character of the Sheep, varies with the eleva-
tion. In the lower rocky hills, as those which do not exceed
800 feet above the level of the sea, the wool is more fine
and less mixed with hairs. At a higher elevation, where
heath and wet bogs begin, the Sheep become smaller and
wilder. In these, a ridge of bristly hairs extends like a mane
along the neck and spine, and hair is likewise found in quan-
tity on the hips and dewlaps, as in the wilder sheep of Wales.
There is here that adaptation which is every where observed
in this species of animals, to the physical conditions of the
country in which they are naturalized. The ridge of hair
along the spine, and on the haunches and breast, causes the
moisture to fall off; nay, the lambs are born with a provision
against the wetness of the boggy soil, there being a large
growth of hair upon the parts which are in contact with the
ground when the animals repose, namely, the breast, the
limbs, and the belly.
The county of Wicklow, lying contiguous to the capital, is
favourably situated for the rearing of Sheep, fitted for the
demand of a numerous population. The practice of rearing
lambs for early consumption has long prevailed in the dis-
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trict. The Sheep of the mountains are purchased by the
breeders of the lower farms. The Rams are turned amongst
the Ewes in the beginning of June, and by the end of July
the greater part of the latter are impregnated, so that the
Lambs are born in the months of December and January.
At the end of a fortnight or more they are separated from
the dams, and placed in pens in the feeding-house. The
Ewes are driven into the feeding-house twice a-day, and
those whose Lambs are dead, or have been disposed of, are
first held to be suckled, and then the Lambs are permitted
to suck their own dams. After a time they are further fed
with milk from the cow in addition to that of the Ewes. In
this manner the Lambs are fed for about six weeks, when
they are ready for use. Under this system, the inhabitants
of Dublin are supplied with as fine early lamb as any part of
the United Kingdom. The Wicklow Ewes are good nurses,
and hence are tolerably well adapted to this kind of manage-
ment. By retarding the period of receiving the male, the
Ewes are made to be impregnated in the months of summer,
and having acquired the habit, the Ewes retain it, and are
kept by the breeders as long as they will bear lambs.
From the quality of the wool, the goodness of the mutton,
and the adaptation of the females to the rearing of early
lambs, the pure Wicklow Mountain Breed was not undeserv-
ing of being preserved and cultivated. The practice of cross-
ing, however, has been introduced, and from the more im-
mediate profit which it affords, is more likely to be pursued
than a system of progressive improvement by breeding from
the native stock. The South Down Sheep have been those
chiefly employed for crossing, and are, doubtless, calculated
to produce a race greatly superior to the indigenous one. It
may be believed, however, that the Cheviot, already accli-
mated in an elevated country, would, as in the case of the
Sheep of the Welsh Mountains, have been found better
adapted to the crossing of the Sheep of these moist mountains.
Nevertheless, a perseverance in a course begun, will be bet-
THE SHEEP.
17
75
ter than a change of purpose; and, whichever race be pre-
ferred, the effect will be beneficial, and in a few generations
the indigenous race of the Wicklow Mountains may be ex-
pected to cease to exist any where in the pure state.
The full benefits, however, of any kind of crossing cannot
be obtained, unless a better system of management is intro-
duced amongst the neglected flocks of the district. At pre-
sent, the smallness of the possessions, and the existence of
commons, are eminently unfavourable to the bringing of these
Sheep to any perfection. Their wildness of habits, is mainly
the result of the circumstances in which they are placed, and
can only be corrected by enclosures, by subdivision of flocks,
and by a regular system of management.
THE KERRY BREED.
VI. THE KERRY BREED.
The Breeds of Sheep of Ireland may be divided into two
general Classes, those of the mountains, bogs, and moors,
and those of the plains, valleys, and richer country. In the
former class, one breed has been described, that of the Wick-
low mountains, which has been seen to be closely allied to
the ancient Sheep of Wales. The mountain breeds of other
parts of Ireland present very different characters, and so
little resemble any other breeds of Sheep in the British
Islands, that we might suppose them to have a distinct
parentage, did we not know the great changes produced in
the form and characters of the species by the agency of food,
climate, and situation. It is in the west of Ireland that we
naturally seek for the more ancient races of the country, and
we there find them mingled in blood with one another, and
with the imported varieties which have spread over the same
tracts, but in many cases presenting such characters as to
indicate the traces of distinct breeds, under the common
acceptation of the term. But it would be uninstructive to
discriminate the minor varieties. It will suffice to present
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an example of one, which may be regarded as the type of
several others, and whose characters lead us to conclude
that it has remained for ages in its present state.
The Kerry Breed of Sheep, notwithstanding of neglect and,
insufficient food, exceeds in size the breeds of Wales, of the
Wicklow Mountains, and of many of the Old Forests of Eng-
land. The horns are generally small and crooked, and some-
times wanting in the female, although some of the allied
varieties of other parts have the horns large and spiral. The
wool is coarse, and hairy on the haunches, and to a certain
degree along the ridge on the back, but on the sides it is very
short and fine. The white colour of the fleece prevails, but
there is a constant tendency to the development of the darker
shades; and the whole Sheep would become black and brown,
were it not for the choice by breeders of those which are
white. These Sheep are in a remarkable degree wild and
restless in their habits. In shape, eye, neck, position of the
head, and general aspect, they approach to the Antelope or
Deer tribes more than any other Sheep of this country. They
fatten so slowly, that, even after they have arrived at matu-
rity of age, they require a long time to become fully fat.
They have, however, a great disposition to accumulate fat
internally, and they are fit for the butcher when their ex-
ternal appearance would indicate that they were still lean.
Their mutton is juicy and of good flavour, which causes them
to be greatly valued for domestic consumption. This is their
really valuable property, but it is not of itself sufficient to
render them deserving of extended cultivation.
Although Ireland, from the mildness of its winter and mois-
ture of the climate, is in a peculiar degree suited to the produc-
tion of the grasses and other herbaceous plants fitted for the
food of Sheep, yet a great part of the country is covered with
peat, either collected in vast beds in the plains, or rising into
eminences, or spread in thinner strata over the hills. Like
all the countries of ancient Europe, Ireland was once covered
with great forests, which neglect, and the prodigal waste of
THE SHEEP.
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THE KERRY BREED.
77
timber for fuel, and above all, the ravages of incessant wars,
have long since eradicated. Giraldus Cambrensis, who came
into Ireland after its first conquest by Henry II. in the twelfth
century, states, that the country was full of woods on every
side, but that the English, on gaining possession of it, cut
them down, partly to deprive the banditti of their lurking-
places, and partly to gain space for cultivation. For centuries
the work of destruction proceeded on every hand; and, on the
quelling of the great Rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth, the
remaining forests were still further reduced. To the motives
which formerly operated was now added the desire of gain,
and immense ship-loads of magnificent timber were sent to
foreign parts, and many charcoal manufactories were esta-
blished. Even in the seventeenth century, the ruin of these
noble woods had not been completed. Boate, who published
his Natural History of Ireland about the middle of the cen-
tury, though he complains that many great woods which the
maps represent had vanished, still describes numbers as ex-
isting which are now no more. Speaking of the province of
Leinster, he says, that Wicklow, and King's and Queen's
counties, were throughout full of woods, some many miles
long and broad, and that part of the counties of Wexford and
Carlow were greatly furnished with them. Of Ulster, he
writes, that there were great forests in the county of Donegal,
and in the north of Tyrone; likewise at Fermagh, along
Lake Erne, in Antrim, and in the north part of Down. The
greater part of the latter county, however, as well as Ar-
magh, Monaghan, and Cavan, which, in the war with Tyrone,
had been encumbered with thick forests, had then become
almost bare. With respect to Munster, he tells us, that the
counties of Kerry and Tipperary possessed many great
forests, notwithstanding that the English, especially the
Earl of Cork, had made great havoc with the woods.
In this manner proceeded the spoiling of the natural riches
of the beautiful Isle. The last Wolf was killed at the be-
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THE SHEEP.
ginning of the eighteenth century, shewing that then the
destruction of the great Irish forests was nearly completed.
In the place of these verdant Woods, have arisen the dreary
Bogs which have covered so great a part of the land with
the aspect of desolation, affording fuel, indeed, by the
sweat and toil of the miserable inhabitants, but covered
with the innutritious plants proper to peat, and affording
but a scanty sustenance to the herds and flocks that tenant
them.
The general treatment of the Sheep of the mountainous
and peaty tracts of Ireland is rude, in a degree which the
breeders of England will find it difficult to credit. Some-
times the animals are mixed in common on the peaty moun-
tains and flat bogs, where numbers of them perish from
want and disease; and often they spread like wild beasts
over the country, stealing what they can obtain: sometimes
they are coupled together, and left to find their food as they
may, or tethered on patches of grass and rushes, or kept in
the miserable cabins of their owners. All over the west of
Ireland, from Donegal to Kerry, are to be found half-starved
Sheep, either straying in wild flocks, of every age and kind
together, or dragging one another in couples along, or fastened
where they can find any food. "Our best sort," says Mr
Sampson, in his Survey of Londonderry, "are bought either
in the fairs of the south-western counties, or else at Dervock,
to which they are driven by jobbers from those pasture
counties. I need say nothing of them. Our own strain is
of all shapes and qualities, horned and without horns, coarse-
woolled and fine; almost all are humpy-boned and restless.
Not long ago, one might see hundreds of Sheep travelling
from farm to farm unnoticed and unowned. Every servant
boy in the county who had a few shillings saved, laid it out
on a Sheep or two, which he let loose on the bounty of Pro-
vidence, and the toleration of his neighbourhood. Towards
May, all these flocks were driven to the mountains. In the
47
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THE KERRY BREED.
79
time of snow, these depredators, like the locusts of Egypt,
devoured every thing before them. I have lost at one time
two thousand head of curled kale. They get no winter fod-
der but what they can steal."
These remarks applied to the smaller races of the bogs
and mountains, and are still partially applicable. The long-
woolled Sheep of the richer country are under different cir- .
cumstances, and will be referred to hereafter. The means
by which the more neglected races can be improved, are the
same as in other cases have been adopted,-a system of judi-
cious crossing, or the substitution of superior breeds, and a
better system of feeding and general treatment.
But when we speak of defects in the husbandry of Ireland,
we must remember that the removal of them is not always
within the reach of common remedies. The evil may be seen,
but the source of it may lie in the condition of the people,
the state of property, and the relations between landlord and
tenant. Six hundred years ago, Ireland was subjugated by
her avaricious neighbour, and successive rebellions led to
repeated overthrows, and to renewed plunder. The country
was divided amongst the conquerors and their adherents, and
for ages a great part of the disposable produce was with-
drawn. Absenteeism became the habit of the favoured few;
and at this hour, a larger tribute is thus imposed upon the
industry of the country than any conqueror ever imposed
upon a subject colony; and the country is poor, her labourers
are unemployed, and her population is discontented, notwith-
standing that she exports the largest quantity of raw produce
of any country in the world of the same extent. One effect
results from this destitution, that there is no barrier between
the tenant and the demands of the receiver of rents. In
England, the habits and condition of the people are opposed
to an excessive exaction on the industry of the farmer. The
English yeoman will not take land at all unless he has the
means to live, and to obtain a fitting return from his capital
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in trade. The Irish peasant must take land in order that
he may subsist, and is compelled to share his pittance with
another to the uttermost residue that will permit himself to
live. Hence the rents in Ireland are larger, in proportion to
the means of payment, than in any country in Europe. While
this defective relation exists between the landlord and tenant,
-while the disposable produce of the land is expended out
of the country which it should enrich, and away from the
poor man whom it should employ,-while the land is parcelled
out in order that excessive rents may be wrung from those
that till it,—while the pecuniary claims of the landlord or
middle men are more directly answered by means of peasants
content to subsist on the scantiest pittance, than by the in-
dustry of tenants possessed of means to improve the land,
we must expect that the resources of the country will be
imperfectly developed, and that poor and wretched husband-
men, as well as miserable breeds of Sheep, will possess it.
THE SHEEP.
VII.—THE FOREST BREEDS OF ENGLAND.
England, like the sister Island, was once covered with
noble forests, which gradually fell before the ravages of war,
and the progress of the settler. But, on the conquest of the
Normans, vast tracts of fine country were retained in the
state in which they then existed, for the purposes of the
chase, but retaining the names of forests, chases, and other
denominations indicative of their original nature, and the
purposes to which they had been applied; such were Windsor
Forest, Sherburne Forest, Mendip Forest, and many more.
Even to the reign of Elizabeth, a large part of the whole sur-
face of England was in the state of forest; but, in place of
vast tracts reserved for the capricious sports of the sove-
reign, or the great feudatories, the unoccupied grounds had
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THE FOREST BREEDS OF ENGLAND.
81
been gradually settled upon, acquired by individuals through
royal grants and otherwise, or left in a state of common pro-
perty, in which inhabitants of towns or the neighbouring
country acquired the privilege of pasturage and other rights.
The Royal Forests were by degrees reduced to a small ex-
tent, as compared with their former state, and are now partly
planted for the supply of naval timber; and, with respect to
the Commons, these have been long in the course of division,
under the sanction of Acts of Parliament.
The native Sheep kept on these forests and larger com-
mons often acquired distinctive characters, forming well-de-
fined breeds. Of these several yet remain, and, until late in
the last century, they were very numerous. Most of them,
however, are no longer to be recognised as separate varie-
ties, and few of them remain without intermixture with the
Sheep of the adjoining country. They were generally of
small size and defective form, but had usually short fine
wool, suited for the manufacture of cloths. Their faces and
legs were sometimes white, but generally black, gray, or dun:
they had usually horns, but sometimes the horns were want-
ing in one or both sexes. They were wild and thriftless,
but, like all the smaller unimproved races, yielded excellent
mutton. The cultivation of the forests, in all cases, caused
the substitution of superior breeds; and, even where cultiva-
tion did not take place, the interests of the owners led them
to cross their flocks with the superior breeds of the cultivated
country.
In the poorer and more elevated parts of the counties of
Stafford, Leicester, Cheshire, Shropshire, and others, are still
to be found the remains of old Forest Sheep, distinguished
by black or gray faces and legs, and yielding short clothing
wool. Those of Cannock Chase yet exist, though they have
been mostly crossed. They are destitute of horns in both
sexes, and the wool weighs from 2 to 3 lb. the fleece. The
Sheep, likewise, of the ancient Forest of Delamere in Che-
shire are still in existence: they are the type of the old
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THE SHEEP.
Sheep of Shropshire, and approach to the general form of the
Southdown.
Of the Forest Breeds, two remarkable ones yet exist in
the elevated country between the Bristol and British Chan-
nels, the one inhabiting the heathy tract of granite forming
the Forest of Dartmoor, the other the district of greywacke
of the Forest of Exmoor, at the sources of the river Exe, on
the confines of Somerset and Devon. These two races have
long attracted attention, from their having supplied the well-
known Oakhampton mutton, so named from the sheep having
been killed at that town, whence the carcasses are sent to
London. But the Oakhampton mutton now not only includes
that of the Forest Sheep, but that of the crosses between
them and other breeds.
The Dartmoor Sheep are very small in size, and, like the
Sheep of Wales, have long soft wool, in which respect they
differ from the other Forest Breeds. The faces and legs are
white, and the males have horns. They are exceedingly
wild and restless. They are reared in their native pastures
of heath, and fattened in the lower country. They will re-
main feeding in the valleys in winter, but no sooner does the
vegetation of spring commence than they seek to regain their
native pastures, and endeavour to break through the fences
opposed to their return; and even the crosses retain this
instinct of the race.
These Sheep produce mutton which bears a high price, and
are constitutionally well suited to the barren undrained dis-
trict to which they are indigenous; but yet they are an
unprofitable race of Sheep, from their small size, defective
form, and, above all, their wild and restless temper. The im-
mediate profit from crossing them has been so great, that the
pure breed is rapidly diminishing in numbers, and will soon
become extinct. The principal breeds with which they have
been crossed are the Leicester and South Down. The Leices-
ter cross is preferred, being more hardy than that with the
Southdowns, which seem to amalgamate less freely with the
83
long-woolled breeds of Wales and the west of England, than
even the long-woolled breeds of the plains.
THE FOREST BREEDS OF ENGLAND.
The Exmoor Sheep are yet smaller, more wild, and more
intractable than the Dartmoor. The district they inhabit,
near the Bristol Channel, is of limited extent. Although
their habitat is so near to that of the Dartmoors, they pos-
sess their own characters, and so may be termed a breed.
The males have a large beard under the chin, from which
cause they have the aspect of Goats; and they have much of
the agility and strength of these animals. Like Goats, they
ascend precipices, and are with difficulty confined by ordinary
walls and fences. They are very bold, attacking Sheep much
larger than themselves. The females, as in the case of other
wild breeds, are considerably smaller than the males, from
whom they receive the roughest treatment. The wool of
these curious Sheep is long and silky, and their mutton is
excellent. Like the Dartmoors, they are disappearing in
their pure state, from the effects of crossing, and have even,
in some cases, given entire place to the Cheviots, which
have been introduced into the district, and are found in all
respects superior to the native stock.
A race of Sheep, of allied characters to the Exmoor,
stretches westward along the Bristol Channel to the rich
country on the Parret; and even on the Mendip hills, to the
eastward, traces of the Exmoor form appear in the races of
the country. On the great Forest of Mendip, the Sheep were
formerly distinguished by the fineness of their wool; but,
with the enclosure of the forest, the ancient race ceased to
exist in a state of purity.
Of the various Forest Breeds of England, none is now
likely to be cultivated in the pure state, because a long course
of careful breeding would be required to communicate the
suitable development of form, and because superior breeds
have now been produced, which can either be made to cross
the original ones, or be substituted for them. But it is to be
regretted that earlier attention was not directed to some
f
84
of these races, which possess fine wool, and which, by being
acclimated in a lower country, would have increased in -size
and economical value. Some of the Forest Sheep of Stafford-
shire were at least equal to the original Southdowns; and,
had they been cultivated with the same care, might have
been extended to districts to which the Southdowns, bred in
a country of chalk and fine herbage, are less adapted.
THE SHEEP,
VIII-THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED.
From the high lands of Derbyshire on the south, to the
confines of Scotland on the north, extends a chain of rugged
heathy mountains, whose summit ridge separates the waters
of the Tyne, the Tees, the Swale, the Wharfe, and other
rivers which flow to the eastward, from those of the Ribble,
the Lowther, the Lune, and others which flow westward. The
elevation of this tract is from 1200 to 3000 feet, the highest
summits being Cross Fell, near the sources of the South Tyne
and Tees, on the eastern part of Cumberland; Skinner Fell,
on the confines of Yorkshire and Westmoreland; Wharnside
and others in the westerly part of Yorkshire. This central
chain-is separated from the yet higher mountains of Cum-
berland and Westmoreland on the west, by the beautiful
vales of Kendal and Eden. The tract is destitute of bold-
ness and grandeur, and, towards the east, passes into the
tame moors of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire.
This dreary tract is generally covered with coarse heaths,
mixed with sedges, rushes, and the less nutritious grasses,
and, from being exposed to the winds of both the eastern and
western seas, possesses a cold climate. It has given rise to
a race of Sheep now very widely diffused. This race has
been termed the Black-faced Heath Breed, a name which,
though it does not distinguish it from some of the Forest
Breeds, may be retained, as indicating its peculiar habitat in
a country of heaths.
85
The Black-faced Heath Breed is chiefly found in the more
northerly division of the chain of mountains referred to, be-
ginning in the heathy lands of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
It extends across the vales of Kendal and Eden to the higher
mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland on the west,
and by the Carter Fell into Scotland, where it occupies the
great range of the greywacke hills stretching from St Abb's
Head on the east to the Irish Channel on the west. It
stretches through the upper part of Lanarkshire into Argyle-
shire, and all through the Highlands of Scotland, from the
Grampians to the Pentland Firth. It has spread to all the
Hebrides, and even to the Islands of Orkney and Zetland.
This breed may be supposed to have found its way into
Scotland by the mountains of the north of England. It has
been settled for a period unknown in all the high lands of
the countries of Roxburgh, Dumfries, Selkirk, Peebles, La-
nark, and the adjoining districts. Tradition asserts that it
was introduced into Etterick Forest by one of the Kings of
Scotland, but it is rather to be believed that it found its way
into the Border counties by the natural route of the moun-
tains. Its introduction into Argyleshire, and the Central and
Northern Highlands, has been of very recent origin, having
taken place about the middle of last century, when Sheep
began to supersede the herds of cattle which then abounded
in the Highlands. By degrees, it displaced the ancient races
of the country, of which only scattered remnants now exist.
The Black-faced Heath Breed possesses characters which
distinguish it from every other in the British Islands. It is of
the smaller races of Sheep with respect to the weight at which
it arrives, but it is larger and more robust than the Zetland,
the Welsh, and the ancient Soft-woolled Sheep which it dis-
placed. It somewhat resembles the Persian, so that it might
be conjectured that it is derived from the East. But it is
more natural to assume that its peculiar characters have been
communicated to it by the effects of food and climate, in the
THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED.
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THE SHEEP.
rough heathy district from which it is derived. The male and
the female have horns, very large and spirally twisted in the
male, but sometimes disappearing in the female. The limbs
are long and muscular, and the general form is robust; but
the shoulders are not so low as in the Welsh breeds, nor are
the posterior limbs so long. The face and legs are black,
and there is a tendency to this colour in the fleece; but there
is no tendency to the brown or russet colour, which distin-
guishes the older fine-woolled races. The fur is shaggy and
the wool coarse, in which respect it differs from that of all
the other mountain breeds of the country. It is of medium
length, and weighs about three pounds the fleece when washed.
These Sheep are very hardy, and capable of subsisting on the
coarsest heaths. They do not, however, like the Sheep of
Wales, prefer the summits of mountains, but feed wherever
pasture can be obtained; and are not so nice in the choice
of herbage as the Southdowns, Merinos, and other races de-
rived from countries yielding the finer grasses. Although
wild and independent in their habits, they are not so restless
as the mountain Sheep of Wales and other parts, but can be
induced to remain in enclosures, when sufficient food is sup-
plied to them. The ordinary weight of the wethers, when
killed at the age of about four years, is fifteen pounds the
quarter; but individuals are made to exceed this weight,
when properly treated and sufficiently fed from an early age.
The mutton is not so delicate as that of the Sheep of Wales,
or the Southdowns of England, but it is more juicy, has more
of the venison flavour, and is preferred to every other by
those who are used to it. It is the mutton which is princi-
pally consumed in all the larger towns of Scotland; and great
numbers of the Sheep, at the age of three years and up-
wards, are carried to the pastures of the south, to be fattened
for the English markets.
An important property of this breed is its adaptation to a
country of heaths, in which respect it excels every other. It
3
THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED.
87
is this property, as much as its hardiness, that has rendered
it so suitable to the heathy mountains where it is acclimated,
and where it finds subsistence beyond the ordinary range of
other Sheep. It feeds on the loftiest mountains, up to the
very verge where the heaths give place to the musci and
other plants of the higher latitudes. Feeding much on the
shoots of heath, these Sheep find subsistence, in the times of
snow and severe frosts, better than any other in this country.
The mothers are hardy nurses, and are able to bring up their
young, when they themselves have been exposed to severe
privations. A great defect of this breed is the character of
the fleece, which, besides being thin on the body, yields wool
fit only for the manufacture of carpets and the coarser stuffs.
Little general attention has been paid to the quality of the
fleece, although it is susceptible of considerable improvement.
A defect of the wool, very common in this breed, is the ex-
istence of what are termed kemps. These consist of hard
and wiry filaments mixed with the pile. They are deficient
in the felting property, and in the oily secretion which
moistens the true wool. The removal of kemps is effected
by superior food, and by breeding from parents free from the
defect. Sometimes individuals of this breed are born with
wool which is fine and short. Were advantage taken of this
occurrence, it might be possible, by means of breeding, to
produce a variety with fine in place of coarse wool.
This breed, extending over a great variety of situation and
soils, from the moist moors of Yorkshire and other parts to
the rocky mountains of the north of Scotland, presents a
great diversity of size and aspect. In some of the lower and
less heathy moors both of England and Scotland, the Sheep.
have so far deviated from the ordinary type, as to have lost.
their horns, and the black colour of the legs and face. This
variety is generally of smaller size, and less hardy habits,
than those which are naturalized on the drier mountains of
abundant heath. The best of the breed are found in Tweed-
dale in Scotland, which may be partly due to the nature of
]
88
the country, and partly to the superior care bestowed in
breeding. Those existing in the hills of Cumberland, West-
moreland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, are much inferior to
those of the Border counties of Scotland. Over a great part
of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the breed has de-
generated, from the want of care, and from insufficient food.
In many of these situations, indeed, the stock may be said.
to be mixed, for it has been the result of crosses with the
original races. This is in an especial manner the case in
the Hebrides, where the animals are small, and every way in-
ferior to the genuine Heath Breed.
THE SHEEP.
The treatment of this hardy race of Sheep has a necessary
relation to the circumstances of the country in which it is
produced. The breeder of the Sheep is not usually the per-
son who fattens them for use. He rears them to the age
which suits the nature of his farm, and disposes of them to
others who have farms on which they can be kept till they
have arrived at the proper age for being fattened. They are
then disposed of to the graziers and farmers, whose pastures,
or means of supplying artificial food, enable them to prepare
them for the butcher. This species of transfer is continually
going on, and the numerous fairs of the country are the marts
to which vast flocks of these Sheep are brought at different
times. They find their way to the ultimate markets of con-
sumption at various ages, but mostly when between three
and four years old, and when the mutton has arrived at its
greatest perfection in juiciness and flavour. Increasing
numbers of them are now carried to the markets of London
and other great towns, aided by the facilities of intercourse
afforded by steam navigation.
The means of rearing these numerous Sheep are afforded
by the stocks of ewes maintained on the farms of the breeders,
the number of each flock of ewes depending on the quality
and extent of the natural pastures, and the age to which the
progeny is reared on the breeding-farm. Thus, when the
Sheep are sold when lambs or hoggets, the proportion of
89
ewes is in a corresponding degree larger than when the pro-
geny is kept to the age of wethers. In general, one shep-
herd is reckoned sufficient for twenty-five scores of ewes, but
for a much greater number of young sheep and wethers.
The rams are admitted to the ewes about the 22d of No-
vember, so that the season of lambing may not begin before
the tardy vegetation of spring may be expected. During the
months of winter, the pregnant ewes are suffered to range
over those parts of the farm where food can be picked up;
the rushes, sedges, and other herbaceous plants mixed with
the heaths, affording a scanty subsistence, rendered precari-
ous by the falls of snow which often cover these dreary wastes
for weeks or months at a time. The artificial provender that
can be supplied is confined to a little coarse hay during deep
snows, but even this is often wanting, and all the food sup-
plied is what the animals can collect on their natural pas-
tures. These wild and hardy Sheep, however, dig up the
snowy surface to reach the herbs beneath, and support life
under circumstances in which the more delicate races would
perish. Yet, as it is, many die from the inclemency of the
weather and the want of food, and numbers often are over-
whelmed by falls of snow so sudden and violent that there is
no escape.
In districts where the mountains are of less.
elevation, and artificial shelter can be supplied, the condi-
tion of these mountain flocks is in a corresponding degree
less precarious; but, generally, they are placed in situations
which subject them to the evil of frequent destitution.
When the season of lambing arrives, the ewes are often
in a very emaciated condition; but such good and hardy
nurses are these mountain Sheep, that they are able to bring
up their young under privations which few other breeds
could contend against. The shearing of them takes place
about the beginning of July. The ewes, as well as the
other grown sheep on the farm, are driven to a river or
pool, and made to leap from the bank and swim across.
The same care is rarely bestowed on washing these wild
THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED.
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THE SHEEP.
Sheep as in the case of the finer breeds. In a few days
after being washed they are shorn. After the middle of
July, or about three months from the birth, the lambs are
separated from the mothers. This is done simply by re-
moving them to another part of the farm. In a short time
they forget one another, and the milk of the dam ceases to
be secreted. It was formerly the universal practice to milk
the ewes for six or seven weeks, or even more, after the
lambs were weaned. This practice is now considerably dis-
used in the districts where the management of Sheep is the
best understood, it being found that the profit from the milk
is rarely compensated by the disturbance of the flock, and
the exhaustion of the ewes previous to the perilous season
of winter.
90
The lambs on being weaned become, in the language of
farmers, hoggets or hogs. The wether hogs may then be
disposed of, and such of the ewe hogs as are not to be re-
tained for the purpose of supplying the place of the old ewes,
which, after having borne lambs for three or four years, are
to be disposed of. After the lambs are weaned, such of the
ewes as have borne the proper number of lambs are selected,
and sold in the course of the autumn. When the young
Sheep are not disposed of in the first year, they are kept
until the second year, and sometimes until the third or fourth
years. Their treatment while on the farm is the same as
that of the ewes.
A practice exists in the case of these mountain Sheep, the
utility of which is proved by long experience, of anointing
the skins previous to the months of winter. The substances
generally used are tar and butter, prepared by boiling the
butter and tar together. The proportions used vary in dif-
ferent districts. In some places, six pounds of butter, and
one gallon of tar, are used for twenty Sheep, and in others
the quantity of tar is larger. The period of smearing is the
end of October or beginning of November. The method is
to separate the wool by the finger, and spread the ointment
91
longitudinally from head to tail, so that the whole body shall
be covered. The purpose served by the process is to re-
move insects and cutaneous diseases, and to defend the skin
from wetness. It is peculiarly beneficial in the case of this
breed, whose fur is less close and fine than that of any other
Sheep. The effect, however, is to diminish the value of the
wool, by staining it with the colouring matter of the tar,
which renders it less fitted for receiving the brighter colours
in dyeing. But it increases the weight of the fleece, and
conduces in so great a degree to the health of the animals,
by rendering them less liable to be injured by the coldness
and humidity to which they are exposed, that, whatever
doubts may exist of the expediency of the practice in the
case of other mountain breeds, experience shews its import-
ance in the case of this one all over the stormy countries
which it inhabits.
THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED.
This breed does not seem to amalgamate very readily with
other races, so that crossing has not generally been success-
ful as a means of permanent improvement. It has been
frequently crossed by the Cheviot, but the descendants have
been found inferior in weight, form, and quality of wool, to
the pure Cheviots, and to the Black-faced Heath Breed in
hardiness and aptitude to thrive in an upland country of
heaths. But as it is not always deemed safe to change a
stock of Sheep habituated to their locality, the practice of a
continued crossing with the Cheviot, until the flock has
acquired the characters of the latter, has been sometimes
adopted, so that the original Black-faced stock has become in
time almost Cheviot. Another species of crossing has been
remarkably successful, namely, the employing of males of the
Leicester or South Down breeds for a first cross. The lambs,
the result of this mixture, are excellent, rising to a much
greater weight than those of the pure Black-faced blood.
Great numbers of this mixed race are now produced, and an
increased source of profit is thus opened to breeders by the
sale of their young Sheep. Of these crosses, the best has
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THE SHEEP.
been found to be with the Leicesters. That with the.South-
downs produces very handsome Sheep, having perfectly black
faces and legs, and a close good fleece; but they scarcely
attain the size of the Leicester crosses, and the latter ac-
cordingly are preferred for the special purpose for which
this species of breeding is designed.
Seeing the large tract of country which is occupied by
this breed, it is of great importance to improve it to the de-
gree to which it is susceptible. This, as in other cases, may
be done by due selection of the breeding parents, and by
rearing the animals under circumstances favourable to the
full development of their forms. By adopting this practice,
we have in every case the means of improving a breed of
Sheep. Adequate nourishment is essential to the enlarge-
ment of size; and all the properties of form, which consist
with the character of the race, may be communicated and
rendered permanent by a due attention to breeding. The
wool of this breed being of small comparative value, the at-
tention of improvers may be mainly directed to the carcass.
By attending to the roundness of the trunk and breadth of
the chest, we not only produce animals which more readily
fatten, but which are more hardy; for in the case of all
breeds, it is found that narrow-chested and flat-sided ani-
mals are less vigorous, and more subject to diseases, than
such as have the body round and the chest wide.
It is painful, however, to state, that this breed, so widely
diffused, has been treated with comparative neglect. Vari-
ous breeders have distinguished themselves by their atten-
tion to the form of the animals, and have reaped the reward
in the superior character of their stock; but, over the wide
tract of country which the breed occupies, it is far inferior in
economical value to that to which, by due attention, it might
arrive. Breeders would find it for their interest to procure
rams from the southern counties of Scotland, and from the
stocks of the breeders whose farms are good, and who have
paid the most attention to the character of their stock.
F
93
The Black-faced Heath Breed, after having displaced the
former races of a large tract of country, has itself, in the
natural course of improvement, been giving way to another
mountain breed of different characters. This is the breed
of the Cheviot mountains, likewise derived from a high and
stormy country, but reared under circumstances more favour-
able with respect to the supplies of food, possessing fine and
not coarse wool, and cultivated with greater attention on the
breeding farms. But the hardier Heath Breed is still the
more suitable to a great extent of country, where the preva-
lent herbage is heath, and still therefore merits the careful
attention of a numerous class of breeders.
·
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
IX. THE CHEVIOT BREED.
The Cheviot Breed of Sheep is derived from a district of por-
phyry, situated in the north of Northumberland, and extend-
ing into Scotland, forming the mountains termed Cheviot.
These mountains are in contact with the rugged country of
heath, which has been seen to be the habitat of the Black-
faced Breed; But the true Cheviot district is limited in extent,
and differs greatly in its character from the heathy wastes
adjoining. It is composed of a range of beautiful mountains
tending to the conical, and mostly covered with grasses, ferns,
wild thyme, and other plants distinctive of trap, often to the
very summit. They are frequently in contact at their bases,
or separated from one another by narrow valleys. While
they pass on one side into the district of heaths, they are
connected on the other with a rich cultivated country. Their
highest summit is 2658 feet above the level of the sea, and
they are frequently capped with snow long after it has dis-
appeared from the lower grounds.
This district has produced, from time immemorial, a race
of Sheep entirely distinct in its characters from the Wild
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Heath Breed of the elevated moors adjoining. The Cheviot
Sheep are destitute of horns in the male and female: their
faces and legs are white, exceptions merely occurring in the
case of individuals in which these parts are dun. The body
is very closely covered with wool, which is short and suffi-
ciently fine for the making of certain cloths. The two shear-
wethers, when fat, may weigh, on a medium, from sixteen to
eighteen pounds the quarter, though with great differences,
dependent on the natural productiveness of the pastures, and
the method of treatment when young. The ewes are usually
reckoned to weigh from twelve to fourteen pounds the quarter,
though with such differences as depend on the nature of the
soil and pastures, and the method of treatment. The mutton
of these sheep is very good, though inferior in delicacy to that
of the South Down and Welsh Sheep, and in flavour to that of
the Black-faced Heath Breed. Their natural form is, like that
of all mountain breeds, with a light fore-quarter; but this cha-
racter is removed by the effects of breeding, and the modern
Cheviots are of good form. The body is somewhat longer
than is usually the case with the Heath Breed, which has
given rise to the popular distinction, in districts where both
breeds are cultivated, of Long and Short Sheep. They are
larger in the lower countries, where a supply of turnips can
be given: they are lighter in the more elevated tracts, where
artificial food is scanty, or wanting. The breeders adopt the
kind of animal which is suited to the pastures, preferring a
short-legged larger Sheep for the lower farms, and one of
lighter and more agile form for the more upland and colder.
The Cheviot Sheep are of quiet habits, possessing, indeed,
the independence of a mountain race, but having none of the
indocility which distinguishes some other races. They are
exceedingly hardy, their close covering of fine wool enabling
them to resist the extremes of cold. They feed more on the
grasses, and less on the shoots of heath, than the Black-faced
Breed, and hence they are less adapted to a country of entire
THE SHEEP.
95
heath, and require a larger range of pastures to support an
equal number of animals.
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
The Cheviot Sheep have spread from their native mountains
to a large extent of country. They now cover a great part of
the elevated moors from which the Black-faced Heath Sheep
were derived. They have spread over the southern moun-
tains of Scotland, supplanting to a great extent the Heath
Breed, which previously existed. They have been carried be-
yond the Grampians to the extreme north of Scotland, where
they are reared in increasing numbers. To the late Sir John
Sinclair is due the honour of having first carried them to
the county of Caithness. But in some cases they have been
placed in situations to which the coarser Heath Breed would
have been better adapted, and many farmers, after experi-
ence of the effect, have reverted to the ancient race. The
breed, however, has a greatly more extensive range than has
yet been assigned to it; for it is evident that the Cheviot,
like every breed of Sheep, has the property of adapting itself
to the country in which it is naturalized. Thus, the Sheep
which are reared in the north of Scotland must give birth to
a hardier race than is produced in the lower mountains of the
south; and thus we may expect to see the range of the breed
gradually extended, and narrowing the bounds occupied by
the coarser Black-faced. The extension that has already
taken place of this hardy breed, must be regarded as having
been of singular benefit to breeders and the country. It has
been recently carried to the west of England and Wales, and
has every where been found suited to a cold and mountain-
ous country. In its native country of the Cheviot Hills, it
has been cultivated with great care by a class of breeders
inferior to none in the kingdom for intelligence and enter-
prise; and thus breeders from every part of the kingdom
have the power of resorting to the native districts of the
breed, for the means of maintaining their stocks in a state of
purity..
The wool of this breed weighs about three and a half pounds
96
the fleece. It formerly used to be employed for the making
of cloths; but, from the extensive employment of the Merino
wool of Saxony and Spain, it is now scarcely employed for
this purpose, and is prepared by the process of combing in
place of carding, for the coarser manufactures. The atten-
tion of breeders, too, having been mainly directed to the fat-
tening properties of the animal, the wool has diminished in
fineness, though it has increased in length and weight. Its
quality varies somewhat with the pastures, being finer where
the shorter grasses prevail, and coarser where the herbage is
rough and heathy.
The management of the Cheviot resembles that of the
Black-faced Heath Sheep; but as, for the most part, they
occupy a lower range of mountains, better means exist of sup-
plying them with food during the inclement season of winter.
They are suffered to range over the grounds assigned to
them, and their artificial food is only subsidiary to the natural
herbage of the farm. It is supplied chiefly during falls of
snow, and consists either of the hay of the cultivated grasses
or clovers, where this can be obtained, or is the produce of
the swamps and perennial meadows of the farm. When tur-.
nips can be produced, these likewise are supplied at the fit-
ting times. The breeder of these Sheep, as in the case of
the Black-faced Heath Breed, is not necessarily the person
who feeds them for ultimate use. He rears them to a cer-
tain age, and then transfers them to those whose farms enable
them to bring them to the required maturity. This consti-
tutes the great traffic between the farmers of the higher and
lower country, and is a fitting division of labour and employ-
ment. Sometimes, indeed, the breeder of these Sheep, by
possessing low and cultivated ground, or otherwise, is en-
abled to combine the practices of rearing and fattening; but
the essential destination of the higher farms is the rearing
and not the fattening of stock, and the two occupations,
though they may be combined, are essentially distinct. The
stock often passes through several intervening graziers and
THE SHEEP.
9
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
97
feeders, before it is fattened for ultimate use. In general,
the Cheviot Sheep are fattened at an earlier age than the
Black-faced Heath Sheep, partly on account of the greater
precocity of the animals, but chiefly on account of the supe-
rior treatment which they receive when young. The Cheviot
breeder may sell his Sheep in the first year when hoggets,
but very generally in the second year, either when they re-
tain their fleece and are still hoggets, or after they are
divested of their fleece and are shearlings, or, in the lan-
guage of the northern farmer, dinmonts and gimmers. They
are rarely fattened when shearlings, the usual period being
after they have lost their second fleece, and are wethers. The
ewes, after having borne lambs for several years, generally
three, are sold, and their place supplied by the younger
females reared on the farm, which at that time are in the
autumn of the second year, and about nineteen months
old.
The rams are usually admitted to the ewes about the
20th of November, so that the season of lambing may com-
mence in the early part of April. One ram is assigned to
sixty ewes.
The ewes, during the period of gestation, feed on the
natural pastures of the farm, but, on the falling of heavy
snows, receive a supply of hay, which may be spread upon
the surface. But the Sheep have a wonderful faculty of
collecting their food, even when all the ground is covered,
by scraping away the snow with their feet, and they prefer
this natural food to the dried provender. When turnips as
well as hay are produced on the farm, the ewes receive them
likewise during falls of snow; but it is especially at the
period of lambing, and during its continuance, that this spe-
cies of food is supplied.
When the period of lambing arrives, all the vigilance of
the shepherds is required. Sometimes the ewes are so en-
feebled by want of food, and the inclemency of the weather,
that they have not milk sufficient to nourish their young, and
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then the maternal feeling seems to become extinct. But this
latter accident is of partial occurrence, and it is rare that the
mothers altogether abandon their young. Sometimes the
lambs, at their birth, are so weak that they cannot rise from
the ground, and thus perish. In such cases, the shepherd is
at hand to assist the young to the teat, and often he takes
the ewe with her young to a place of shelter, where they can
be more carefully tended. When a ewe dies, and it is wished
to give her lamb to one that has lost her own young, or when
a ewe has twins, and it is wished to give one of them to be
suckled by another whose own lamb has perished, some art
is often required to induce the ewe to adopt the stranger.
The most common method is to confine them together to a
narrow space, holding the lamb to the teat until it has been
suckled. In certain cases, when the lamb of any ewe has
perished, its skin is taken off and put on the lamb to be
adopted. The ewe, deceived by the smell of her own off-
spring, suffers herself to be sucked, and from that time for-
ward adopts the little orphan, and treats it with all the kind-
ness of the natural parent. It is of painful interest to see a
ewe, whose lamb has perished, mourning over its little one,
and refusing to leave it or be comforted. If the dead body
is dragged along the ground, the poor mother will follow it
even into the cot of the shepherd, fiercely driving away the
dogs or sheep that approach it. Even when the ewes them-
selves are in the agonies of death, they will be seen calling
piteously to their young ones, and offering them the last store
of milk with which Nature has furnished them. When the
ewes have twins, and thus have two lambs to nurse, it is
usual to give them a more liberal supply of food. It is held
to be convenient to have an enclosure of early grass near the
place of lambing or the shepherd's cottage, to which ewes
with twins, such as have too little milk, and such as are sick
and infirm, or from any cause require more careful attend-
ance than the rest of the flock, may be taken. Though va-
rious ewes produce twins, it is regarded as a favourable cir-
THE SHEEP.
99
cumstance in the case of this class of Sheep, in the more
mountain districts, when one lamb can be reared for each
ewe of the flock. It is thought to be well when eighteen or
nineteen lambs can be brought up for every twenty ewes.
The time of shearing these Sheep is from the middle of
June to the beginning of July. The precise period is denoted
by the wool being fully grown, and separating readily from
the skin when pulled. The Sheep are first washed, which
is done by men standing in the pool, and washing each Sheep
separately, or more generally, when the flock is large, by
causing them to swim two or three times through the water
to the opposite bank. After being washed, they are kept as
much as possible on ground where they can be prevented from
rubbing on banks, or otherwise soiling their wool. In two
days, if there be no rain, they are shorn, but it is generally
thought better to wait seven or eight days, in which case the
unctuous secretion which protects the wool has again been
formed. As soon as each Sheep is shorn, it is usually marked
with a stamp dipped in boiling tar thickened with pitch. The
mark is made on different parts of the body, as the near
shoulder, the far shoulder, the near haunch, the far haunch,
so that the different kinds and ages of the Sheep may be
known at a glance.
Soon after shearing the ewes, the lambs are weaned, which
is simply effected by a short separation of them from the
dams. The lambs are now, in the language of farmers, hog-
gets or hogs, under the respective denominations of tup-hogs,
wether-hogs, and ewe-hogs. The tup-hogs intended for use
upon the farm or sale, and such of the ewe-hogs as are designed
for receiving the male in the following year, are retained.
The remainder of the ewe-hogs, and all the wether-hogs, are
either now disposed of, or kept throughout the winter and
sold in the following year, either, as has been observed, pre-
vious to the period of shearing, when they are still hogs, or
after having lost their fleece, when they are dinmonts and
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THE CHEVIOT BREED.
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THE SHEEP.
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gimmers. Sometimes they are kept until they have yielded
a second fleece. All the old ewes which have borne the re-
quired number of lambs are disposed of before winter, and
not only such ewes as are old, but such as are of bad form,
or which it is wished for any cause to get rid of. The hogs
which are retained are treated in the same manner as the
breeding ewes, except that it is common to put them on
some grassy and sheltered part of the farm where they can
be best pastured. They receive hay in falls of snow, and, if
possible, turnips are supplied to them during the whole win-
ter, which may be done at the rate of a cart-load per day for
every seven or eight scores.
The practice of smearing the skins before winter with tar,
was formerly in more general use in the case of this breed
of Sheep than it has since become. It is now chiefly con-
fined to the more elevated districts, or the more northern
counties. The disuse of the practice has arisen, not on ac-
count of any experience of its inefficiency as a preservative
to the health of the animals, but on account of the injury to
the quality of the wool, occasioned by the tarry ingredient.
On this account, substitutes for the tar are now very gene-
rally employed. These are, olive oil mixed with turpentine,
impure naphtha, commonly called spirits of tar, or other
substances, which serve the purpose of destroying vermin
and removing cutaneous affections, but which are scarcely
so efficient for preserving health as the old mixture.
In the modern management of these Sheep, a principle
observed is to suffer them as much as possible to pasture
undisturbed. On this account the dividing of the stock of
the farm into a number of flocks or hirsels, to each of which
is assigned a certain range of pasturage, is much less used
than formerly. The practice of folding Sheep at night, for
the purpose of manuring parts of the farm, is now abandoned
by all who are conversant with the proper management of
this kind of Sheep. The practice, too, of milking the ewes
Macu
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101
for several weeks after the lambs are weaned, is now very
much given up, experience shewing, that the exhaustion and
disturbance of ewes render them less fitted to withstand the-
privations and severities of winter, and to nourish their
young when the season of parturition arrives. It is usual,
however, to milk the ewes after weaning for a few days, so
as to run them dry by degrees. In cases where the practice
of milking for several weeks is adopted, the milk is churned
for the use of the farm; and twenty ewes will yield five
pounds of butter in the week.
The number of Sheep assigned to the care of one shepherd
is from 400 to 500. When the flock consists wholly of ewes,
this number is as much as one man can conveniently manage,
but when the flock consists of hoggets and shearlings, one
shepherd may manage 700 or 800. An average allowance
for one shepherd is 400 ewes and 200 hoggets.
To the shepherd of these mountainous countries, the ser-
vices of the Dog are indispensable. Without this faithful
creature, his individual labour would be insufficient to collect
the animals from distant parts, drive them in flocks, or per-
form the other innumerable services required. The breed
of Dogs used in the mountains of Cheviot, and the pastoral
districts of Scotland, is of small size and homely exterior,
but adapted in an eminent degree to the services to be per-
formed. For sagacity and fidelity, these humble Dogs cannot
be surpassed; they understand the language of their master,
and almost seem to divine his thoughts. Their whole habits
seem fashioned to the life they lead. When taken from their
natural pursuits, their spirit seems to droop, or at least they
never manifest, in other situations, that matchless sagacity
which distinguishes them in the occupation of the shepherd
life.
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
The entire management of these and the other mountain
Sheep of the northern part of Britain, has no parallel, it is
believed, in the same latitudes in Europe. In no other
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THE SHEEP.
country, similarly situated with respect to climate, are the
Sheep kept so entirely exposed to the inclemencies of the
weather, without the shelter of pens and houses. The ab-
sence of Wolves is the cause of that freedom which is allowed
to these mountain flocks; and the shepherds have been taught
by experience, that the animals may be exposed by night as
well as by day without harm. Were these Sheep managed
as in other parts of the Continent of Europe, penned and fed
in houses, and prevented from taking their natural food, the
mountains of the country could not maintain one-fourth part
of the present numbers.
The great desiderata sought for in the elevated countries
of these mountain Sheep, are the supply of food and shelter
in winter. The essential food, when the ground is covered
with snow, is hay; a field or more being formed, one of which
is mown annually. Rough boggy ground, producing the
rushes proper to the situation, as the sharp-flowered jointed
rush or sprit, is suited for yielding a kind of hay, which,
though coarse and comparatively innutritious, is eaten by
the Sheep in the absence of other food. Where irrigation
is practicable, watered meadows are sometimes constructed,
affording the cheapest and securest means of supplying pro-
vender in these elevated countries. In all cases a quantity
of hay is provided, which should be equal to three months'
consumption, at the rate of one and a half pound per day
to the breeding ewes, and one pound to the younger sheep.
When whins grow naturally, they are preserved, as affording
not only food but shelter.
When the pastures consist of rough heath, it is common
to burn it at intervals of several years, in the early part of
spring. This, destroying the more shrubby stems, produces
an increased growth of the more tender shoots.
Draining is held to be very important in the countries oc-
cupied by these Sheep. The drains are narrow open trenches,
a spade's breadth in width. They are carried along the flat
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THE CHEVIOT BREED.
103
marshy grounds, or along the declivities of hills, wherever
water may stagnate. They are designed to allow a speedy
egress to water on the surface, and the effect is to improve
the pastures, and lessen the tendency to the dangerous malady
of rot.
When land exists capable of cultivation, the resources of
food may be greatly extended, for then turnips as well as
hay can be supplied. But an error, too common in such dis-
tricts, should be avoided, of ploughing more land than is
required for the ends proposed. The purpose of tillage in
such situations is the raising of turnips and clover hay for
the supply of the stock; and this end being attained, the
farmer ought never to carry his system of tillage further on
a purely breeding farm.
In order that the Sheep of these farms may pasture with-
out disturbance, and that the labour of the shepherds may
be abridged, it is held to be highly useful, and even neces-
sary, that each farm be enclosed. The suitable fence for
such situations is the stone wall, for the forming of which
ample materials are for the most to be found on the grounds.
This species of wall is formed of stones without the aid of
lime, about five feet in height. Sods are sometimes used in
place of stones; but the fences are greatly less permanent
and useful, and ought never to be formed where better mate-
rials exist.
The uses and value of shelter in countries so elevated and
exposed are everywhere recognised. When natural valleys
and glens exist, these are taken advantage of to shelter the
flock from the piercing storms of the inclement season.
In
such cases, the shepherd himself drives his flock to the places
which afford shelter, and the Sheep of their own accord be-
take themselves to the natural coverts of the farm. But
though the instincts of the animals will cause them to avoid
a coming tempest, by repairing to the lee sides of eminences
for shelter, these are the very situations in which they may
be overwhelmed by heavy falls of snow, which, when accom-
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panied by winds, sometimes fill up all the hollows in a few
hours. These accidents occasionally occur, and so sudden
and violent is the storm, that whole flocks of Sheep are buried
under masses of snow. Nay, sometimes the shepherds
themselves, in their attempts to discover and save the scat-
tered flocks, are bewildered and suffocated in the tempest.
THE SHEEP.
It is regarded as of high importance, then, not only to
provide shelter against the piercing blasts of these elevated
countries, but to afford places of refuge to the stock in cases
of danger. Plantations of wood are always found to be be-
neficial in these mountain farms, and when the means exist
of rearing wood, may be formed with profit. They should be
of the size of not less than four or five acres, so that the trees
may shelter one another, and formed with salient angles, so
that the Sheep may have shelter from whatever point the
wind may blow.
blow. They are enclosed with stone walls, so that
the trees may be protected from the inroads of the Sheep.
The wild pine and spruce are found to be the best suited for
the purpose, though the larch will grow in situations more
elevated. But wood cannot always be cultivated in situa-
tions so bleak and exposed, and a simple substitute is adopted.
This is a small enclosure, termed a Stell, capable of contain-
ing a flock of Sheep. It consists of a dry-stone wall, six feet
high, and is usually circular, with a narrow opening, and
may be made of a size to contain 200 Sheep or more. Into
these places of refuge the Sheep are driven when occasion
requires. They are thus protected from danger, and a stack
of hay being placed at the entrance, or within the enclosure,
they may be fed during the continuance of the snow. A
sufficient number of these stells being placed in suitable
situations, there exist places of security, to which the Sheep
on different parts of the farm may be promptly conveyed.
No words can convey to those who have never witnessed
the scene, an idea of the terrible effect of the winter storms
which ravage these alpine regions. In an amusing series of
Tales, by James Hogg, commonly known as the Etterick
105
Shepherd, graphic descriptions are given of the scenes of
desolation which sometimes present themselves, and of which
the memory survives from generation to generation in the
traditionary annals of the shepherds. Of one of these, fami-
liarly termed the Thirteen Drifty Days, he thus speaks from
tradition :-
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
"It is said, that for thirteen days and nights the snow-
drift never once abated: the ground was covered with frozen
snow when it commenced, and during all the time of its con-
tinuance, the Sheep never broke their fast. The cold was in-
tense to a degree never before remembered; and about the
fifth and sixth days of the storm, the young Sheep began to
fall into a sleepy and torpid state, and all that were so affected
in the evening died over-night. The intensity of the frost-
wind often cut them off, when in that state, quite instanta-
neously. About the ninth and tenth days, the shepherds be-
gan to build up huge semicircular walls of their dead, in
order to afford some shelter for the living remainder; but
such shelter availed little, for about the same time the want
of food began to be felt so severely, that they were frequently
seen tearing one another's wool with their teeth. When the
storm abated, on the fourteenth day from its commencement,
there was on many a high-lying farm not a living sheep to be
seen. Large misshapen walls of dead, surrounding a small
prostrate flock, likewise all dead, and frozen stiff in their lairs,
were all that remained to the forlorn shepherd and his mas-
ter; and though on low-lying farms, where the snow was not
so hard before the tempest began, "numbers of sheep weathered
the storm, yet their constitutions received such a shock, that
the greater part of them perished afterwards; and the final
consequence was, that about nine-tenths of all the sheep in
the south of Scotland were destroyed. In the extensive pas-
toral district of Eskdale-muir, which maintains upwards of
20,000 sheep, it is said none were left alive, but forty young
wethers on one farm, and five old ewes on another. The
farm of Phaup remained without a stock and without a ten-
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ant for twenty years after the storm; and when at length
one very honest and liberal-minded man ventured to take a
lease of it, it was at the annual rent of a great-coat and a
pair of hose!' It is now rented at L.500 a-year. An ex-
tensive glen in Tweedsmuir, now belonging to Sir James
Montgomery of Stanhope, became a common at that time, to
which any man drove his flocks that pleased, and it continued
so for nearly a century."
THE SHEEP.
He continues: "The years 1709, 1740, and 1772, were
likewise all years notable for severity, and for the losses sus-
tained among the flocks of sheep. In the latter, the snow
lay from the middle of December until the middle of April,
and was all that time hard frozen. Partial thaws always
kept the farmer's hopes of relief alive, and thus prevented
him from removing his sheep to a lower situation, till at
length they grew so weak that they could not be removed.
There has not been such a general loss in the days of any
man living as in that year."
"But of all the storms that ever Scotland witnessed, or I
hope ever will again behold, there is none of them that can
once be compared with that of the memorable night between
Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th of January 1794.
This storm fell with peculiar violence on that division of the
South of Scotland that lies between Crawford-muir and the
Border. In these bounds seventeen shepherds perished, and
upwards of thirty were carried home insensible, who after-
wards recovered. The number of sheep that were lost far
outwent any possibility of calculation. Whole flocks were
overwhelmed with snow, and no one ever knew where they
were till the snow was dissolved, and they were all found
dead. I myself witnessed one particular instance of this, on
the farm of Thickside: there were twelve scores of excellent
ewes, all one age, that were missing all the time that the
snow lay, which was only a week, and no traces of them
could be found; when the snow went away, they were dis-
covered all lying dead, with their heads one way, as if a flock
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
of sheep had dropped dead going from the washing. Many
hundreds were driven into waters, burns, and lakes, by the
violence of the storm, where they were buried or frozen up,
and these the flood carried away, so that they were never
seen or found by the owners at all. The greater part of the
rivers on which the storm was most deadly run into the Sol-
way Frith, on which there is a place called the Beds of Esk,
where the tide throws out, and leaves, whatever is carried
into it by the rivers. When the flood after the storm sub-
sided, there were found on that place, and the shores adjacent,
one thousand eight hundred and forty sheep, nine black cattle,
three horses, two men, one woman, forty-five dogs, and one
hundred and eighty hares, besides a number of meaner ani-
mals."
After describing his return from a distant excursion through
the mountains, and certain presages of a coming storm, he
continues:
"I then went to my bed in the byre-loft, where I slept with
a neighbour shepherd, named Borthwick; but though fatigued
with walking through the snow, I could not close an eye, so
that I heard the first burst of the storm, which commenced
between one and two, with a fury that no one can conceive
who does not remember it. Besides, the place where I lived
being exposed to two or three gathered winds,' as they are
called by shepherds, the storm raged there with redoubled
fury. It began all at once, with such a tremendous roar, that
I imagined it was a peal of thunder, until I felt the house
trembling to its foundation. In a few minutes I thrust my
naked arm through a hole in the roof, in order, if possible, to
ascertain what was going on without, for not a ray of light
could I see. I could not then, nor can I yet, express my
astonishment: so completely was the air overloaded with
falling and driving snow, that, but for the force of the wind,
I felt as if I had thrust my arm into a wreath of snow. I
deemed it a judgment sent from Heaven upon us, and went
to bed again, trembling with agitation." "I kept my bed
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for about three quarters of an hour longer; and then
rose, and on reaching the house with much difficulty, found
our master, the ploughman, Borthwick, and the two servant
maids, sitting round the kitchen fire, with looks of dismay, I
may almost say despair. We all agreed at once, that the
sooner we were able to reach the sheep, the better chance
we had to save a remnant; and as there were eight hundred
excellent ewes, all in one lot, but a long way distant, and
the most valuable lot of any on the farm, we resolved to
make a bold effort to reach them. Our master made family
worship, a duty he never neglected; but that morning the
manner in which he expressed our trust and confidence in
Heaven, was particularly affecting. We took our breakfast
-filled our pockets with bread and cheese-sewed our plaids
around us-tied down our hats with napkins coming below.
our chins-and each taking a strong staff in his hand, we
set out on the attempt.
THE SHEEP.
No sooner was the door closed behind us than we lost
sight of each other: seeing there was none-it was impos-
sible for a man to see his hand held up before him—and it
was still two hours till day. We had no means of keeping to-
gether but by following to one another's voices, nor of work-
ing our way save by groping before us with our staves. It
soon appeared to me a hopeless concern, for, ere ever we got
clear of the houses and hay-stacks, we had to roll ourselves
over two or three wreaths which it was impossible to wade
through; and all the while the wind and drift were so violent,
that every three or four minutes we were obliged to hold our
faces down between our knees to recover our breath. We
soon got into an eddying wind that was altogether insuffer-
able, and, at the same time, we were struggling among snow
so deep, that our progress in the way we proposed going was
very equivocal indeed, for we had by this time lost all idea
of east, west, north, or south. Still we were as busy as men
determined on an enterprize of moment could be, and perse-
vered on we knew not whither, sometimes rolling over the
109
snow, and sometimes weltering in it up to the chin. The fol-
lowing instance of our successful exertions marks our pro-
gress to a tittle: There was an enclosure around the house
to the westward, which we denominated the Park,' as was
customary in Scotland at that period, and in that quarter,
where a farm seldom boasted more than one enclosed piece
of ground. When we went away we calculated that it was
two hours until day; the park did not extend above three
hundred yards; and we were still engaged in it when day-
light appeared. When we got free of the park, we also got
free of the eddy of the wind. It was now straight in our
faces; we went in a line before each other, and changed
places every three or four minutes, and at length, after great
fatigue, reached a long ridge of a hill where the snow was
thinner, having been blown off by the force of the wind, and
by this we had hopes of reaching within a short space of the
ewes, which were still a mile and a half distant. Our master
had taken the lead; I was next him, and soon began to sus-
pect, from the depth of the snow, that he was leading us quite
wrong; but, as we always trusted implicitly to the person that
was foremost for the time, I said nothing for a good while,
until satisfied that we were going in a direction very nearly
right opposite to that we intended. I then tried to expostulate
with him; but he did not seem to understand what I said; and,
on getting a glimpse of his countenance, I perceived that it
was quite altered. Not to alarm the others, nor even him-
self, I said I was, becoming terribly fatigued, and proposed
that we should lean on the snow, and take each a little
whisky (for I had brought a small bottle in my pocket, for
fear of the worst), and some bread and cheese. This was
unanimously agreed to, and I noted that he swallowed the
spirits rather eagerly, a thing not usual with him, and when
he tried to eat, it was long before he could eat any thing. I
was convinced that he would fail altogether, but, as it would
have been easier to have got him to the shepherd's house,
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
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which was before us, than home again, I made no proposal
for him to return. On the contrary, I said, if they would trust
themselves entirely to me, I would engage to lead them to the
ewes, without going a foot out of the way. The other two
agreed to this, and acknowledged that they knew not where
they were; but he never opened his mouth, nor did he speak
for two hours thereafter. It had only been a temporary ex-
haustion, however, for he afterwards recovered, and wrought
till night as well as any of us; though he never could recol-
lect a single circumstance that occurred during that part of
our way, nor a word that was said, nor of having got any re-
freshment whatever. About half an hour past ten we reached
the flock, and just in time to save them."
Again: "It was now wearing towards mid-day, and there
were occasionally short intervals in which we could see
round us for perhaps a score of yards; but we got only one
momentary glance of the hills around us all that day. I
grew quite impatient to be at my own charge, and leaving
the rest, I went away to them by myself, that is, I went to
the division that was left far out on the hills, while our mas-
ter and the ploughman volunteered to rescue those that were
down on the lower ground. I found mine in miserable cir-
cumstances; but, making all possible exertion, I got out
about one-half of them, which I left in a place of safety, and
made towards home, for it was beginning to grow dark,
and the storm was again raging in all its darkness and fury.
I was not in the least afraid of losing my way, for I knew
all the declivities of the hills so well, that I could have come
home with my eyes bound up; and indeed, long ere I got
home, they were of no use to me. I was terrified for the
water (Douglas Burn), for in the morning it was flooded and
gorged up with snow in a dreadful manner, and I judged that
it would be now quite impassable. At length I came to a
place where I thought the water should be, and fell a-boring
and groping for it with my long staff. No: I could find no
THE SHEEP.
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
111
water, and began to dread that, in spite of my supposed ac-
curacy, I had gone wrong. This greatly surprised me, and
standing still to consider, I looked up towards Heaven, I
shall not say for what cause, and to my utter amazement
thought I beheld trees over my head, flourishing abroad over
the whole sky. I never had seen such an optical delusion
before; it was so like enchantment that I knew not what to
think, but dreaded that some extraordinary thing was coming
over me, and that I was deprived of my right senses.
I con-
cluded that the storm was a great judgment sent on us for
our sins, and that this strange phantasy was connected with
it, an illusion effected by evil spirits. I stood a good while
in this painful trance; but at length, on making a bold ex-
ertion to escape from the fairy vision, I came all at once in
contact with the Old Tower. Never in my life did I expe-
rience such a relief; I was not only all at once freed from
the fairies, but from the dangers of the gorged river. I had
come over it on some mountain of snow, I knew not how nor
where, nor do I know to this day. So that, after all, what I
had seen were trees, and trees of no great magnitude neither;
but their appearance to my eyes it is impossible to describe.
I thought they flourished abroad, not for miles, but for hun-
dreds of miles, to the utmost verges of the visible heavens.
Such a day and such a night may the eye of a shepherd never
again behold!"
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No apology can be due for extracting those passages.
Had the author never written more than his account of the
storms of Etterick, he would deserve to be remembered.
Even if we shall imagine that a little fancy has been mixed
with the reality of the story, we must feel that the Shepherd
Boy had really mingled in the scenes which he lived to paint
so well. One passage more is worthy of note. It refers to
a faculty known to be possessed by the Dogs of these moun-
tains, of discovering the Sheep which have been buried be-
neath the snow. We know that a similar instinct of the
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THE SHEEP.
noble Dogs of St Bernard, is employed to discover the re-
mains of the perished traveller.
“Next morning the sky was clear; but a cold intemperate
wind still blew from the north. The face of the country was
entirely altered. The form of every hill was changed, and
new mountains leaned over every valley. All traces of burns,
rivers, and lakes, were obliterated." "When we came to
the ground where the sheep should have been, there was not
one of them above the snow. Here and there, at a great
distance from each other, we could perceive the heads or
horns of stragglers appearing; and these were easily got
out; but when we had collected these few, we could find no
more. They had been lying all abroad in a scattered state
when the storm came on, and were covered over just as they
had been lying. It was on a kind of sloping ground, that
lay half beneath the wind, and the snow was uniformly from
six to eight feet deep. Under this the hogs were lying scat-
tered over at least one hundred acres of heathery ground.
We went about boring with our long poles, and often did
not find one hog in a quarter of an hour. But at length a
white shaggy colly, named Sparkie, that belonged to the
cowherd boy, seemed to have comprehended something of
our perplexity, for we observed him plying and scraping in
the snow with great violence, and always looking over his
shoulder for us. On going to the spot, we found that he had
marked straight above a sheep. From that he flew to ano-
ther, and so on to another, as fast as we could dig them out,
and ten times faster, for he sometimes had twenty or thirty
holes marked beforehand."
Although these dreadful tempests occur but occasionally,
bad seasons, that is, seasons in which the ground is covered
for a long period with frozen snow, are common, and never
fail to affect, in a serious manner, the health and condition
of the flock. When they take place at the period of lamb-
ing, great numbers of the young creatures perish, notwith-
standing every care on the part of the shepherds.
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The Cheviot Breed, naturalized in countries so cold and
tempestuous, and spreading over so large a tract of country,
must be seen to be of the highest economical importance.
The attention of agriculturists, in the district proper to the
breed, has been skilfully directed to its improvement. Su-
perior feeding has had the effect of enlarging the size of the
animals, and increasing the produce of wool; but the wool,
as was before observed, has become less fine, and has almost
ceased to be used in the manufacture of cloths. It has,
therefore, become the interest of breeders to direct attention
to the improvement of the form of the animals, holding the
quality of the wool to be a secondary consideration. Never-
theless, to this extent, attention to the wool is proper: a fine
and close fleece indicates constitutional hardiness in the in-
dividuals, and should therefore be carefully attended to as a
character in the breeding parents.
THE CHEVIOT BREED.
The Cheviot Breed amalgamates readily with the Leices-
ter; and a system of breeding has been extensively intro-
duced for producing the first cross of this descent. The
rams employed are of the pure Leicester breed; and the
progeny is superior in size, weight of wool, and tendency to
fatten, to the native Cheviot. The lambs of this descent are
sometimes disposed of to the butcher, and sometimes fed
until they are shearlings, when they can be rendered as fat
as the parent Leicesters, and not much inferior in weight;
and further, they can be raised to maturity under less favour-
able conditions of soil and herbage than the Leicester. The
benefit, however, may be said to end with the first cross,
and the progeny of this mixed descent is greatly inferior to
the pure Cheviot in hardiness of constitution. The system
is attended with considerable profit in many cases. The
danger is, that it may insensibly produce a mixture of the
Leicester blood on the breeding farms. Even this may an-
swer peculiar situations; but there cannot be a question
that, for general cultivation in the high and tempestuous
countries to which the Cheviot breed is adapted, the race
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should be preserved in its native purity. Every mixture of
stranger blood has been found to lessen that character of
hardiness which is the distinguishing character of the race.
The beautiful breed of the South Downs would seem to be of
all others that which is best adapted to improve the Cheviot ;
and yet the experiments that have hitherto been made have
shewn, that the mixed progeny is inferior to the native
Cheviot, in its adaptation to a country of cold and humid
mountains.
THE SHEEP.
The Cheviot Breed, it has been seen, has been gradually
extending throughout the mountainous parts of Scotland. It
has penetrated southward in the part of the central chain of
elevated moors from which the Heath Breed has been derived.
It might be yet greatly more extended in this direction, and
supersede many of the flocks of ill-formed animals which in-
habit this range. It has been carried to Wales, to the high
lands of Dartmoor and Exmoor, and in small numbers into
Cornwall. In all these cases it has been found superior to
the native races. It has even been carried by settlers to the
boundless wastes of New South Wales; but the suitable
breed for that country, in which the wool alone is of value, is
the Merino, although, as we shall afterwards have occasion
to see, some of the Long-woolled Breeds may, with advantage,
be transported to this magnificent Colony.
X.-THE OLD NORFOLK BREED.
A remarkable variety of Sheep, usually termed the Old
Norfolk Breed, occupies the higher lands of Norfolk, Suffolk,
and Cambridge. These Sheep, once very numerous in the
heathy districts of this part of England, are a wild and hardy
race, well fitted for a country of scanty herbage. Both sexes
are armed with horns, which, in the male, are thick and spiral.
Their limbs are long and muscular, their bodies are long,
and their general form betokens activity and strength. They,
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accordingly, have been regarded as well-fitted for distant
journeys, and for bearing the rough treatment of the fold,
They hold their necks erect, and, in their carriage, resemble
Antelopes. Their faces and legs are covered with short black
hair: their wool weighs from two and a half to four pounds
the fleece, is fine and silky, and possesses sufficient felting
properties to fit it for being made into second or livery cloths.
It formerly brought a high relative price in the market; but,
in consequence of the increased use of the finer wools of Spain
and Saxony in the manufacture of superior cloths, the wool
of this, as of the numerous other breeds which formerly pro-
duced short or clothing wools, has declined in value.
THE OLD NORFOLK BREED.
These Sheep have much of the aspect of the Black-faced
Heath Breed, but differ from that race in their longer body
and limbs, and in the characters of the fleece; their wool
not being harsh and wiry, as in the case of the Heath Breed,
but soft, and suited for felting. The softness of their fleece
gives them some affinity with the Southdowns; but they
differ from that race in their robuster form, and in their
bolder, wilder, and more restless habits. We must suppose
that the characters of this breed have been acquired from
peculiarities in the soil and climate of the district which it
inhabits. This tract is calcareous, sandy, and naturally pro-
ductive of heaths, with hard and wiry grasses. Being obliged
to traverse extensive tracts to procure sufficiency of food, the
animals have become active and muscular; and the country
they inhabit being somewhat elevated, and exposed to dry
easterly winds, they are furnished with a fleece sufficiently
close to defend them from the chill breezes, without having
that long coat of wool which is needed in situations more
humid and mountainous. Inhabiting, too, a country in which
chalk, and the detritus of chalk, exist, the wool has acquired
that fineness which generally characterizes other races accli-
mated in calcareous districts. This breed must be referred
to the same general type as the Black-faced Heath Breed;
and we may believe, that the characters which distinguish it
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116
are such as the Black-faced Heath Breed would itself, in the
course of ages, assume in a lower country of chalk and heath.
These Sheep were greatly esteemed in the districts which
produced them, and were spread over a large tract of coun-
try. Their mutton was, and still is, held in high estimation;
and they were valued by the butchers for producing a large
proportion of internal fat, and by the farmers for their adap-
tation to the husbandry of the fold. They were long the
prevailing breed of Norfolk and Suffolk; but, as improve-
ments extended, they became more confined to the higher
grounds, and animals of more docile habits and superior fat-
tening properties supplied their place in the cultivated coun-
try. Other causes, also, have contributed to lessen the num-
bers of this breed, and limit its range. With the more im-
proved races, these wilder sheep produce admirable first
crosses, either for being killed as lambs, or when of an older
age. The ewes prove excellent nurses, and give birth to a
robust progeny; and no finer lambs are brought to the Eng-
lish markets than the first crosses between them and the
Leicester or South Down rams. This circumstance produces
a gradual intermixture with the blood of other varieties, and
a progressive diminution of the numbers of the pure race.
To such a degree has this intermixture taken place, that the
perfectly pure Norfolk Breed is now becoming rare, and, if
breeders have not inducements afforded them to preserve it,
will soon cease to be found. It is to be observed, that the
greater number of Sheep now brought to the markets of Lon-
don under the name of Norfolks, are crosses, or the offspring
of crosses, especially with the Southdowns.
The Old Norfolk is thus sharing the fate of the various
Forest and other breeds of this country, by giving place to
races of superior value with respect to the power of arriving
at earlier maturity of muscle and fatness. A certain feeling
of regret may perhaps exist, that a race possessing many
good properties, should have been extinguished rather than
improved. That the Old Norfolk was, like every other breed
THE SHEEP.
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THE OLD NORFOLK BREED.
117
of Sheep, susceptible of an essential change of characters,
cannot be doubted. While it might still have retained its
property of hardiness and robustness, the too great length of
the limbs, the flatness and lankness of the body, and, with
the change of external form, the too great wildness of tem-
per, might have been corrected, as in the case of every other
race of Sheep to which the care of the breeder has been
directed. But few breeders appear to have thought the Nor-
folk so deserving of preservation and improvement, as to have
deemed it necessary to apply to it those principles of breed-
ing which have been successfully applied to other races.
Very lately, indeed, the matter has occupied the attention of
the possessors of the few unmixed flocks which remain; but,
unless these gentlemen are seconded by more extensive sup-
port than they have yet received, it is to be believed that this
ancient race will, at no distant time, be merged in others which
have acquired a higher value by the care of the breeder.
The breed which of all others has the most trenched upon
the domains of the ancient Norfolk is the South Down. This
admirable breed has not only occupied districts formerly pos-
sessed by the Norfolk, but has been largely used to cross the
latter; and experience has shewn, that these crosses are su-
perior in form, though not in weight, to those of the Leices-
ter. This is a conclusion which might have been drawn even
without the aid of experience. The Southdowns, which are
a short-woolled race, and indigenous to a calcareous country,
which is also the geological character of the country of the
Norfolks, have a greater affinity with the Norfolks than the
long-woolled Leicesters and Lincolns, and are therefore bet-
ter suited to amalgamate with them. It has been seen, on
the other hand, that the long-woolled Sheep of the plains are
better fitted to unite with the Welsh, the Dartmoor, and Ex-
moor, than the fine-woolled Southdowns ; illustrating a prin-
ciple of breeding too often disregarded, of bringing together
animals which possess a certain community of characters.
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THE SHEEP.
XI. THE PENISTONE BREED.
As connected with the Heath Breeds of the country may
here be mentioned one of remarkable characters, termed the
Penistone. This race inhabits a district of the coal forma-
tion on the confines of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire.
It is found in the higher parts of this district, where a coarse
heathy herbage prevails, occupying a limited tract of about
twenty-six miles by twenty. On the slopes of the hills, the
older breeds merge in the crosses that have been made,
chiefly with the Leicester. The Sheep are termed Penistone,
from the market-town of that name, lying a few miles to the
south of Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and
to which they are usually driven for sale.
These Sheep have wool of a medium length, of a silky ap-
pearance, but harsh and wiry, and weighing from four to five
pounds the fleece. They have white faces and legs. The
rams exceed the size of the ewes and wethers in an unusual
degree; a peculiarity which is ascribed to their being taken to
the lower country to be reared. The rams alone have horns,
which are very large, lying close to the head, and projecting
forward. A distinguishing character of this breed is an ex-
treme coarseness of form, and especially of the extremities.
The feet are large, the limbs bony, the shoulders heavy, the
sides flat; but the most singular characteristic is the length
and muscularity of the tail, in which respect the Penistone
Sheep differ from all others in this country. This enlarge-
ment of the tail is merely muscular and bony, and not at all
analogous to the growth of fat which takes place in the tails
of certain Sheep of Eastern countries. The mutton of these
Sheep is highly valued for its juiciness and flavour.
The Penistone is manifestly to be referred to the same
general type as the Black-faced Heath Breed. It approaches
to this race in the character of its wool, but differs from it in
its clumsier and less agile form. The individuals are very
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119
large, but weigh the least perhaps in proportion to their offal
and bulk of body, of any sheep of this country.
It may excite surprise that a breed possessing such charac-
ters should have maintained its place in the centre of Eng-
land, in the vicinity of some of the most opulent towns, and
on the borders of districts the most celebrated for their
breeds of Sheep. The Penistone district is, however, of
peculiar characters. It is high, yet yields a plentiful coarse
herbage of heath and intermixed grasses. It is scarcely
sufficiently fertile, or sufficiently improved, for the Leicesters,
and is just such a district as would appear to be suited to
support a coarse race of native Sheep. Farmers have found
these animals to be hardy, and adapted to the country in
which they are naturalized, and hence have been disposed to
overlook their defects. Yet a gentle crossing with more
improved breeds, might have corrected their more palpable
defects, without rendering them too fine for their situation.
It may be expected, however, that this coarse unthrifty breed
will disappear, either by the effects of crossing, or by the sub-
stitution of superior varieties. A breed which seems well
suited for this district, at least so long as it remains in its
present uncultivated state, is the Cheviot, which is calculated
to thrive well in a country of heaths with intermixed grasses.
Cheviot flocks have indeed been introduced into the Peni-
stone district, but the farmers dislike them on account of their
smallness of size, not considering that a greater number of
these smaller sheep could be maintained, and would yield a
larger produce of mutton with less of offal, on the same space
of ground. The pure Southdowns would be out of place in
these rugged pastures, which are not adapted to a race the
natives of a country of short and fine herbage. Still more
unsuitable are other breeds which have been employed to
cross these coarse animals, as, for example, the Ryeland, one
of the prettiest little breeds in the country, but differing in
all its characters from the Penistone.
THE PENISTONE BREED.
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THE SHEEP.
XII.—THE OLD WILTSHIRE BREED.
The Old Wiltshire was a race of Sheep which extended
over the greater part of the county of Wilts. They were
the largest of the fine-woolled Sheep of England. Their
heads were clumsy, and the outline of the face remarkably
arched. They had horns in the male and female: their legs
and faces were white; their wool was very fine, weighing
about two and a half pounds the fleece: their mutton was of
tolerable quality, and the wethers, although they fattened
slowly, arrived at a good size.
This breed was long regarded as well adapted to the situa-
tions in which it was reared: its wool was in great request,
and large numbers of the fattened Sheep were driven to the
London markets. The breed may be said to be now nearly
extinct in the pure state, scattered remnants of it only ex-
isting. It has been entirely superseded by the South Down
breed, which has either been directly substituted for it, or
been made to cross it, until its distinctive characters have
been lost. The vexation was very great of the older farmers
of Wilts on marking the progress of the Southdowns, and
the gradual disappearance of the race which they had been
taught to regard as the best in the kingdom. Some of them
declared that there would not be a pile of grass in the county
if these little black-faced Southdowns were allowed to take
the place of the fine tall Wiltshire.
The figure of the Old Wiltshire affords an exemplification
of almost every external character which the breeder wishes
to avoid. The large coarse head, the flat sides, and the
length and thickness of the limbs, are very remarkable; and,
by comparing these points with the conformation of the
beautiful race which is now reared in the same district, we
have an instructive lesson on the proper form of Sheep, and
on the changes which the care of the breeder can effect.
The Old Wiltshire breed, however, had become adapted, in a
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THE OLD WILTSHIRE BREED.
121
remarkable degree, to the conditions, both natural and artifi-
cial, under which it was reared. The animals lived in a
country of chalky hills, inland, and not exposed to severities
of temperature, but unshaded from the sun's rays: the herb-
age being scanty, they had to move to considerable distances
to collect their food; and the practice, from time immemorial,
had been established, of driving them great distances to and
from the fold. To these circumstances was adapted an ani-
mal having a light fleece, with strong muscular limbs, and
with the habitude of subsisting on scanty herbage. Its fleece
was not only light, beyond that of any other Sheep in this
country, but its belly was destitute of wool, a character
which would not have existed but in the case of a warm dry
soil, where the animal did not require a coat of wool between
his belly and the humid earth. The animal, however, which
had acquired these properties was eminently deficient in
others which are sought for in the more improved state of
the Sheep. Subsisting on scanty dry food, he had acquired
the habitude of fattening slowly; and the Old Wiltshire,
though greatly valued by the butchers, was one of the most
difficult to be fattened of the larger Sheep of England.
There cannot exist a doubt of the great benefit which accrues
to individuals and the country, by the substitution of the
Southdowns for this coarse uncultivated race. It may be
asked, Could not the Wiltshire Sheep have been improved,
the faults of their form corrected, their size preserved, and
the fineness of their fleece maintained? Beyond a question
all these purposes could have been effected by the care of
breeders, directed for a sufficient period to the improvement
of the animal. But these are labours which would have re-
quired a generation at least; and the interest of breeders
was better served by taking that which was formed to their
hands, than by waiting the slow improvements of a race so
radically defective.*
*
* In my large Work, a representation is given of the ancient Wiltshire
Breed unmixed with any other blood, affording perhaps the last record that
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THE SHEEP.
The Wiltshire Breed may be regarded as the type of somet
others which inhabited a portion of the midland chalk coun-
ties of England until a recent period. The Old Hampshire
Sheep may be referred to this group. They were horned,
had the faces and legs white, though in some cases speckled,
long limbs, and lank bodies. This race has been supplanted
by the South Down, or so crossed with it, as to have lost its
original characters. The ancient Sheep of the adjoining
county of Berks were of two kinds. One had horns, and
the other was destitute of horns. Both were coarse slowly-
fattening animals, tall and muscular, with an arched chaf-
fron. Their wool was short, and fitted for felting. These
breeds have been universally crossed with the South Down,
and may be said to be nearly extinct in the pure state. Be-
sides, few Sheep are now reared in the county of Berks, the
farmers of which derive their Sheep for fattening from other
districts.
XIII. THE DORSET BREED.
A breed of Sheep has, from time immemorial, been na-
turalized in the county of Dorset, which formerly extended
over a large tract of country. These Sheep possess small
horns, common to the male and female. They have white
legs and faces: their wool is fine, but only applied to the
making of second or livery cloths, and it weighs about four
pounds the fleece. Their limbs are somewhat long, but
without coarseness; their shoulders are low, and the loins
broad and deep; their lips and nostrils are black, though
with a frequent tendency to assume a fleshy colour. The
will be presented to the public of a breed once so esteemed and celebrated.
The individuals represented form part of a flock on an estate in the county of
Wilts, bequeathed and held on the singular condition, that the proprietor
should maintain a flock of the pure old Wiltshire Sheep. The former owner
adopted this expedient for perpetuating the existence of his favourite breed.
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THE DORSET BREED.
123
wethers fatten at three years old to about eighteen pounds
the quarter. They are a hardy race of Sheep, docile, suited
to the practice of folding, and capable of subsisting on
scanty pastures. Their mutton is very good, but not equal
in juiciness and flavour to that of the mountain breeds.
The property of the Dorsets which remarkably distin-
guishes them, is the fecundity of the females, and their
readiness to receive the male at an early season. They
have been known, like the Sheep of some warmer countries,
to produce twice in the year. This, however, is rare; but
it is common for the females to become impregnated while
they are nursing their young. They will receive the male
so early as the months of April or May. The common
period of admitting him is in the early part of June, so that
the lambs shall be born in October, and be ready for use by
Christmas. This has given rise to the practice of rearing
the lambs in houses, until they are ready for the market.
The system has long been regularly pursued, especially with-
in reach of London, where a great demand exists for this
kind of luxury. The rams employed to cover the ewes for
these early lambs are not usually the Dorsets, but the Lei-
cesters or Southdowns, and chiefly the Southdowns. The
crosses are excellent, and no better nurses can be found than
the Dorset mothers.
The form of the Dorsets has a great resemblance to that
of the Spanish Merinos. The resemblance, however, is
entirely in figure, for the properties of the two races are
very different. While the females of the Merino race are
bad nurses, the Dorsets are the most productive of milk of
any of our races of Sheep. In the broad and deep loins of
this race, we have the same external character which, in the
case of the Cow, indicates the faculty of yielding abundant
milk. The remarkable fecundity of these Sheep has given
rise to the supposition that they are derived from some
warmer country, where the females bring forth twice in the
year; but the property may be one which is due to situation.
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The country of the Dorsets is calcareous, being partly on the
limits of the chalk formation, and partly on the lias and oolite;
and the climate is mild, and the herbage is mixed with wild
thyme and other aromatic plants. Formerly, the race was
greatly more diffused in England than it now is. William
Ellis, in his Shepherd's Guide, published in 1749, describes
the west country Sheep as having "white faces, white and
short legs, broad loins, and fine curled wool." He says they
are of different sizes, the smaller sort being fed on commons,
and that they are more tender of their young than any other,
and in an especial manner the Dorsetshire variety. "Where-
upon," says he, "those farmers that live in Hertfordshire,
Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and
Kent, and would be masters of a fine kind of Sheep, for
folding, fattening, and breeding lambs, cannot have a better
sort."
THE SHEEP.
Since the period referred to, however, this race of Sheep
has been continually diminishing in numbers. The extension
of the improved Leicesters and Southdowns gradually cir-
cumscribed the limits of the ancient Dorsets; and in the
various midland and eastern counties in which they formerly
abounded, scattered flocks only are found, and these rarely
pure.
The crosses of this breed with the Leicesters and South-
downs being superior to the original stock, a powerful cause
is in operation to produce an intermixture of blood; and
were it not for the demand which exists in the great towns,
and especially in London, for early lambs, the Dorsets might
be expected, like so many of the older breeds of the country,
to become extinct. Should this take place, we know of no
means of supplying its place, for no other breed of these
Islands possesses the properties of early breeding and fecun-
dity in the same degree. While, therefore, the rearing of
early lambs continues to be profitable, care should be used
in preserving the purity of this ancient race, and in calling
forth, by selection of the male and female parents, those
125
properties which it possesses in so eminent a degree. The
purest of the race are now to be found in a district round
Dorchester.
The Dorset Breed extends to the rich and beautiful county
of Somerset, where it is now reared in greater numbers than
in Dorsetshire itself. It here exhibits, however, some differ-
ence of character. It is distinguished from the true Dorset
by the colour of the nose, which is of a fleshy or pink colour,
resembling that of the Merino. The Pink-nosed Somerset
is larger than the Black-nosed Dorset, and of lanker form.
The wool is somewhat longer, but nearly of the same fine-
The wethers, when fattened, attain to greater weight,
and the lambs are larger. The Dorsets, however, are consi-
dered as exhibiting the characters proper to the females in
greater perfection. In the case of the Somersets, the usual
period of admitting the males to the females is about the
10th of May, so that the ewes may lamb in September or
early in October.
ness.
In both of these counties, especially in Dorsetshire, the
Southdowns have been making continual progress, being
either substituted for the native races, or employed to cross
them. They are better suited than the Leicesters to mingle
with the Dorset race, producing well-formed animals, and in-
creasing the value of the fleece.
The numerous varieties of the same group which inhabited
the older commons are now nearly extinct, although traces
of the characteristic form may still be observed in certain
places. One variety, however, is still to be found in a state
of purity. It inhabits the Isle of Portland, where it has been
kept unmixed for an unknown period. These little Sheep
have horns in the male and female. They are gentle, and of
good form. They have a tinge of dun on the face and legs.
Their wool, like that of the Dorsets, is of medium fineness,
weighing about two pounds the fleece. They are washed,
before being shorn, in the salt pools left on the shores by the
returning tide. Their mutton is exceedingly delicate, and
THE DORSET BREED.
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126
the wethers, when fat, at two years and four months old,
weigh from ten to twelve pounds the quarter.
The climate of the Isle of Portland is moist, and the natural
herbage is largely mixed with wild thyme. The number of
Sheep in the Island amounts to about 4000. Some years ago
a flock of them was taken to the Derby hills by Sir George
Crewe, M. P., and it is said that they supported well this
change of climate and situation. No purpose, however, of
economical utility can be served by carrying this curious
breed beyond the narrow limits where it has acquired the
characters which are proper to it.
THE SHEEP.
XIV. THE MERINO BREED.
From early times, Spain has been noted for the production
of numerous flocks of Sheep, and of wool adapted to the
fabrication of the finer cloths and tissues. This country
presents great diversity of surface and natural productions.
Towards the south and east it is more African in its charac-
ter than any other part of Europe. The interior consists of
elevated plains, bounded and traversed by long ranges of
mountains, the summits of which sometimes rise almost to
the region of perpetual congelation. Descending from these
chains of mountains are several noble rivers, which carry
their waters to the Mediterranean and Atlantic through
plains and valleys of surpassing richness and beauty. The
climate varies greatly with the altitude, but the air is every
where pure and dry. The vegetable productions are those
of the warmer as well as of the colder parts of the northern
temperate zone. The orange, the citron, the olive, and the
vine, are common productions of the lower plains; the rocky
mountains are covered with cisti, arborescent heaths, and
many beautiful and fragrant herbs; and, in the cultivated
country, are mingled the plants of the warmer with those of
the temperate regions,-the maize, the sugar-cane, the rice,
•
THE MERINO BREED.
127
and the sorghi, with wheat and other cerealia. Numerous
varieties of Sheep occupy the plains and mountainous coun-
try. Some produce a long wool, deficient in the property of
felting, but fitted for the manufacture of the looser fabrics,
as carpets and flannels, as well as serges and the lighter
tissues. These long-woolled Sheep are found in the lower
and more cultivated countries. The short-woolled Sheep in-
habit, for the most part, the sandy downs, and the mountains
and elevated plains of the interior, where a finer herbage
prevails. They are altogether distinct from the larger Sheep
of the richer plains, although both have been largely mingled
in blood together, and have produced a mixed progeny, which
is very numerous.
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This fine country, so rich and beautiful, has rarely been
permitted to avail itself of its unrivalled resources.
With a
few happy intervals, the history of Spain is one of intestine
troubles, of foreign wars, of civil intolerance, and religious
bigotry. Its former inhabitants, apparently of the same
great family of mankind which peopled Gaul and other coun-
tries of Western Europe, were early visited, for the purposes
of commerce, by Phoenician voyagers, and subsequently by
the Samians and other Greeks, who were permitted to esta-
blish towns on the coasts of the Mediterranean. These
strangers at first contented themselves with their little mari-
time colonies, and with the means of intercourse which these
afforded with the native inhabitants; but at length the Phoe-
nicians, with that desire of colonization which distinguished
them, founded the city of Gades, now Cadiz, beyond the
Gaditanian Strait. The natives, alarmed at this encroach-
ment, prepared to attack the intruders; when the latter, in
an evil hour, called to their aid the Carthaginians, then the
most powerful maritime people of the Mediterranean. Diş-
regarding its allies, this ambitious state began, on its own
account, a system of cruel conquest, penetrating through the
very heart of the country to the Ebro, establishing fortresses
and founding cities, amongst which was the noble city of
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New Carthage, which to this hour retains the name of Car-
tagena. In the year 216 B. C., the fatal siege of the city of
Saguntum, situated in the modern kingdom of Valencia, gave
rise to the memorable wars between Carthage and Rome,
which ended in the destruction of the Carthaginian Common-
wealth, and the supremacy of its relentless rival. In the
meanwhile, the Romans pursued the conquest of the devoted
country to which they had been called as protectors. But
nearly 200 years elapsed before they were able to bring it
under subjection. At length all Spain became a peaceful
province of Rome, receiving in exchange for her independ-
ence a longer exemption from the troubles of war, and a
greater degree of public prosperity, than she has ever again
been permitted to enjoy. Under the wise administration of
Roman laws, Spain soon became the richest, most indus-
trious, and most powerful, of all the dependent nations of
the empire. It was during the period of Roman dominion,
continued for more than 450 years, that this country became
distinguished for her commerce, her agriculture, and her
other arts. Some of her cities were reckoned amongst the
most opulent of the ancient world; and aqueducts, bridges,
and ways of communication, now in ruins, attest a degree of
civilization and refinement to which, except under the partial
dominion of the Caliphs, she never again reached.
The Roman writers, in their casual notices of the produc-
tions of this important province, speak of its wool as being
greatly esteemed for its fineness. It is described as being
black. Pliny the younger informs us that the finest wool, of
a black colour, was brought from Turditania; and Strabo,
who wrote in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, says, that wool,
suited for the finer garments of the Romans, was brought
from the same country. Pliny, while he mentions the fine
wool of Turditania, states, that yet superior to it was the red
wool of Boetica, that is, of the countries of the Boetis, now
the Guadalquiver, forming the modern Andalusia, and part
of Estremadura. The red wool of Boetica still remains, and
3
THE SHEEP.
1
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THE MERINO BREED.
129
is probably the same as that distinguished by the ancients
under the name Milesian, brought from Asia. It is stated
by Martialis, himself a native of Spain, to be of the colour of
wine. It is long and very soft, differing entirely from the
wool of Spain, now so celebrated, termed Merino.
The Roman power in Spain terminated in the year of our
Lord 456, and was supplanted by that of the Northern Bar-
barians. In the year 409, the Vandals, Suevi, and Allani,
having forced the passes of the Pyrenees, carried rapine and
desolation throughout the tranquil and happy land. The
Roman legions, few in number, and fallen off in discipline,
and the inhabitants become unwarlike from disuse of arms,
were unable to make head against these cruel enemies, who
did not, however, long enjoy their bloody triumphs. A nation
of Goths, who had become the allies of the sinking empire,
drew their swords for the recovery of Spain, and, after a
series of murderous conflicts, succeeded in restoring it nomi-
nally to its ancient masters. The Goths were worsted in
their turn; but at length their king Theodoric, by one deci-
sive battle, established a Gothic monarchy in Spain, an event
which introduced the feudal system in its rigour, shook the
whole framework of society, and has influenced the fortunes,
character, and institutions, of the Spanish people up to the
times in which we live. The term Hidalgo, or son of a Goth,
became a title of distinction, and those privileged classes
were established which have been the bane of the country
ever since. During the long dominion of these Gothic princes,
upwards of 250 years, civil and religious wars desolated the
country; and nothing can be recorded favourable to industry
and the arts except that, towards the termination of this pe-
riod, the enslaved country began again to enjoy something
like repose.
The Gothic dominion was doomed in its turn to a terrible
overthrow. In the year 712, the Arabs, then termed Sara-
cens, having overrun the whole of Mauritania except the
little fortress of Ceuta, landed a tumultuary army on the
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shores of Andalusia, and in one great battle, fought at Xeres,
decided the fate of Spain. They defeated the Christian army
of a hundred thousand men, and, pursuing their victory, re-
duced, in an incredibly short space of time, nearly all Spain
to the dominion of the Caliphs, leaving the vanquished in
possession of their laws and religion, under payment of the
tribute prescribed by the stern tenets of the Koran. A
remnant of the Goths, under their leader Pelagius, retired to
the mountains of the Asturias, whence they were afterwards
able to roll back the tide of conquest on the invaders of their
country.
The Moors, as the mixed races of Arabian and African
conquerors were termed by the Spaniards, brought with them
the arts of the East to their new country, and cultivated
them with success during their long dominion. Although
their possessions were at length divided into separate states,
often at war with one another, and almost always with the
Christians in contact with them, they brought the subject
country to a high degree of prosperity and civilization. No
people ever underwent so sudden a change of character and
habits as the wild and fiery Arabs in the delicious country
which they had rendered their own. They cultivated agri-
culture, and brought the art of irrigation especially, to great
perfection. They were skilled in the useful mechanical arts,
and established looms, forges, glass-houses, dye-works, and
manufactures of silk, cotton, paper, leather, and the like, in
all their principal cities. They even cultivated letters and
the fine arts, when all the rest of Europe was sunk in dark-
Their aqueducts, bridges, mosques, and other edifices,
remain to this hour the monuments of a taste, industry, and
skill, which their successors have never been able to equal.
But that of all their arts which the most interests us with
relation to our present subject, is their woollen manufacture.
They fabricated cloths and carpets, with serges, and the other
lighter tissues suited to the warmer countries. In the city
of Seville alone were many thousand looms constantly at
ness.
THE SHEEP.
7
THE MERINO BREED.
131
work, and others of their cities were scarcely less distinguished
for the same class of manufactures. The woollen tissues of
Spain were then the finest in the world, and not only sup-
plied the demands of luxury at home, but were carried to
other parts of Europe, to Africa, and all the countries of the
Levant.
But the splendid dominion of the Moors in Spain had early
begun to be circumscribed by warlike enemies, and at length,
in the course of ages, passed away. The Christians, under
their Gothic leaders, emerging from their northern fast-
nesses, wrested back, by slow degrees, kingdom after king-
dom; and, after the lapse of 780 years of heroic struggles,
unexampled in the history of mankind, Granada alone re-
mained to the Moslem conquerors of all their rich dominions.
This, too, fell after a gallant defence; the inhabitants being
left, by treaty, in possession of their property and the exercise
of their religion. The fall of Granada took place in 1492, by
which time all the separate kingdoms of Spain had been
united, by conquest or inheritance, in the persons of Ferdi-
nand and Isabella, so that Spain once more became a king-
dom; and the discovery of the New World, with its bound-
less treasures, seemed to render it at once the most powerful
in Europe.
But the seeds of decay had been sown along with the Chris-
tian triumphs. As one kingdom after another was wrested
from the Moors, they were partitioned among the great seig-
niors, and the system of feudal vassalage was established in
its worst form. The powers conferred on these warlike feuda-
tories were alike in opposition to the rights of the people, and
the prerogatives of the executive power. The laws were dis-
regarded by subjects so powerful, and tumults and conflicting
jurisdictions destroyed the peace of the country. Religious
intolerance, and the usurpations of priestly authority, aggra-
vated the civil disorders; and triumphs, which should have
been hailed as the harbingers of peace, did nothing to pro-
mote the industry and happiness of the country. Ferdinand
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and Isabella, wise and sagacious as their general administra-
tion was, were embued with all the bigotry of the age in
which they lived. They established the Inquisition, one of
the most savage institutions which has arisen since the dark
ages. This junta of sanguinary priests directed their ven-
geance against the Jews, in whose hands was the principal
part of the internal traffic of the country. It has been com-
puted, that, within four years after the establishment of that
tribunal, six thousand of these unfortunate persons were pub-
licly burned, and that a hundred thousand suffered every
cruelty short of death. But it was against the Moors, who,
in the days of their prosperity, had shewn so noble a for-
bearance, that the rage of these merciless ruffians was espe-
cially directed. No sooner had Granada fallen, than this
unhappy race was doomed to all the cruelty and indignity
which savage minds could devise; and by degrees all the be-
nefits of their industry were lost to the country which they
had enriched. Such was the state of Spain when Charles V.
succeeded to the fairest dominions that ever European prince
had possessed. The history of his ambitious life is known
to all the world. With the glory of his magnificent reign,
the decay of Spanish power proceeded with silent steps. At
the age of fifty-six, amidst the germs of future wars, he re-
signed his crown to his son Philip, who, though not destitute
of talents, never arrived at the reputation of his father. This
cruel Prince was defeated in almost all his schemes of selfish
ambition; and the treasures of America, so far from adding
to the wealth of his country, destroyed its prosperity, by
withdrawing the attention of the inhabitants from those arts
which could give it true riches. The persecution of the
Moors was continued by him with increasing atrocity. The
fires of the Holy Inquisition continued to burn by his com-
mand. The resistance which this provoked in the victims,
was the signal for further butcheries; and, in the reign of
his successor Philip III., the ruin of the industry of the
country was completed by the expulsion of the remnant of the
THE SHEEP.
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133
devoted race. Those that survived had conformed to the
observances of the Christian faith; but they were now to be
driven away like felons from the land. The pretence was,
that, though Christians in appearance, they were Mahomme-
dans in their hearts. Thirty days were allowed these vic-
tims, above six hundred thousand in number, to prepare for
their departure; after which it was death for any one to re-
main. Spain thus lost, by acts of imbecility and tyranny,
the most industrious of her population. The effects of this
loss she never recovered; but, exhausted by wars, emigra-
tion, and imposts, sank into a state of languor and impo-
tence, which rendered fruitless the blessings that Nature had
left her. The flocks of her mountains remained, but the in-
dustry that gave them value was taken away. In place of
the beautiful fabrics which the arts of her people produced,
it is the raw produce only which is now exported, and that in
diminishing quantity from year to year.
The Spanish Sheep, it has been said, consist of two general
classes, comprehending' (1.) those which produce long wool,
and which are generally the inhabitants of the more culti-
vated countries; and (2.) those which produce short and
felting wool, and which are chiefly found on the mountains,
elevated plains, and downs. Of the latter varieties of Sheep,
greatly the most numerous and valuable are termed Merino,
a word of doubtful origin, but derived from the adjective
Merino, applied by the Spaniards to sheep moving from pas-
ture to pasture; whence, too, the word Merino, signifying a
judge of the sheep-walks, and Merinadad, denoting the juris-
diction of the judge. Numerous conjectures have been formed
regarding the origin of this race of Sheep, so distinct from
any other indigenous to Europe. It cannot, however, now
be known from what beginning, or by what progressive steps,
this remarkable race has acquired its distinctive properties.
Spain appears to have been distinguished, in every known
age, for the fineness of the wool of its Sheep, which we may
reasonably believe to be due to the climate, herbage, and
THE MERINO BREED.
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134
other physical circumstances of the country in which the ani-
mals are naturalized. It is, however, a reasonable supposi-
tion, that the Merino race, which produces not only a fine,
but a remarkably oily and felting wool, has been formed by
some mixture of other races with the Sheep indigenous to
the country. It has been supposed by some that it is derived
from the Oves Molles, or fine-woolled Sheep of ancient Italy;
but the evidence upon which this opinion rests cannot be re-
garded as satisfactory. Columella, a native of the South of
Spain, informs us, that his uncle, of the same name, intro-
duced some of the fine-woolled Sheep of Italy into his Spanish
farm; but he likewise informs us, that he procured some
African rams, which had been brought to be exhibited at the
public shows at Rome. How far these crosses affected the
native breeds cannot be known; but the facts may lead, per-
haps, to the conclusion, that the wool of Spain, although dis-
tinguished for its fineness, had not attained the perfection at
which it afterwards arrived. There is great probability that
the Sheep of Northern Africa were mingled in blood with
those of Spain during the long period of Moorish dominion.
We have no accounts, indeed, of the importation of African
Sheep by the Moors; but if Sheep existed in Africa capable
of yielding wool suited to the manufacture of the finer cloths
and tissues, it is certain the Moors would obtain them; and
we learn from the chronicles of the Spanish writers, that one
at least of their own princes resorted to Africa for Sheep;
and the illustrious Cardinal Ximenes, who governed the
country during the minority of Charles V., is distinctly re-
ported to have brought Sheep from Africa to improve the
Spanish wool. It has been said, indeed, that we know of no
race of African Sheep that produces wool resembling the
Merino. Even if this were so, it would not invalidate the
reasonable conclusions that may be drawn. The wool of
the Sheep of Africa, like that of other warm countries, iş
mixed with hairs; but underneath these hairs is a short and
downy fleece, and it is easy to suppose that, on such Sheep
THE SHEEP.
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THE MERINO BRRED.
135
being transported to a colder country, the woolly portion
would be more developed, so as to afford a covering to the
animal; but, in truth, it is known, that exceedingly fine wool
is found in the north of Africa, though the races of Sheep
that produce it have not been discriminated by travellers,
and that there is a remarkable tendency in the Sheep of
Africa to produce that copious oily secretion of the skin which
distinguishes the Merino race from any other in Europe.
The fine woollen fabrics of the Barbary States are known
over all the countries of the Levant, and are one of the few
manufactured productions which these long-desolated coun-
tries export. It has been the opinion of many, that the
Merino Sheep of Spain have been derived from England.
Stow, in his Chronicles, informs that "this yere" (namely,
1464), "King Edward IV. gave a license to pass over cer-
tain Cotteswolde Sheep into Spain;" and Baker says,
King Edward IV. enters into a league with John King of
Arragon, to whom he sent over a score of Costal ewes and
four rams, a small present in show, but great in the event,
for it proved of more benefit to Spain, and more detrimental
to England, than could at first have been imagined." From
this slender incident it were idle to infer that the modern
Merino owes its origin to the Sheep of England, though cer-
tainly the resemblance of the Dorset breed of England, and
particularly of the variety termed the Pink-nosed Somerset,
would seem to be sufficiently striking to give some counte-
nance to the supposition. But the successor of King John
of Arragon was Ferdinand, who married Isabella of Castile,
and it was the minister of these Sovereigns who resorted to
Africa for Sheep to improve the Spanish wool. Our early
writers, who assign an English derivation to the fine-woolled
Sheep of Spain, were probably ignorant that already Spain
was in possession of the best wool, and manufactured the
finest woollen fabrics, in Europe. Upon the whole, although
authentic documents on the subject are wanting, there is a
presumption that the Sheep of Africa were employed to per-
""
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136
fect the Sheep of Spain, with respect to the production of
wool. The Merinos exhibit certain characters, which seem
to shew them to have been derived from some country warmer
than that in which they were naturalized, and it was during
the dominion of the African possessors of the country, that
the wool of Spain arrived at its greatest excellence.
The Spanish Merino Sheep are of small size. The skin is
of a reddish fleshy colour, and the wool is white, although
black or dun sometimes appears on the legs, faces, and ears.
The forehead is covered with a tuft of coarse wool, and coarse
wool likewise appears on the cheeks. The males have large
spiral horns; but the females are usually destitute of horns.
Both sexes have a certain looseness of skin under the throat,
which is valued by the Spanish shepherds as indicative of a
productive fleece. The legs are long, the sides are flat, and
the chest is narrow. The fleece is altogether peculiar; it is
close, short, and unctuous, weighing, from these causes, more in
proportion to its bulk than the fleece of any other known race
of Sheep. From its closeness, it feels hard when compressed,
but, on examination, the filaments are seen to be of extreme
tenuity, and no wool has been found comparable to it for the
property of felting. It is not annually renewed, but will con-
tinue to grow for several years.
The Spanish Merino Sheep, when we regard them as ani-
mals to be fattened for human food, are of an inferior class.
Their flesh is of indifferent quality, and they are of tender
constitutions. The females are the worst nurses of any race
of Sheep which inhabit Europe. So great is their defect in
this respect, that in Spain half the lambs are killed in order
that the ewes may be enabled to suckle the remainder, it
being calculated by the Spanish shepherds, that the milk of
two ewes is required to bring up one lamb in a proper man-
ner. Abortions are frequent, parturition is difficult, and the
ewes are more apt to desert their offspring than any other
Sheep which are known to us. In these respects the Me-
rinos resemble the ancient Oves Molles of Italy, which were
THE SHEEP.
}
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137
remarkable for the delicacy of their constitution, their vora-
city, unthriftiness, and inferior power of secreting milk. The
same causes, it would appear, have produced the same effects.
Attention having been mainly directed in both cases to the
production of wool, the other properties were disregarded, of
hardiness and the power of yielding fat and milk.
The Spanish Merinos, although retaining a certain degree
of wildness, are yet very docile in their tempers. No Sheep
place themselves more unreservedly under the guidance of
the shepherds; and, although late in arriving at maturity,
and difficult to be fattened, they are readily satisfied with
dry and innutritious pastures. When put amongst other
Sheep, they keep together, generally on the higher grounds.
At night they form themselves into a circle, the rams and
stronger sheep being on the outside, retaining thus the in-
stincts which they had acquired in their native habitation.
They are incapable of bearing the same extremes of cold and
wetness as the hardy Mountain Sheep of Northern Europe;
and yet they do not seem to be peculiarly affected by changes
of temperature, which, doubtless, their dense fleece enables
them to resist.
THE MERINO BREED.
The Spaniards, who by degrees subdued the Moorish king-
doms, neglected tillage, and attended chiefly to their flocks
and herds; and then it was that those immense sheep-walks
seem to have been formed, which cover so great a part of the
country. Writers of the middle ages speak of the large flocks
possessed by individuals, amounting to thirty or forty thou-
sand each. Whether it was found that the continued heat
of the southern parts of Spain was less favourable to the fine-
ness of the fleece, or whether convenience or necessity led to
a change of pasture during the summer months, a practice
was early established of driving the flocks of sheep to the
cooler countries of the north in summer, and back to the
southern pastures on the approach of winter. These migra-
tory flocks are by some termed Transhumantes; while the
I
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138
sheep that remain in the same district during the year are
termed Estantes, or stationary.
THE SHEEP.
The stationary Sheep consist partly of the larger sheep of
the lower country, partly of mixed races, and partly of pure
Merinos, which do not differ in any respect from the migra-
tory Sheep of that name, except in the method of treatment.
The stationary Merinos are reared where the district or farm
affords them sufficient food during the whole season. They
are most numerous in the central countries, where the pas-
tures are less apt to be scorched by the heats of summer, as .
in Segovia, and the mountain ranges to the north of Madrid.
The migratory Sheep have been reckoned to amount to ten
millions, which is probably equal to half the whole number of
the sheep of Spain. They may be divided into two great
bodies; those which are to pass chiefly into the kingdom of
Leon, and those which are to pass further to the eastward,
to Soria, or even beyond the Ebro. These great hordes of
sheep break up from their winter cantonments south of the
Guadiana, about the 15th of April, and proceed slowly north-
ward. The rams having been admitted to the ewes in the
month of July, the lambs are born in November. In the
course of their journey northward, they are shorn in large
buildings erected for that purpose. The western or Leonese
division, crosses the Tagus at Almaraz. The easterly or
Sorian division, crosses the same river further to the east-
ward at Talavera, and in its course approaches the city of
Madrid. Having reached their destination, they are pas-
tured until the end of September, when they recommence
their journey southward. Each of these journeys, of several
hundred miles in length, occupies about six weeks, so that a
fourth part of the year is consumed in travelling. The older
Sheep, it is said, when April arrives, know the time of sett-
ing off, and are impatient to be gone. In the ten or twelve
latter days, increased vigilance is required on the part of the
shepherds, lest the Sheep should break away. Some of
磐
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139
them do so, and pursue their accustomed route, often reach-
ing their former year's pastures, where they are found when
the main body arrives. But, for the most part, these strag-
glers are carried off by the wolves, which abound along the
course which the migratory flocks pursue.
These migratory Sheep are divided into flocks of a thou-
sand or more, each under the charge of its own Mayoral or
chief shepherd, who has a sufficient number of assistants
under his command. It is his province to direct all the de-
tails of the journey. He goes in advance of the flock; and the
others follow with their dogs to collect the stragglers, and
keep off the wolves, which prowl in the distance, migrating
with the flock. A few mules or asses accompany the caval-
cade, carrying the simple necessaries of the shepherds, and
the materials for forming the nightly folds. In these folds
the Sheep are penned throughout the night, surrounded by
the faithful Dogs, which give notice of the approach of danger.
THE MERINO BREED.
Mode
When the Sheep arrive at the Esquileos, or shearing-
houses, which is in the early part of their journey north-
ward, a sufficient number of shearers are in attendance to
shear a thousand or more in a day. The Esquileos consist
of two large rude rooms, with a low narrow hut adjoining
termed the sweating-house. The Sheep are driven into one
of the large rooms, and such of them as are to be shorn on
the following day are forced into the long narrow hut as
close as they can be packed, where they are kept all the
night. They undergo in this state a great perspiration, the
effect of which is to soften the hard unctuous matter which
has collected on the fleece. They are then shorn without
any previous washing, and the wool is left in the Esquileo,
where it is sorted, and made ready for sale. By this ar-
rangement 1000 Sheep or more are shorn, with the delay of
only a single day.
The Shepherds employed in tending these Sheep are cal-
culated to amount to 50,000, which, supposing there to be
ten millions of Sheep, is at the rate of 200 to each shepherd.
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The number of Dogs is calculated at 30,000. These shep-
herds form a peculiar class of men, strongly attached to
their pursuit, and living in a state of great simplicity. Their
food is chiefly dark bread, oil, and garlick. They eat the
mutton of their Sheep, when they die or meet with accidents.
In travelling they sleep on the ground, wrapping themselves
in their cloaks; and in winter they construct rude huts to
afford shelter. They seldom, it is said, change their calling.
The whole of this extraordinary system is regulated by a
set of laws; and an especial tribunal, termed the Mesta,
exists for the protection of the privileges of the parties hav-
ing the right of way and pasturage. These parties claim
the right of pasturage on all the open and common land that
lies in their way, a path of ninety paces wide through the
enclosed and cultivated country, and various rights and im-
munities connected with the pasturage of the flocks. The
system is opposed to the true interests of Spain. A change
of pasture may be required for the flocks in the drier coun-
tries at certain seasons, but the periodical migration of so
great a body of Sheep cannot be necessary to the extent to
which it takes place. Enormous abuses are committed on
the cultivated country as they pass along. A fourth part of
the year consumed in travelling, must be prejudicial to the
health of the animals in a greater degree than the benefits
they derive from a change of pasturage. A prodigious mor-
tality accordingly takes place amongst these Sheep; and more
than half the lambs, it is said, are voluntarily killed, in order
that the others may be brought to maturity. The sale of the
lamb-skins, which form a subject of export to other countries,
is indeed a source of profit, but nothing equal to what the
rearing of the animals to their state of maturity would pro-
duce. That these extensive migrations are necessary to
preserve the fineness of the wool, is conceived to be an error.
Attention to breeding and rearing would more certainly pro-
duce this effect than a violent change of place. In Spain
itself there are numerous flocks of stationary Merinos, whose
THE SHEEP.
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THE MERINO BREED.
141
wool is of all the fineness required; and in other countries of
Europe, where the Sheep are never moved off the farms that
produce them, wool is produced superior to that of the migra
tory flocks of Spain. But the system is of great antiquity,
and is so riveted in the habits of this ignorant and intractable
people,
that it is likely to be one of the last of those ancient
abuses which will yield to the desire of change, which at this
moment agitates the feelings of men in this distracted country.
The Spaniards long preserved the monopoly of this race
of Sheep with jealous care; but other countries at length
were able to carry off the Golden Fleece of Spain, and the
Merino race is now spread over a great part of Europe. It
has been carried to North America, to the southern extre-
mity of Africa, and to the boundless plains of New Holland,
in all of which places it has been found to retain, with won-
derful constancy, the characters which had been imprinted
on it in its native pastures, and in certain cases to surpass in
useful properties that of the parent stock. The first country,
it is believed, which acquired the pure Merinos, was Sweden.
In 1723, M. Alstroemer, a spirited and patriotic individual,
was enabled to import a small flock of pure Merinos. In
1793, the Swedish Government entered with zeal into the
plan, established an agricultural school under the superin-
tendence of M. Alstroemer, and used every means to extend
the breed. The measures adopted succeeded, to the degree
of diminishing the importation of short wool, and increasing
the manufacture of the finer cloths; and, after the lapse of
more than a century, the stranger race produces wool nearly
as soft and fine as at its first importation. The Sheep are
housed during the six months of winter, and generally during
the nights in summer; and it is by means of this artificial
treatment that the wool preserves its original properties.
The ewes are between two and three years old before they
are suffered to breed, and seven years old before they are
fattened for the butcher. They are far inferior in hardiness
142
to the native races; and, if due attention were paid to the
cultivation of the latter, it may be questioned if they would
not be of superior economical value to the breeders. It is
supposed that there are about 100,000 of the pure and mixed
Merinos in Sweden, reckoned to be about 1-25th part of the
Sheep of the country.
THE SHEEP.
France, although in contact with Spain on the Pyrenees,
did not attempt to acquire the Merino race until some time
before the middle of last century, when the illustrious Col-
bert, pursuing his numerous plans for extending the arts and
commerce of France, brought several Merinos across the
mountains for the purpose of improving the native Sheep.
His plan, though well devised, was opposed by the prejudices
of the people, and entirely failed. But in the year 1786, the
French Government, adopting the same design, imported a
considerable flook of pure Merinos, and established them at
the royal farm of Rambouillet, near Paris, where their de-
scendants yet remain. Every means were used to extend
the breed amongst the agriculturists of France, but with
little comparative success. In 1796 the Directory of the
French Republic took yet more active means to multiply the
breed. By a secret article in the treaty of Bâle, they obtained
power to import from Spain 100 rams and 1000 ewes annu-
ally for five years. The Spanish Government quickly re-
pented of this forced concession, and political events pre-
vented the completion of the scheme, so that, of the stipulated
number, only 2000 rams and ewes reached their destination.
Napoleon resumed the project, and during his reign many
Merinos were brought across the frontiers. In this manner
have been introduced a great number of Merinos into France,
which have either remained pure, or been employed to cross
the native races. But, upon the whole, France has not been
very successful in this branch of husbandry. Although the
climate and soil of France are eminently suited to the pro-
duction of fine wool, the minute division of property in land,
·
143
the small extent of sheep pastures, and the habits of the
peasantry, have not been favourable to any general system
of improvement applied to this race of Sheep.
It is in the German States that the Merino race has been
the most widely diffused, and the most successfully culti-
vated. The Elector of Saxony, on the close of the Seven
Years' War in 1765, obtained from the King of Spain 100
Merino rams and 200 ewes, taken from the best flocks of
Spain. He kept them partly pure on his own farms near
Dresden, and he partly distributed them throughout the
country, for the improvement of the native Saxon Sheep. It
was soon found that the race preserved all its properties,
and was capable, under skilful treatment, and by due selec-
tion of the breeding parents, of surpassing, in the excellence
of the fleece, the stock from which it had been derived. The
most judicious means were employed to extend this branch
of husbandry, by the establishment of schools for the instruc-
tion of shepherds, by the circulation of tracts, and otherwise,
and very soon the wools of Saxony became the finest in
Europe. The Saxon sheep-masters bestow a care in the
selection of the Sheep producing the finest wool, which has
no parallel in any other country. The best are reserved
for propagating the race, and by this means the characters
which indicate the property of producing fine wool, are main-
tained or increased in the progeny. This is an application
of the true principles of breeding; and the care with which
the system is pursued, is the main cause of that unrivalled
excellence to which the fine-woolled Sheep of Saxony have
attained. The Sheep are kept in houses during the winter;
and the general treatment of them, with respect to food, is
adapted to promote the fineness of the fleece, the production
of mutton being regarded as of secondary moment.
Prussia followed Saxony in the same course of improve-
ment. In the year 1768, M. Fink, near Halle, in the Duchy
of Magdeburg, introduced some Saxo-Merino Sheep, and ten
years later several pure Merinos from Spain. His endea-
THE MERINO BREED.
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144
vours to improve the Sheep of the country attracted at length
the notice of the Prussian Government, and, in 1786, Frede-
rick the Great imported direct from Spain 100 rams and 200
ewes of the pure Merino Breed. The greater part of this
imported flock died near Berlin of various maladies; and
those that were sent to distant parts of the country degene-
rated, through the carelessness and want of skill of those to
whom they were entrusted. M. Fink was commissioned to
make a second purchase of 1000 pure Merinos; and agricul-
tural schools were established, under the superintendance of
M. Fink himself, for the instruction of shepherds, and for
disseminating a knowledge of the method of treatment of the
Sheep. These endeavours were successful, to the extent of
improving, by the admixture of blood, the native races, and
shewed that the pure Merinos could be reared in Prussia
without deterioration of the properties of the fleece. The
animals are chiefly fed on hay, straw, and corn; and the
same precautions are used as are necessary in other north-
ern countries for protecting the Sheep from the inclemencies
of the weather. A considerable number of Merinos of pure
and mixed races are now produced in the Prussian States.
The wool of Silesia, in particular, stands in the first rank,
and has been made greatly to surpass that of the finest of
the migratory Sheep of Spain.
Austria early pursued the same course which had been
followed elsewhere. In 1775, the Empress Maria Theresa
imported into Hungary 300 Merinos, and established them
at the imperial farm of Meropail. A school for farmers and
shepherds was established, and printed instructions were
issued, regarding the nature of the wool, and the methods of
treatment to be adopted. Subsequent importations were
made, and now a large proportion of the Sheep of Hungary
are either pure Merinos, or Merinos mixed in blood with the
indigenous races. The enormous estates of the Hungarian
nobles, whatever may be their effect on general industry, are
well adapted to the husbandry of Sheep; and this country
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THE SHEEP.
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145
can now boast of wool equalling in fineness that of the
mountains of Spain. In Bohemia, and almost all the other
Austrian States, Merinos have been introduced, and every-
where have been seen to equal or surpass the parent stock.
In Wurtemberg, Hanover, Bavaria, and other countries of
Germany, the same means have been employed with suc-
cess, to introduce the Merino race. It has been carried to
Denmark and Norway, to Poland and Switzerland, and to the
dominions of Russia, especially on the Black Sea, where a
climate exists calculated to bring every natural production
to excellence. The Merino race has thus been naturalized
over the greater part of Europe, from Scandinavia to the
Crimea; and Spain can never more possess the monopoly of
a production which had descended to her as an inheritance
for so many ages. The experiments shew, that a certain
class of characters having been imprinted on a breed of ani-
mals, these characters can be preserved under very varying
conditions of soil and temperature, by artificial treatment
suited to the ends proposed, and by selecting, for the con-
tinuance of the race, the animals in which the properties
required are sufficiently developed.
The Merino Breed, which had extended to so many coun-
tries of Europe, was at a period more recent introduced into
the British Islands. George III., a zealous and patriotic
agriculturist, resolved to make a trial of this celebrated
breed on his own farms, and means were taken to obtain a
small Merino flock. This was done clandestinely; the ani-
mals were selected from the flocks of different individuals,
where they could best be got; and were driven through Portu-
gal, and embarked at Lisbon. They were safely landed at
Portsmouth, and conducted to the King's farm at Kew.
The flock was bad; the selection had been carelessly or igno-
rantly made; and the animals being taken from different
flocks, presented no uniformity of characters. It was then
resolved to make direct application to the Spanish Govern-
ment for permission to export some Sheep from the best
K
THE MERINO BREED.
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146
flocks. The request was at once complied with; a small
and choice flock was presented to His Majesty by the Mar-
chioness del Campo di Alange of the Negretti flocks, esteemed
to be the most valuable in Spain; and, in return, His Majesty
presented to the Marchioness eight splendid coach-horses.
This flock arrived in England in 1791, and was immediately
transferred to the Royal farms, while all those previously
imported were disposed of or destroyed.
On the first change of these Sheep to the moist and luxu-
riant pastures of England, they suffered greatly from dis-
eases, and, above all, rot, which destroyed numbers of them;
and from foot-rot, which affected them to a grievous extent.
By a little change of pastures, these evils were remedied;
and, after the first season, the survivors became reconciled
to their new situation, and their progeny seemed thoroughly
naturalized, and remained as free from diseases as the Sheep
of the country. The wool was from year to year carefully
examined: that of the original stock remained unaffected by
the change of climate, while, in that of their descendants,
little degeneracy could be detected either in its felting pro-
perties or fineness.
THE SHEEP.
This experiment excited extreme interest throughout the
kingdom. Various individuals endeavoured to cultivate the
pure race, but experiments were mainly directed towards
crossing the native breeds with Merino rams, in the hope of
combining the fineness of the Spanish fleece with the econo-
mical qualities of the English Sheep. With this design, the
Merino rams were made to cross the South Down, the Wilt-
shire, the Leicester, and the Ryeland ewes; and in some
cases the experiment was reversed, and the English rams,
especially of the Ryeland Breed, were put to the Merino
ewes. Many distinguished agriculturists, Mr Coke, after-
wards Earl of Leicester, Sir Joseph Banks, the Duke of Bed-
ford, the late Lord Somerville, and others, prosecuted these
curious and important experiments; and the writings of Dr
Parry and others brought the subject in a prominent manner
before the country.
THE MERINO BREED.
147
In the year 1804, when the sale took place from His Ma-
jesty's stock, many purchasers, the advocates of the Merino
Breed, came forward, and the Sheep were sold at high,
though not at exorbitant, prices; the average price of the
rams being L.19, 14s. a-head, and that of the ewes L.8:15: 6.
In the following autumn, a similar sale took place at advanc-
ing prices. Seventeen rams and twenty-one ewes were sold
for L.1148, 14s., being at the average rate of L.30:4:6.
At succeeding sales, these rates were maintained or increased.
In 1810, thirty-three rams brought L.1920, 9s., or L.38:9: 11
a-head, and seventy ewes, at the average rate of about
L.37, 10s.
In the year 1811, a society was established under the pre-
sidency of the distinguished and indefatigable Sir Joseph
Banks, with the express design of promoting and encourag-
ing the cultivation of the Merino breed. Fifty-four vice-
presidents were named, and local committees established in
almost every district, or county, of England. This Society,
the most influential, from its numbers and the agricultural
skill of its members, that had yet been established in Britain,
pursued their task with spirit and zeal. Amongst other means
adopted for promoting the purposes of this institution, was
the offering of premiums for pure Merinos, or for the crosses
with the native Sheep. Every thing favoured the purposes
of this patriotic band, and in an especial degree the unex-
ampled prosperity of the landed interests of the country, and
the enormous prices of the finest class of wools, produced by
the events of the war.
Public opinion, however, and the practical judgment of
farmers, had, even before this period, been reducing the pre-
tensions of the Merino breed, and the mixed progeny, to the
proper standard, as the subjects of economical culture. It
was found, that however promising were the crosses at first,
the progeny invariably fell short of the expectations formed.
They were small in size, less hardy than the British parents,
and generally of inferior form. So perfectly have time and
experience confirmed these results, that there scarcely exists,
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except in the hands of the curious, a single flock of the mixed
progeny from which so much was anticipated. They have
either been abandoned altogether, or the breeders have gra-
dually recrossed with English blood, until almost all traces
of the Spanish mixture have been lost.
In place, however, of attempts to engraft the Spanish upon
the English stock, other breeders preserved the pure Merinos,
and this experiment was greatly more successful than the
other. The naturalized Merinos have been found to increase
in size, in disposition to fatten, in the power of the females
to yield milk, and, by attention in breeding, to improve in
the external form. The wool becomes longer, and loses some-
what, though not much, of its tenuity, unless, indeed, the
means are taken to secure the animals, as in Saxony, from
cold, the necessary effect of which is to call forth a greater
production of wool for the protection of the animal. The
naturalized Merinos have never acquired the hardiness of the
native races, and would perish at once on the mountains on
which the Welsh, the Cheviot, and the Black-faced Heath-
breeds, are acclimated. Nevertheless, analogy conducts us
to the conclusion, that the Merinos are capable of becoming,
by degrees, adapted to the climate in which they are reared.
The objections to the cultivation of Merinos in the Bri-
tish Islands are not that they cannot be reared, inured to the
cold, and improved in form, with a moderate preservation
of the characters of the wool, but that they do not, as a
breed, equal, in economical importance, those of which we
are already possessed. The wool, indeed, is the most va-
luable and abundant of that of any race of Sheep that we
can rear; but the wool is not the only profitable produce of
Sheep in this country; and it is by a combination of the pro-
duction of mutton and wool, that the interests of the farmer
are best served. The breed is in the country, can be ob-
tained by every one, and has been the subject of trial by the
best farmers; and yet we see it almost everywhere aban-
doned in favour of the native races. Did the British farmer,
like the Saxon, derive his principal profit from the fleece,
THE SHEEP.
149
and little from the carcass, then he might cultivate the pro-
duction of the one in preference to the other; but this is not
the case under the present circumstances of this country, and
the British farmer's interest is therefore different.
He can-
not afford to shut the animals in houses for half the year, for
the purpose of protecting them from the inclemency of the
weather, in order that the wool may be fine; nor to feed
them on hay and corn, in preference to the abundant roots,
herbage, and forage plants, with which the agriculture of the
country enables him to supply his animals.
If individual interest does not admit of the cultivation of
fine wool in preference to abundant mutton, and the adoption
of a breed of inferior hardiness, early maturity, and fatten-
ing powers, so neither does it seem that the national interest
requires it. Spain, and other countries of Europe where the
fleece is more valuable than the carcass, are employed in
producing fine wool, and the extended commercial relations
of England enable her to obtain it, in the quantity which her
manufacturers consume, from all these countries. Even her
own colonies are now enabled to supply it in increasing
abundance. Is it not better, then, that we should trust to
commerce for the supplies of a commodity which can be
raised more cheaply than at home, and devote our Sheep
especially to the production of that food with which no other
country can supply us, contenting ourselves with a kind of
wool which, though less fine than that produced elsewhere,
is all required and consumed by the manufactures of the
country?
THE MERINO BREED.
The most distinguished breeders of Merinos at this time
in England are Lord Western and Mr Benett, M. P. for
Wiltshire. Lord Western's stock is either Saxon, or has
been crossed by Saxon rams; Mr Benett's is pure Spanish,
and has undergone progressive improvement, by selection
of individuals of the same blood. The number of his flock
amounted at one time to 7000; but it was subsequently reduced
to 3500. It was treated in the ordinary manner of Sheep in
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150
this country. Lord Western's, it is believed, is managed
more in the Saxon manner, with respect to protection from
the weather. Mr Benett's fine flock, notwithstanding that it
had been thus acclimated, perished in great numbers in a
severe winter some years ago, proving that the race had not
yet lived sufficiently long in England to be perfectly inured to
its cold and variable climate. Other gentlemen have imported
Merinos direct from Saxony, and thus obtained at once the
highest perfection of the fleece; but there is little reason to
believe that their experiments will be more successful than
those that had been previously made. Merinos have been
lately carried in some numbers to Ireland, and may perhaps
prove more advantageous than some of the existing breeds;
but this will not shew the great value of the Merinos, but
the comparatively little value of the races which they have
supplanted.
THE SHEEP.
The Merino breed of Sheep has likewise been carried to a
different region of the globe, and been subjected to a new set
of external agents. The great insular continent of New Hol-
land, presenting characters, in its vegetable and animal pro-
ductions, which distinguish it from all other countries, has
now received this important race, which has been found to
adapt itself with the utmost facility to its new condition.
The first European settlement in this remarkable country
was made in the year 1788, when a party of English crimi-
nals was landed in Botany Bay. To supply the early colo-
nists with wool and mutton, and establish a permanent flock
for their future maintenance, Sheep were imported from
Bengal. These were the small hairy animals found in that
part of India. It was soon discovered that these miserable
Sheep improved in their useful properties by the change of
climate and food. They became prolific, the hair diminished
in quantity, and a fleece of soft wool, though not of great
fineness, succeeded. This simple experiment added to the
many proofs before existing of the all-pervading influence of
external circumstances over the form and characters of ani-
THE MERINO BREED.
151
mals. The importation of Bengal Sheep was soon after
followed by that of superior races from the mother country.
Individuals of the Leicester and South Down breeds were by
degrees imported, affording the kinds which were wanted by
the infant colony, namely, animals that should supply food
rather than wool. This experiment was entirely successful,
and the intermixture of the new Sheep enlarged the size, and
increased the economical value, of the original race. The
wool even of these crosses, notwithstanding of the most
slovenly treatment on the part of their owners, was found
equal or superior to the finest produced in the mother country;
and in twelve years from the first landing of the settlers, the
Sheep of the colony had increased to upwards of 6000. The
result of these trials, and the growing prosperity of the
settlement, produced a desire on the part of the wealthier
colonists to try the fine-woolled Sheep of Spain, which had
been introduced into the British Islands. A few of this race
were obtained from England, and the result, like all the pre-
vious experiments, proved the admirable adaptation of the
country to the rearing of Sheep, and in an especial degree to
the production of a fine and soft wool. After a few crosses
with the existing race, the wool produced was found to be
nearly equal to that of the pure Merinos of Spain; and when
the original race was preserved without intermixture, the
wool became more fine and soft than that of the same race
in their native pastures. Merinos were now imported direct
from Saxony, and this experiment likewise was successful.
When the breed was preserved pure, the wool preserved its
essential properties, with that increase of flexibility and soft-
ness which is the distinctive character of the Australian wools.
Some of the wool of these Saxon Sheep, when it had been
properly cleaned and attended to, brought the highest price
of any other in the English market, and led to the belief, that
these rising colonies were destined to supply the manufac-
tures of England with wool superior to that of any other
country. These expectations were formed chiefly in con-
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THE SHEEP.
sequence of the peculiar softness of these new wools, which
fitted them to amalgamate admirably with the harsher wools
of the country in certain manufactures. But although the
best of the Australian wools still sustain a high character,
they are not found to equal the Saxon, in fineness, and that
peculiar property which fits them for the manufacture of
cloth. This is indeed the consequence of the different con-
ditions of the two countries. In Saxony labour is cheap, and
an attention can be devoted to the improvement of the Sheep
and their wool, which is impracticable in a thinly peopled
country, where the want of labourers cannot be supplied at
any price. Under such circumstances, there must be a rude-
ness of management inconsistent with the minute attention
necessary to preserve and increase to the uttermost the valu-
able properties of the fleece. The matter of surprise is not,
that, under such circumstances, the Australian production
should be inferior to the Saxon, but that it should so nearly
equal it.
The island of Van Diemen's Land, situated to the south
of New Holland, between the latitudes of nearly 41° and 44°
south, enjoying a cooler temperature, and being more exempt
from the severe droughts of the sister country, was settled
by two ships which had proceeded from England with con-
victs. The first destination of these persons was Port Philip,
which they reached in the autumn of 1805; but it being con-
ceived that obstacles existed to the establishment of a per-
manent settlement at that port, they were carried to the river
Derwent, where, soon after, Hobart Town, the capital of the
new colony, was founded. Sheep of the defective Indian
breed were soon afterwards introduced into the colony; but
it was not until the year 1820, that the cultivation of fine-
woolled Sheep was fully established. A flock of 300 Merino
lambs was imported from Sydney; but, in consequence of a
distemper which broke out amongst them previous to sailing,
only 181 arrived at their destination in September 1820.
These were distributed amongst the colonists about Hobart
THE MERINO BREED.
153
Town; and, some years later, pure Merinos were imported
from Saxony. Thus the basis of a fine-woolled breed of
Sheep has been laid in this interesting island, although as
yet the wool produced has not equalled in value that of the
sister colony.
The progressive increase in the numbers of sheep in these
noble possessions is without example. In the year 1810, only
167 lb. of wool were imported into England from the colony
of New South Wales. In 1820, the quantity had increased to
99,418 lb.; in 1830, to 973,336 lb.: in 1832, the quantity
brought from both colonies was 3,516,869 lb.; in 1838,
8,067,243 lb.; and since this period the importation has been
proceeding in a constantly increasing ratio.. Other settle-
ments have been established on the coasts of New Holland,
at Swan River, at Port Philip, and elsewhere; and more re-
cently the tide of emigration has flowed into the lovely islands
of New Zealand, which, however, being covered with dense
forests, are less suited to the multiplication of sheep than the
vast plains of New Holland. Thus, in regions almost un-
known to the civilized world until within the memory of the
living generation, are to be found the means of supplying the
woollen manufactures of England with the raw material in
boundless quantity; and it is gratifying to humanity to think
that the foundations of this great storehouse of public wealth
have been laid, not on violence and bloodshed, but on agricul-
tural prosperity, and the improvement of the fleece.
The attention of the Australian colonists has been natu-
rally directed to the cultivation of fine wool; but it is evident
that there are limits to the profits to be derived from this
commodity, both from the increasing production of the coun-
try, and from the rivalship of the districts of Europe where
the Merino wool is cultivated. It is a question, therefore,
whether the colonists should not now direct attention to the
long or combing wools as well as to the short or felting. It
is probable that the long wools of England would acquire, in
these favoured climes, the very properties which would benefit
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them the most, and that the heavier fleeces of the Leicester,
the Cotswold, and the Old Lincoln Sheep, would yield a larger
profit to the wool-grower than even the higher priced Merino.
But the two classes of Sheep should be kept entirely distinct.
The Merino breed should be selected and cultivated with all
the care which the state of the country will allow. Merinos
of the pure race may be obtained in England; but in num-
bers too small to supply any considerable demand. They
would be more conveniently procured from Saxony, proper
precautions being employed in making the selection from
flocks of established reputation. The best period for exa-
mining the flocks is the month of January, or even February.
The cheapest mode of getting an improved stock is to pur-
chase the refuse or cast ewes; but the proper mode to insure
the obtaining of them of the best sorts is to make a selection
out of the good flocks of the country. Unless, however, the
purchaser is a very good judge of the quality of the wool, he
will require an assistant in the country, who, for a fixed
amount per head, will make the selection; and it will be
proper for those who are to make considerable purchases to
send a trusty person to the country. The price for refuse
ewes is from four to eight dollars, at 3s. per dollar; of se-
lected ewes, from ten to twenty dollars, and of rams, from
L.3 to L.20. Some remarkably fine rams even bring prices
so high as from L.50 to L.200; but this great expense can
never be required, except in the case of individuals who al-
ready possess highly improved flocks, which they are desirous
of bringing to the greatest degree of perfection. In the case
of Australian settlers, it would be well for a number to com-
bine and purchase a considerable number at once, as from
1000 to 2000 ewes, with a corresponding number of rams.
The best mode of proceeding would be, to collect the Sheep
at Riesa on the Elbe, and ship them to Hamburg, a separate
boat being hired for the purpose. Shipments might also be
made from Dresden. The precautions to be used in making
these purchases are, to deal only with persons of known cha-
-
THE SHEEP.
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155
racter, and, as has been said, to obtain an assistant in the.
country to select the Sheep, and to send a trusty servant to
take charge of them. The expense of purchasing and trans-
porting the Sheep to England is not considerable; and when
we consider the immense national importance of conveying
to our Australian possessions the best of the race that can be
obtained, it is to be trusted that the colonists will find it for
their interest to resort to countries where the animals can
be obtained in the greatest purity and perfection.
THE RYELAND BREED.
XV. THE RYELAND BREED.
In the tract of country lying westward of the Severn, and
bounded by the mountains of Wales, there has in every
known period existed a race of Sheep, of small size, destitute
of horns, and noted for the softness and fineness of their
wool. The part of England where this breed was long the
most diffused and cultivated was the county of Hereford, a
tract of the old red sandstone formation, stretching from the
confines of Wales to near the Severn. But the breed ex-
tended into Monmouthshire on the south, into Shropshire on
the north, and into Gloucestershire and Warwickshire on the
east, occupying many forests, commons, and wastes. The
variety reared in the county of Hereford was generally termed
the Hereford Breed. Sometimes it was characterized by the
names of the places in which it was found in the greatest
numbers or perfection. It was sometimes termed the Archen-
field Breed, and sometimes the Ross Breed, from the south-
eastern district of the county lying between the Forest of
Dean and the Malvern Hills. But it became at length more
generally known by the name of the Ryeland Breed, from
certain sandy tracts formerly devoted to the production of
rye, situated southward of the river Wye.
We have no historical record of the derivation of this
breed from any other country, and may therefore assume
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156
that it had been indigenous beyond all memorial to the dis-
tricts which it inhabited. It may not unreasonably be in-
ferred to be a variety of that widely-diffused race of soft-
woolled Sheep which formerly extended from the mountains
and islands of Scotland to the mountains of Wales, and
which was probably in possession of the earliest Celtic in-
habitants of the British islands. From its diminutive size,
its patience of scanty food, and the lightness of its fleece, we
may conclude that it was the native of countries of a low
degree of fertility, probably of districts of forest, which, until
cleared of their wood, are always unproductive with respect
to the nutritive grasses. The county of Hereford, it is to be
observed, though now rendered rich and beautiful by art,
was formerly covered with woods, and interspersed with ex-
tensive commons and chases, which long remained waste and
barren. We are not therefore to conclude, that, because the
country is now fertilized, it was not formerly suited to the
maintenance of a race of small Sheep. The nature of the
wool of this breed, too, which was noted beyond any other
for its fineness, caused the breed to be preserved unmixed,
and with nearly its pristine characters, long after the county
of Hereford had become capable of supporting larger ani-
mals.
THE SHEEP.
The wool of the Ryeland breed was long regarded as the
finest that the British islands produced. The ancient city
of Leominster, being surrounded by a country producing
this kind of wool, and being the market-town to which it was
brought for sale, gave name to the wool of the country, which
was termed Lemster Wool, or Lemster Ore. Drayton, who
wrote in the reign of Henry VIII., when comparing the wool
of the Cotteswold Hills with the lighter fleeces of Lemster,
bears testimony to the superior fineness of the latter. Cam-
den, describing the town of Leominster, "which," says he,
CC
was also called Leon Minster, and Lyon's Monastery, of a
Lyon that appeared to a religious man in a vision," says,
“ The greatest name and fame is of the wool in the territories
I
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157
round about it (Lemster Ore they call it), which, setting aside
that of Apulia and Tarentum, all Europe counteth to be the
verie best."
THE RYELAND BREED.
A method of treating the Sheep of this part of England,
calculated to preserve and increase the fineness of the wool,
existed until a recent period. The animals were kept during
the night in large houses termed Cots, capable of containing
from 100 to 500 Sheep. This practice was probably adopted
in early times, for the purpose of protecting the animals
from the wolves which greatly abounded in the forests of the
western counties. It may be supposed to have been continued
afterwards by habit; but experience would shew that it was
eminently calculated to preserve and increase that fineness
of the wool for which the breed was distinguished. The
animals in these cots were sparingly fed with pease-straw
and other dry forage, a system eminently favourable to the
production of a short and delicate fleece.
The modern Ryelands, where they yet exist, retain the
diminutive size of their progenitors. Their form is compact,
and their mutton is juicy and delicate. They are gentle and
well formed; and they are patient in a remarkable degree
of scanty fare. Both sexes are destitute of horns. The
colour of the whole fleece is white, and the wool extends
forward to the face, forming a tuft on the forehead. This
wool is yet the finest produced in England. It is not, how-
ever, equal in this respect to that of the Spanish Merino,
nor so well suited, by its felting properties, for the purposes
of the clothier, on which account, since the extensive intro-
duction of the fine wools of Spain and Germany, its relative
value has greatly declined. Further, the Sheep are of small
size, and inferior in economical value to the races which the
country is capable of maintaining. Hence, the inducement
to cultivate the breed has been constantly diminishing, so
that it has now almost ceased to exist in a state of purity.
The smallness of the size of the Ryelands led to innumer-
able experiments in crossing, with the design of increasing
!
158
the weight of the animals, and in the hope of maintaining
the fineness of the wool. The experiments failed, as might
have been anticipated, with respect to the preservation of
the quality of the wool, but succeeded in increasing the size
of the progeny. But the system of crossing, which excited
the greatest attention, and from which the most favourable
results were anticipated, was with the Spanish Merino, soon
after the introduction of that celebrated breed into England.
Strenuous exertions were used by individuals and public
associations to introduce the Spanish blood, and sanguine
calculations were made of the benefits likely to result to the
woollen manufactures of the country. Time and experience
have proved the fallacy of all these hopes, and left to agri-
culturists an instructive lesson on the principles of breeding.
The first crosses promised well; but, in breeding from the
mixed progeny, it was found that, while the wool had become
inferior to that of the Spanish stock, the hardy qualities, the
goodness of form, and the aptitute to fatten, of the English
breed, were impaired. The crosses became remarkably di-
minutive; and the whole labour of the experiments was found
to have been thrown away. It was assumed that the Spanish
Merino and the English Ryeland' were the same race. A
better knowledge of either would have shown that the two
races were remarkably distinct in their characters; and that,
if any of the English breeds were suited to this kind of
crossing, it was the Dorset and Pink-nosed Somerset, and
not the diminutive Ryeland. This species of crossing has
been long in disuse, but numbers of the flocks in Hereford-
shire and the adjoining counties still exhibit traces of the
Spanish mixture.
Some breeders endeavoured to improve the native race by
selection of individuals and superior feeding. The breed,
however, was naturally diminutive, and numerous genera-
tions of Sheep must have passed away before this radical
character of the race could have been changed. The system,
therefore, was resorted to, of effecting the end by crossing
THE SHEEP.
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THE RYELAND BREED.
159
with larger animals, as the Southdowns, the Leicesters, and
the Cotswolds. It was found, however, that scarce any of
our races of Sheep was with more difficulty amalgamated
with others than the ancient Ryeland; and a vast number of
worthless Sheep were long produced in Herefordshire by
these crosses. A better course was found to be, to substitute
at once the stranger stock which it was proposed to culti-
vate. Numbers accordingly, chiefly Leicesters and Cotswolds,
are now reared in the country, and the Ryeland breed is
diminishing from year to year. The last great cultivator of
the Ryeland Breed was Mr Tomkins of Kingspion, the dis-
tinguished improver of the modern breed of Hereford cattle.
Mr Tomkins persevered in keeping up the breed of his native
county. He succeeded in communicating to it greater
symmetry of form, but he did not succeed in enlarging the
size to the degree of rendering it of equal economical value
with the races by which it has been supplanted.
All the minor varieties of this once celebrated breed have
partaken more or less of change. One variety, greatly dis-
tinguished, inhabited the Forest of Dean, a tract of the coal-
formation lying between the Severn and Wye. This tract
was formerly covered with one of the densest forests in
England," So dark and terrible," says Camden, "by reason
of crooked and winding waies, as also the grisly shade thereof,
that it made the inhabitants more fierce, and boulder to com-
mit robberies." By the discovery of mines in this forest, the
woods were gradually thinned, and at last nearly extirpated;
and it then continued to be occupied by a kind of Sheep,
which, until our own times, were held in the greatest esti-
mation for the fineness of their wool. The Dean Forest
breed has now disappeared in the pure state, having merged
in the crosses of all kinds that have been made with it. A
similar variety occupied the Malvern Hills on the confines of
Worcestershire; but here the flocks have likewise become
a mixture of various races. In Shropshire were several
varieties of the same hornless sheep, inhabiting the different
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160
The Chum Forest breed had wool
forests and commons.
weighing from 2 lb. to 3 lb. the fleece; and the Shawberry
breed, sometimes called the Tadpole, from its diminutive
size, had wool of extraordinary tenuity and softness. The
mere remnants of these and other varieties are now only to
be found; the admixture of the races of the lower country,
or of the mountain breeds of Wales, having nearly obliterated
the former distinctions.
THE SHEEP.
Thus, the finest-woolled Sheep of the British Islands may
be said to be extinct as a breed. Their former value, arising
from the adaptation of their wool to the manufacture of
native cloth, has been lost. Commerce now supplies us with
wool more adapted to the purposes of the clothier; and other
native races afford a material better suited, by the length
and strength of its filaments, to the class of manufactures in
which the combing wools are employed. These longer-
woolled Sheep are likewise fitted to yield a larger return to
the breeder who has artificial food at command; and hence
the disappearance of the fine-woolled Sheep of the western
counties, is merely the result of the better cultivation of the
country, and of changes in the channels of commerce and
manufacturing industry.
XVI. THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.
Of the breeds of Short-woolled Sheep which formerly in-
habited the mountains, downs, forests, and less fertile dis-
tricts of the country, some, it has been seen, were distin-
guished by being of small size, by being mostly destitute of
horns, and by having the legs and faces white; and to this
class is to be referred the beautiful little breed of Hereford-
shire, and other districts west of the Severn, already men-
tioned. But another class of breeds, still more diffused, is
distinguished by the individuals having the legs and faces of
a dark colour, and, in most cases, by the presence of horns
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THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.
161
in both sexes. Under this class is comprehended the Black-
faced Heath Breed, which, it has been seen, inhabits the cen-
tral chain of bleak mountains which, stretch from the borders
of Scotland southwards. This breed has large spiral horns,
has the face and limbs covered with black hair, and has a
moderately short, yet harsh and shaggy fleece. But these
characters, proper to the race in the more elevated moun-
tains which it inhabits, yield to the influence of external
agents, so that, as we recede from the wilder country, a
change appears in the form and aspect of the animals, and in
the properties of the wool. Westward of the central moun-
tains, in the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland,
the wool becomes more soft, and the form of the animals less
robust. In the Yorkshire Wolds, to which the same race
formerly extended, there was an equal deviation from the
parent type; and still more in the commons and forests of
Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and other inland counties. As we
approach to the confines of Wales, the Black-faced breeds
approximate more to the characters of the Sheep of the
higher Welsh mountains, the wool becoming more soft. Ap-
proaching to the Welsh type are the Delamere Forest Breed
in the county of Cheshire, and the Morfe Common Breed in
the county of Shropshire. The latter inhabited a country of
limited extent near Bridgenorth, on the Severn; and, until
our own times, was noted for the fineness of its wool. A
similar race extended southward through Herefordshire,
which, from the delicacy and softness of its wool, was reck-
oned little inferior to the Ryeland itself. Turning to the
great chalk districts of England, occupying the south-eastern
parts of the island, there were likewise numerous varieties
of Short-woolled Sheep, in some of which the horns, and even
the dark colour of the face and limbs, disappeared. In this
class are the Old Norfolk, still inhabiting the heaths of Nor-
folk and Cambridge, the Old Wiltshire, the Old Berkshire, the
Hampshire, and numerous minor varieties, which formerly
possessed the various commons, and heaths of this part of
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162
THE SHEEP.
England. But, of all these varieties, now the most import-
ant and generally diffused, is that which inhabits the range
of chalky hills of Sussex, commonly termed the South Downs.
The South Downs of Sussex consist of a range of low
chalky hills, of five or six miles in breadth, stretching along
the coast upwards of sixty miles, and passing into the chalky
lands of Hants on the west. In contact with this range of
hills, is a tract of low cultivated ground, which is usually
connected with the Down farms, although many of the latter
have no vale or flat land attached. The herbage of these
hills is short, but well adapted for the keeping of Sheep, of
which vast numbers have, in every known period, occupied
the pastures. Whilst the dryness of the air, the moderate
elevation of the land, and consequent mildness of the climate,
are all eminently favourable to the rearing of a race of Down
or Mountain Sheep, the contact of the cultivated country
affords the means of supplying artificial food in due quantity.
It is this combination of favourable circumstances which has
rendered these calcareous hills capable of supporting a
greater number of Sheep than perhaps any tract of similar
fertility in the country, and has afforded the means to the
breeders of applying the resources of artificial feeding to
their improvement. The original breed of the Sussex Downs
was not superior to that of many other districts of the Chalk-
formation; but the means of supplying the animals with arti-
ficial food, which the geographical situation of this long and
narrow chain of hills in contact with the richer country
afforded, aided the breeders in applying to the improvement of
the race a system of breeding and feeding, which has ren-
dered the South Down Breed the most esteemed in the
countries suited to it of all the Short-woolled Sheep of Eng-
land.
The native breed of the South Down hills was of the
smaller kinds of Sheep, with light fore-quarters, narrow
chests, long necks, and long, though not coarse, limbs. The
wool was short, fine, and curling, although not equalling in
AL
4
THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.
163
delicacy and softness that of the White-faced hornless breed
of the western counties, nor even that of the Black-faced
varieties of the older forests and commons.
Both sexes
were destitute of horns, at least up to the times of which we
have any records; but, it is probable that the older race was
possessed of horns, like other varieties inhabiting the same
kind of country.
The faces and limbs were covered with
black hair; and a tendency existed in the entire fleece to as-
sume the same colour.
•
The modern South Down Breed is destitute of horns in
the male and female, has the face and legs of a dusky gray,
and has the body closely covered with short and curling wool.
While the general form of the older breed has been preserved,
the too great lightness of the fore-quarters has been cor-
rected, the chest has been widened, the back and loins have
become broader, and the ribs more curved; and the trunk
has been rendered more symmetrical and compact. The
limbs have become more short with relation to the body, or,
in other words, the body has become more large with relation
to the limbs. The neck retains the arched form characteris-
tic of the older race, but has become more short. The wool
comes well forward upon the face, and terminates in a tuft
on the forehead. The animals are docile in their tempers,
and suited to the husbandry of the fold, which is yet gene-
rally pursued in the Downs. They are capable of subsisting
on the short herbage of the drier soils, and yield mutton
which has always been held in great estimation. The wethers
are usually fattened after having completed their second
year, although individuals of superior flocks are often ready
at the age of about fifteen months; whereas the wethers of
the older breed were rarely killed until they had completed
their third, or arrived at their fourth, year.
It is to the effects of careful culture, under favourable cir-
cumstances, that the modern breed of the South Downs owes
the superiority which it has acquired over all the other Short-
woolled Sheep of the midland and southern counties of Eng-
}
164
land. With the advancement of tillage, and the larger pro-
duction of turnips and other succulent plants, the breeders of
Sussex had the means of treating their animals well while
advancing to maturity; while increased attention was given
to the selection of the breeding parents, and to the conse-
quent calling forth of those properties of form which evince
the tendency to arrive at early maturity of muscle and fat-
ness. The improvement of the South Down Breed began
about the period of the American war, but it received its
chief impulse with the commencement of the contest with
the French Republic, and has continued progressive until
the present time. Amongst the individuals most distinguished
as the improvers of this breed, was the late John Ellman.
This gentleman began his important experiments about the
year 1780, when he acquired possession of the farm of Glynde,
near Lewis, in the county of Sussex. He remained in this
farm more than fifty years, during which period he directed
his attention, in an especial degree, to the improvement of
the native Sheep of the Downs. He pursued his system of
progressive change with judgment, perseverance, and zeal;
and he must be regarded as one of the most skilful and suc-
cessful breeders whom this country has produced. He dis-
played none of the too narrow selfishness which, it is to be
regretted, appeared in the proceedings of his distinguished
contemporary Mr Bakewell. He freely communicated the
details of his valuable practice, and shewed himself to be
entirely exempt from illiberal prejudices. He did not ex-
perience the necessity of creating, as it were, a breed, but
was contented to adopt the basis which was afforded him in
the one already naturalized in the Sussex Downs. He did
not carry any of his principles of breeding to an extreme, but
acted under the guidance of temperance and judgment. He
sought for the properties of health and soundness of constitu-
tion, as well as for those of external form, and facility of
fattening; and therefore he did not, like Bakewell, confine
himself rigidly to the blood of his own stock, but resorted to
THE SHEEP.
•
$
THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.
165
others, that he might infuse fresh vigour into his flocks, and
prevent them from becoming too delicate. His aim, in short,
was the really useful; and, though he reaped the due reward
of his enterprise and skill, it was never obtained by arts of
any kind, by deception, or useless ostentation. His charac-
ter throughout was one of sincerity and manly simplicity;
and it is pleasing to add, that he closed a long and honour-
able life, respected and regretted by all that came under the
influence of his social virtues. He died in 1832, having
entered into his eightieth year.
Contemporaries and successors of Mr Ellman have pursued,
with deserved success, the cultivation of the South Down
Breed, which may now be said to be brought to all the per-
fection, with respect to early maturity and fattening power,
of which it seems to be susceptible. The system of selling
and hiring out rams was early adopted, and is now exten-
sively pursued by eminent breeders, who devote attention to
the rearing of rams as an especial branch of their profession.
This is a division of labour highly conducive to the perfecting
of the breed, and the extending of it in its state of purity and
highest cultivation to different parts of the country. But the
breeders of rams naturally rear the animals, under favourable
circumstances with respect to the supplies of food; and thus
a tendency is produced to an enlargement of size beyond that
characteristic of a breed suited to a district of downs and
short herbage. The appropriate localities of the South Down
Breed are those which are suited to the lighter kinds of
Sheep. To the richer and moister plains are adapted other
breeds, which produce a long and heavy fleece, and are the
native inhabitants of districts of abundant herbage. Such
are the Leicester, and other varieties of Long-woolled Sheep,
to be afterwards described. Doubtless, the South Down
Breed may, by the stimulus of artificial food, and by being
naturalized in a country fertile in grasses, become as large
as the Leicester and other Long-woolled breeds of the plains;
and it has been long making progress to this condition in the
+
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166
hands of the principal Sussex breeders. But the change is
one which, in proportion as it may adapt the breed to a richer
country, may render it less suited to those more dry and
steril tracts over which it has been spread, and in which
hardiness and soundness of constitution, and the capacity of
subsisting on scanty food, are properties to be regarded as
much as the disposition to arrive at early maturity and fatten
quickly. Nevertheless, the past efforts of the Sussex breeders
to improve the breed, by rearing it in a more artificial con-
dition than is suited to it, have hitherto been eminently suc-
cessful in rendering it of more economical value. The earlier
improvers of this breed paid especial attention to the fineness
of the wool, which then bore a high price for the purposes of
the clothier; but attention having been insensibly directed to
other properties, the staple of the wool became longer, and
the filaments less fine, and now, by changes in the demand,
from causes before adverted to, the relative value of this
kind of wool greatly declined; and, in the cultivation of the
breed, the production of fine and delicate wool is everywhere
regarded as secondary to the properties of form, and the
value of the animals for food.
•
THE SHEEP.
The South Down Breed has spread over a great tract of
country, and either superseded the pre-existing varieties, or
been so mingled with them in blood, as to have modified all
their characters. But it is in an especial degree in the
countries of the chalk-formation, that it has been generally
established. It has superseded the ancient breeds of Berk-
shire, Hampshire, and Wiltshire; and, extending into the
counties to the westward, has greatly circumscribed the
limits of the horned Dorsets. It has spread from the wastes of
Surrey to the heaths of Norfolk, displacing the ancient breeds,
or mixing with them, so as to obliterate their former distinc-
tions. It has been carried beyond the countries of the chalk-
formation, although in decreasing numbers. It has extended
into Herefordshire, and partially into Devonshire and the
lower parts of Wales, and northwards even to Westmoreland
-
=
167.
and Cumberland. But, beyond the limits of the countries of
the true chalk, or of the calcareous district in contact with
the chalk, it is only found occupying tracts of narrow extent,
or is employed as a means of improving the flocks of the
heaths, commons, or other tracts which are still occupied by
races of smaller Short-woolled Sheep. It has been introduced
into Scotland, and partially cultivated with some success;
but it has made no general progress in that country, and does
not seem calculated to displace the hardier mountain breeds
already acclimated.
The wide extension of a breed so greatly improved as the
South Down, must be regarded as having been in a singular
degree beneficial. Although itself the native of a dry coun-
try, and therefore, it may be supposed, imperfectly suited to
a humid soil and atmosphere, yet its range is not confined to
very narrow limits. It is naturally of a healthy constitution,
patient of scanty herbage, and, from the closeness of its
fleece, fitted to resist changes of temperature. Further, like
every other race of Sheep, it possesses the faculty of becom-
ing inured to new conditions of soil and temperature; and
experience, accordingly, has shewn, that it may be gradually
naturalized in countries very different from that from which
it has been derived. By crossing, it can be readily amalga-
mated with all the varieties of Sheep which can be referred
to the Black-faced Heath Breed as their type; and it can be
made to improve the Black-faced Heath Breed itself, in situa-
tions in which hardiness, and adaptation to a rude climate and
country, are not more to be regarded than the improvement
of the form and fleece,
THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.
The wool of the South Down Sheep weighs, when washed,
about 3 lb. the fleece; but, in some of the more highly-fed
flocks of the lower countries, its weight is now 4 lb. or more,
The staple, or length of the filaments, is from 24 to 4 inches,
while that of the older breed rarely exceeded 2 inches, and
more frequently fell short of that length. The wool, although
fine and short, is somewhat harsh and brittle, and never was
+
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ܐ ܒ
.168
well fitted for the manufacture of the finer woollen cloths,
requiring always a large admixture of the softer wools of
home or foreign growth. But the war with France having
at length excluded the manufacturers of England from most
of the foreign markets which supplied the raw material, the
woollen fabrics of the country were chiefly prepared from na-
tive wool. This circumstance gave a high relative value, not
only to the South Down wool, but to all the finer and shorter
kinds produced in the country, as that of the Norfolk, the
Wiltshire, the Dorset, the Ryeland, the Cheviot, and the
other varieties of Short-woolled Sheep which then abounded
in the country. But, when the memorable events of 1814
opened all the ancient marts of trade, wool of superior fine-
ness was obtained, in the quantity required, from the coun-
tries of Europe in which the Merino race was cultivated, and,
after a time, from the boundless wilds of the Australian colo-
nies. This produced an immediate change in the market-
price of all the finer wools formerly employed in the manu-
facture of woollen cloth, and at length caused them to be
applied to other purposes. In place of being used for the
manufacture of woollen cloth, they were extensively employed
for the lighter and looser fabrics classed under the name of
Worsteds. This difference in the destination of the shorter
wools, coupled with the diminution of the market-price, has
produced an important change in the cultivation of Sheep in
this country. It has led to an extension in the number of
the Long-woolled Sheep, and a decrease in the number of
those cultivated for the fineness of their wool; and, in the
case of the latter, has caused attention to be directed rather
to the weight of the fleece, than to those properties which fit
it for the manufacture of cloth. All the lesser kinds of
Sheep, as the Ryeland, Morfe Common, and Dean Forest
breeds, producing a fine and delicate wool, are either extinct,
or have lost their distinctive characters by intermixture with
other races; and, throughout entire tracts of country, which,
not more than twenty-five years ago, were occupied by Short-
THE SHEEP.
1
I
THE OLD LINCOLN BREED.
169
woolled Sheep, not a single flock of this kind is to be found.
The South Down Breed, it has been seen, has been exten-
sively substituted for many of the older breeds; but the
Long-woolled Sheep of the lower country have likewise been
progressively extending, and have either displaced the Short-
woolled varieties altogether, or, by means of crossing, changed
their character with respect to the production of wool.
XVII.—THE OLD LINCOLN BREED.
The breeds of Sheep hitherto described are proper to the
mountains, moors, downs, and less cultivated districts, and
most of them produce a short wool fitted for preparation by
the card. The breeds that remain to be described are of
entirely different characters, with respect to form and the
nature of the fleece. They are of large size, and, until im-
proved by art, of coarse form; and the wool which they
yield is long, thick, and tough in the filaments, of inferior
felting properties, but tolerably soft to the touch, and rarely
approaching to the harsh and wiry character of hair. This
kind of wool, from the strength and toughness of its fibres,
is unsuited for being broken into fragments by the action of
the card, and is, accordingly, never prepared except for
worsted yarn, and by the assorting of the comb. If the
British Islands are inferior to other countries in the produc-
tion of the finer felting wools, they are superior to any in
the case of those adapted to the worsted manufacture. The
long wools of the plains of England have in every known
period been of the highest estimation. They were early
carried to other countries, and now produce fabrics which
are diffused throughout the markets of the world.
The Long-woolled Sheep of England are the natives of the
richer plains, although they have long been carried to all
parts of the country where agriculture has provided the
means of supplying artificial food. The first and most ex-
N
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170
tensive locality of this class of Sheep is the fine tract of new
red sandstone which, extending southward from the lower
valley of the Tees, forms the fertile valleys of York and
Trent; and which, extending from the vale of Trent to the
mouth of the Severn, and thence northwards, includes the
greater part of the counties of Nottingham, Leicester, War-
wick, Worcester, and a part of Stafford and Lancaster; com-
prehending a tract of the highest fertility with respect to the
production of the grasses and other herbage plants. But
connected with this tract, as a locality of the Long-woolled
Sheep, are districts of the lias and oolite formations, com-
prehending the counties of Rutland, Northampton, Glouces-
ter, part of Oxford, and others, to which may be added the
lower parts of Devonshire, and the valleys of the larger
rivers in different parts of the country. The second locality
of the Long-woolled Sheep comprehends the flat alluvial
tracts of fens on the eastern coasts and the shores of Kent.
Conformably to this division, the Long-woolled Sheep may
be arranged in two general groups; first, those of the inland
plains, represented by the Teeswater, Leicester, and other
varieties; and, secondly, those of the fens and alluvial coun-
try, represented by the breeds of Lincolnshire and Romney
Marsh.
THE SHEEP.
Of the breeds which have been mentioned, those of the
marshes and fens are the most marked and peculiar in their
characters. The rich and marshy tract of land, extending
from the Humber southwards, through Lincolnshire into
Norfolk, Cambridge, and the adjoining country, is a fitting
habitation for the coarser and heavier kinds of Sheep. The
lower part of Lincolnshire, accordingly, and the fertile tracts
in connexion with it, are inhabited by a race remarkable, be-
yond any other, for their size, their coarse and massy forms,
and the length of their wool. The type of these breeds has
been termed the Old Lincoln, which requires, however, to
be distinguished from the race of mixed lineage which now
inhabits the same country.
171
The Old Lincoln Sheep, of which the remnants now only
exist, are destitute of horns, are of coarse form, have large
limbs and hoofs, hollow flanks, and flat sides. Their long
unctuous wool almost hangs to the ground, and they have a
large tuft on the forehead. Their fleece weighs from 10 to
12 lb., and, in the rams and fattened wethers, often greatly
exceeds this weight. They fatten slowly, and consume much
food, but are valued by the butchers for their tendency to
produce internal fat. About seventy years ago, when the
New Leicester, or Dishley breed of Bakewell, became dis-
tinguished, the Lincolnshire breeders resorted to this stock
as a means of communicating to their own the property of
early fattening, for which the new breed was eminent. This
system of crossing was carried on until the close of the last
century, and has been continued up to the present time, so
that the old breed is scarcely any where to be found of un-
mixed blood. The figure given in my larger work is taken
from a flock which has been maintained perfectly pure from
a period previous to that in which the Dishley blood was in-
troduced. The worthy owner, amidst all the changes of the
times, has continued to maintain the stock which his fore-
fathers had cultivated. By the continued breeding from the
same blood, this particular flock has doubtless suffered de-
terioration; but it retains all the essential characters of the
ancient race, and presents, perhaps, the only living example
of the most remarkable breed of Sheep which the British
Islands have produced.
THE OLD LINCOLN BREED.
The crossing of the Old Lincoln with the Dishley blood, was
not at first effected without great opposition, and a contest
arose between the supporters of the ancient breed and the
new, which lasted for more than a quarter of a century. The
advocates of the older breed contended for its greater hardi-
ness, its better adaptation to the rich pastures of the country,
the enormous weight to which individuals could be raised,
and, above all, their unrivalled fleece. On the other hand,
the earlier maturity, and the greater aptitude to fatten, of the
·
4
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*
172
THE SHEEP.
new breed, were considerations urged by those who favoured
the system of crossing which had been resorted to; and it
was contended, that, although the weight of individual fleeces
was diminished, the value of wool produced on the acre was
increased, from the greater number of animals that could be
maintained on the same space.*
* A correspondence on this subject, in the year 1788, has been preserved,
between Mr Chaplin, a distinguished breeder of the Old Lincolns, and Mr
Bakewell of Dishley, which is curious, as shewing the angry feelings of the
time, and bringing before us, and in his own words, one so distinguished for
what he has done, and so little known by any thing he has written,-Mr Bake-
well. It had been proposed, it seems, that a show of rams should take place at
Partney, for the purpose of comparing together the old and new breeds. Mr
Bakewell had declined allowing his rams to be seen until they were sorted, as
it is termed, but appears to have thought that there would be no great harm
in taking a peep at his rival's, even in their state of disorder. Mr Chaplin re-
senting the proceeding, thus addresses his wily opponent:- "The extraordinary
art made use of in the exhibition of your stock at Dishley, points out, in the
strongest manner, the impropriety of shewing it in a disorderly state; and after
my refusal on the 21st instant to let you see my sheep before they were collected
and sorted at home, I did not expect to hear of your meanly sneaking into my
pastures at Wrangle, on the 24th, with two other people, driving my sheep
into the fold, and examining them. Such unwarrantable conduct can only be
accounted for by your great anxiety about the show of rams at Partney, near
Spilsby, on the 18th of September, which was proposed for the purpose of mak-
ing the comparison between those bred from your sheep and the original breed
of the county. The small sheep that have no cross of the Durham kind, which
you have had the address to impose upon the world, without size, without
length, and without wool, I have always held to be unprofitable animals; but
that I may not appear to be too tenacious of my own opinion, I hope you will
produce them at Partney, on the 18th September next, to meet the Lincoln-
shire sheep, where there will be many better judges than ourselves to decide on
their merits."
The reply is characteristic. "On my return home on Tuesday last, I saw
your letter addressed to me of the 26th of August, in the Liecester paper of
the 6th instant, in which you are pleased to notice the extraordinary art made
use of in the exhibition of the stock at Dishley; which you have seen at several
different times. Surely you cannot say you have observed any unfair practices,
or that you was ever denied seeing what was not engaged for the season, on
account of their not being sorted, or being in a disorderly state. At Horncastle,
on Thursday the 21st of August, I asked you if I might see your rams near
Saltfleet. You did not say I should not, but that they were not sorted, and that
when they were you would be glad to see me at Tathwell. I did not go to
Saltfleet, but into the marshes, near Skegness; and from thence, on the Satur-
day afternoon following, to Wrangle; the next day, Sunday the 24th, to Free-
ston, where I met with two graziers, with whom I had not any acquaintance
till that day. They proposed on Monday to go to Skegness, and asked me if I
•
173
The claims of the modern breed in the end prevailed, and
the remarkable old race of the fens was by degrees displaced,
or mixed largely in blood with the new variety. The breeders
of Lincolnshire doubtless consulted their immediate interests,
in availing themselves of the improved stock of Bakewell, to
give at once those qualities to their own in which it was defi-
cient; but at the same time, great regrét may now be enter-
tained, that the native breed had not rather been improved
by an application of the principle of selection, than destroyed
in its distinctive characters by indiscriminate crossing. The
wool of the true Old Lincoln breed was altogether peculiar,
and such as no country in Europe produced. That of the
THE OLD LINCOLN BREED.
<
He answered they had.
thought they could see your rams.
I told them I was informed on my way to
and at Wrangle, that they might. We set forward together, and called at the
inn at Wrangle, which I came from the day before, and there passed what you
are pleased to term, my 'meanly sneaking into your pastures on the 24th.'
We asked a young man if you had any rams there; he informed us you had.
'Where are they?' 'In the close next the house.' 'May we see them?' 'Yes.'
Who would shew them?' 'I will.' From which we supposed he had fre-
quently shewn them to others. We then alighted and went into the close; he
opened the pen-gate, and we assisted him in driving them in, about fourteen
in number. The age or breed of any of them I do not know. From thence
we went to the person who has the care of your rams, about a mile and a-half
nearer Skegness, and asked if we could see them; he refused us, saying he had
received orders by a letter from you not to shew them to any one. He was then
asked if they had not been shewn before.
'When did
he receive the order not to shew them?' 'On Saturday night last.' Had we
known this before, we should not have been guilty of what you term 'such un-
warrantable conduct.' I have long made it a rule not to find fault with another
person's stock. Why should you be so severe upon mine? And I now take
the liberty of requesting you to explain what you mean by sheep without size,
without length, and without wool,' which you say I have had the address to
impose upon the world; and of informing you that I am fully persuaded there
are ten rams without a cross of the Durham, or any other kind, let for a thou-
sand guineas more this season than the same number of the 'true Old Lincoln-
shire breed, of the long staple,' some of these at the highest prices, into the
counties of Lincoln and Nottingham; and to breeders, many of whom have
used the Dishley sort of sheep for upwards of twenty years, and who have agreed
for some, and offer higher prices for others, for future seasons, than they have
yet given, and may surely be supposed capable of knowing the value of what
'you have always held to be unprofitable animals.' Did they not find their
interest in so doing, would they persevere? The address must be extraordi-
nary, indeed, that could impose upon them against their interest and so long
experience."
C
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174
New Leicester breed is shorter and finer; but it wants the
toughness, softness, and length of fibre which distinguish
the other, and which, could it now be obtained, could be used
with great advantage in various worsted manufactures. It
cannot be doubted, that the same principles of breeding which
enabled Mr Bakewell to form a new breed, could have been
applied by the Lincolnshire breeders to remove the defects of
the native race, and call forth its useful properties.
But although the Old Lincoln breed is now almost extinct
in the pure state, the breed of mixed lineage which has suc-
ceeded to it in the countries of the fens often retains much
of its peculiarities. In this rich district are yet to be found
the largest sheep of the Island, and, it is believed, of Europe,
with fleeces superior in weight and value to any other. They
do not fatten so quickly as the New Leicesters, but they
arrive at great weight, and pay the graziers well, on the fer-
tile pastures which are proper to them. The wethers are fre-
quently killed at the enormous weight of 50 or 60 lb. the
quarter. Great numbers of these large sheep may be seen
pasturing on the rich flats on the Thames, for the supply of
the London market. The mutton may not be sufficiently de-
licate for the palates of the opulent, but for the supplies of
the numerous population of labourers in our large cities, who
are contented with wholesome, nourishing, and cheap food, the
mutton of the countries of the fens is as much valued as any
other in the kingdom. It is of national as well as of private
concern, therefore, that the modern Lincoln breed should be
preserved; and he would merit well of the country who should
devote attention to its improvement.
THE SHEEP.
XVIII.—THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED.
The Sheep of these Islands, it has been seen, may be di-
vided into two general classes: 1. The smaller Sheep, inha-
biting the mountains, moors, downs, and less fertile tracts,
THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED.
175
and producing, for the most part, short wool, fitted for pre-
paration by the card, and the manufacture of cloths; and,
2. The larger Sheep, naturalized in the plains, marshes, and
richer country, producing wool which is long in the filaments,
and adapted to the manufacture of stuffs termed worsted.
With the progress of cultivation, and the increased means of
supplying artificial food, the Long-woolled breeds have been
continually gaining in numbers upon the Short-woolled. They
be divided into those which inhabit the fens and marshes,
and those which are found in the inland and drier country.
Of the former class, greatly the most numerous and remark-
able was the Old Lincolnshire Breed already described, of
which the remnants only now exist in the unmixed state.
Another variety of the same class inhabited a limited tract
of low ground termed Romney Marsh, situated on the south-
ern coast of Kent, at the western entrance to the Straits of
Dover.
may
Romney Marsh is a plain of alluvial land nearly on the
level of the sea, protected from the tides by dykes in the
manner of the marshy flats of Holland. It extends from
Hythe to the river Rother, about fourteen miles; and, at its
broadest part, from Dengeness to Appledore, ten miles. It
is divided into four districts-namely, Romney Marsh Pro-
per, which is the largest and most westerly division; Wal-
land Marsh, the next adjoining to the westward; Denge
Marsh, with South-Brooks on the south, and Guildford Marsh,
the greater part of which is in the county of Sussex, on the
west. This tract was known to the Anglo-Saxons by the
name of Merseware or Mersewarum, and the inhabitants
were designated by a term signifying marsh-men or fen-men.
It was early fenced from the overflowings of the sea, and the
conservation of the dykes and drainage was provided for by
local laws and observances, which, so long ago as the reign
of Henry III., were denominated ancient and approved cus-
toms. The land consists in part of infertile sand, gravel, or
peat, but essentially of a deep rich alluvial clay, bearing the
}
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grasses and other herbage plants abundantly, and never
having been subjected to the action of the plough. "It ys,"
says Leland, “a marvelous rank ground for fedying catel,
by the reason that the grasse groweth plentifully upon the
wose, sum tyme cast up there by the se." The land is sub-
divided by rails, and deep ditches filled with stagnant water.
There are scarcely any hedges or trees to afford shelter.
The roads are broad miry paths, rudely fenced off from the
marsh, and scarcely to be passed after heavy falls of rain.
The inhabitants are few in number, scattered over the flat
monotonous surface in mean hamlets or villages, and mostly
employed in tending the numerous Sheep by which the ground
is depastured. The air is humid from stagnant water, and
the wealthier possessors of the farms reside, not in the
marshes, but on the more elevated grounds surrounding
them; and the animals which are reared or fattened on the
marsh, depend on the natural herbage which it produces.
The principal produce is Sheep, which are reared in greater
numbers than in any similar space in the kingdom.
The ancient native Sheep of this district had coarse heads,
furnished with a tuft of wool; thick necks, long stout limbs,
broad feet, narrow chests, flat sides, and great bellies. They
were of the larger class of Sheep, but yet fell short in weight
of the heavy-woolled Sheep of the eastern counties. The
wool weighed 7 lb. or 8 lb., had the usual qualities of long
wool, was moderately soft, but unequal, and coarse on the
posterior parts. These Sheep were slow in fattening, the
wethers being rarely fit for use until they had completed
their third year; but yet they were favourites with the butch-
ers, from their yielding a large proportion of internal fat and
offal. They bore well the exposed maritime situation in
which they were placed, and acquired the habit of avoiding
the dangerous ditches by which the country is intersected.
THE SHEEP.
The modern breed of Romney Marsh, which has extended.
into other parts of Kent, still exhibits much of the charac-
ters of the ancient family, the individuals being, for the
3
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most part, long-legged, flat-sided, and coarse in the extre-
mities. But a surprising change has taken place within
the present century, and there now exist entire flocks, which
cannot be recognised as the descendants of the older race.
This change has arisen in part from intermixture of the New
Leicester blood, and in part from the increased attention of
breeders to the form and qualities of the animals.
The Leicester Breed found its way into these marshes
more slowly than into most other parts of the kingdom, and
violent prejudices, not yet subdued, for a time resisted its
reception. But about the beginning of the present century,
a general desire began to manifest itself amongst the more
enlightened breeders, to avail themselves of the means of
improvement which a breed so highly cultivated as the New
Leicester presented to them; and great numbers of rams
from the midland counties were accordingly introduced by
individual breeders. The effects were soon apparent, even
in the flocks of those who were the most opposed to the
foreign breed; and it may be doubted if there now exists a
single long-woolled Sheep in the county of Kent, in which
the influence of the New Leicester blood does not appear.
The first effect of the crossing was to reduce the bulk of the
-native Sheep, but to give them a greater symmetry of parts
and tendency to fatten; and, independently of the effects,
direct and indirect, of the mixture, the placing of superior
models before the eyes of breeders, produced a beneficial
result throughout the whole district, so that more attention
was from this period bestowed on improving the native stock
by selection. After a time, indeed, the feeling in favour of
the older race began to revive; and, for a considerable period
past, the Romney Marsh breeders have, with few exceptions,
continued to breed from the indigenous stock. Nevertheless,
the effects of the change produced by the former crossing
remained, and the modern Sheep of the marsh, although
still retaining a greater degree of coarseness and lankness
of body than can be approved of, form a very different race
M
THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED.
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178
of animals from the Kentish Sheep of the beginning of the
present century.
The arguments used against the introduction of the more
cultivated breed were similar to those employed by the
breeders of the eastern marshes. It was argued, that the
decrease of size and deterioration of the fleece, were not
compensated by the earlier maturity, and greater tendency
to fatten, of the imported breed; that the latter were less
saleable to the butchers, and that the ewes were less pro-
lific, and inferior as nurses. It was contended, besides, that
the new breed and its descendants were less suited than the
former to the open marshes on which they were to be reared
without shelter or artificial food; and that they were apt to
be driven into the ditches by the strong gales which at cer-
tain seasons swept over the marsh. A satisfactory answer
can be given to the greater part of these objections. The
decrease of weight was, to a certain extent, more apparent
than real, arising from a diminution in the size of bone and
the coarser parts; and there was always a more than cor-
responding gain, by the breeders being enabled to bring
their animals to market at an earlier period. The deprecia-
tion in the weight and quality of the wool was little in the
case of this breed; the wool of the Romney Marsh Sheep
never having been in the first class, with respect either to
quality or productiveness. That the new breed was less ac-
ceptable to the butchers is true; but this was because the
fat was more deposited on the external parts, and because
the offal was less. The interest of the butcher, it is to be
observed, corresponds only in certain points with that of the
breeder. The butcher prefers the animals that yield him
most profit from the parts sold in retail; but he has no con-
cern with the quantity of food consumed by them, with the
period required for bringing them to maturity, or with the
details of management, which yield a profit to the owner.
The butchers, as a class, have rarely been the advocates of
those changes which have added so great a value to the live-
THE SHEEP.
12
THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED.
179
stock of the country; and, in the preference which they long
gave to the coarse sheep of Romney Marsh, their opinions
exercised a peculiarly injurious influence on the breeding of
Sheep in this part of England. The opinion frequently ex-
pressed, that the new breed is less productive of lambs than
the old, does not seem to be well founded. Generally, in-
deed, all the coarser varieties of sheep are better nurses, and
more prolific, than the more highly improved, under similar
treatment. But it does not appear that the Romney Marsh
Sheep were ever peculiarly noted for producing numerous
lambs, or for being good nurses. No sheep in this country
had so much difficulty in parturition, or were so apt to desert
their offspring, as the Romney Marsh ewes. With respect
to the averment, that the old breed was better suited than
the new to withstand the stormy climate of the marsh, and
preserve itself from the open ditches with which the country
is intersected, it is to be observed, that some truth, mixed
with more of error, exists in the statement. The New Lei-
cester Breed is reared with facility in situations greatly more
cold and exposed than the Romney Marsh, which possesses.
as good a climate, with respect to temperature, as exists in
England. That the Romney Marsh Breed is better calcu-
lated to preserve itself from the accidents resulting from the
open ditches of the country than a breed naturalized in a dif-
ferent situation, may be admitted; but the danger itself ought
to be provided against by suitable enclosing, and not used as
an argument against the cultivation of a superior breed. Fur-
ther, the fact, if it shall be admitted, that the one breed is bet-
ter fitted than the other to subsist without artificial food and
shelter, is no argument against the reception of the superior
breed, but a strong one in favour of a better system of ma-
nagement. There cannot be a doubt that the Sheep of the
Romney Marsh have been signally benefited by the blood of
the New Leicester race. The Romney Marsh breeders may
now please themselves by believing that their own breed is
superior to the imported one; and no harm will result from
i
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the opinion, provided they discard their other prejudices, and
breed from the best of their own stock, and upon a suitable
model. The long and constant error of the Kentish breeders
was their looking to size more than to the other qualities in-
dicative of a good stock of Sheep. Size, indeed, is not to be
disregarded in any breed reared in a country of rich pastures;
but that just conformation of parts, which indicates the dis-
position to arrive at early maturity and fatten readily, is yet
more to be regarded.
THE SHEEP.
XIX. THE OLDER LONG-WOOLLED BREEDS OF
THE INLAND DISTRICTS.
The Sheep of the marshes and fens are represented by the
Lincolnshire and Romney Marsh Breeds already described.
Minor varieties of the same breeds existed in detached allu-
vial tracts along the coasts; but they were confined to nar-
row localities, and have now all merged in the races of the
adjoining districts. The other class of breeds consists of those
which have been naturalized in the valleys, plains, and richer
tracts of the inland parts. The great district of these breeds
is the rich tract of the new red sandstone, which, commencing
with the country of the Tees, extends southward by the Vales
of York and Trent to the lower valley of the Severn, and
thence again northward; although, it is to be observed, that
it is chiefly in the eastern and midland counties that these
breeds are found, and that, as we approach to the western
limits of the new red sandstone in the north of Staffordshire,
Cheshire, and Lancashire, the long-woolled breeds are in
smaller numbers, and mixed with, or allied to, the ancient
breeds of the forests, wastes, and chases.
The most remarkable of the inland breeds was the Old
Teeswater, so named from the valley of the beautiful river
which separates the counties of York and Durham. This
valley is exceedingly fertile, though of limited extent; but
the breed to which it gave a name extended, with some
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THE OLDER LONG-WOOLLED BREEDS.
181
change of characters, northward into Durham, and south-
ward through the greater part of Yorkshire, until-it merged
in the heavy-woolled Sheep of the marshes on the one hand,
and those of Leicestershire and the other midland counties
on the other. The true Teeswater Sheep, as reared in their
native valley, were of the larger class, very tall, bearing a
long but not a very thick fleece, inferior only in toughness
and length of filaments to that of the ancient Lincolns. The
wool was, however, more hard, less uniform in the staple,
and very coarse towards the extremities. These Sheep were
of an exceedingly uncouth form. They had coarse heads, large
round haunches, and long stout limbs. They were slow in
fattening, and required for their support good pastures, with
a supply of hay and corn. They were the most prolific of all
our races of Sheep, bearing usually two, and not unfrequently
three, lambs at a birth; and they were surpassed by no other
Sheep in the faculty of yielding milk. This coarse and heavy
breed has now entirely disappeared in its original form. The
New Leicester Breed progressively extended northward
through the Vale of York, and at a still earlier period had
been established in Northumberland, by breeders, the con-
temporaries of Bakewell. Under these circumstances, the
older breed of the Tees soon gave place to the new breed of
the Midland Counties, either by substitution of the one for
the other, or by the effects of crossing. At the commence-
ment of the present century, a few individual Sheep only of
the older breed were to be found in the hands of some old
farmers, unwilling to relinquish preconceived opinions and
habits. At the present time, not one living example, perhaps,
remains of the true Old Teeswater Breed. The only traces
of it that present themselves are in the largeness of size of
the sheep of particular breeders, who have continued to pre-
fer a stock of larger sheep to the more modern variety of
higher breeding.
Proceeding southward, the Teeswater and its varieties
gradually merged in the former breeds of Leicestershire and
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the adjoining counties. These latter varieties were smaller
than the true Teeswater, but of figures equally ungainly.
They had coarse heads, thick hides, and long lank bodies;
and, corresponding with the defects of their external form,
was their slowness in fattening and arriving at the required
maturity. A Ram of the Warwickshire variety is described
by Mr Marshall as having "a frame large and remarkably
loose, his bone heavy, his legs long and thick, terminating in
great splaw feet, his chine, as well as his rump, sharp as a
hatchet, his skin rattling on his ribs." The wool of these
sheep varied with the locality, but generally it was inferior
in weight, shorter in the staple, and more slender in the fila-
ments, than that of the genuine Teeswater. All these varie-
ties of sheep have disappeared, so that not a living example
of them is to be found; and their place has been long taken
by the beautiful breed, to which reference has been so fre-
quently made, and of which more especial notice will be
taken in the sequel.
THE SHEEP.
In the western counties, from the southern division of
Staffordshire northward to the Solway Firth, the long-woolled
varieties were rare, and found only in a few places. They
were all of the coarsest kinds of sheep, and inferior in weight
of body to those of the eastern and midland counties. Some
of them lingered until a recent period in the lower parts of
Westmoreland and Cumberland, and some of them extended
across the Solway into the west of Scotland. They have
now all disappeared, or left only indistinct traces of their for-
mer existence in the flocks of a few careless Sheep-masters.
It is not known whether Scotland originally possessed a na-
tive race of Long-woolled Sheep; but sheep of this kind were
early in the last century introduced into the south-eastern
border counties, and, about the time of the American war,
were largely mixed in blood with the improved New Leicester.
Another district of Long-woolled Sheep is found in England
just beyond the tract of the lias and oolite limestone, in the
counties of Devon and Somerset. One variety of them in-
183
habited the southern part of Devonshire from the Vale of
Honiton westward, and another was found more to the north
stretching to the river Parret in Somersetshire. The first
of these varieties, termed Southam Notts, had brown faces
and legs, crooked limbs, and flat sides. They carried a fleece
of long wool, moderately soft, weighing from 9 lb. to 10 lb.,
and at 30 months old the wethers weighed from 22 lb. to
25 lb. the quarter. The other variety was termed Bampton
Notts, from the village of that name on the confines of the
counties of Devon and Somerset. They had white faces,
bore a very weighty fleece of long wool, and weighed at two
years old from 30 lb. to 35 lb. the quarter. These breeds
have been largely crossed with the New Leicester, and may
be said to be now extinct in their pure state. The first mix-
ture of blood produced at once animals greatly superior to
the older race. The defect of these sheep was their clumsy
forms and thick hides, and consequent indisposition to fatten.
These faults have been entirely corrected by the crossing
that has taken place, although this was more tardily carried
into effect in Devonshire than in any other part of England:
and, on the basis of the older breeds, has been formed a very
fine race of sheep, diminished in bulk of body from the ori-
ginal Bamptons, but still amongst the largest sheep in the
kingdom. Thus a wether of mixed blood, killed in 1835, had
arrived at the prodigious weight of 70 lb. the quarter; and one
lately living in the neighbourhood of Exeter weighed 430 lb.
live weight. The breeders of Devonshire take a just pride
in their newly-formed breed, but do not seem disposed to
reduce the size to the standard approved of by the Leicester
breeders.
THE OLDER LONG-WOOLLED BREEDS.
XX.—THE LONG-WOOLLED BREEDS OF IRELAND.
Ireland, from the fertility of the soil, the humidity of the cli-
mate, and the mildness of the winters, is well suited for the
rearing of Sheep of the larger kind; and Sheep appear, in every
* Q
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184
known period, to have existed in numbers throughout the
country. They consisted partly of Short-woolled breeds, to
which reference has been already made, and partly of a Long-
woolled race, which extended with pretty uniform characters
over the greater part of the level country. This latter race was
of large size, and of a form peculiarly coarse and unthrifty.
They are described by Mr Culley as they were seen by him at
the fair of Ballinasloe, in the latter part of last century,
thus:-
"I am sorry to say I never saw such ill-formed
ugly sheep as these: the worst breeds we have in Great
Britain are much superior. One would almost imagine
that the sheep-breeders in Ireland have taken as much
pains to breed plain awkward sheep, as many of the people
in England have to breed handsome ones. I know nothing
to recommend them except their size, which might please
some old-fashioned breeders, who can get no kind of stock
large enough. But I will endeavour to describe them,
and leave my readers to judge for themselves. These
sheep are supported by long, thick, crooked, and gray legs;
their heads long and ugly, with large flagging ears, gray faces,
and eyes sunk, necks long, and set on below the shoulders;
breasts narrow and short, hollow before and behind the
shoulders; flat-sided, with high narrow herring backs; hind
quarters drooping, and tail set low. In short, they are al-
most in every respect contrary to what I apprehend a well-
formed sheep should be."* Of the fidelity of this description
no doubt can be entertained, although the change that has
since taken place is so great as to leave little likeness of the
former picture. There yet remain, indeed, some of the dis-
tinctive characters of the older family,—the large heads, the
flat sides, the narrow breasts; but all that excessive ugliness
of form which placed the Irish below the worst breeds of
England, may be said to have disappeared. This has been
the result of crossing with the New Leicester Breed, which
began about the time Mr Culley wrote, and has been con-
* Culley on Live Stock.
-
THE SHEEP.
1
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185
tinued since with such success that it is now difficult to find
an individual of the unmixed race in the whole country.
Many of the wealthier breeders acquired at once flocks of the
pure New Leicester Breed; but the main effect was produced
by crossing, which everywhere took place with a rapidity
which may well be deemed remarkable in a country where
so defective a state of property exists, and where so many
obstacles counteract the natural course of improvement.
But the present Long-woolled Sheep of Ireland still want
much of the perfection at which they are capable of arriving.
They are yet, for the most part, too coarse in their general
form, narrow in the chest, and flat-sided. The wool is only of
medium quality and weight; and there is a sort of harshness
about it, which shews that the long wool of Ireland was never
of good quality. The breed is more valued by the butcher
in its present state than when more highly improved; but
there is manifestly too great a proportion of waste for the
profit of the breeder, and it does not appear that the mutton
is superior to that of the New Leicesters. It is the fear of
many breeders in Ireland, that the system of crossing has
been carried too far, and that the Sheep of the country are
becoming too small. The same fear was entertained by the
owners of the Teeswater, the Romney Marsh, and other
Long-woolled Sheep of England, when the Leicester blood
was first introduced. But time allayed these misapprehen-
sions, at least to the extent to which they were at first ex-
cited; and although, in many districts of England, the breeders
seem now disposed to resist the further change of their stock
by crossing, this was not until after a larger infusion of the
blood of the new breed than has yet taken place in the great
mass of the Long-woolled Sheep of Ireland, which certainly
cannot be said to have arrived at a degree of refinement in-
jurious to their useful qualities. They have still, for the most
part, too great length of limbs with relation to the depth of
carcass; and their apparent bulk of body may yet be materially
lessened without diminution of the weight.
THE LONG-WOOLLED BREEDS OF IRELAND.
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186
THE SHEEP.
XXI.—THE COTSWOLD BREED.
+
The Cotswold Breed of Sheep derives its name from a
tract of low calcareous hills in the eastern division of the
county of Gloucester, forming a part of the great Oolite for-
mation of England, which, commencing with the moorlands
of Yorkshire, stretches diagonally across the island, and loses
itself in the British Channel, near the Isle of Portland. The
Gloucester portion of this tract is of moderate elevation, com-
paratively infertile, yet capable of cultivation, and yielding
in the natural state a short sweet herbage. It was formerly
a range of bleak wastes, employed in the pasturage of Sheep,
and much of it was in the state of common; but with the
progress of the last century, the commons were appropriated,
and cultivation was extended. It derives its name from Cote,
a sheep-fold, and Would, a naked hill. It was early noted
for the numbers of sheep which it maintained, and the fine-
ness and abundance of their wool. "In these woulds," says
the translator of Camden, "they feed in great numbers flockes
of sheep, long-necked and square of bulk and bone, by reason
(as is commonly thought) of the weally and hilly situation of
their pasturage, whose wool, being most fine and soft, is held
in passing great account amongst all nations." Other writers
refer to the excellence and abundance of the wool of the Cots-
wold Wolds. Drayton contrasts the rich fleeces of Cotswold
with those of the flocks of Sarum and Leominster, and gives the
palm to Cotswold for its more abundant produce.* The faith-
ful and laborious Stowe, in his Chronicles, states, that, in the
year 1464, King Edward IV. "concluded an amnesty and
league with King Henry of Castill, and John, King of Ara-
gon, at the concluding whereof, hee granted licence for cer-
*"T'whom Sarum's plaine gives place, though famous for its flocks;
Yet hardly doth she tythe our Cotswolde's wealthy locks:
Though Lemster him exceed in finenesse of her ore,
Yet quite he puts her downe for his abundant store.”
POLY-OLBION.
187
tain Coteswold Sheepe to be transported into the country of
Spaine, which have there since mightily increased and multi-
plied to the Spanish profit, as it is said." The worthy writer
is not so well satisfied as some of his countrymen, that the
Spaniards owed all their Sheep to England; for, adds he, “true
it is, that long ere this were Sheepe in Spaine, as may appear by
a patent of King Henry the Second, granting to the weavers
of London, that if any cloth were found to be made of Spanish
wool, mixed with English wool, the maior of London should see
it brent." Adam Speed, who wrote in 1629, describes the
wool of the Cotswold Sheep as similar to that of the Ryeland.
"In Herefordshire, especially about Lempster, and on those
famous hills called Cotswold Hills, sheep are fed that pro-
duce a singular good wool, which, for fineness, comes very
near to that of Spain, for from it a thread may be drawn as
fine as silk." The precise character of the Sheep which pro-
duced this wool is now unknown. They were probably simi-
lar to the large fine-woolled breeds of the adjoining counties
of Wilts and Berks, a supposition which agrees with the
locality of the districts, and with "the long necks and square
of bulk and bone" ascribed to the Cotswold Sheep by Camden,
and explains the distinction of Drayton between the wealthy
locks of Cotswold, and the less abundant ore of Lemster.
Markham, indeed, a writer of the time of Elizabeth, speaks of
the Cotswold Sheep as having long wool, but this testimony
cannot weigh against the direct authority of Speed in a later
age; and it may be believed, that the term long, as used by
Markham, is merely relative, as applied to the two kinds of
wool.
THE COTSWOLD BREED.
The Sheep, however, which now possess the same country,
and have inhabited it beyond the memory of the living gene-
ration, are a Long-woolled race, and thus entirely distinct
from the Sheep of the ancient forests, wolds, and downs, which
produced the former fine wool of England. They are of the
larger class of British Sheep, and all their characters denote
them to be a breed of the plains and richer country. The
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period of their introduction is unknown; but it probably took
place pretty late in the last century, with the appropriation
of the commons, and the extension of tillage in a degree suf-
ficient to supply artificial food to a larger kind of animal. A
traditionary belief has always existed in the country, that
the modern race is not the original one of the Cotswold
Wolds; but no intelligible account can be obtained from any
one now living of the time or manner of its introduction. It
was probably derived from the upper part of Oxfordshire, or
from Warwickshire, the ancient breed of which it seems in
some respects to have resembled; and the change may have
been chiefly produced by crossing. Mr Marshall and some
intelligent writers, indeed, have believed that the Cotswold
Sheep have always been a Long-woolled breed, and have
cited, in support of this opinion, the absence of any information
to be obtained in the district itself regarding the supposed
change of breeds. But we know how quickly the memory of
such events is effaced, and that changes as great as that in
the Cotswold Sheep have occurred in all parts of the king-
dom, without our having the means of obtaining any account
of them after the lapse of a short period. It would be op-
posed to all that we know of the natural history of the Sheep,
to suppose that a tract of country so recently cultivated and
enclosed as the Cotswold Hills, could have maintained on its
natural herbage one of the largest races of Sheep in England,
and communicated to it the property of growing long wool.
Such a race, we must suppose, was indigenous to the plains,
and has merely taken the place of an older breed, in a man-
ner similar to that which has been continually occurring
during the last fifty years over a great part of the British
Islands.
THE SHEEP.
•
But the Long-woolled Sheep of the Cotswold hills have
themselves undergone an important change within a period
comparatively recent. They were formerly of greater bulk
of body and coarser forms, and are said to have borne a greater
weight of wool than they now yield. But about sixty years
THE COTSWOLD BREED.
189
ago, the New Leicester Breed, on its extension throughout
the central counties, was made to cross the Cotswold as well
as all the Long-woolled sheep of Gloucestershire. This sys-
tem of crossing was pursued so extensively, that after a time
there did not, perhaps, exist a single Cotswold flock which
was not more or less mixed in blood with the New Leicester
Breed. The effect was, as in other cases, to diminish the
bulk of body of the existing breed, and lessen the produce of
wool, but to communicate to the individuals a greater deli-
cacy of form. Between twenty and thirty years ago, how-
ever, the Cotswold breeders began to apprehend that their
flocks were losing too much in carcass and fleece, and be-
coming less fitted for the climate of their native hills. From
this period, a preference began to be given to the native stock,
and for many years past, crossing has been scarcely practised,
and most of the breeders have been desirous to revert more
to the former model of their breed.
The modern Cotswold Sheep are of a size somewhat supe-
rior to the highest bred New Leicesters, and their wool is
more close upon the body. The staple measures from 6 to 8
inches, and the fleece weighs, upon a medium, from 7 to 8 lb.,
that of the inferior flocks not exceeding 5 and 6 lb. It is
strong, of a good colour, rather coarse, but of a mellow
quality. These sheep have not been brought to the same
perfection of form as the New Leicester, and, like the sheep
of Romney Marsh, they tend to accumulate fat on the rump
almost to the degree of producing deformity; but they are
hardy, and usually of sound constitutions. The females are
prolific, and good nurses, and the lambs are early covered with
a close fleece. At a former period, when tillage was less.
extended than now, the Cotswold Sheep were frequently sent
in winter to the valleys of the Thames and Severn, and gene-
rally sold in the lean state at between two and three years
old. But since the old sheep-walks have been broken up, and
turnips and artificial grasses cultivated, the greater part of
the sheep that are reared in the country are likewise fattened
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190
in it. They are kept on turnips, vetches, hay, and the grasses
and clovers, and disposed of in the fat state at from a year
and a-half to two years old; and within these last seven or
eight years, the practice has been introduced of bringing them
to market at twelve or fourteen months old. At the latter
age they weigh from 15 to 24 lb. the quarter; and, when from
a year and a-half to two years old, their medium weight is
calculated to be from 20 to 30 lb. the quarter.
The Cotswold Breed, after having long yielded to the pro-
gress of the more highly cultivated New Leicester, has of
recent years been attracting the attention of general breeders,
and is now contesting the ground with the Leicester in various
districts of England and Wales. The qualities that in an
especial degree recommend it to notice are, its hardiness and
property of thriving under common treatment, and the faculty
of the females of yielding numerous lambs, and supporting
them well. The breed is still far short of the New Leicester
in form, but it has been making continued advances to a more
perfect state, by the increased attention bestowed on selection
and general treatment. The system of letting Rams for hire
has been adopted on the large scale by some of the Cotswold
breeders; and from the attention which this necessarily di-
rects to the rearing of superior males, it cannot be doubted
that the Cotswold Breed will be yet further extended and
improved.
THE SHEEP.
XXII.—THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
* MG ™ E
Leicester, is so named
The Breed of Sheep terme ?
from the county of Leicester, where had its origin. It was
formed by Robert Bakewell of Dishley, whence it is likewise
termed the Dishley Breed. It was about the year 1755, that
Mr Bakewell began those experiments on the breeding of
animals, which led to such important results. His purpose
was to produce sheep exempt from the defects of the races

LIBRARY
26439
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A Leicester Ram
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THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
191
then cultivated, and possessed of a greater aptitude to fatten
and arrive at early maturity; and the means which he em-
ployed were, breeding from the individuals possessed of the
properties sought for, and rendering these properties perma-
nent in the offspring. It is known that, by continued selec-
tion of the male and female parents in a given number of
animals, the characters deemed defects can, under certain
limits, be removed, and the acquired properties rendered per-
manent in the progeny by continued reproduction with one
another. The principle that the virtues of parents are com-
municated to their young, was not newly discovered; but it
was reserved for Bakewell to apply it in the case of the ani-
mals used for human food in a new manner, and to produce
more remarkable results than had before been arrived at.
He perfectly understood the relation which exists between
the external form of an animal and its aptitude to become fat
in a short time. He saw that this relation did not depend
upon size, nor, in the case of the Sheep, on the power of the
individual to yield a large quantity of wool. He therefore
departed from the practice of all former breeders of the Long-
woolled Sheep, who had regarded size and abundant growth
of wool as primary properties in the parents. Holding bulk
of body, and the produce of the fleece, to be secondary pro-
perties, Bakewell directed especial attention to the external
form which indicates the property of yielding the largest
quantity of muscle and fat, with the least bone, and what is
usually termed offal. He aimed, too, it is said, at producing
the fat on the most valuable parts; but this is merely a sub-
sidiary property, dependent upon general harmony of con-
formation. Progressively perfecting his animals by skilful
selection, he necessarily continued to breed from his own
stock, and did not scruple to connect together animals the
nearest allied in blood to one another. This system, con-
tinually pursued, not only gave a permanency to the charac-
ters imprinted on his sheep, constituting a breed, in the pro-
per sense of the term, but tended to produce that delicacy of
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THE SHEEP.
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form, which experience shews to be connected with the power
of secreting fat, and arriving at early maturity, or what may
be termed premature age. The system, acted upon for suc-
cessive generations, tended likewise to render the animals
more the creatures of an artificial condition, more delicate in
temperament as well as in form, less prolific of lambs, and
less capable of supplying milk to their offspring. It cannot
be supposed that Bakewell was unobservant of these effects;
but he appears to have regarded them as being of a con-
sideration secondary to the property of producing, in the
shortest time, the largest quantity of fat, with the least con-
sumption of herbage and other food. That this was the
main result at which he aimed, all his practice shews; and
his success corresponded with the skill and perseverance
with which he applied his principles to practice. His stock
became gradually known and appreciated in the country
around him; but it was not until after the lapse of nearly a
quarter of a century, that it arrived at that general estima-
tion in which it was afterwards held. He early conceived the
idea of letting his rams for the season, in place of selling
them. The plan was ridiculed and opposed in every way,
and it was not until after the labour of many years, that he
succeeded in establishing it as a regular system. It is said
that his rams were first let, in 1760, at 17s. 6d. each; but this
was certainly before his breed had arrived at its ultimate
perfection. His usual price afterwards became a guinea,
and, in rarer cases, two or three; but the price rapidly ad-
vanced with the increasing reputation of his stock. In
1784-5, the price had risen to about 100 guineas for his best
rams. In 1786, he made about 1000 guineas by the letting
of his stock; and in 1789, he made 1200 guineas by three
rams, and 2000 guineas by seven; and in the same year, he made
3000 guineas more by letting the remainder of his rams to the
Dishley Society, then instituted. These facts deserve to be re-
corded, as manifesting the high estimation in which the breed
of Bakewell was held as soon as its properties became known.
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THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
193
Controversies have arisen regarding the parent stock from
which Bakewell produced his breed. He himself chose to
adopt a studied mystery on the subject. Some have imagined
that the basis of his breed was the Old Lincolnshire, some
the Teeswater, some the Warwickshire, while others con-
tend that he crossed with the Ryeland, the South Down, the
Charnwood Forest, or some other of the Short-woolled breeds,
in order to communicate that fineness of bone, and peculiar
character of wool, distinctive of his breed. But whatever
were the first experiments of Bakewell, the knowledge of
them perished with the individual; and there is nothing in
the breed, as it was at length perfected, which can enable us
to explain the progressive steps by which its characters were
acquired. In one of his letters to Mr Chaplin, he admits that
he had at one time made use of Old Lincoln rams; but he
states, at the same time, that he had not done so for many
years, and he ever afterwards expressed the utmost dislike
of this coarse and unthrifty breed, which was, indeed, the
most removed of any other from the model which his own
principles of breeding led him to adopt. Neither was the
Old Teeswater one which presented the characters required.
This, it has been seen, was a very large and coarse breed,
and not one, therefore, which Bakewell was likely to select
as the basis of a stock, of which he sought rather to diminish
than increase the size. Besides, the wool of the Old Tees-
water Breed was extremely long in the filaments, and differed
greatly in this respect from the shorter and finer fleece ac-
quired by the New Leicesters. All the presumption is, that
the basis of Bakewell's breed was the Long-woolled Sheep
of the midland counties, from which he may be supposed to
have made such selection as suited his purposes. On his
obtaining his paternal farm, he would necessarily succeed to
a stock of sheep similar to that which existed on the neigh-
bouring farms, and it would only be in accordance with the
practice of ordinary caution, that he should endeavour to im-
prove this stock rather than at once adopt another of a dif-
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THE SHEEP.
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ferent race. It is commonly believed, that a little before
the improvements of Bakewell, one breeder, at least, in the
county of Leicester, had acquired the distinction of possessing
superior sheep, and disposed of rams for the purpose of breed-
ing. Whether Bakewell owed anything to the anterior im-
provements of others, is unknown. From what we know of
his character and habits, he himself would have been the last
to acknowledge his obligations to another breeder; but he
used such precautions for concealing the sources from which
he derived the means of improving his animals, as may well
favour the suspicion that he was not wholly without obliga-
tions to the labours of his cotemporaries or predecessors.
With respect to the opinion that he crossed his stock with
the Short-woolled Sheep, it rests upon no actual knowledge
of the fact. It appears that he made numerous experiments
in the early period of his breeding; and it is not impossible
that he may have made a partial cross by such animals as
seemed to suit his purposes, without reference to their origin.
A certain darkness of colour in the skin of the face of his
Sheep may seem to favour the opinion that he had made a
cross with some of the dark-faced Down or Forest breeds;
but we do not know whether the Old Leicesters did not, like
the Southam Notts, and some others of the larger varieties,
possess something of this peculiarity. With regard to the
delicacy of form, and shortness of wool, of the New Leicester
Breed, it is not necessary to account for their existence by
resorting to the supposition of a mixture of blood with any of
the short-woolled races. Both characters were necessarily
communicated by the system of breeding which Bakewell
pursued. Not only did he regard the growth of wool as
a secondary effect, but he appears to have entertained the
opinion, that the production of a large quantity of wool was
inconsistent with the property of yielding much fat ; and this
opinion would necessarily conduct him to the choice of ani-
mals for breeding which produced a lighter fleece. Besides,
the Sheep of the midland counties did not always produce
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195
wool which was long in the staple. A part of the counties of
Leicester and Warwick lies in a calcareous country favour-
able to the production of the shorter and finer kinds of wool;
and the wool of the Old Warwickshire Sheep, in particular,
appears to have closely approximated to that of the modern
Leicesters. There is no reason, therefore, to assume, from
any of the characters presented by the wool of the New Lei-
cester Breed, that the parent stock was any other than the
Long-woolled Sheep of the midland counties.
THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
The New Leicester Sheep, though smaller in bulk of body
than the long-woolled races which they supplanted, are yet
of the larger class of Sheep with respect to weight. Their
limbs being shorter, and their bodies more round, compact,
and deep, than in the former breeds, they are of greater
weight in proportion to their apparent bulk. Their actual
size is various, depending on the wishes of breeders to pos-
sess larger or smaller animals, and on the fertility, natural
or acquired, of the districts in which they are reared. In
general, it may be said that the wethers weigh from 25 lb.
to 35 lb. the quarter, when fattened in their second year.
The wool is of medium length, having a staple of from six to
eight inches, and weighing about 74 lb. the fleece in Sheep
of fifteen or sixteen months old. It is too short and weak
·
to be admitted into the first class of combing wools, and, in
the properties which fit it for the manufacture of worsted, it
falls short of the wool of the older breeds. Nevertheless it
is more evenly grown, is soft, and of good colour, and pos-
sesses several properties of long wool in perfection.
But it is neither in the size or weight of body, nor in the
productiveness or quality of the wool, that the real value of
the New Leicester Breed consists. Its value and superiority
are to be found in its more perfect form, and aptitude to
fatten at an early age, in which respects it surpasses all the
other varieties of Long-woolled Sheep which have been culti-
vated in this country, or naturalized in any part of Europe.
The New Leicester Sheep can, under the ordinary manage-
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THE SHEEP.
196
ment of the farm, be readily fattened for human food at the
age of fifteen months, that is, when, in the language of far-
mers, they are shearlings; and in no case of practice do they
need to exceed the age of two years and a few months,
whereas the older breeds were not usually fattened for the
market until late in their third, or until their fourth year.
The females are not regarded as so prolific as those of the
older breeds, nor are the lambs so hardy or quickly covered
with a coat of wool, nor are the mothers such good nurses;
and yet the breed is not deficient in these properties, except
where such refinement of breeding has been practised as to
produce a too delicate temperament. In this breed the hind
and fore quarters more nearly approximate in weight than
in the less cultivated varieties. The fatty tissue, too, is
more equally spread over the external muscles, and tends to
accumulate less about the kidneys and internal parts, and
hence the breed has never been so much a favourite with the
butchers as the less improved races. The flesh, as of all the
long-woolled breeds, is more lax in the fibre, and less deli-
cate, than that of the smaller breeds of the mountains,
forests, and downs; but the mutton does not seem in any
respect to have been inferior to that of the older breeds of
the same class.
1.
Mr Bakewell, it has been said, early conceived the idea of
letting his rams on hire in place of selling them to the
breeders. The animals were exhibited at Dishley at a stated
time, in the latter end of July, or beginning of August; and
the hirers put their own valuation on the rams they selected,
and the offers were accepted or refused, without any auction.
Certain conditions were understood or stipulated for, but no
written legal agreement was made, every thing being trusted
to the honour of the parties. About the middle of Septem-
ber, the animals were sent to their destination in carriages
hung on springs, and about the beginning of December, the
hirer was expected to return them in safety; but if a ram
died from any cause while in the hands of the hirer, the loss
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197
fell upon the owner. The whole system manifested a won-
derful degree of confidence and mutual good faith, and con-
tributed, in an essential degree, to the diffusion of the new
breed. Contemporaries and successors of Mr Bakewell
adopted the same plan, and the sums expended by distant
breeders in procuring, by this simple mean, the new breed of
which Leicester was the centre, were surprisingly great.
Up to the present time the practice has been carried on by
breeders of the first distinction, some of whom acquired the
unrivalled stock of Bakewell after his death, and are under-
stood to have preserved it unmixed to the present hour. Nor
was this system long confined to the county of Leicester, but
it extended to other parts of the kingdom. Mr Culley, who
had been a pupil of Bakewell's, early established it on the
large scale in the north of England, in the county of North-
umberland, and various breeders, whose stock had acquired
the necessary breeding and reputation, adopted it; so that
there was scarcely a district of the Long-woolled Sheep in
which one or more breeders did not pursue the practice of
letting rams. Not only did the system facilitate the diffu-
sion of the new breed, but it contributed in an eminent de-
gree to maintain its purity and goodness. It even enabled
a certain class of breeders to direct attention to the rearing
of rams as a distinct profession, and thus created a division
of labour in the practice of breeding singularly conducive to
its perfection.
THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
The formation of the New Leicester Breed of Sheep may
be said to form an era in the economical history of the do-
mestic animals, and may well confer distinction on the indi-
vidual who had talent to conceive, and fortitude to perfect,
the design. The result was not only the creation of a breed
by art, but the establishment of principles which are of uni-
versal application in the production of animals for human
food. It has shewn that there are other properties than
size, and the kind and abundance of the wool, which render
a race of Sheep profitable to the breeder; that a disposition
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to assimilate nourishment readily, and arrive at early ma-
turity, are properties to be essentially regarded; and that
these properties have a constant relation to a given form,
which can be communicated from the parents to the young,
and rendered permanent by a mixture of the blood of the
animals to which this form has been transmitted. Bake-
well, doubtless, carried his principles to the limits to which
they could be carried with safety and profit to the owner of
Sheep. Looking to symmetry and usefulness of form as the
essential characters to be cultivated, he was too apt to re-
gard the others, not merely as secondary, but as unimport-
ant. He is reported to have said that he did not care whe-
ther his Sheep produced wool at all; and he endeavoured,
on all occasions, to shew the inutility of size as compared
with the fattening property. But a close and abundant
growth of wool, it is known, is connected with a healthy
state of the system, and with the power of the animals to
resist cold and atmospheric changes;, and a certain size is
found, by the experience of all breeders of Sheep, to be an
element in the profit to be derived from them. Every owner
of Sheep is taught by the result, that an animal of a size to
fatten to 40 lbs. the quarter, is more profitable than one that
is capable of reaching only to 30 lbs. in the same time.
Weight of body, therefore, and the nature and productive-
ness of the fleece, are not to be overlooked in the cultivation
of Sheep; and although they may be regarded as secondary
properties, they cannot be held to be unimportant ones. But
if Bakewell carried his principles of breeding to an extreme,
there is no reason why his successors should not now profit
by the knowledge acquired by observation and experience,
and cultivate a profitable size, and suitable fleece, as far as
these consist with the other properties sought for. Bake-
well was compelled, in a sense, to confine himself to his own
stock, and to the blood of one family, in order to preserve
that standard of form which he had produced. From the
subsequent multiplication of the New Leicester Breed,
THE SHEEP.
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THE NEW LEICESTER BREED.
199
modern breeders are relieved from all necessity of this kind.
They can obtain individuals of the form required from dif-
ferent flocks of the same breed, and need never, by a con-
tinued adherence to the blood of one family, produce animals
too delicate in form, deficient in weight of wool, and in that
hardiness and soundness of constitution, which are even more
necessary than the perfectness of individual form, for the
safety and profit of the breeder. The sacrifice of the second-
ary properties which Bakewell did not hesitate to make, was
the result of circumstances which do not now exist; and the
present feeling of breeders is to maintain a larger and more
robust form of the animals than seemed good to the earlier
improvers. Thus, the Cotswold Breed of Sheep, though far
inferior in form to the pure New Leicester, is maintaining a
successful rivalship with it over a large extent of country:
the lowland Gloucestershire, the Devonshire, and many of
the Lincolnshire agriculturists, are propagating a larger race
than is approved of by the Leicester breeders; and even in
the north of England, where the Leicester Breed was early
established, a heavier race is preferred to the purest of the
Dishley stock.
But whatever diversities of opinion may exist with respect
to the degree of breeding, as it may be called, which it is ad-
visable to communicate to the several varieties of Sheep now
comprehended under the common denomination of Leicester,
no doubt can be entertained of the great benefits conferred on
the breeders of the country by the formation and diffusion of
the beautiful breed of Bakewell. Its superiority over all the
older races of the long-woolled districts is attested by the
degree in which it supplanted them, and the eagerness with
which it was everywhere received. In less than fifty years
from the first establishment of the shows of Dishley, it had
either superseded all the older Long-woolled Sheep of the
country, or been so mingled with them in blood, as to have
effaced their former distinctions. Not only did it supplant
or become mixed with the older races of heavy Sheep, but,
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after a time, it effected an important change in a great part
of the lighter Sheep of the country. In many cases it has
become mixed in blood with them, and in many it has caused
a substitution of the heavy-woolled for the light, over large
tracts of the country, so that entire districts, which, little
more than twenty years ago, were stocked with the Short-
woolled breeds, have not now one flock of them remaining.
In every way, then, the diffusion of this breed has added to
the value of the live stock of the country. It has caused a
superior race of animals to be reared in former districts of
the Down and Forest Breeds, and extended over the richer
country one more suited for general cultivation than the
older and coarser races; and has been the means of commu-
nicating to the former varieties of Long-woolled Sheep a uni-
formity of character eminently favourable to further improve-
ment, by multiplying the animals of a given breed which can
be selected for breeding. It has even improved the agricul-
⚫ture of the country in an eminent degree, by calling forth a
larger production of forage and herbage plants, for supplying
food to a superior race of animals.
THE SHEEP.
Objections have been, from time to time, urged against the
extension of this breed, founded on its supposed inferiority
in size, in growth of wool, in hardiness, and fecundity of the
females, to some of the breeds which it supplanted. The
inferiority in size has been generally exaggerated with rela-
tion to this breed, and in all cases it produces a greater
weight with the same bulk of body; and even where it is
deficient in weight, there has been a compensation in that
tendency to arrive at an earlier maturity, in which it emi-
nently excels all the races which have preceded it. If the
wool shall be less in quantity, or inferior in certain proper-
ties, to that of some of the older varieties, it must not be for-
gotten, that the most esteemed of these varieties, as the Old
Lincoln and Teeswater, were not suited for that extensive
diffusion, which has given so great a public importance to
the breed of Bakewell, and that the extension of the new
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breed has added prodigiously to the total quantity and value
of the long wool produced in the country. With respect to
the supposed deficiency of this breed in hardiness, and fecun-
dity of the females, it is to be observed, that this, where it
really exists, is the result of that refinement in breeding
which would equally affect any race of Sheep subjected to
the same treatment. The more we remove a race of animals
from the natural state, by stimulating the system to an early
maturity, the more we may expect them to lose that hardi-
ness which is proper to them in a ruder condition. The New
Leicester is a breed of artificial formation, and its establish-
ment and maintenance infer a certain advancement in agri-
culture, the due supply of cultivated food, and that care of
the animals which their acquired habits and temperament
demand. It is not denied that the New Leicester breed is
more delicate and less prolific than some of the coarser races
whose places it has taken; but these defects exist only in
a degree to be injurious, where refinement of breeding is
carried to an excess which every breeder has now the power
to avoid.
THE SHEEP.
The BREEDS OF SHEEP of the British Islands which have
been generally referred to, or of which particular descrip-
tions have been given, may be thus classified :—
1. The Zetland and Orkney Breeds, of the variety brevi-
cauda.-They inhabit the most northerly islands, and are dis-
tinguished by their bearing a fleece of fine soft wool, largely
intermixed with hairs. The purest of them are found on the
remoter Islands of Zetland. They are hardy, wild, and of
small size; and do not merit extension beyond the countries
which they now occupy.
2. The Older Soft-woolled Sheep of Scotland.—They are
of small weight, have long lank bodies, and bear a short soft
wool, fitted for the manufacture of flannels, but deficient in
the property of felting. These varieties are now nearly ex-
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tinct, or confined to the remoter islands and islets of the
Hebrides.
3. The Sheep of Wales, which may be divided into two
classes; 1. The Sheep of the Higher Mountains, horned, of
diminutive size, usually of a dark colour, and bearing soft
wool, largely intermixed with hairs; 2. The Hornless Soft-
woolled Sheep, likewise of small size, bearing wool of a soft
texture, fitted for the manufacture of hose and flannels, but
deficient in the property of felting. To the typical forms of
these races all the Mountain Sheep of Wales are more or
less allied. They are valued for the delicacy of their mut-
ton, and are carried in numbers to the lower country, for the
purpose of being fattened. They are hardy, but impatient of
restraint, when removed from their native pastures. Allied
in their characters to the Mountain Breeds of Wales are the
Sheep of the Wicklow Mountains, now disappearing in the
pure state, from the effects of crossing.
4. The Kerry and other Sheep of the high lands of Ire-
land, wild, slow in arriving at maturity, and producing a
fleece of medium softness, but irregular, and mixed with
hairs.
THE SHEEP.
5. The Black-faced Heath Breed, inhabiting the central
chain of heathy mountains and moors which extend from
Derbyshire northward. These sheep have long been carried
to the mountains of Scotland, and now extend all northward
through the northern Highlands to the Pentland Firth. They
are armed with horns, and are the hardiest and boldest of
all the races of British Sheep. They have dark-coloured
faces and limbs, and bear shaggy fleeces of coarse wool.
Their characters change when they are naturalized in the less
In the lower heaths of York-
rugged mountains and moors.
shire, they approximate, through the coarse and unthrifty
breed of Penistone, to the larger sheep of the plains: in other
cases they pass into the finer-woolled sheep of the Commons,
lower Heaths, and Forests. They produce a juicy and well-
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flavoured mutton, and are brought in great numbers from the
mountains, to be fattened in the lower country.
6. The Cheviot Breed, derived from a limited tract of
green hills in the north of England, and thence widely spread
over the mountainous districts of Scotland, and some parts
of England and Ireland. These sheep somewhat exceed in
weight the Black-faced Heath Breed: they are less robust,
and less suited to a country of heaths, but yet they are
amongst the hardiest of our Mountain Sheep. They are des-
titute of horns in both sexes, and bear wool of medium fine-
ness, fitted for preparation by the card, and employed in the
manufacture of the coarser woollen cloths.
THE SHEEP.
7. The Old Norfolk Breed, reared in the heathy parts of
the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge.—They are
a strong and agile race of Sheep, armed with horns in both
sexes, bear a clothing of wool of medium length, and are
greatly valued for the excellence of their mutton. They pro-
duce admirable crosses with the more highly cultivated
breeds, and especially with the South Down, from which
cause they are rapidly diminishing in numbers in the pure
state.
8. The Breeds of the Older Forests, Commons, and Chases.
-These vary in their aspect, size, and properties, with the
localities in which they have been naturalized. They have
often dark or gray faces and limbs, have sometimes horns,
and are sometimes destitute of horns, and bear, for the most
part, a short felting wool. They have been continually
diminishing in numbers with the appropriation of commons
and the improvement of the country, so that few now remain
without a mixture of the more cultivated breeds. In the
West of England, however, are still to be found the Dart-
moor and Exmoor breeds in considerable numbers, the for-
mer occupying the high lands of Devonshire in the forest of
Dartmoor; the latter, a rugged district of limited extent at
the sources of the river Exe in Somersetshire. They are
both very wild and hardy races of small Sheep, and differ
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THE SHEEP.
from the other Forest Breeds by producing wool of medium
length, and more fitted for preparation by the comb than the
card.
9. The Ryeland Breed, the remains of some of the smaller
fine-woolled varieties of the western counties. These Sheep
are hornless, of small size, and of good forms, patient of
scanty food, and productive of a fine short felting wool, which
was long the most esteemed for the making of cloth of any
in England. This breed, from the substitution of the larger
varieties, and the effects of crossing, has been long diminish-
ing in numbers, and is now nearly extinct.
10. The South Down Breed, derived from the chalky hills
of Sussex on the British Channel. It is to be classed
amongst the Down and Forest Breeds, but it has been made
to surpass them all by the effects of breeding and careful
culture. It has been widely spread over all the south-east-
ern counties of England, and has passed into districts be-
yond the countries of the Chalk, taking the place of the pre-
existing breeds of the downs and commons. The Sheep of
this breed are destitute of horns, have dark-coloured faces
and limbs, and produce a short felting wool fitted for pre-
paration by the card. Their size varies with the locality,
and the taste and opinions of the breeders; but they are of
greater weight, and bear heavier fleeces, than the older
Sheep of the Sussex Downs. They are adapted to a lower
range of pastures than the Black-faced Sheep and Cheviot
Breeds, and are better fitted for a dry and temperate climate
than for a cold and moist one.
11. The Old Wiltshire.-This and the other varieties of
the larger fine-woolled Sheep of the central counties of Chalk,
may be said to be now extinct beyond a few scattered rem-
nants. They produced good felting wool, and fattened to a
considerable weight; but they were of coarse forms, and
have universally yielded to the progress of the more highly
cultivated Southdowns.
12. The Dorset and Pink-nosed Somerset Breeds, natural-
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THE SHEEP.
205
son.
ized in the calcareous district of the south-western counties.
They have horns in both sexes, bear a clothing wool of me-
dium quality, and are noted, beyond any other breed, for the
faculty of the females to receive the males at an early sea-
This latter property has caused them to be extensively
cultivated for the rearing of house-lambs. They have now
been much diminished in numbers by the effects of crossing,
and the substitution of other breeds regarded as more pro-
fitable. Allied to these varieties is the Isle of Portland
Breed, of small size, and of little economical importance be-
yond the narrow district which it inhabits.
13. The Merino Breed, derived from the mountains of
Spain, but partially naturalized in England. It bears the
finest wool of any known race of Sheep. On account of this
property it has been extensively diffused over a great part of
Europe, and carried to America, the Cape of Good Hope,
and the Colonies of England in Australia. The individuals,
however, are of defective forms, of tender constitutions, defi-
cient in the power of yielding milk, and slow in arriving at
maturity. For these reasons, the Merino Breed, notwith-
standing the abundance and excellence of its wool, has been
received with little favour in England, and is deemed inferior
in value to the more improved varieties of the country. *
14. The Long-woolled Sheep, comprehending, First, the
pure New Leicester Breed; and, Secondly, the varieties more
or less intermixed with it in blood, of which the principal are:
1st, the larger class of Lincolnshire Sheep; 2d, the Romney
Marsh Breed; 3d, the Cotswold Breed; 4th, the Devonshire
Notts; 5th, the Long-woolled Irish varieties. All these Sheep
are of large size, are destitute of horns in both sexes, and bear
long wool, unsuited for preparation by the card, but eminently
fitted for preparation by the comb, and the manufacture of
stuffs termed Worsted. They are the kinds of Sheep more
especially adapted to the plains, and the districts where arti-
ficial food can be reared in the necessary quantity. They
have been continually increasing in numbers with the exten-
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sion of tillage and the general improvement of agriculture.
Of the several varieties, the New Leicester Breed occupies
the first class with respect to form and the aptitude to fatten
readily. The larger Lincolnshire, the Romney Marsh, the
Cotswold, and the improved Devonshire Breeds, have each
properties which render their cultivation profitable under
particular circumstances. The Irish varieties have not yet
generally attained to the perfection at which the others have
arrived.
THE SHEEP.
}

Um
SHORT-HORNED BULL.
III. THE OX.
The important family of which the common Ox may be
regarded as typical, divides itself into three groups,-the
BISONTINE, the BUBALINE, and the TAURINE. The Bisons
inhabit both the Old and New Continents, and are distin-
guished by round smooth horns, and a musky odour which
exhales from the skin. The Buffaloes are characterized by
angular horns, and a fainter odour of musk, and are natives
of the warmer regions of Asia and Africa. The Taurine
group, comprehending the common Ox and its different races,
forms the most important division of Bovidæ.
Į
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THE OX.
The EUROPEAN BISON, Bison Europæus, which once
abounded in the great forests of Europe, is a fierce and
powerful creature. He is the Brown of the Greeks, the Bison
of the Latins, the Wisent of the Older Germans, the Zubr
of the Poles, and the Zub of the Arabians. He for-
merly abounded in the Hercynian and Sarmatian forests,
and was regarded as the largest of the quadrupeds indige-
nous to Europe. But, like many animal species, the great
Bison of Europe seems doomed to perish under a condition
of countries that is no longer suited to him. He merely
lingers in a portion of the vast regions of forest which he
once inhabited. He is found in herds in the marshy forest
of Bialowieza in Poland, where he is protected by the Go-
vernment of Russia. He does not wander beyond the woods
where he yet lingers, because it is probable the sustenance
which suits him is not to be found in another habitat; and
even in this retreat, he would probably cease to exist, were
it not for the care used in supplying him with food during
the snows of winter.
Bisons are still found in considerable herds in the woods
of the Caucasus. According to the recent travels of Nord-
man, they exist in the greatest numbers from the Kuban to
the Psib. In some places they inhabit the mountains in
summer; in others, they are met with in swampy places all
the year round. They are killed by the natives, and their
horns, formed into drinking cups, are used by the wild chief-
tains of the country. A large kind of Bison is likewise found
in British India; but whether it is identical with the Bisons
of Western Asia and Europe, or a distinct species, has not
been determined. It is termed Gaur by the natives, and by
some naturalists Bos gaurus. It has been hitherto found in
the thick jungles in the western confines of the provinces of
Bengal and Bahar. It is often killed by British sportsmen,
but of the young none has yet been captured. The villagers
have a superstitious terror of these creatures, and cannot be
persuaded to go in search of the calves; believing that, if
***
HISTORY.
209
the Gaurs are in any way molested, they will attack the per-
sons disturbing them, and never quit them till they have put
them to death.
The European Bison is a large animal, equalling in stature
the tallest of the domestic oxen of the countries he inhabits.
His head is broad, and the forehead bulging; the horns are
round, thick, black, and of a hard consistence, and larger in
the male than in the female: the eye is small, and its usual
character is placid; but when the animal is roused to anger,
the pupil narrows to a slit, the coat becomes inflamed, and
all the expression indicates blind fury and madness. The
tongue is covered with tubercles, and, together with the lips,
gums, and palate, is blue. The trunk and hinder parts of
the body are relatively slender, the shoulders thick, and in
the adult male the spines are so lengthened as to form withers.
The skin is exceedingly thick, and emits the odour of musk.
The trunk, down to the knees, is covered with woolly hair,
the top of the head, neck, and shoulder, with long hair mixed
with frizzled wool, forming a mane, and from the chine to the
chest is a kind of beard. The tail comes below the hocks, and
at its extremity is furnished with a brush of long bristly
hairs. The female has smaller horns than the male, and
less elevated withers. Though a large animal, she has an
udder smaller than that of the least of the domestic Cows.
These creatures are ferocious, strong, and fearless of ene-
mies. They hold their heads low, are swift of foot, but are
soon worn out, seldom running farther than one or two Eng-
lish miles. They swim with facility, and delight to cool them-
selves in water. Their favourite places of resort are thickets
near the swampy banks of rivers. In the warmer season
they frequent shadowy spots; in winter they keep quiet during
the day, in the thickets of firs and pines, browsing only at
night, and finding sustenance on the bark of young trees.
The thrusts of an old bull will overturn trees of five or six
inches diameter. An old bull, we are informed, is a match
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THE OX.
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for four wolves, though packs of the latter animal will hunt
down a full-grown bull when alone.*
Like all the Bovine race in a state of nature, they avoid
the dangerous approach of man. When suddenly come upon,
they rush upon the intruder with fury. When taken young,
they become used to their keepers, but resent the intrusion
of strangers, and seem incapable of resigning their natural
wildness, and submitting to domestication. They abhor the
domestic races, shunning them, or goring them to death.
Four young ones, captured in the forest of Bialowieza, af-
forded to M. Gilbert, who had long resided in Poland, op-
portunities of observing their habits. They refused to take
the milk of the cow, but at length submitted to be suckled by
a she-goat, raised on a table to the level of their muzzles.
When satisfied, they sometimes tossed the nurse and the
table to the distance of several feet. The two males died
within a month. The females survived: they became docile
and obedient to their keeper, licking his hands, rubbing his
body gently with their heads and muzzles, and coming to
him when they heard his voice. They hated the sight of
scarlet, and drove all the common cows from their pastures.
They came into season at the age of two years, and rejected
the approaches of the domestic bull.
The forest in which these creatures are preserved, con-
tains about 352 geographical square miles, of which about
one-sixth part consists of rushy swamps, and is intersected
by numerous rivulets, and by one considerable river. The
number of Bisons consists, at present, of about 700: they
are protected by the Government, and are only suffered to be
killed in small numbers, by especial permission. When the
wolves are to be hunted, it is done with caution, and by a
small number of dogs; and any noisy occupations which
might disturb the animals, are prohibited within the forest.t
• Weissenborn, Magazine of Natural History.
† Weissenborn.
211
From the habits of this creature, his indocility, and the in-
stinctive aversion to the domestic races, it will appear that he
is not one of those animals which Providence has ordained to
yield up their services to man, and become an instrument of
good to our race. He is rather to be numbered amongst
those which are destined to disappear before the progress of
civilization and the arts. By a rare chance, human interfer-
ence has saved the wreck of the species in Europe from that
destruction which awaited it; but this can only be for a
season, and the time will doubtless come, when the great
Bison of the European woods will be numbered with those
extinct species, whose bones alone remain to testify their
former existence.
HISTORY.
The next to be mentioned of the Bisontine group is proper
to another hemisphere, and was only made known to us when
the rich savannahs and boundless forests of the Western Con-
tinent revealed their living inhabitants to the wondering eyes
of European travellers. The AMERICAN BISON, Bison Ame-
ricanus, commonly, but erroneously, termed a Buffalo, re-
sembles the Bison of Europe in his general form, and in some
of his habits. His head is large; his forehead is broad
and convex; his horns are short, thick, and black; his
eyes are small, clear, and piercing, with a placid expres-
sion, except when he is irritated, and then the expression
turns to that of ferocity and rage. He is very bulky in
front, and has large withers, to which powerful muscles
are attached to support his ponderous head. The back
droops from the withers, and the posterior part of the body
is
meagre and thin. On the summit of his head there is
an abundance of long woolly hair, which hangs over the
face, the ears, and the horns. The throat, the neck, the
shoulders, and the breast, are covered with long hair; the
back, and the rest of the trunk, are covered with short hairy
wool. The colour of his fur is, in summer, a light brown, in
winter a brownish-black. The tail is about eighteen inches
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long, terminated by a tuft of hair. The female is smaller
than the male, and has shorter horns, and less of hair on the
anterior parts. The male, when fully grown, has been some-
times found to weigh 2000 lb., though the average weight is
said to be 12 or 14 cwt.
THE OX.
This is a very strong and agile creature, making its way
with great swiftness through tangled brushwood and heaps
of snow. He is more irritable than dangerous, and flies from
the sight of the hunter. When attacked by large dogs, he
defends himself with courage. If his enemies catch him by
his shaggy coat, he tosses them overhead in an instant.
Should they succeed in pinning him by the nose, after the
manner of attack by the bull-dog, he spreads his fore-legs,
and brings his hind-feet forward till he treads the dog be-
neath him. He then tears his head loose, regardless of the
wound, and crushes his enemy beneath his feet. These animals
are eminently gregarious and migratory. They feed on the
herbage of plains, and the sedgy plants of morasses and
swamps. They are fond of salt, and travel great distances to
the saline springs which yield this condiment: they swim
with ease, crossing the most rapid rivers: they delight in
coolness and moisture, bathing in pools and lakes during the
heat of summer: in the winter season they dig the snow
with their feet, that they may reach the plants beneath. They
inhabit the temperate parts of North America, congregating
in herds, in the woods and vast plains and savannahs where
they feed. In summer they migrate northward, and then it
is that they are seen in those prodigious herds that strike
the traveller with wonder. The countless multitude seems
to darken the plain, and stretch to the horizon. Captains
Lewis and Clark, on one occasion, mention that the moving
mass which they beheld could not be less than 20,000 in
number. At another time, they saw a herd crossing the
Missouri, which, though the river was a mile in breadth,
stretched across it from side to side as thick as the animals
could swim.
213
The paths they make to the pools of fresh water or saline
springs which they frequent, are often as numerous and trod-
den as the highways of a peopled country; and all travellers
in the western countries speak with amazement of the traces
of their numbers. They retire to the boundless wilds of the
interior before the progress of the settler, and from the per-
secution of the chase. Formerly they were to be found to
the eastward of the Apalachian Mountains; but they are now
driven to the remoter wilderness towards the Ohio, the Mis-
souri, and west of the Mississippi on the south. They are the
subjects of incessant attack and pursuit by the Indian tribes,
who feed upon their flesh, and make cloaks, sandals, and other
fabrics, of their hides. They are often slaughtered in vast
numbers together. Sometimes they are driven in crowds into
ravines, and to the edges of precipices, where they are killed
by lances and other missiles. Sometimes, the grass being
set fire to, the herd is encompassed and thrown into confu-
sion, and all other means which their savage persecutors can
devise are employed to entrap and destroy them. This fright-
ful carnage cuts off by degrees the sources of the future sup-
ply; and the time may come when this marvel of the Ameri-
can wilderness will be as rare to be seen as the Bison of the
Lithuanian forests.
HISTORY.
Of the fitness of this creature for domestication no doubt
can exist. He is the native Ox of America: and had the
country been inhabited by civilized communities, in place of
tribes of savage hunters, a creature so formed by Nature
for the service of man could not have remained unsubdued.
He is far more docile than the Bison of Europe, and mani-
fests no antipathy to the domestic race. He breeds with
the latter; but how far the mixed progeny would be fruitful
with one another, has not, it is believed, been determined.
He is tamed with great facility, and manifests no ferocity.
Numbers are sometimes separated from the herd by the
back-woodsmen of the United States, driven long journeys,
and brought in, perfectly subdued, to the American towns, to
214
be disposed of to the inhabitants. It is said that they are
sometimes kept on the farms of Kentucky, where the objec-
tions to them are, that the cow yields a small quantity of
milk, and of a musky flavour; and that she is restless, leap-
ing the barriers intended to confine her, and enticing the
other cattle to follow her to the woods. The flesh of the
animal is reckoned good, and in an especial degree the tongue,
and fleshy hump upon the shoulder. The hair has so much
of the woolly character, that it may be woven into cloth, or
formed into hats by the felting process: the skin is very
thick, and when tanned, or else with the wool upon it, forms
a warm covering, used by the Indians for cloaks and blankets.
But the chief value of the domesticated Bison, it may be be-
lieved, would be for the purposes of labour, for which his
agility and the great strength of his shoulders seem pecu-
liarly to adapt him. A farmer on the great Kenhawa, we
are informed by Mr Bingley, broke a young Bison to the
yoke the animal performed his work to admiration, and the
only fault his master had to find with him was, that his pace
was too quick for the steer with which he was yoked.
Beyond the range of the American Bison, and stretching
into regions of everlasting ice, is the habitat of another spe-
cies of Bison, suited to other conditions of temperature and
food. The MUSK OX, Ovibos moschatus, first appears about
the 60th degree of northern latitude, and thence is found to
the very extremity of the American continent, wandering in
search of food to the dreary islands beyond it during the brief
space of the arctic vegetation. This creature is about the
size of the little Ox of the most northerly Highlands of Scot-
land. He has no muzzle, or naked space around the nose
and lips, like the Common Ox and Bison, but, like the Sheep,
he is covered to the lips with hair; and hence the genus has
been termed Ovibos, as partaking of the character of the Ox
and the Sheep. His horns, broad at the base, covering the
upper part of the forehead, and bending downward, and then
upward, enable him to defend himself against the Bear and
THE OX.
*
HISTORY.
215
the Wolf. To protect him from the cold, he is enveloped
from head to foot in a dense fur, consisting partly of hair and
partly of wool. The long hair almost trails to the ground,
and underneath is a thick coat of delicate wool, of which fabrics
like the finest silk may be formed. He has short muscular
limbs and hoofs, like those of the Rein-deer, and he is endowed
with great activity, scaling the icy rocks of the country when
pursued. He feeds partly on grasses and partly on lichens,
and he is usually seen browsing in small herds or bands.
His skin emits the strong odour of musk. Though suited,
perhaps, to perform the same services as the Rein-deer, he
has never been subjected to servitude. He is hunted by the
rude Indians for his skin and flesh, which last is hard, lean,
and tainted with the flavour of musk. The Esquimaux, whose
country he inhabits along with the Rein-Deer, cover their
heads and faces with his long hair, to defend them from the
bites of musquitoes. They eat his flesh, and devour the con-
tents of his paunch, which is filled with the lichens and other
plants on which he feeds.*
A like form of the Bison seems to have extended westward
into Asia, by Behring's Staits, along the shores of the Icy
Ocean. But the osseous remains of this animal alone exist,
and naturalists have not determined whether he was identi-
cal with the species of America, or distinct from it. His
habitat shews that he was, like it, formed to brave the rigour
of the coldest climates of the globe.
Proceeding southward into Central Asia, another species
of the Bisontine family appears, with habits which adapt him
to the services of man. This creature is the Yak of the Tar-
tar nations, the Bos gruniens of modern naturalists, so named
on account of the sound of his voice, which, like that of other
Bisons, resembles the grunting of the Hog. This animal is
found, both in the wild and the domesticated state, extending
from the mountains of Thibet, through the vast countries of
* Richardson, Faun. Bor. Amer.
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THE OX,
the Kalmuk and Mongolian nations, to the Pacific Ocean.
In the wild state his chief habitat is near the chain of snowy
mountains separating India from Tartary.
This species of Bison is about the size of the lesser breeds
of Oxen in Britain; but he is of a stout form, with short mus-
cular limbs. He has fourteen pairs of ribs like the European
Bison, and the anterior spines of his back are so lengthened
as to form withers. He is armed with short and smooth
horns, which frequently are wanting: they are black, or white,
or white tipped with black, and bend upwards at the points.
His muzzle is narrow, and covered with hairs, approaching
in this respect to the character of the Ovibos. He is thickly
elothed with hair and wool, to protect him from the cold of
the elevated country which he inhabits. On the forehead, the
hair is short and curling; on the back, long, pendent, and
mixed with wool; and along the spine runs a kind of mane.
The tail reaches to the heels, and is covered with long, fine
hairs, giving to the animal the aspect of an ox with a horse's
tail: hence he has been sometimes termed the Horse-tailed
Buffalo. The colour of the hair varies in the domesticated
race; it is usually black, or brownish-black, but other parts
of the body are white, as the legs, the back, and the fine and
graceful tail. The height of the animals at the withers is
said to be about three feet ten inches, but there must be
great variations in size; for, in the British Museum, there is
preserved the tail of a Yak, which measures six feet in
length.*
The Yaks, in their state of nature, seem to prefer the woods
of mountains to the valleys and open plains, and, like other
Bisons, to seek the neighbourhood of rivers, lakes, and pools';
and this fondness for an aquatic situation they retain in the
domestic state, wallowing in pools when occasion offers, and
swimming when they come to rivers. They have a some-
what gloomy aspect, and are said to be suspicious of strangers,
* Griffith's Animal Kingdom.
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HISTORY.
217
and are even dangerous to be approached. Thus travellers
on advancing to the Tartar camps, have seen the herd ap-
proach as if to make an attack, whisking their long tails, and
tossing their heads in a menacing manner.
This species is the only kind of cattle cultivated by many
of the Kalmuk tribes, and even by some of the Western
Tartars. It seems to be well adapted to the condition of
those elevated plains, where continual changes of place are
required to afford fresh pasturage for the flocks and herds
of the communities. The Yaks are well suited for these fre-
quent journeyings, being hardy, sure-footed, and capable of
bearing burdens. The natives make tents and ropes of their
hair, and coverings of their skins. The milk of the female
is plentiful and good, yielding excellent butter. Thus the
Yak is a valuable animal in those countries of migratory
herdsmen, yielding at the same time food and the means of
transport. A profitable trade, too, is pursued by the Tartars
in the white tails which many of the oxen produce. These
tails are dyed of various beautiful colours, and are in request
over all the East. They form the standards of the Persians
and Turks: they are used in India and Persia as chouries
or fly-fans, for which purpose they are supplied with ivory
handles finely carved: they are used as ornaments for the
harnessing of elephants and horses: the Chinese dye the
hair of a beautiful red, and form it into tufts for their bon-
nets.
The next in order of the Bovide is the BUBALINE group,
distinguished hy a narrow convex forehead, higher than wide,
and by angular, not rounded, horns. The general aspect of
these animals is clumsy, their limbs are strong, their muzzle
is broad, their ears are large and pendent; their hide is thick,
usually coal-black, partially covered with hairs, and in the
warmer countries nearly destitute of hairs. They are fond
of water, and, like Hogs, wallow in moist and miry places.
The female has four mammæ, but two sometimes are not de-
veloped.
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THE OX.
Of Buffaloes in the state of nature, there seem to be more
than one species which have not been sufficiently described.
One of these, inhabiting the forests of India, is of great size
and strength, with horns of enormous length. No live speci-
men of this animal has yet been brought to Europe, but the
head and horns have been obtained, and are to be found in
various museums in England. The horns are of a crescent
form, and have been obtained six feet in length, measuring a
foot and a half in circumference at the base, and covering
from point to point a space of ten feet. The skin of this ani-
mal is covered with hair, in which respect it differs from
others of the genus, and the tail extends no lower than the
hock. It is surprising that various naturalists should main-
tain that this species is identical with the Common Buffalo.
The widest differences of external form must be disregarded
in discriminating species, if such an opinion can be sustained.
This gigantic creature has been seen and killed by British
sportsmen, and is certainly distinct from the Common Buf-
falo. He is the Bos Arni of Shaw; the Gigantic Arnee of
travellers and writers. Another variety of Arnee is more
abundant, and congregates in herds. His horns are very
long, and have likewise a crescent form. Droves of them
are to be seen floating in the Ganges, suffering themselves
to be carried by the current to the creeks and islands where
they feed. But whether this creature differs from the other
in any other respect than age, has not been determined.
The COMMON BUFFALO, Bos bubalus, Linn., inhabits the
marshy forests of India. These creatures are found, both in
the wild and the tame state, throughout Hindostan and other
countries of the East. They run with their heads held in
a horizontal position, so that their horns rest upon their
shoulders. Though more or less independent in their habits,
they yet assemble in herds for mutual protection, or when in
search of food. They avoid the short herbage of hills, pre-
ferring the coarser plants of moist woods and marshy plains.
They delight in water: they float upon the current, and cross
,
HISTORY.
219
without hesitation arms of the sea and the broadest rivers.
They are seen to dive as they swim, and drag up by their horns
the aquatic plants on which they feed. In the domesticated
state, they retain the love of moist situations; they haunt the
banks of rivers; they love to wallow in pools and swamps;
and will lie for hours in mud, or sunk, their heads alone
visible, beneath the water of pools. Whole herds are to be
seen crossing the Euphrates or the Nile, their keepers direct-
ing them, and stepping from back to back as on a floating
raft. Their sense of smell is acute, and they are persever-
ing in pursuit of assailants. They are fierce when irritated,
and will not turn from their enemies. Even the Tiger dreads
their formidable strength. When brought to fight with other
animals in the arena, to afford a cruel pastime to Indian
princes, the courage of the Tiger quails the instant the Buf-
falo enters the arena: he would willingly shun the combat;
while the Buffalo, excited to fury at the sight of his natural
enemy, bends his head level with the ground, that his horns.
may be in a position to strike, and rushes, notwithstanding
the wounds he receives, on his terrible opponent. These
powerful animals seem to be insensible of fear. When they
fight, they strive to lift their enemy on their horns, and when
he is thrown down, to crush him to death with their knees.
Their fury then seems to be insatiable: they trample on the
mangled body of their victim, and return again and again as
if to glut their vengeance. They have a memory tenacious
of wrongs, and will resent them when occasion offers. In-
stances are known, when, after having been brutally forced
by their keeper to tasks beyond their strength, they have
seized the first opportunity to rush upon their tyrant and put
him to death. Like all the Bovine family, they are roused
to fury by the sight of scarlet and bright colours.
The Buffalo is a creature of vast strength, which, in the
state of servitude, he exercises in the pulling of loads and
the bearing of burdens. In this respect he far surpasses any
other of the Bovine family. When yoked in rude waggons
*
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and cars, he drags them through miry tracks, swamps, and
shallow rivers, with a force which no other animal but the
Elephant could exert, and performs tasks of continued labour,
under which the strongest horses and bullocks would sink
down and die. His pace, however, is measured and slow,
and unless he is cooled and largely supplied with water, he
becomes feeble, and subject to mortal diseases. He may be
termed the Camel of a country of marshes, but he would
perish under the toils and thirst of an arid country. Though
retaining, in the state of servitude, the sullen aspect and sus-
picious character which are natural to him, he yet can be re-
duced to complete subjection. He is managed by a ring, or
simply by a rope, passed through the cartilage of his nose.
Much of his acquired docility depends upon education and
treatment. In Eastern countries, where he is used with
gentleness, and carefully instructed, he manifests an intelli-
gence in which no other oxen surpass him, and becomes so
gentle, that he may be guided by a child in all the labours of
the field.
THE OX.
The flesh of the Buffalo is hard and coarse, and could not
be endured in countries where a value is set upon delicate
animal food. His skin is esteemed for its thickness and dura-
bility, surpassing greatly in this respect the hide of the Ox.
It is so tough that it is used for defensive armour by the
Javanese and other people of the Indian islands. The milk
of the female is nutritive and well-tasted; but she yields it in
smaller quantity than the common cows of Europe, and be-
comes sooner dry when separated from her young, for whom
she manifests the strongest affection.
The Buffalo is extensively domesticated in India, Siam,
China, and all the warmer countries of the East. He extends
westward through Persia and Arabia to the shores of the
Red Sea and the Hellespont. He spreads from Egypt along
the southern coasts of the Mediterranean. He is found in
Greece and the islands of the Archipelago, in Spain, Italy,
Hungary, and in part of the Russian dominions in Europe.
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In the warmer regions of the East, the Buffalo has been
domesticated beyond all memorial of tradition and history.
But his introduction into Europe did not take place until
an era comparatively recent. He was first known to the
Greeks, and then only by description, on the conquest of
Persia by Alexander the Great. Aristotle correctly describes
him as being of a black colour, and as having a strong body,
and thick horns lying backward: but the Boußaλos of Aristotle,
as well as the Bubalus of the early Roman writers, was of
the Antelope family, and distinct from the modern Buffalo.
From the period when the Buffalo of the East was first re-
ferred to by the great naturalist of Greece, nearly a thousand
years elapsed before he was introduced as the beast of labour
into Europe. It has been supposed that the Huns and other
barbarians of the East brought him with them when they
migrated for settlement and conquest towards the Roman
States; in which case he may be supposed to have been first
introduced into Thrace and other countries of the Danube.
Warnefried states that Buffaloes appeared in Italy in the
year 596; and some of the earlier Monkish chroniclers refer
to them with a sort of horror, as a strange kind of Oxen
brought from Pagan lands. The Buffalo has been long in
use in Egypt, though it does not appear that it was cultivated
by the early Egyptians. Some suppose that he was not in-
troduced into Egypt until after the conquests of the Saracens.
The Arabian Mahommedans refuse to eat of the flesh of the
Buffalo, on account, it may be believed, of his resemblance
to the Hog. They have a strange tradition that the Hog
and the Buffalo were the only animals which the Prophet
was unable to convert to the true faith!
HISTORY.
Of the European countries, Italy is that in which the Buf-
falo is the most largely used as the beast of labour and the
assistant of the husbandman. He there forms the riches of
the poor inhabitants, who feed upon his milk and flesh, and
use him in all the labours of carriage and the field. He finds
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a fitting habitation in the pestilential swamps with which this
beautiful country is defaced. Vast herds of them are seen
grazing in the wild and swampy plains of Calabria, in the
Pontine Marshes near Rome, and in other places along the
shores which the deadly malaria renders nearly unfit for hu-
man abode. In such cases the Buffaloes live almost in the
state of nature, under the guidance of armed herdsmen, who
acquire by habit a wonderful command over them. Often
they are brought to Rome to be baited in the public shows
by trained combatants, who exhibit surprising feats of courage
and address.
The Buffalo owes his general diffusion in the domesticated
state to his hardiness, to his power of subsisting on coarse food,
and to his great strength and fitness for labour. It becomes
a question, whether it would be expedient to carry him be-
yond the countries in which he is now naturalized, to others
more distant, as France, Holland, and England. The ques-
tion, it is believed, must be answered in the negative. The
Buffalo is really the creature of the warmer countries, and
his superiority over the Domestic Ox continually diminishes
as we arrive at countries where the common grasses become
abundant. He is in all cases, indeed, to be preferred for
physical strength and endurance of labour to the Ox, but his
pace is slow, and his action sluggish. In this country he
cannot in any degree be compared to the Horse for the active
labours of the road and farm, while the flesh would be in no
demand, and the milk yielded by the cow would be too incon-
siderable to be of value for the dairy.
The Bubaline family likewise appears in Africa, and with
such modifications of form as the peculiar physical condition
of this vast continent produces in so many animal species.
Although it may be the Asiatic Buffalo which has been do-
mesticated in Egypt, and perhaps along the southern shores
of the Mediterranean, yet it follows in no degree, that species
or varieties proper to that continent have not been subdued.
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Bruce informs us that Buffaloes exist in great numbers in
the woods of Abyssinia. Denham and Clapperton found them
in the kingdom of Bornon, on the lake of Tchad, in the heart
of Africa, and thence innumerable traces of them appear
through all the intermediate countries to the Atlantic. Cap-
tain Lyon mentions three kinds of Buffaloes which are found
in great numbers in the kingdom of Fezzan; the first, an
animal about the size of an Ass, with large head and horns,
a reddish hide, and large bunches of hair hanging from each
shoulder to the length of eighteen inches or two feet, and of
a fierce disposition; the second about the size of a Cow, red
in colour, slow in its motions, and having large horns; and
the third a white Buffalo, lighter in shape, and more active
in its motions than the others, and so shy and swift that
it can rarely be obtained. Unfortunately the gallant traveller
gives us no details, and probably merely speaks from common
reports. The information afforded by other travellers re-
garding the Buffaloes of the interior is alike defective. We
merely learn that these animals abound throughout the
forests of Northern and Central Africa; but of their distinc-
tive characters, no information satisfactory to the naturalist
has yet been afforded.
HISTORY.
There is one African species, however, of which we have
authentic accounts, namely, the CAPE BUFFALO, the Bos
Caffer of Sparrman, and admitted by that name into the cata-
logues of naturalists. This formidable animal is found at the
Cape, and extends to an unknown distance into the interior.
He bears a distinct affinity in habits and character with the
Buffalo of Asia, but is yet clearly marked by characters of
his own.
He is a large animal, being about five feet and a
half in height at the shoulders, and nine feet long, having
short muscular limbs, and a ponderous head. His horns are
long, thick, and black, spreading over the whole forehead
until the bases nearly touch. The root of these rugged horns,
overhanging the red and piercing eyes of the animal, gives
him a sullen and malignant aspect. His ears are shaggy
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and pendent, and about a foot in length, and are frequently
found to be jagged and rent by the sharp spines of the dense
and tangled brushwood through which he forces a passage.
The Hottentots believe that the animals belong to demons, and
that the rents in the ears are the marks by which these super-
natural beings distinguish their own cattle. The hide is thick,
black, tough, and covered with wiry hairs. On the throat,
and along the dewlap, is a beard of stiff hairs, and on the
neck and spine a scanty mane: the tail is bare, with a tuft
at its extremity.
THE OX.
These animals dwell in small herds in woods and thickets,
though sometimes they unite in larger bodies, as of 150 or
more together. They delight in moisture, passing hours in
pools of water, and rolling themselves in mud. They are
described by travellers as savage, treacherous, and vindic-
tive. The bull, it is said, will lurk behind the covert of
thickets, and rush on the unwary traveller, whose only hope
of safety is to reach a tree, should one happily be near. He
cannot save himself by flight, for the furious brute quickly
overtakes him, throws him to the earth, tramples upon him
with his feet, and crushes him to death with his knees. Nay,
it is said that, after having mangled his victim, the creature
retires to a distance, and then returns again and again with
increased ferocity, as if to gratify, by repetition, his thirst of .
vengeance. The account of the animal's lurking behind
thickets is doubtless incorrect, for it is not the nature of her-
bivorous animals to prey on other creatures from a desire of
blood. And with respect to his treachery and cruelty, it is
to be asked-which, in the eye of humanity and reason, is
the most treacherous and cruel, the traveller and stranger
who steals upon the lonely animal in his native haunt to shed
his blood, or the victim who uses the powers which Nature
has given him to protect himself from slaughter?
Sparrman describes an encounter with several of these
animals on the Great Fish River. The party advanced within
twenty yards of one of them, when, actuated in some degree
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HISTORY.
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by their fears, they discharged their pieces nearly at the
same time. The Buffalo, who had just turned his head round
as if about to assault the intruders, fell on the discharge of
the pieces, but, rising again, ran to the thickest part of the
wood. Supposing that the shot was mortal, the travellers,
in their hurry and ignorance of the danger, followed the ani-
mal into the thicket; but they found, in the sequel, that the
balls had only struck him on the spine and stunned him, and
been shivered to pieces on the bones. The travellers, now
joined by their Hottentots, endeavoured to find out his re-
treat in the vale below; but the animal, having recovered
his surprise, came forth of his own accord to the skirts of the
wood, and faced his assailants, who, happily for them, had
the advantage of the higher ground.
Three shots were in-
stantly fired, and one, entering the belly, proved mortal.
The Buffalo again retreated to the shelter of the vale, dyeing
the ground and bushes all the way as he went with his blood.
The hunters followed with the utmost caution through the
thin and pervious part of the thicket. Again their victim
advanced to make an attack, but one of the party, from the
place where he was posted, had the fortune to lodge a shot
in the lungs; yet still the wounded animal had the strength
to make a circuit of 150 paces before he fell. "During his
fall, and before he died," continues the narration, "he bel-
lowed in a most stupendous manner, and this death-song of
his inspired every one of us with joy, on account of the vic-
tory we had gained: and so thoroughly steeled is frequently
the human heart against the sufferings of the brute creation,
that we hastened forward to enjoy the pleasure of seeing the
Buffalo struggle with the pangs of death. I happened to be
foremost among them, and I think it impossible for anguish,
accompanied by a savage fierceness, to be painted in stronger
colours than they were upon the face of this Buffalo. I was
within ten steps of him when he perceived me, and, bellow-
ing, raised himself suddenly again upon his legs." The tra-
veller was so terrified, that, hastily firing his piece, his shot
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missed the huge animal before him, and he precipitately fled.
But it was all over with the poor Buffalo; he had made his
last effort; he had left to his conquerors the happiness of
having shed his blood, by means of deadly weapons, which
all the vast strength and noble courage with which Nature
had endowed him could not enable him to withstand; he had
left them the privilege of prating of their courage, philosophy,
and love of nature, and of his malignity, cruelty, and vindic-
tiveness.
THE OX.
The same and other travellers give numerous accounts of
their encounters with these strong and fearless creatures.
M. Thunberg informs us, that, when travelling in Caffraria,
he and his companions had just entered a wood, when they
discovered a large old Buffalo, lying quite alone in a little
space free from bushes. The animal no sooner observed the
guide, who went first, than he rushed upon him with a dread-
ful roar. The man was able to turn his horse quickly round
a large tree, when the furious beast rushed upon the next of
the party, and gored his horse so dreadfully in the belly, that
it died soon after. The two men fled to trees, and when the
furious creature rushed on towards the next of the party, a
horse without a rider chanced to be in front: the Buffalo at-
tacked him with such fury, that he drove his horns through
the horse's breast, and out again through the very saddle.
The horse was thrown to the ground with dreadful violence,
and instantly died. Thunberg, coming up at the moment,
found himself in the way of the enraged animal, but, from
the narrowness of the path, he had no room to turn. He
abandoned his horse, and took refuge in a tree. But the Buf-
falo had now done: on killing the second horse, he turned
suddenly about, and retreated to the covert.
Some Europeans at the Cape, in chase of one of these
animals, pursued him into a narrow path. He turned round,
and rushed upon a man of the party, who plunged into the
stream, and swam off. In an instant the Buffalo followed,
and was close upon him, when the man, to save himself,
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dived. He dipped down overhead, and the Buffalo for the mo-
ment lost sight of him, and swam toward the opposite shore,
three miles distant, and would have reached it, but for a shot
from the gun of a ship, which chanced to be lying at a little
distance.
*
HISTORY.
The following incident is recorded in a periodical work, on
the authority of a Dutch-African farmer, who had been a
witness of the scene fifteen years before. "A party of boors
had gone out to hunt a troop of Buffaloes, which were graz-
ing in a piece of marshy ground, interspersed with groves of
yellow wood and mimosa trees, on the very spot where the
village of Somerset is now built. As they could not con-
veniently get within shot of the game without crossing part
of the valei or marsh, which did not afford a safe passage for
horses, they agreed to leave their steeds in charge of their
Hottentot servants, and to advance on foot, thinking that, if
any of the Buffaloes should turn upon them, it would be easy
to escape by retreating across the quagmire, which, though
passable for man, would not support the weight of a heavy
quadruped. They advanced accordingly, and, under cover of
the bushes, approached the game with such advantage, that
the first volley brought down three of the fattest of the herd,
and so severely wounded the great bull leader, that he dropped
on his knees, bellowing with pain. Thinking him mortally
wounded, the foremost of the huntsmen issued from the covert,
and began reloading his musket as he advanced, to give him
a finishing shot. But no sooner did the infuriated animal
see his foe in front of him, than he sprang up, and rushed
headlong upon him. The man, throwing down his empty
gun, fled towards the quagmire; but the savage beast was
so close upon him that he despaired of escaping in that direc-
tion, and turning suddenly round a clump of copsewood, be-
gan to climb an old mimosa tree which stood at one side
of it. The raging beast, however, was too quick for him.
Bounding forward with a roar, which my informant (who was
one of the party) described as being one of the most frightful
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THE OX.
sounds he ever heard, he caught the unfortunate man with
his horns, just as he had nearly escaped his reach, and tossed
him in the air with such force, that the body fell, dreadfully
mangled, into a lofty cleft of the tree. The Buffalo ran
round the tree once or twice, apparently looking for the man,
until, weakened with loss of blood, he again sunk on his knees.
The rest of the party then, recovering from their confusion,
came up and despatched him, though too late to save their
comrade, whose body was hanging in the tree quite dead."*
These animals, fierce and cruel as they seem, do not cer-
tainly seek occasions for attacking even their deadliest enemy,
Man. Although in herds of great numbers together, and
when they could beat their pursuers to the dust, like reeds,
they invariably seek to save themselves by retreating to the
nearest thickets. The females exhibit the warm attachment
to their offspring which is characteristic of the whole Buba-
line race, and which a beneficent Providence has imprinted
in the bosoms of the rudest creatures. It is for the safety of
the young and females, that the bulls seem to act as the
guardians of the herd. At the season, too, of sexual desire,
numbers of the bulls being expelled by their fellows from the
community, wander about for a season with excited passions,
and then manifest that ferocity which has been witnessed.
The chase of these animals in the forests of tangled brush-
wood which they frequent, is attended with much danger.
Their strong hides resist the rifle ball like a target, and
common balls of lead are flattened when they strike their
bones. For this reason, the balls employed are of great
weight, and alloyed with tin, and even then they are some-
times shattered, as if they had struck a wall of steel. The
Hottentots are extremely dexterous in this dangerous chase,
crawling on their bellies until they reach their victims,
and using, instead of their ancient weapons, the rifles and
long muskets with which their rude masters have supplied
* Penny Magazine, 1832.
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229
them. But the Caffres are in a peculiar degree attached to
this dangerous exercise: they pursue the chase in companies;
and when an individual discovers the herd, he winds a small
pipe made of the thigh-bone of a Sheep, and his companions
hastening to his aid, they environ the game, and pierce them
with spears. The Bushmen, for the same purpose, use jave-
lins and arrows dipped in poison.
HISTORY.
*
The flesh of these animals is said to be juicy and well-
flavoured. But it is chiefly for their hides that they are
valued by the African hunters and the farmers of the Cape.
These are so thick and tough, that they may be formed into
targets, musket-proof; they are used, too, for whips, and
for the straps of harness, and are said to form the only halters
that can be depended upon for securing horses and oxen,
when picketted in travelling, and alarmed by the stealthy
approach of the Wolf, or the rustle of the Lion.*
The use of fire-arms is rapidly thinning the number of these
powerful creatures within the European territory of the Cape:
they slowly retire to the woods of the interior, where they
can be safe from the dangerous weapons of their destroyers.
Nor is man their only enemy: the Wolf, the Hyæna, and
other fierce creatures, are the inhabitants of the same woods ;
and the Lion, it is said, steals upon and attacks them. The
natives speak of having been witnesses of these murderous
conflicts; and say, that wounds inflicted by Lions are often
observed in the muzzles and bodies of such Buffaloes as are
killed in the chase; and that the carcasses of Lions are some-
times found gored by the terrible horns of the Buffalo. A
question that arises is, can these wild and dangerous animals
be subjected to servitude and domestication? Sparrman in-
forms us, that he saw a Buffalo calf, taken soon after birth,
grazing amongst the other calves of the farm, and as docile
as any of the herd. He accordingly expresses his belief, that
the Buffalo calves, if taken young and properly trained, might
be broken to the yoke. But the animals should not only be
Sparrman's Voyage.
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taken young, but should be born and made to breed in the
state of servitude, in order that it might be fully known what
ultimate changes domestication would produce in their habits,
and to what degree they could be rendered the assistants of
man, instead of being, as now, the victims of his persecution.
The next to be mentioned of the Bovine family is a native
of India. The GAYAL or JUNGLE OX, the Bos frontalis of
Lambert, inhabits the mountain forests east of the Brahma-
pootra, but doubtless extends far into the dense regions of
forest beyond that noble river. The precise place which
this species occupies amongst the Bovide has not been sa-
tisfactorily determined. He seems allied to the Bisontine
and Taurine groups, and is probably to be regarded as the
connecting link between them.
The Jungle Ox has the head broad and flat above, and con-
tracting suddenly to the muzzle. The horns are distant,
thick at the base, and slightly compressed, the flat sides be-
ing towards the front and rear; the ears are long, the eyes
are like those of the Common Ox, the muzzle is destitute of
hairs. A sharp ridge runs from the back part of the neck
and top of the shoulder, along about a third part of the back,
and then suddenly terminates. The sacrum has a consider-
able declination to the tail, making the rump round like that
of a hog. The tail descends to about the hock, is covered
with short hairs, and terminates in a tuft. The prevailing
colour is brown of various shades, and the legs, belly, and
tip of the tail, are white. This animal has a somewhat clumsy
aspect, but is yet possessed of great activity and strength.
He is of the size of an ordinary Ox of this country. He does
not grunt in the manner of the Yak of Tartary, but lows like
the Ox of Europe, although with a shriller and softer tone.
In their wild state, the Gayals seem to be entirely the
inhabitants of a country of dense forest, never, of their own
accord, approaching to the plains; and this habit they do not
lose in the state of slavery. They delight to roam in the
thickest woods; they neglect the grasses, and rather love to
THE OX.
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231
browse on shrubs and tender shoots of trees: they repair to
the jungle in search of their natural food, and ruminate under
the shade of trees. They have not the habit of the Yak and
the Buffalo of wallowing in water, but rather, in their habits,
approach to the domestic race. The female goes with young
eleven months: she yields very rich milk, but neither abun-
dant nor lasting: she receives the male of the common race,
and the progeny, it is said, is fruitful.
The Gayals are hunted by certain tribes for their flesh,
but they are also reclaimed to some extent in the East.
They are perfectly docile in their domestic state, and are so
fleet and active, that they may be used for the saddle. Cer-
tain sects in India, it is said, sacrifice this animal to their
gods; but the Hindoos will not shed the blood of the Gayal;
their sacred books informing them that the female of the
Gayal is like the Cow, and to be held in the same veneration.
The Taurine group of Bovide comprehends the DOMESTIC
Ox, Bos Taurus, under its several modifications of varieties
or species. Whether the various members of this group are
to be regarded as species, or merely as modifications of a
common stock, that is, varieties or races, depends upon the
meaning which is to be assigned to these terms. The
Taurine group throughout the world possesses characters of
resemblance, which may allow the naturalists to regard
them as a single species, just as we may so regard the
various races of Dogs: but, at the same time, there are dif-
ferences between the members quite as great as in other
cases are employed to discriminate species. The Zebu of the
East differs as much, in external characters, from the Ox of
Europe, as the Ass from the Zebra; and there are subor-
dinate races so divergent, that it is difficult to resist the
conclusion, that the Domesticated Oxen of different parts of
the world have been derived from animals so distinct in the
natural state, that they may either be regarded as species,
or very permanent varieties.
Of the wild species of Ox, we have authentic records of
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THE OX.
one, at least, which existed in the ancient forests of Europe,
and which, we shall see, is not yet extinct. This animal was
termed Urochs by the older Germans, a word which is de-
rived from Ur, a root common to many languages, and signi-
fying original or old, and ochs, an ox. The Greek and Ro-
man writers employed the term Urus, either borrowed from
the Teutonic, or derived from the same root, Ur, which
entered into the composition of their own Taugos and Taurus.
From the same source are derived the Shur and Tur of the
Hebrew and other languages of the East; and hence, too,
the Thur of the Poles, the Tyr, Tyer, Stier, Steer, in the
dialects of northern Europe. We find, too, terms derived
from the designation of the bull applied to the names of
countries, mountains, and forests; as the Turan of Persia,
the Turan of the Caucasus, the Turin of Italy, the Tours of
France, the Thuringian forest, and many more.
The Uri are described by Julius Cæsar as existing in the
Hercynian forest, as being little short of elephants in size,
and as being of the kind, colour, and figure of the bull.*.
Pliny refers to them as inhabitants of Scythia and Germany,
along with the Bison, adverting, at the same time, to the
vulgar error of confounding the Urus with the Bubalus,
which, says he, was an animal like a Stag brought from
Africa. Solinus repeats the opinion of Pliny. "In the
tract of the Hercynian forest, and in all the northern regions,
are likewise Uri, which the ignorant vulgar term Bubali."
But the great confusion which subsequently took place, was
in confounding the Urus with the Bison, although the dis-
tinction had been drawn by Pliny, Seneca, Pomponius, and
other writers. More modern authors still more distinctly
point out the difference between those animals. Thus, Lau-
rentius, in his commentaries on the affairs of his own time,
writes: "In Lithuania there are Bisons, Uri, and likewise
Elks: those are in error who call the Bisons, Uri; for the
* In Sylva Hercyniæ nascuntur qui appellantur Uri. Hi sunt magnitudine
paulo infra Elephantos, specie et colore et figura Tauri.-De Bello Gallico.
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Bisons differ from the Uri, which have the form of an Ox,
in having manes, and long hairs about the neck, in having a
beard hanging from the chin, and in smelling of musk." In
an ancient poem on a hunting match near Worms, we have
a distinct account of the number of Bisons, Uri, and Elks,
which were respectively slain; and various chroniclers refer
to the hunting of the ancient Uri in the forests of Europe.
Heberstein, De Rebus Muscov., and Martin Cromer, De Situ
Poloniæ, writers of the sixteenth century, describe the dis-
tinction between the Bison or Zubr of the Poles, and the
Thur of the same nation; and Anthony Schneibergen de-
scribes the Thur as differing from the domestic race only in
size and colour. Yet, in the middle ages, Albertus Magnus,
and other writers, fell into the error of confounding those
animals; and several German writers applied the term
Urochs or Auerochs, the undoubted designation of their own
Urus, to the Bison; and modern naturalists, in opposition to
the testimony of the older writers, are yet found to maintain
the same error.*
HISTORY.
* Fossil skulls have been found in various parts of Europe resembling those
of the domestic races, and differing from them only in size. But these bones
indicate an animal greatly surpassing in magnitude any of the modern races
of cattle. They are usually about one-third or more larger in linear size,
indicating an animal nearly three times the bulk of the oxen of the present
time.
Their remains are found in the same alluvial deposites as those of
the Elephant, and other large animals which formerly inhabited Europe, prov-
ing that they lived at the same era: they are found likewise in the same situa-
tions as the great extinct Irish Elk, and thus seem to have survived various
species with which they were associated, and even, perhaps, to have survived
till within the historic era. A question, however, which has been agitated by
naturalists is, Whether these huge animals are the origin of the domestic races,
and may not even have been the Uri described by Cæsar? The question is one
which bears less than is assumed upon the origin of the existing races.
We
can, by all the evidence which the question admits of, trace existing races to
the ancient Uri which, long posterior to the historical era, inhabited the forests
of Germany, Gaul, Britain, and other countries. It is a question involving an
entirely different series of considerations, whether these Uri were themselves
descended from an anterior race, surpassing them in magnitude, and inhabit-
ing the globe at the same time with other extinct species. While there is
nothing that can directly support this hypothesis, there is nothing certainly
founded on analogy that can enable us to invalidate it. There is nothing more
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THE OX.
The Uri of the forests of Europe seem to have rapidly
decreased in numbers, with the progress of settlement and
cultivation in different countries. Anthony Fitzstephen, who
wrote in the latter part of the reign of Henry II., describes
them as then abounding in the great forests round London.
John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who wrote in 1598, states that
the Wild Ox, which he terms Bos Sylvestris, was found in
the woods of Scotland; that it was of a white colour, had a
thick mane resembling a lion's; that it was wild and savage,
and, when irritated, rushed upon the hunters, overthrew the
horses, and despised the attacks of the fiercest dogs. He
says that it had formerly abounded in the Sylva Caledonia,
but was then only to be found at Stirling, Cumbernauld, and
Kincardine.
CC
Hector Boéce, in his History and Chronicles of Scotland,
bears testimony to the like effect:-" At this toun" (namely
Stirling), began the grit wod of Calidon. This wod of
Calidon ran fra Striveling throw Menteith and Stratherne,
to Atholl and Lochquabir, as Ptolome writtis in his first
table. In this wod wes sum time quhit bullis, with crisp and
curland mane, like feirs lionis, and thoucht thay semit meek
and tame in the remanent figure of thair bodyis, thay wer
mair wild than ony uthir beistis, and had sic hatrent aganis
the societe and cumpany of men, that thay come nevir in the
wodis, nor lesuris quhair thay fand ony feit or haind thairof,
incredible in the supposition, that animals should diminish in size, with changes
in the condition of the earth, than that they should be extinguished altogether,
and supplanted by new species. The fossil Urus inhabited Europe when a very
different condition existed with regard to temperature, the supplies of vege-
table food, and the consequent development of animal forms. Why should not
the Urus, under these conditions, have been a far larger animal than he subse-
quently became? We know by experience the effects of food in increasing or
diminishing the size of this very race of animals. The great Ox of the Lin-
colnshire fens exceeds in size the little Ox of Barbary or the Highland Hills,
as much as the fossil Urus exceeded the larger Oxen of Germany and England;
and we cannot consider it as incredible, that an animal which inhabited Europe
when Elephants found food and a climate suited to their natures, should have
greatly surpassed in magnitude the same species under the present conditions
of the same countries.
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any mony dayis eftir, thay eit nocht of the herbis that wer
twichit or handillit be men. Thir bullis wer sa wild, that
thay wer nevir tane but slight and crafty laubour, and sa
impacient that, eftir thair taking, they deit for importable
doloure. Alse sone as ony man invadit thir bullis, they
ruschit with so terrible preis on him, that they dang him to
the eird, takand na feir of houndis, scharp lancis, nor uthir
maist penitrive wapinnis."
"And thoucht thir bullis wer
bred in sindry boundis of the Calidon Wod, now, be conti-
wal hunting and lust of insolent men, thay are distroyit in
all partis of Scotland, and nane of thaim left bot allanerlie
in Cumarnald." *
等
​HISTORY.
In this their last retreat, they were subjected to persecu-
tion: In a remarkable document written in 1570-71, the
writer, describing the aggressions of the King's party, com-
plains of the destruction of the Deer in the forest of Cum-
bernauld, “and the quhit ky and bullis of the said forrest, to
the gryt destructione of polecie, and hinder of the common-
weill. For that kynd of ky and bullis he bein kepit thir
money zeiris in the said forrest, and the like was not man-
tenit in ony vther partis of the Ile of Albion."†
Thus were the Uri of the Scottish forests driven from the
woods which they inhabited, destroyed, or made captive.
Part, indeed, had been preserved in some of the parks at-
tached to the religious houses, their flesh being more esteemed
than that of "their awin tame bestial." But, with the de-
struction of the Ancient Establishments, the oxen were
dispersed, destroyed, or mingled with the common races.
In a few places only they seem to have been preserved
without intermixture,-chiefly in the Parks of the Dukes
of Queensberry at Drumlanrig, and of the Dukes of Ha-
milton, called the Chace of Cadzow. Those at Drumlanrig
were, many years ago, destroyed by an order of the late
-
* History and Chronicles of Scotland, by Hector Boece, translated by John
Ballenden.
† Illustrations of Scottish History, preserved from Manuscripts, by Sir John
Graham Dalyell, Bart.
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236
Duke of Queensberry: those at the noble park of Hamilton
are yet in existence, preserved with care. They have lost
the thick mane ascribed to them by the early writers, and
the females have generally become destitute of horns; but
all their other characters shew them indubitably to be the
descendants of the ancient race. They are of the size of the
cattle of the West Highlands: they are of a dun white
colour; and the muzzle, the inside of the ears, the tongue, and
the hoofs, are black. They are very wild, and cautious of being
approached; and when suddenly come upon, they scamper
off, turn round as if to examine the intruder, and generally
gallop in circles, as if meditating an attack. They are not,
however, vicious, though some of the bulls have manifested
the savage and dogged temper of their race.
Some persons
have been pursued to trees. One poor bird-catcher, we are
informed by Mr Patrick, when exercising his trade in the
forest, was attacked by a savage bull: he had time to save
himself by climbing up a tree; and he had there an opportu-
nity of observing the habits of his assailant. The furious
creature seemed to quiver with rage, and frequently attacked
the tree with his head and hoofs. Finding his efforts vain, he
left off the attempt, and began to browse at some distance.
The prisoner then tried to descend, that he might make his
escape; but the watchful brute was at his post in an instant,
and the poor man was not relieved until after many hours,
on assistance arriving. Another individual was attacked on
a summer evening: he was fortunate in reaching a tree, but
was watched by the implacable brute throughout the whole
night, and until late on the following day. These examples
are remarkable, shewing, in the Wild Ox, that savage, per-
tinacious, and implacable temper, which we know some others
of the Bovine family display in their state of nature. The
females conceal their calves amongst thickets or long grass,
returning to them cautiously twice or thrice in the day, to
suckle them. The little creatures exhibit the instincts of
their race: when suddenly approached, they manifest extreme
trepidation, throwing their ears close back upon their necks,
THE OX.
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and squatting upon the ground. The only method of killing
the older animals is by shooting them. When the keepers ap-
proach for that purpose, the poor creatures seem to be aware
of their danger: they gallop away with speed in a dense mass,
preserving, we are informed, a profound silence, and keeping
close by the coverts and fences: the cows, in the mean time,
that have calves forsake the herd, and repair to the places
where their young are concealed, in order to defend them.
The remains of the same remarkable race are to be found
in several parks in England, differing only from those de-
scribed in so far as differences of situation may be supposed
to have affected their characters. Of these, the most re-
markable are those kept in the ancient park of Chillingham,
the property of the Earl of Tankerville. These appear to
have remained the nearest in their characters to the original
race. The herd at present amounts to about eighty in num-
ber, consisting of about twenty-five bulls, forty cows, and
fifteen steers. The eye-lashes and tips of the horns are
black, the muzzle is brown, the inside and a portion of the
external part of the ears are reddish-brown, and all the rest
of the animal is white. The bulls have merely the rudiments
of manes, consisting of a ridge of coarse hairs upon the neck.
The bulls fight for supremacy, and the vanquished submit to
the law of superior strength. They are very shy and wild,
and start off on the approach of danger; and, when they
threaten an attack, they make circles around the object, ap-
proaching nearer at each time. Lord Tankerville describes
their method of retreat, which is eminently characteristic of
their wild habits. Like the Red Deer, they place the in-
equalities of the ground between them and their pursuers :
they set off in a kind of walk, which increases to a trot, and
then, having got the ground between them and the object,
they retreat at a gallop, availing themselves of the inequali-
ties of the ground in such a manner, that they will traverse
the whole park almost without being seen. The females
conceal their young, returning to suckle them several times
HISTORY.
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THE OX.
a-day. The calves have the instinctive wildness of the
parents, couching on the ground like fawns, when surprised.
It is said that, when one of the herd is wounded, or disabled
from age, the rest will set upon and destroy it; a trait com-
mon to other ruminants,-to the Deer, and even to the
Sheep, in its wildest and rudest state. These animals can
be all readily domesticated. When taken young, and treated
in the manner of the common oxen, they assume entirely the
habits of the domestic race.
One circumstance common to both the herds of Wild Oxen
referred to, is the tendency of the young to deviate from the
marking," as it is termed, of the parents; that is, to be-
come altogether black, or altogether white, or to have black
ears in place of red ears, and so on: these animals are de-
stroyed, and, therefore, the interesting part of the experi-
ment is interrupted, of shewing what characters they would
assume, were they to be left in the natural state. Nothing
is better known to breeders than that, by such means, all the
characters of colour can be produced in any breed; thus the
North Devon can be kept all red, the Pembroke all black,
and so on; and this is done from generation to generation,
by the course pursued in the case of these wild herds.
The other parks of England in which the remains of this
race have been, or are yet, preserved, are at Chartley, in
Staffordshire, at Wollaton in Nottinghamshire, at Gisburne
in Craven, at Limehall in Cheshire, at Ribbesdale in York-
shire, and at Burton Constable in Yorkshire.
The wild cattle at Chartley Park, the property of Lord
Ferrers, resemble those at Chillingham, but they are of larger
size, and have the muzzles and ears black. They frequently
tend to become entirely black; and a singular superstition
prevails in the vicinity, that, when a black calf is born, some
calamity impends over the noble house of Ferrers. All the
black calves are destroyed; and thus, as in other cases, we
are unable to know what ultimate character of colour the race
would assume. This park is a very ancient one: it belonged
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to Devereux, Earl of Essex, and the cattle have existed in it
from time immemorial.
HISTORY.
Those which are kept at Ribbesdale are destitute of horns.
The breed at Burton Constable, situated in the district of
Holderness, perished all in the course of the last century, of
an epidemic disorder. They were of large size,-a conse-
quence of the richness of the pasture in which they fed.
They had the ears, muzzle, and tip of the tail, black.
Other herds of this race appear to have existed in different
parts of England, but they have merged in the common
breeds of the country, and the records of them have been
lost. Fortunately, however, for the inquiries of the natu-
ralist, the same animals are yet to be found in that part of
the kingdom where we naturally should look for the exist-
ence of an indigenous race of cattle, namely, Wales, under
such circumstances as to set at rest the questions that have
been agitated regarding the relation which exists between
them and the domestic race.
The ancient Britons, it is known, when their country was
overwhelmed by the Roman power, made a brave defence in
the mountains beyond the Severn, preserving their flocks
and herds, in all times the cherished possession of the Celtic
nations. Although overrun for a season by the Roman
legions, they defended themselves against the Saxon nations
with determined courage, and only yielded at length, at a
long posterior period, to the English power, when it became
too strong to be resisted; and even then they retained their
customs, their language, and their national feelings. It is
here, as in the countries beyond the Grampians, that we must
look for the older races of the domestic oxen of the country.
It appears from various notices, that a race of cattle,
similar to that which we now find at Chillingham Park and
elsewhere, existed in Wales in the 10th century. Howell
Dha, surnamed the Good, describes certain cattle of Wales
as being white, and having red ears. At a subseqent period,
we are informed that, as a compensation for offences com-
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240
mitted against certain Princes of Wales, there were de-
manded 100 white cows with red ears; but that, if the cattle
were of a black colour, 150 were to be given. When the
Princes of Wales were compelled to render homage to the
Kings of England, the same kinds of cattle, we are in-
formed, were sometimes rendered in acknowledgment of the
sovereignty. In an old history of Flanders, quoted by Holin-
shed, it is stated that the lady of the Lord de Breuse, in
order to appease King John, whom she and her husband had
mortally offended, sent to the Queen a present of 400 kine and
one bull, all of white colour except the ears, which were red.
The individuals of this race yet existing in Wales are
found chiefly in the county of Pembroke, where they have
been kept by some individuals perfectly pure, as a part of
their regular farm-stock. Until a period comparatively
recent, they were very numerous; and persons are yet living
in the county of Pembroke, who remember when they were
driven in droves to the pastures of the Severn, and the neigh-
bouring markets. Their whole essential characters are the
same as those at Chillingham and Chartley Park, and else-
where. Their horns are white, tipped with black, and ex-
tended and turned upwards in the manner distinctive of the
wild breed. The inside of the ears and the muzzle are black,
and their feet are black to the fetlock joint. Their skin is
unctuous, and of a deep-toned yellow colour. Individuals of
this race are sometimes born entirely black, and then they are
not to be distinguished from the common cattle of the moun-
tains.
THE OX.
The same race has been found in several parts of the
Continent of Europe. In Italy a few herds have been pre-
served. In the North of Sweden, the race can yet be dis-
tinguished amongst the reclaimed cattle of the country. In
the defiles of the Pyrenees, they have been observed by
English sportsmen, altogether wild, and marked in the same
manner as the cattle of the parks, and in no respect to be
distinguished from them.
6
5
3
HISTORY.
241
The peculiar colour and marking which this race assumes
and retains in the English parks, has been supposed by some
to indicate a distinction of species. But colour, as is well
known to naturalists, is one of the external characters of ani-
mals the least to be regarded as indicative of specific dis-
tinctions; and, in the case of these oxen, it has been seen that
the character itself is not constant. It may seem remark-
able that these animals, in their wild state, should be all
white, with coloured muzzles and ears; but this is not
more remarkable than that Boars, in the wild state, should
be brown, or Turkeys in the wild state black, with white
tips to their wings. The colour, we may suppose, is that
which the animals tended to assume in a wooded country in
the climate of Albion. Under other conditions of tempera-
ture and food, the colour of the same variety might become
black, with a peculiar marking equally constant. An ancient
writer, speaking of Uri in the woods of Poland, describes
them as black, with a white streak along the chine. In the
North Highlands of Scotland, the prevailing colour of the
cattle is black: but sometimes individuals are born white,
with coloured ears and muzzle, so nearly resembling the Wild
Cattle of the parks, that they would be mistaken for them.
The habits of the wild race have been supposed to present
an impassable distinction between it and the tame; but this
difference assuredly does not constitute a distinction of species.
It is known that the instincts and habits of animals are suited
to the condition in which they are placed, and change with
that condition. The Wild Hog, a bold and powerful creature
in his state of liberty, is no sooner submitted to domestica-
tion, than his habits adapt themselves to his new condition,
and he communicates to his offspring all the habits which
fit them for a state of slavery; and so it is with other
animals subjected to domestication. The Wild Oxen of
the parks, breeding solely with one another, and living, in
so far as their confined condition will allow, in the natural
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state, retain the habits and instincts proper to them in that
condition, and communicate these to their young. Hence
the young calves couch themselves on the ground, and
tremble when approached; but these characters disappear
in the next generation, when the animals are domesticated:
hence the mothers conceal their calves, and return to suckle
them at stated times; but the same thing has been observed in
the case of cows of the Scotch mountains, when left in a state
of liberty. All the habits of these animals, in short, includ-
ing that of goring to death their wounded companions, are
those of the wild'state, and disappear when they are reclaimed.
Thus we have all the evidence which the question admits
of, that no real distinction exists between the Wild Oxen of
the parks, and those which have for ages been subjected to
domestication in the same country; and that these Wild
Oxen are no other than the Uri of the ancient forests of Eu-
rope. That the wild of the Bos Taurus inhabited, in like
manner, the woods of Western Asia, may, from analogy, be
inferred. The Scriptures speak of Wild Oxen, as distin-
guished from those that are tame; and the Arabian poets
abound with allusions to the hunting of the Wild Bull, but
do not afford data for determining whether this was the
Urus, the Bison, or any other species.
The Ox has been domesticated from the earliest records
of human society, and may be deemed to have been an in-
strument, under Providence, for leading men from the savage
state. Although endowed with vast physical powers, his
instinct leads him to yield up his faculties to the service of
man, by assisting him in bearing burdens, and tilling the
earth; and in every age his patient docility has been applied
to these ends. The wealth of the first people was their
flocks and herds: "And Abram was very rich in cattle, in
silver, and in gold; and he went on his journeys from the
south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at
the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place of the
THE OX.
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HISTORY.
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243
altar which he had made there at the first; and there Abram
called on the name of the Lord; and Lot also, which went
with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents." And in the
case of all the early nations of which we read, the Ox was
amongst the valued possessions of the people. He was a me-
dium of traffic, and his image came at length to be stamped
upon the metals used as money. His flesh was usually per-
mitted to be eaten, though, in certain cases, the use of it
was limited, or altogether forbidden, as when he was em-
ployed in labour, or when his numbers were few, as in the
earlier stages of societies. The Hindoos were forbidden to
shed his blood at all; the Egyptians were only permitted to
do so at sacrifices; and other nations were compelled to
equal abstinence. The Jews were suffered to partake of his
flesh freely, on the condition, simply, that the firstling of the
herd should be dedicated to the Lord, and that no part of the
blood should be tasted; but the Jews were naturally abste-
mious in the use of animal food, and such of the calves as
were not killed, were mostly brought up for the purposes of
labour, or the yielding of milk.
History, sacred and profane, evinces to us in what estima-
tion this gift of Providence has been held in every age. The
Bull became one of the signs of the Zodiac in the earliest
period of nations. He formed an object of adoration to
people of the East, as he yet does to their descendants, after
the lapse of an unknown period. The Egyptians made him
the subject of a preposterous worship, as did the Lybians and
other ancient nations; and he entered largely into the my-
thological systems of Greece and Rome. Independently,
too, of religious feeling, a certain respect was manifested
towards the Ox, on account of the services he rendered. The
precept of the Jewish law, "Thou shalt not muzzle the
ox when he treadeth out the corn," which likewise is a
precept of the Hindoo law, was an observance founded on
tenderness towards the animal, as well as an expression
of thankfulness at this the crowning labour of the har-
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vest. The rustic writers of the Romans, in their lessons
on the treatment of the labouring Ox, shew how much of
real humanity entered into their feelings regarding this
ancient and docile assistant of the husbandman. They
direct that the length of the furrow shall not exceed 120
paces, or else that the oxen shall have a time for breath-
ing allowed them before they are urged to renewed efforts.
The ploughman is required to shift the yoke, that their backs
may not be galled,-to moisten their mouths with water,
and to strengthen them with wine when they are suffering
from fatigue. Even the safeguard of the laws was thrown
around these humble servants of the farm. To destroy them
wantonly was a public crime. A Roman citizen, we are
informed by Pliny, was condemned to exile, because he had
killed his labouring ox, to gratify the appetite of a capricious
boy; and other examples are on record, to testify how greatly
the useful services of the Ox were valued. The Celtic na-
tions of Europe seem to have possessed somewhat of the
same sentiments, mixed with religious feelings. Even to
our own day, certain superstitious remembrances are attached
to the Red Cow, whose milk is believed to be a charm for
certain ailments.
THE OX.
The Ox contributes to human support, by other means than
his strength employed in labour, or his body rendered to us
when dead. The female yields her milk in quantity not only
sufficient to rear her own offspring, but to afford a salutary
food to her protectors. She gives it with a facility and in
an abundance unknown in the case of any other animal.
While most of the mammalia will refuse to yield their milk
unless their young be suffered to partake of it, the Cow gives
it beyond the period of maternal solicitude as freely as when
her young is before her eyes. She is every where docile,
patient, and gentle. She remains quiescent with the herd,
or shares with humbleness her portion of the shed which is
their common shelter. She obeys the commands of her keeper,
and recognises the milkmaid's voice.
1
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He scarcely
While the female is thus gentle and humble, the bull re-
tains much of the natural fierceness of his race.
fears an enemy, and is easily excited to rage. He can be
reduced to subjection by the effects of discipline, and made
to assist in all the labours of the field; but yet his passions
are often suddenly excited, and his great strength may be
dangerously exerted. But, by depriving him of his virile
powers, all the native ferocity of his race disappears, and he
becomes as submissive as the heifer. It is then that he gives
us the benefit of his vast strength, exempt from the danger of
his natural temperament, bending his neck to patient toil,
and grazing with content in his allotted pastures.
We are apt to associate with the character of this useful
creature, ideas of apathy, and want of intelligence. But the
brain of the Ox is larger than that of the Horse; and, though
he is far inferior to that noble creature in spirit and grace,
it is questionable if he falls short of him in sagacity. The
bull has been known to charge himself with the guardianship
of the herd, to keep them from wandering into forbidden
pastures, and to protect from intruders their allotted bound-
aries. When beasts of prey approach, he is at the post of
danger, marshalling the herd into a phalanx, and placing the
young in the centre and rear.
When the season of sexual desire arrives, fierce combats
ensue between the rival Bulls. Their eyes sparkle with rage,
and they rush upon one another with desperate force. But
their fury is given, not for the purpose of mutual destruction,
but for an end connected with the preservation of the health
and vigour of the race. It is necessary that the strongest
males should propagate the race, to preserve it from feebleness
and degeneracy. They contend with the powerful strength
and arms with which Nature has supplied them, for the mas-
tery of the herd. But they do not seek to shed each other's
blood. The vanquished yield to the law of superior strength,
and the most powerful assumes his fitting place.
In the vast plains of South America, where the emanci-
f
HISTORY.
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pated herds have regained a certain degree of natural liberty,
travellers have observed that, when a bullock has been slain
for food, the herd surround the murderers of their comrade,
and express, by loud cries and groans, their sympathy and
sorrow, while tears have seemed to roll from their eyes. They
cannot know why the blood of their fellow should be shed,
and his body mangled; but they shew that nature has not
rendered them insensible to the sufferings of their comrades.
When the Ox is merely a beast to be fattened and destroy-
ed,-when he neither shares the toils of his master, nor par-
ticipates in his regards,-when his instincts have been blunt-
ed, without instruction having been supplied, he does indeed
seem to become the stupid and insensible brute which we
hold him to be. What need has he of intelligence in order
that he may be tied to the stall, or driven to his pasture, and
back again to the slaughter-house? Nature is sparing of her
mental gifts, giving to each creature that which fits it for its
condition. What, to the victim of our gluttony and avarice,
destined to unnatural repletion at the stall that he may be
fattened in the shortest time, and doomed to die a cruel
death, would avail the gifts of consciousness of danger, doci-
lity, and the knowledge of what is good for him? His brief
life would be the more embittered, and the bounties of Na-
ture would be a cruel present. But let us look at those wild
Oxen which have never been reduced to slavery, as the Uri
of our parks, or the European Oxen, which, in the fertile wil-
derness of the New World, have regained their liberty, and
we shall find a creature altogether different from the stupid
and insensible slave whom we have degraded. We shall find
him wary of danger, resolute in his defence against the beasts
of prey, agile and swift, and calling into action all his instincts
for his own defence, and braving death that he may protect
the feeble of his herd. Nay, let us regard him, even in his
enslaved condition, but when human reason has aided him
with a ray of light, and we shall see him become almost as
docile as a dog, guarding the property of his master, nay, so
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far departing from his natural habits, as to mingle, for his
master's sake, in scenes of strife and bloodshed.
HISTORY.
In the vast regions of Southern Africa, peopled by tribes
of warriors and herdsmen, cattle abound and multiply, and
form the wealth of the little communities. The simple and
patient Hottentots, while yet they had a country which they
could call their own, were rich in this kind of possession;
and even yet, after generations of servitude, retain the habits
and feelings of their nomadic state. The tending of cattle is
still the favourite employment of their lives. They know the
individuals of the herd, and address them by their names.
They had their backleys, or trained oxen, of which each kraal
had at least six: they were selected from those which seemed
the most capable of receiving instruction, and when one died
or became unserviceable from age, another was chosen with
due solemnity by the elders of the tribe to supply its room.
They were taught to become the guardians of the flocks and
herds of the little community; and they kept watch against the
attacks of beasts of prey. The Hyæna, we are told, however
hungry, would not venture to attack a flock guarded by two or
three of these courageous creatures, which, when in sufficient
numbers, would even make head against the Lion in defence
of their charge. They kept watch against the robbers of other
tribes. They knew all the inhabitants of the kraal, men,
women, and children, and manifested towards them the same
respect which a dog displays to those who live in the house
of his master. Whilst, therefore, there was no inhabitant of
the kraal who might not with safety have approached the
flocks, yet, should a stranger have attempted to do so, and
especially a European, without being accompanied by a Hot-
tentot, he would have been in great danger: the backleys
would have come upon him at speed, and, unless he had fire-
arms to defend himself, or had the means of escape to a tree,
or was within reach of the shepherds, he would surely have
been killed.* Not only were these backleys employed to be
* Kolben, vol. i.
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the guides and protectors of the common flock, but others
were trained for the purposes of war. Even still, these war-
oxen are used by the Caffres and independent tribes of the in-
terior. They are taught to share the fierce passions of their
masters; to rush upon the opposing ranks, trample the men
under their feet, and gore them with their horns.*
Nothing seems more unlike the dull and apathetic tem-
perament of the Ox than a love of distinction; yet that a feel-
ing akin to this may exist, appears from a curious fact fre-
quently mentioned. In the mountains of Switzerland, where
a beautiful race of cows is reared, it is the practice to attach
bells to the most trusty of the cows, that the sound may keep
the herd together, and direct the herdsman to the place
where they are pasturing. These cows are the pride of the
cowkeeper: he has various sets of these bells, and on cer-
tain occasions, the favourite cow has the finest and largest
bell assigned to her, and the gayest trappings: the others
have inferior bells, and less ornamented collars, in a gra-
dation downwards to those to which no distinction is awarded.
To deprive the cows of their wonted ornaments is to inflict
upon them a punishment which they grievously feel, mani-
festing their sense of humiliation by piteous lowings. On
gala days, a kind of procession takes place; the herdsman is
in the van, and next in order comes the favourite cow, lead-
ing the herd, ornamented with her tinkling bells, and gay
apparel. Should another, from any cause, be made to take
her place, she manifests her vexation by continued lowing,
abstains from food, and attacks with fury the rival that has
gained her honours. A certain cow, M. Latrobe informs us,
who had long borne the badge of distinction, had just given
birth to a calf, and was reckoned too feeble to bear her usual
post in the honours of the day, and even the ordinary bell was
thought to be too heavy for her. The gay procession moved
on, but the poor cow that had been stripped of her accus-
tomed honours did not share in the general joy: after a few
* Le Vaillant, vol. ii.
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249
steps she faltered in her pace: the attendants tried to coax
her on, but in vain: she stopped, and at length lay down as
if to die. An old herdsman soon divined the cause: he
brought from the house a bell and collar, such as she had
been used to bear: she no sooner felt the well-known appen-
dage at her neck than she rose from the ground, bounded
gaily, as if in possession of her usual health, and, taking her
place in the van, was, from that moment, as well as ever.
It is known, that a practice of the mountain peasants of
Switzerland, is to collect the herds by sounding a long wooden
pipe, whose deep and simple tones, mellowed by distance,
delight the ear. No sooner does the well-known sound reach
the herd, than they all obey the signal, and hasten to the
place of rendezvous. Should one, from any cause, as from
falls or weakness, be unable to keep pace with her fellows,
she utters loud and painful lowings, as if calling for assist-
ance, and testifying that it is want of power, and not of will,
that makes her linger behind her comrades. The simple
tones of the herdsman's pipe form the well-known air of the
Ranz de Vaches, which is known to thrill like a charm to the
heart of the mountain Swiss, when distant from his beloved
land.
HISTORY.
Such is the creature which reason and conscience teach us
to treat with humanity and justice. It is painful to say that
it is too often made the victim of wanton cruelty. Who has
not heard of those barbarous sports which are yet practised
in the southern countries of Europe, where the bull, brought
into the arena, is roused to phrensy, and put to a cruel
death? The bull-fights of Spain and Italy are yet the de-
light of all conditions of people in those countries, and afford
the evidence of the power of habit to blunt the most natural
feelings, and reconcile us to the most revolting spectacles.
Throughout the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal are ex-
tensive forests, in which large herds of cattle find support,
almost in a state of natural wildness. It is from these herds
that the fiercest and strongest bulls are obtained, by a kind
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250
of hunting, nearly as dangerous as the subsequent combat in
which the victims are to engage. The country people, from
great distances, assemble, mounted on horseback as best they
can, and armed with long staves, terminated by long spikes.
Lines being formed, they surround the herd, and endeavour
to separate the bulls. This they do by galloping to a bull,
and goading him with their spikes; the animal, enraged,
turns upon his assailant, and pursues him; but another
horseman attacking him in a similar manner, the animal
turns upon his new enemy, who is in like manner relieved,
and so on, until at length the bull, tired out and bewildered,
is separated from his fellows. A sufficient number having
been treated in this manner, they are hemmed in by the
armed horsemen, and goaded forward to the town or place
where the future combat is to take place.*
THE OX.
The fights of the Circus itself have been described by all
travellers who have visited these beautiful countries. The
bull, admitted into the arena, is received with the shouts of
the assembled spectators. Bewildered and amazed, he rushes
forward, but is at once confronted by the Picadore on foot,
armed with short darts. The animal rushes wildly on his
opponent, who, with matchless dexterity and grace, avoids
the onset, and plants his short darts in the neck and body of
the victim. Bellowing with rage and pain, the wounded ani-
mal gallops round the slaughter-house, and is confronted by
other Picadores with the like success, until the spectators,
satiated, permit him to be relieved from persecution, or direct
him to be slain. But, in other cases, armed horsemen enter
the lists, and attack the bull with lances. In this manner,
the youthful cavaliers display, to the best advantage, their
courage and address. But this sport is more dangerous and
bloody than the other, for often one or more horses are mor-
tally wounded, while shouts and screams of joy attest the
delight of the spectators. In modern Rome, the same sports
* Library of Entertaining Knowledge. Menageries.
4
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HISTORY.
251
are practised, though with somewhat less of inhumanity than
in Spain. The bulls are of the fine race of the Campagna
di Roma, which are of larger size than those of Spain. They
are cruelly baited, but never put to death, though the less
manly practice is sometimes adopted of setting upon them
with large dogs, chiefly of the Corsican breed, which pin the
bulls by the ears and lips. The dogs, however, are often
the victims, the infuriated bulls catching them with their
long horns, tossing them in the air, and goring them to
death.
The Ox, in certain cases, regains his liberty, and multi-
plies in the natural state. Thus, in the forests of Spain and
Portugal, emancipated oxen, it has been said, are numerous.
They have become more wild, swift, and wary, but have not
deviated from the external characters of the subdued race.
When taken, and reduced to captivity, they soon reassume
the general habits of the domesticated breeds.
In Italy,
great numbers of cattle may be said to be nearly wild: they
are the inhabitants of those flat and pestilential tracts which
stretch between the Appenines and the sea, from Naples,
northward, including the well-known Campagna di Roma.
To this dreary tract is applied the general term Maremma,
which, during a period of the year, is the abode of pestilence
and death, and is thinly strewed with inhabitants, the vic-
tims of terrible diseases. The cattle are under the charge
of armed herdsmen, who, when the animals are to be taken
to the towns, pursue them on horseback, fasten them to one
another by the horns, and goad them onward with their long
spears.
But it is in the fertile plains of South America, that the phe-
nomenon presents itself, on the grandest scale, of the escape
of oxen from captivity, and of their multiplication in the
state of nature. The origin of those amazing herds which
cover the plains of Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, and other noble
provinces, is traced, by Spanish writers, to the arrival, by the
way of Brazil, of seven cows and a bull from Andalusia, at
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252
the city of Assumption, on the Paraguay, in the year 1556.
The owner of these animals having driven them overland to
the Great Rio Grange or Parāna, constructed a rude raft,
and entrusted them to the care of one Gaete, who descended
the Parāna, and then, ascending the Paraguay, landed his
precious charge at the city of Assumption. As his re-
compense for many months of toil and danger, Gaete re-
ceived one cow, which gave rise to the saying, common
in these provinces, that a thing is as dear as Gaete's cow.
Whether all the vast herds of South America are derived
from this humble source, may be questioned. But however
this be, it is certain that the cattle of Europe soon multi-
plied amazingly, found their way to the woods and rich
Pampas, where they increased in the state of liberty, and
now extend in countless multitudes from the southern
boundary of Buenos Ayres, to far within the tropics to the
north, stretching, in many cases, from the Atlantic to the
Cordilleras. They are found in the Brazilian as well as in
the Spanish provinces, in the wild as well as in a domesti-
cated state, and have extended beyond the Andes into the
beautiful countries on the Pacific, where they are reared in
the state of domestication. But it is in the more temperate
parts of Paraguay, and the countries of the Rio de la Plata,
extending westward, that their numbers have become the
greatest, and that those marvellous herds of them are to
be beheld, which have escaped entirely from the dominion of
man, and fly from his presence like beasts of chase. They
migrate in search of fresh pastures with the changes of the
season, the strongest of the bulls assuming the guidance of
the herd. They have deviated little from the Andalusian
type, except that they have assumed a greater uniformity of
colour, and that the bulls exhibit less of ferocity and bold-
ness, as is common with other animals naturalized in Ame-
rica. Their colour is a blackish-brown; their size is nearly
the same as in the original race, exceeding it in the more
temperate countries, and falling short of it in the warmer. The
THE OX.
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253
power of the female to yield milk constantly diminishes with
the heat of the climate, until, at the tropics, it does not
amount to one-third of the ordinary quantity. They are
reclaimed with such facility, that the wildest herds may be
domesticated in a month. They are hunted for their hides
by people of the country, or Gauchos, who pursue them on
horseback at speed, forming two lines, meeting at an angle
in the rear. The person who is behind at the angle or meet-
ing of the lines, is armed with a sharp instrument, of a cres-
cent-shape, fixed to a long handle. With this he hamstrings
the oxen as he comes up to them, the party all the time con-
tinuing the pursuit. When a sufficient number have been
maimed, and left on the ground, the party returns, the prin-
cipal hunter piercing the prostrate oxen with a spear, and
others instantly dismounting, and stripping off the hide: the
carcasses are left as of no value, to be devoured by vultures
and other beasts of prey.
Those cattle which are in a semi-domesticated state, and
are the property of individuals, are kept in large herds. They
are under the charge of a superintendent with several assist-
ants, whose province it is to prevent them from straying,
to protect them from the Jaguars, and other beasts of prey,
and to catch those which are to be slaughtered. They are
caught by means of the well-known Lazo, which incessant
practice teaches those wild people to throw with match-
less dexterity. It consists of a plaited thong of hides, forty
or fifty feet in length, with a noose and iron-ring at one end.
Swinging the noose end round and round with the right arm,
the other end being coiled over the left arm, and fixed to the
saddle girth, they throw their singular missile, themselves
all the while at speed, and entangle the victim by the horns,
the neck, or by one or both legs, as may be wished, and in
an instant hurl him to the ground. One superintendent,
with four assistants, is reckoned sufficient for the tendence of
from 4000 to 5000 head of cattle, often extending over a
space of eighteen square miles of country; and this esta-
HISTORY.
народ
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254
THE OX.
blishment, according to Azara, requires about 70 horses, the
Gauchos almost living on horseback. Individual proprietors
have often enormous herds, some, according to Spix, as many
as 40,000 head. In Paraguay, the practice is to drive the
cattle once a-week, or oftener, to an elevated circuit, termed
the Rodeo; in other cases this is only done once a-year, when
the bulls are emasculated, generally at the age of two years,
and the cattle branded with the owners' mark. These animals
do not differ in appearance from those that are entirely wild.
But, besides these wilder herds, it is common for the owners
to keep a number of tame cattle, which are used for draught,
or for yielding milk, which is partly made into cheese. But
so little do the people of the country understand the making
of butter, that the Emperor of the Brazils, in possession of
the finest herds in the world, used to obtain the butter for
his own use from Ireland, after a voyage of several months.
The flesh of these tame cattle is preferred to that of the wild.
They are kept in enclosures during the night, and permitted
to pasture, during the day, in the meadows and adjoining
plains.
From these herds of cattle are derived those enormous
supplies of skins which form the chief export of the countries
of the Rio de la Plata and the interior. Azara informs us,
that, in 1796, the export of hides from Buenos Ayres and
Monte Video alone was from 800,000 to a million annually;
but, to form an idea of the magnitude of the continued car-
nage
of those noble herds, we must consider the vast and pro-
digal consumption of the interior, where no value is set upon
the lives of animals so bounteously supplied. They afford
the only animal food of the settled inhabitants, who use it
with a waste that exceeds belief, selecting the favourite parts,
and leaving the rest in the wilderness. The animals, too, are
killed in multitudes by the Indians, who plunder them from
the farms, or pursue them in mere wantonness. Further,
the mortality amongst them is excessive, from the attacks of
wild beasts, the torments of venomous insects, which pursue
+
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255
them in clouds, and the effects of the barbarous treatment of
their wild keepers. The time, indeed,
The time, indeed, it may be believed,
will come when those rich and beautiful lands, so blessed by
the bounties of Nature, so cursed by the ignorance of man,
in place of yielding ship-loads of hides, will support an in-
dustrious population capable of appreciating and using the
natural gifts of their country.
The Ox has thus found a new habitat more suitable for the
increase of his numbers, than in the most fertile plains of
Asia and Europe. He has also been carried to North America
and its islands, wherever the settlements of Europeans are
found, and equally adapts himself to these situations as
to those which are nearer to his native climes. In the United
States, he is cultivated with considerable care, and has the
same useful characters communicated to him by artificial
treatment, and the selecting of the parent stock, as in the
countries of Europe, where attention has been paid to the
development of his properties.
But in the warmer regions of Eastern Asia, the Ox appears
with such distinct form and characters, as to leave the na-
turalist in doubt whether he ought to be regarded as a dis-
tinct species, rather than as a variety or race.
He is gene-
rally termed the Zebu, from an Indian name; and though he
differs greatly in size in different localities, he presents every
where the same general character which ancient figures shew
him to have possessed from the earliest times.
HISTORY.
The Indian Ox has a flatter and more oblique forehead than
the Ox of western Asia and Europe; his horns are more
straight, short, and directed backwards; his ears are very long,
and pendent. He is furnished with a large fleshy lump upon
the shoulders, his haunch is very round, like that of the Gayal,
and his limbs are slender and graceful. His skin is soft,
and he is furnished with a large dewlap hanging down in
folds. In his general form, he approaches more to the larger
Antelopes than the Ox of the West.
The Zebu is found throughout the whole of Hindostan, and
•
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256
THE OX.
L
stretches all eastward through China, to Japan, and other
islands of the East. He gradually diminishes in numbers
beyond the Indus to the west, and in Persia gives entire
place to the common races. He is found, however, in Ara-
bia, having been probably carried thither from India. An
animal similar with respect to the possession of a dorsal
hump, but probably of African descent, is numerous in Abys-
sinia and Upper Egypt, extending along the eastern coasts
of Africa to the Island of Madagascar and the country of
the Caffres, and westwards from Abyssinia to the Niger.
He was found in Syria before the Christian era, Aristotle
distinctly mentioning the humped oxen of Syria. It has been
observed as remarkable, that the Grecian sculptors gave a
dewlap to their oxen somewhat like that of Eastern countries.
No conclusion can be founded on this concidence, with respect
to the existence of this race in Greece. The description and
sculptures of the Greeks exhibit the common, and not the
Indian form. Dewlaps are largely developed in all races of
Oxen which approach the natural state; and in copying the
wilder bulls of their own country, the sculptors of Greece had
sufficient examples of the graceful dewlap to guide them in
their ideal representations. In the figures of the Zodiac by
the Egyptians and Greeks, the form of the bull is always that
of the common races, and never of the Indian animal. On the
other hand, on the most ancient monuments of the East, as
those of Elephanta, all the memorials of whose origin are
hidden in the obscurity of the past, the representations of the
Ox always exhibit the Zebu form. From the remotest anti-
quity, therefore, the form of the Indian Zebu has remained
unchanged. Nay, some have believed that the Zebu is the
original type of the Ox, that the warmer regions of the East
are the native country of the race, and that it is only as he
is removed from these that he assumes the ordinary form.
It is more natural to believe that the Indian Ox is distinct
in the natural state.
The Zebu differs greatly in size in different parts of Hin-
10
HISTORY.
257
dostan, and other countries of the East. Like many species,
he dwindles towards the countries of the Pacific, so that in
Corea and the Islands of Japan he is little larger than a
Hog, shewing that these countries are at the limits of the
natural habitat of the species. The finest breeds of the
Eastern Zebu are produced in the northern provinces of
India. There they are tall and graceful animals, surpass-
ing in the power of active motion any of the races of Oxen
with which we are conversant in Europe. They are used
for the saddle, for chariots, for the bearing of burdens, for
common draught, and all the labours of the field. They
accompany the predatory armies of Indian nations in thou-
sands, carrying the materials of war. They are used in state
processions by the Princes of India. They are guided by a
cord passed through the septum of the nose, to which are
attached the bridle-reins, which, when not used, rest upon
the hump of the shoulder. Their motion is easy, and they
trot and gallop almost as freely as a horse. They have great
powers of endurance, frequently travelling sixty or eighty
miles a-day. When employed in chariots or the plough, they
draw by a yoke, which rests upon the shoulder. They are
exceedingly tractable, and become attached to their keepers.
The milk-white colour is esteemed by the Hindoos, which it
likewise was by the ancient Egyptians, as having a charac-
ter of sanctity. Very often rich Hindoos dedicate a parti-
cular bull of the sacred colour to Siva, when he is branded
by the emblem of the god, and thenceforward becomes ex-
empt from the contumely of servitude. He wanders where
he will, and no one strikes, molests, or turns him from his
path: he feeds in the gardens, the rice fields, or wherever he
chooses to enter: he finds his way into the market-places
of towns, and helps himself to the green herbs and choicest
fruits, without any one driving him away. Impunity ren-
ders him familiar: he will take food from the hand like a
dog, and everywhere dainties are presented to him by simple
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THE OX.
devotees. These consecrated bulls are described by English
residents as absolute pests in the villages of India, thrust-
ing their noses into the stalls of fruiterers and pastry-cooks,
robbing the peasants of their little treasure, and helping
themselves to whatever they please. The reverence, how-
ever, paid to the Bull and the Cow is not extended to the
emasculated Ox, who is treated with the utmost harshness,
under the solitary exception of obedience to the law common
to the Hindoos and Jews, of not muzzling the Ox when he
treadeth out the corn.
Examples of the larger as well as smaller races of these
animals have been frequently brought to England, and they
have been made to cross the common breeds of the country.
The mixed offspring are fruitful with one another, and the
In the
characteristic hump disappears with the first cross.
year 1832, a bull and cow of the finer breed were exhibited
at the Christmas Smithfield Show in London, under the name
of Nagpore cattle. The following account of them, derived
from Mr Perkins, to whom they belong, is given by Mr
Youatt, in his valuable Treatise on Cattle, contained in the
Library of Useful Knowledge.
CC
They were bred by Lieutenant-Colonel Skinner, at his
farm at Danah, near Pokah, on the borders of the Bichaneer
desert, 100 miles to the westward of Delhi. They are not
Buffaloes, but of the highest breed of Indian cattle. They
are used in India by the higher orders to draw their state-
carriages, and are much valued for their size, speed, and en-
durance, and sell at very high prices. These specimens
arrived at Calcutta, a distance of 1400 miles, in January
1829, and were then something under six months old. They
were sent as a present to Mr Wood, who was then residing
at Calcutta, and by whom they were presented to Mr Perkins.
Colonel Skinner has a large stock of them, and six or seven
beasts are always kept saddled to carry the military dis-
patches. They remain saddled three or four hours, and if
not wanted in that time, fresh ones are brought to relieve
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259
their companions.
They will travel with a soldier on their
back fifteen or sixteen hours a-day, at the rate of six miles
an hour. Their action is particularly fine, nothing like that
of the English cattle, with the sideway circular action of
their hind-legs; the Nagpore cattle bring their hind-legs
under them in as straight a line as the Horse. They are
very active, and can clear a five-barred gate with the greatest
ease. Mr Perkins has a calf which has leaped over an iron
fence higher than any five-barred gate; and the bull fre-
quently jumps over the same fence in order to get at the
water, and, when he has drunk his fill, leaps back again.
The bull was in high condition when exhibited. He is em-
ployed in a light cart in various jobs about the farm. Some-
times he goes fore-horse in the waggon-team to deliver corn;
he also drags the bush-harrow, and draws the light roller
over the ploughed land. He is very docile and tractable
when one man drives him and attends upon him, but he has
now and then shewn symptoms of dislike to others. He is
fed entirely on hay, except that, when he works, a little bran
is given to him, and in the turnip season, he is treated occa-
sionally with a few slices of Swedes, of which he is very fond.
He was at first very troublesome to shoe, and it was neces-
sary to erect a break in order to confine him. He was un-
willing to go into it for some time, but now walks in it very
contentedly. He is very fond of being noticed; and often,
when he is lying down, if any one to whom he is accustomed
goes and sits down upon him and strokes him over the face,
he will turn round and put his head on their lap, and lie there
contentedly as long as they please. The cow is at grass with
the milch cows, and comes up with them morning and even-
ing, when they are driven to be milked."
But the Ox extends to another division of the globe,
where we may expect him to exhibit modifications dependent
on the peculiar conditions under which he is placed, and
which exert so great an influence on the development of
animal forms. But a vast part of the African continent is
HISTORY.
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260
yet untrodden by the feet of naturalists, and we are left
to draw our knowledge of its animals from the uncertain
notices of travellers, often too much occupied with the dan-
gers around them, to be able to afford us the details required.
We know, however, that the Ox, under various modifications,
abounds throughout those vast countries, is everywhere sub-
jected to servitude, affords milk and flesh to the inhabitants,
and assists them in their rude labours; but of the species or
races, our knowledge is in a high degree imperfect. So far
as we know, the common Ox prevails along all the countries
on the Mediterranean, and a part of the shores of the Atlan-
tic; but how much it occupies of the interior, travellers, the
most observant, have failed to inform us. The same form
appears
in Southern Africa, in the races which are cultivated
by the Hottentots, the Caffres, and other tribes stretching to
the deserts of the interior. The oxen of these races are of
small size, like those of the mountainous parts of Europe,
and are possessed of great activity and power of endurance.
But, in Africa, the Ox likewise presents itself under a dif-
ferent form, having the large hump of the Indian Zebu, but
being distinguished from the latter animal by large, light,
and spreading horns. This race appears in Abyssinia,
whence it extends down the Nile to the tropic of Cancer, and
perhaps beyond it, westward through the unexplored regions
of the countries of the Negroes to the Niger, and southward
again through 40° of latitude to the country of the Caffres.
It thus seems to extend over nearly all the burning regions
of the continent, and it is difficult to believe that an animal
so diffused is not indigenous to the country which produces
it. It may be conjectured, indeed, that the African is merely
the Asiatic Zebu, transported from the East to Western
Africa. Though we have nothing to invalidate this opinion,
it certainly seems to be a very violent hypothesis; and a
more natural supposition is, that an animal occupying all
the intertropical regions of Africa, is as proper to the country
itself as the Zebu of India is to the countries of the East.
THE OX.
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HISTORY.
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261
Unfortunately, the accounts of travellers are not sufficiently
precise to enable us to compare the Indian with the African
Ox; and it is doubtful if a single specimen of the Humped
Ox of Africa has been brought to Europe.
Bruce, on entering Abyssinia by the mountain of Taranto,
describes the bulls and cows as of exquisite beauty, as being
completely white, with large dewlaps hanging down to the
knees, with horns and hoofs completely well turned, with
the horns wide, and the hair like silk. In another place,
he informs us that, in the fertile and populous province of
Woggora, the oxen have large and beautiful horns, exceed-
ingly wide, and that they have bosses on their backs like
camels. Other writers agree as to the great size of the horns
of the humped cattle of Africa. Captain Clapperton describes
the race of Bornon, likewise humped, in the very heart of the
continent, as being of a white colour and large size, and as
having horns, very light, of three feet seven inches in length,
measured along the curve. We cannot say, indeed, that the
mere tendency to a large development of horn constitutes a
specific distinction; but as this is a character which remark-
ably distinguishes the humped cattle of Africa from those of
India, it furnishes a reasonable ground for believing that the
humped cattle of Africa have characters proper to themselves,
and are as much an original race as the Zebus of India.
The accumulation of fatty matter on the shoulder of the
Ox, may not unreasonably be regarded as a natural provision
for fitting him for countries of intense heat. The cultivated
Ox of England accumulates fat largely within the body; but
this might not consist with the exercise of the animal func-
tions in a climate of high temperature; and, therefore, the
fatty secretion may be placed externally on a particular part
of the body. In certain races of sheep in Africa the same
tendency is observed, lumps of fatty matter appearing be-
neath the skin, on the shoulders and head, and in other races,
as has been shewn in another place, on the tail, which be-
comes of an enormous magnitude. The hump of the Camel
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262
THE OX.
seems to be a similar provision for the accumulation of nutri-
ent matter, and may be supposed to be connected with the
extraordinary patience under abstinence from food, which
distinguishes this child of the desert. The fatty hump of the
Ox of warmer countries, may thus be regarded as an adapta-
tion of the animal to the condition in which it is placed.
Another provision for fitting the Ox of warmer countries
to the circumstances of his situation, is the possession of a
light, sinewy, and active form. The heavy Ox of the plains
of Holland and England, could not subsist in the arid climate,
and on the scanty herbage, of the African desert. Hence we
find the Oxen of Africa of less bulk of body, and more agile
in their motions, than those in the temperate countries of
abundant herbage. All over Africa, these animals are em-
ployed in laborious journeys, and for the bearing of heavy
loads. Their appearance and employment in these arid coun-
tries are thus described by a recent traveller :
"The bullock is the bearer of all the grain and other
articles to and from the markets. A small saddle of plaited
rushes is laid upon him, when sacks made of goat-skins, and
filled with corn, are lashed on his broad and able back. A
leather thong is passed through the cartilage of his nose,
and serves as a bridle, while on the top of the load is mount-
ed the owner, his wife, or his slave. Sometimes the daughter
or the wife of a rich shouaa will be mounted on her particu-
lar bullock, and precede the loaded animals, extravagantly
adorned with amber, silver, rings, coral, and all sorts of
finery, her hair streaming with fat, a black ring of kohol, at
least an inch wide, round her eyes, and, I may say, arrayed
for conquest at the crowded market. Carpets or tobes are
then spread on her clumsy palfrey; she sits jambe deçà, jambe
delà, and, with considerable grace, guides her animal by the
nose. Notwithstanding the peaceableness of his nature, her
vanity still enables her to torture him into something like
caperings and curvettings."*
* Travels in Africa, by Major Denham and Captain Clapperton.
263
In the country of the Cape, the value of the agile form and
powers of endurance of the African Ox, are shewn in the ser-
vices he performs. These oxen are used for carrying bur-
dens, in the manner of mules and pack-horses in other coun-
tries. A traveller, describing this employment, observes:
"We proceeded nearly the whole way at a brisk step, some-
times trotting, and at other times galloping, while the three
bushmen, who drove the pack-oxen on before us, hurried
them over the rocky ground at so extraordinary a rate, that,
even on horseback, I found it not easy to keep up with them;
and often, when the surface was so thickly covered with
stones and large fragments of rock, that my horse could
scarcely find where to place his foot, I was obliged to call
out to them to slacken their pace.
""*
These oxen are likewise trained to the saddle. They are
broken in, we are told, when they are about a year old. A
slit being made in the cartilage between the nostrils, large
enough to admit the finger, a strong stick, stripped of its
bark, is passed through, and to each end of it is fixed a thong
of hide, of length sufficient to reach round the neck, and serve
as reins. The saddle is formed of sheep-skins with the wool
on, and the stirrups consist of a thong across the saddle, with
loops for the feet. While the animal's nose is still sore, he is
mounted and put in training, and, in a week or two, is gene-
rally rendered sufficiently obedient to the rider. "The faci-
lity and adroitness," says Mr Burchell, "with which the Hot-
tentots manage the Ox, has often excited my admiration. It
is made to walk, trot, or gallop, at the will of its master;
and being longer legged, and rather more lightly made than
the Ox in England, travels with greater ease and expedition,
walking three or four miles in an hour, trotting five, and
galloping, on an average, seven or eight." These oxen are
likewise used in the drawing of those covered waggons which
the Dutch settlers have introduced, and with which they
transport their merchandise, and perform their long journeys
* Burchell's Travels in Afriça.
HISTORY.
篆
​X
1
}'
E
1
.264
from the interior. These waggons, though now much smaller
than those used by the earlier boors, are still very weighty
vehicles, drawn by teams of ten or twelve oxen.
They are
usually driven by a Hottentot, who manages his enormous
team with perfect skill, and without the aid of reins. He
sits behind, holding in his hand a tremendous whip of plaited
thong, the handle of which is twelve or fourteen feet in
length. He uses it with ease, cracking it loudly over the
heads of the animals, and, when necessary, hitting an offend-
ing bullock but his chief instrument of guidance is the
voice he speaks to the animals by name, directing them to
the right or left, to stop or to quicken their pace, and enforc-
ing his commands, when necessary, by the stroke of his ter-
rible lash. When the team is large, a boy, usually a Hot-
tentot, leads the foremost oxen by a thong fastened about
their horns.
THE OX.
But to turn from the Oxen of distant countries to those
whose economical uses are so important to the civilized na-
tions of Europe, we find that the animals, though agreeing
in certain common characters, yet very greatly differ in their
temperament, form, and uses, with the physical condition of
the countries in which they are reared, and the artificial treat-
ment to which they are subjected. It is upon the supplies of
food that the size of the animals seems mainly to depend.
Wherever food is supplied in abundance, the Ox becomes.
enlarged in bulk; and wherever food is deficient, whatever be
the nature of the climate, his size becomes less. The Ox of
Barbary is as diminutive as that of the Highlands of Scot-
land, because the grasses, his natural food, are burned up
during a great part of the year, leaving plants for him to
subsist upon as innutritious as the heaths of the northern
mountains. But where the grasses abound, and where the
heat of the climate is not sufficiently great to wither them
up during a great part of the year, the Ox assumes an entirely
different character with respect to magnitude and strength.
The largest Oxen in Europe are to be found extending west-
£
HISTORY.
265
ward by the Ukraine, and the rich valley of the Danube,
through Hungary, the more fertile parts of Germany, part of
Denmark, Holland, and to England. In the richer parts
of other countries on either side of this tract, as in the Ma-
remma of Italy, and the finer valleys of Switzerland, and in
certain parts of Spain and France, are also to be found large
Oxen, the size of the animals always being in proportion to
the natural fertility of the pastures. Art, indeed, by sup-
plying cultivated food, can remedy the effects of natural
scarcity; but, in a general sense, we find that always the
larger breeds are formed in countries of abundant herbage.
The British Islands present, in the productiveness of the
soil, such extremes of fertility and barrenness, as enable us
to mark the constancy of this law in a greater degree perhaps
than in any other country of the same extent. Over the more
elevated parts of the country, where the heaths, carices, and
innutritious junci, form the principal part of the herbage, the
Oxen are of small stature: as the grasses and leguminous
herbage plants become mixed with the others, the size of the
Oxen becomes enlarged, and still more when artificial food is
added to the natural; and in the richest plains of all, where
the natural productions of the soil, and the resources of con-
tinued cultivation, are combined, the animals acquire their
greatest development of form. The Ox of the Sutherland
mountains, and the Ox of the Yorkshire vales, present to the
eye a diversity of size and aspect, such as we might hold in
other cases to distinguish species; but these extremes are con-
nected by all the intervening gradations from the smallest to
the largest. Looking to bulk of body as a character, we may be
said to possess two general classes of breeds in this country;
first, those which are proper to the more mountainous and less
fertile districts; and, secondly, those which are proper to
the plains and richer country. The first class comprehends
the breeds of Wales, of the mountains of Scotland, and of the
high lands of Ireland, as the Pembroke, the West Highland,
the Kerry; the second comprehends the Long-horned breed
!
·
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266
and its varieties, the highly cultivated breed of Short-horns,
and the Hereford: and, again, there is a class of breeds in-
termediate between the smaller breeds of the mountains and
the larger races of the plains, as the Galloway, the Angus,
and the beautiful breed of North Devon.
THE OX.
But, besides the effects of the natural and acquired fertility
of districts in modifying the form and characters of these
animals, so as to form varieties, art and a fitting selection of
the breeding parents exercise an influence scarcely less im-
portant. Experience shews that the characters of the Ox, as
of all animals subjected to domestication, are communicated
with surprising constancy to the young, and become perma-
nent by reproduction between similar individuals. Not only
are the properties of form so transmitted, but those pecu-
liarities of temperament which render the animals fitted to
particular uses, as for the exertion of strength in the yoke,
for the secretion of fat, or the production of milk. Besides,
then, the characters of breeds which are the result of natural
causes, there is a class of characters the result of breeding
and artificial treatment. Some of the finest of the breeds of
England may be termed artificial, with relation to the means
employed to give them their distinctive characters: such was
the variety of the Long-horned breed formed by Bakewell,
such is the modern Durham improved by Colling, and such is
the highly esteemed breed of Hereford, perfected by Tomkins.
These breeds, the finest in the world with respect to their
economical uses, although bearing an affinity to the parent
stocks from which they were derived, have had those peculiar
properties which fit them for the uses for which they are de-
signed mainly communicated by the art of the breeder.
Of the properties which artificial breeding is employed to
call forth, that which holds the first place in this country is,
an early maturity of the animal, and a tendency to the secre-
tion of fat. But the production of milk is likewise important,
and particular breeds are valued for the faculty of yielding
this substance in abundance. Before describing the various
267
breeds of the country in-detail, it will be well to direct at-
tention to the subject of Milk and its products, as connected
with the economical value of breeds, and, in certain cases,
serving to distinguish them.
THE DAIRY.
THE DAIRY.
MILK is the liquid food derived from the blood of mam-
miferous animals for the nourishment of their young. It is
secreted in glandular sacs termed mammæ, the number and
disposition of which vary in different tribes of animals. Some-
times they consist of a single pair, as in the female of the
Horse, the Sheep, the Goat; sometimes of more than one
pair connected together, as in the Cow; and sometimes of
several pairs, extending along the lower part of the abdomen,
as in the Hog, the Dog, the Cat. These organs are filled
with innumerable glandular lobes, from the size of a millet-
seed upwards, through which the blood, circulating in myriads
of vessels finer than the finest hair, gives off the milky secre-
tion. From these lobes proceed little ducts or tubes, which,
gradually uniting, form larger ducts, and then reservoirs or
sinuses, which communicate with the papillæ or nipples. The
milk is secreted at the birth of the young, and continues to
be supplied for a longer or shorter period, according to its
wants. It differs somewhat in its composition in different
species; but in all of them it is a whitish liquid, opaque, and
of a slightly saccharine taste. It consists essentially of wa-
ter, holding in solution and suspension various substances,
some of which can be readily separated from the rest. Of
these the principal are, 1. An oily substance, which, from its
less density, rises to the surface, and, being agitated, forms
butter; 2. An albuminous matter, which, by the action of
certain substances, coagulates, and forms curd or cheese;
and, 3. A species of sugar, which can likewise be obtained
separately from the other constituents.
268
THE OX.
-Man, deriving his first nourishment from the breast of his
parent, must, in every age, have been taught by his reason
to apply to his uses the milk of his flocks and herds. From
the earliest times, accordingly, we read of the milk of Goats,
and Sheep, and Kine, as being the food of our species, either
in its natural state, or separated into those bland and nutri-
tive substances which, by the easiest arts, can be derived
from it. When Abraham sat at the opening of his tent, in
the heat of the day, in the plains of Mamre, "He lift up his
eyes, and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and, when
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and
bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now
I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee,
from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched,
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and
I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts;
after that ye shall pass on; for therefore are ye come to your
servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said. And
Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make
ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make
cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd,
and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young
man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took Butter and
Milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before
them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did
eat." The scene, apart from the mission of the heavenly
guests, might represent the hospitality of the wandering
Syrians at the present hour: and all over the East, from
Aleppo to the Ganges, the milk of flocks and herds supplies
to the inhabitants a mild and grateful food.
The earliest writers of Greece and Rome speak of cheese
and milk as a food familiar to every one. In the fatal cave
*
of the Cyclops, Ulysses finds the milk of Goats and Sheep
stored in baskets of osier, the shelves bending under loads
of cheeses; and innumerable other allusions to this early
food of mankind are scattered through the writings of the
+
THE DAIRY.
269
poets, philosophers, and historians of Greece. But the Greeks,
living in the country of the olive, made no use of butter,
and became only acquainted with it from those whom, in the
arrogance of their hearts, they chose to style barbarians.
Aristotle says of milk, that it consists of two parts, the
cheesy and the watery; and it is only in another place that
he refers, incidentally as it were, to the oily matter which
rises to the surface. Hippocrates, who wrote in the fifth
century before Christ, speaking of the Scythians, says, that
they poured the milk of their mares into wooden vessels,
and agitated it violently, which caused the fat part, which
was light, to rise to the surface, becoming what they call
butter; and Herodotus, who was contemporary with him,
mentions, that they placed the milk in deep wooden vessels,
and caused it to be agitated by their slaves. Both writers
manifestly speak of something which was new to their own
customs; and, for many centuries afterwards, we know that
the Greeks made use of cheese and oil, but not of butter.
Dioscorides, who wrote thirty-one years before Christ, seems
to have been the first of the Greeks who suggested to his
countrymen that this food of the barbarians might be used
for diet. He says, that it might be melted, and poured
over pulse and other vegetables, instead of oil; but ages
elapsed before the Greeks adopted the customs, in this re-
spect, of the nations they despised.
The Romans, in like manner, although they made large.
use of cheese, were ignorant of the use of butter, until they
had extended their conquests among the Gauls, Germans,
and Britons; and it was not until the age of the empire,
that they began to make use of it as an ointment in their
baths, and ultimately as food. They lived in the land of the
olive and the vine; and their rustic writers, while they treat
largely of milk, cheese, and oil, say nothing of the prepara-
tion of butter. On the other hand, we learn, from many of
their writers, that it was familiar to the Gothic and Celtic
nations of Northern Europe. Pliny affirms that the barbar-
+
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270
ous nations made not only cheese but butter, which they
used as an agreeable food. He says, that they made it from
the milk of the Goat, the Sheep, and the Cow; but most
commonly from that of the Cow, although the milk of the
Ewe produced the fattest butter. He describes the form of
the vessel employed in making it, which seems to have been
similar to that now in use. The northern nations were like-
wise acquainted with the use of cheese, although some of the
Roman writers declare that they knew not how to prepare
it, which can only mean, that they did not do so after the
Roman fashion; for Pliny himself, who denies this know-
ledge to the Germans, describes their manner of making
cheese, by rendering the milk sour, and pressing the whey
from the curd. Cæsar says of the same people, that the
greater part of their food consisted of milk, cheese, and flesh.
Strabo confirms the testimony of Cæsar; and Tacitus states
that the food of the Germans was of the simplest kind,
namely, wild fruits, game recently killed, or concrete milk,
which must mean milk rendered concrete by curdling it. Of
the Britons, Cæsar observes, that those of the interior, for
the most part, did not sow corn, but lived on milk and flesh.
And Strabo states, that some of them, though they had abun-
dance of milk, were so ignorant as not to know how to make
cheese. But if some of them only were thus ignorant, the
rest must have possessed the knowledge; and we learn,
from other sources, that the Celta of the wilds of Britain,
where the Roman arms never reached, were familiar with
this early food of the people of the East. They had learned
to prepare it, it may be believed, before Romulus drew milk
from the teats of his Wolf, or before the city of the Seven
Hills had a name.
THE OX.
All the ruminating animals subjected to domestication are
capable of yielding milk to their protectors; and all the mem-
bers of the great Western, and even the Negro, family of man-
kind, make use of it as food. It is obtained from the domestic
Cow, the Asiatic and African Zebu, the Buffalo, the Yak, the
1
271
Camel, the Goat, the Sheep, the Rein-deer. It is yielded
likewise by the Mare and the Ass. The milk of the rumi-
nating tribes is the richest in cream and cheese, and that of
the Equine family is the most abundant in saccharine prin-
ciples, and approaches nearest to that of the human species.
The milk of Mares is used by the Kalmuks and other East-
ern Asiatics. The Chinese, who are of the same family of
mankind, make scarcely any use of milk as food; and the Red
Men of America, who are the nearest connected by their phy-
siological characters with the Eastern Asiatics, manifest the
like indifference to it; and, until the present hour, have nót
learned to tame the milk-bearing animals of their country, the
Rein-deer and the Musk Ox of their regions of snow, and
the Bisons of their rich savannahs and boundless forests.
Passing from Eastern Asia into its innumerable islands, we
find that milk is scarcely at all used by the inhabitants. To
the savage tribes of Borneo, New Guinea, and New Holland,
this salutary food is unknown.
THE DAIRY.
Of all the ruminating animals, the Cow is that which
yields her milk the most freely, and in the largest quantity.
This animal possesses two pairs of mammæ united together,
forming a large udder, whereas the Sheep, the Goat, and the
Deer, possess only one pair. She gives her milk beyond the
period of maternal solicitude, and in quantity far more than
suffices to nourish her own offspring. Her milk holds a
middle place between that of the Ovine family and the Equine,
with respect to the production of cheese, butter, and sugar,
and it is more agreeable to the taste than any other. The
milk of the Buffalo is more watery than that of the Cow,
and the cream and butter are colourless. The milk of the
Yak is rich, but, like that of the other Bisons, has the odour
of musk.
The Camel, inhabiting the vast deserts of Asia, and ex-
tending over a part of Africa, yields milk which may be used
as food. There are two species, the Bactrian Camel, having
two large protuberances on the back, being adapted for the
*EX
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THE OX.
272
colder deserts, and extending from the Caspian Sea eastward
through Central Asia to the Indian Ocean; and the Arabian
Camel, having one protuberance only, and being fitted for
warmer climates and more steril deserts. The female of the
former species is little used for yielding milk, because, in
the countries which she inhabits, other animals better suited
to that end are found. Nevertheless, her milk is sometimes
used by the Eastern nations to produce, by fermentation, an
inebriating liquor. The other species of Camel is the trea-
sure of the wandering Arabs, and has so long been subjected
to domestication, that not a trace of it has been found in the
wild state. The conformation and habits of this animal are
suited to its condition. Its broad cleft hoof, covered with a
callous skin, does not sink in the sand, and suits itself
readily to the sharp stones and pebbles with which the sur-
face may be covered. It bears thirst and hunger better than
any known creature: it feeds on the withered herbage, the
thorny shrubs, and bitter plants of the desert, and can take
into its stomach a supply of food for the wants of a long
journey. In its stomach is developed a series of deep cells
for containing water; and when the Arabs, on their distant
journeys, and in danger of perishing from thirst, are com-
pelled to kill their faithful Camel, its store of water is pro-
The milk
cured as pure and wholesome as from a fountain.
of the female is made use of by the people as food; it is
serous, and nauseous in taste to the stranger, but to the
Arab it proves a resource beyond all price in the burning
wilds which he inhabits.
1
The Goat, we have seen, is spread over all the old conti-
nent, and many of its islands. The female yields milk in
considerable abundance, and nearly as freely as the Cow her-
self; and she readily submits to be the fosternurse of other
animals, and treats her adopted offspring with affection. Her
milk is thick, more abounding in cheese than that of the
Cow, and plentiful in cream. It has a peculiar taste and
odour, to which use reconciles those who feed on it, and it is
10
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273
eminently nourishing and salubrious. The butter which it
yields is of a firm consistence, and nearly as white as snow.
The cheese has a strong and peculiar flavour, not ungrateful
to those who are accustomed to it. It is produced in all the
parts of Europe where the Goat is reared, and largely in the
Levant, Italy, Spain, and other countries of the Mediter-
THE DAIRY.
ranean.
The Ewe yields milk, but not so abundantly, freely, or for
so long a period, as the Goat. It is the most productive of
cream of any kind of milk; but the butter which it yields is
of a soft consistence, leaving a fatty impression, like tallow,
in the mouth. The cheese has a strong stimulating flavour,
which increases with age. It is largely produced in some of
the more mountainous parts of Europe, furnishing a food
grateful to the people of the countries that produce it, but
far inferior in general estimation to the cheese of the Cow.
At the limits, and beyond them, of the region of the
Goat and the Sheep, exists a creature, fitted by a boun-
teous Providence to subsist on the herbs of the arctic zone,
and yield its milk for human support, in lands of ice and snow.
The Reindeer inhabits the glacial regions of Europe and
Asia, migrating along the snowy mountains of the interior,
almost to the line of the Caucasus. In America, too, it is
found, but with characters proper to that continent; and
there it is the subject of persecution by savage hunters, who
seem incapable of rising even to the pastoral state. But, in
Europe, the Reindeer has been reduced to servitude by a
race of men seemingly placed beyond the limits of humanized
society, but possessed of arts which tribes of barbarous hun-
ters do not acquire. The Laplanders, in scanty numbers,
are spread over the extreme north of Europe, occupying a
country of 300 miles by 500 on the Arctic Ocean. Distinct
in aspect, character, and speech, from the Scandinavian
people in contact with them,-their swarthy colour, their
dark eyes, and black hair, indicate a southern origin; and
their simple and expressive language exhibits a striking
S
•
SAL
1
*
M14
"
274
affinity with those of the countries of the East. They are a
remnant, it may be believed, of ancient settlers in Europe,
driven by stronger enemies into regions of almost perpetual
winter. They have tamed the Wild Deer of their country,
and rendered it a substitute for the Sheep, the Ox, nay, for
the Horse, of happier climes. They derive from it milk, and
know how to fabricate butter and cheese. They separate
the butter by agitating the milk with their hands, and em-
ploy herbs to coagulate the curd. They prepare, from the
milk, many simple delicacies, which they use with the wild
fruits of their brief summer. In the season of their dreary
winter, the milk of the Doe freezes as soon as it is drawn
from the teats, and in this state it is preserved, to be thawed
when required for use. The Doe yields about the same
quantity of milk as the Goat, and it is rich in caseous matter.
Some of the wealthier Laplanders have as many as a thou-
sand head of those fleet and powerful Deers: the less affluent
have herds of 300 or less.
THE OX.
The milk of the Mare is used only in those boundless
plains of Central Asia, where the Horse can be reared in
numerous herds. It contains a larger proportion of sugar
than that of the ruminating quadrupeds, but less of caseine,
or the matter of cheese, and oil. It yields curd, but the
cream is in small quantity. From the abundance of the
saccharine principle, it readily undergoes the vinous fermen-
tation, and the wandering tribes have long learned to con-
vert it into a fermented liquor, which they use in excess.
They have even attained the art of separating the alcohol by
distillation, long, it is probable, before the alchymists of the
West had discovered the Aqua Vitæ which they fancied was
to confer upon them immortality. The Western Tartars
still use the milk of their mares; but, from the diminished
number of Horses, in less quantity than in former ages; for
these tribes, now controlled by the powerful sway of a vigo-
rous government, have become less predatory, and cultivate
the ruminating animals more than the Horse. But the Kal-
?
7
t
THE DAIRY.
275
muks, and other Eastern Asiatics, still make considerable
use of the milk of their numerous Mares.
The milk of the Ass possesses nearly the same properties
as that of the Mare, but it contains still less of oil and
the matter of cheese. It has been used from early times as
a medicament. It is sweet and wholesome, and, from the
small quantity of oil which it contains, it is the most easily
assimilated by the digestive organs of any kind of milk. The
butter which may be obtained from it by long agitation, is
soft and insipid, and possesses the property of mixing again
with the whey.
Milk, like all the secretions of the animal body, is a very
compound substance. It consists of about 90 per cent. of
water, holding in solution and suspension the substances
which enter into its composition. These are, 1st, The matter
of butter, diffused in myriads of globules throughout the
fluid; 2d, Caseine, or the matter of cheese, which is held
partly in solution, and partly in suspension; 3d, Lactine, or
the sugar of milk; 4th. An animal extract, like that yielded
by flesh, various soluble salts, and, in some cases, a quantity.
of free acid.
When milk is suffered to remain at rest, it separates
slowly into two parts. The lighter globules of oil rise to
the surface, carrying with them a portion of the caseous
matter and serum, and forming the unctuous coat termed
cream. The rising of the cream is favoured by employing
shallow vessels, and the separation continues for twenty-four
hours or more, according to the kind of milk, and the tem-
perature of the air. The entire oil does not separate, but a
portion of it remains suspended in the liquid. When the
cream is removed, the remaining liquid is still opaque, is of
a bluish-white colour, and has had its density increased by
the removal of the lighter globules. This substance, in com-
mon language termed Skimmilk, is perfectly nutritive, con-
taining nearly all the caseous and saccharine principles, with
a certain portion of the butyraceous.
+
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10
M
སྙ
}
4
1
را
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276
THE OX.
When cream is agitated for a time, or when the entire
milk, without separation of the cream, is agitated, the buty-
raceous globules collect and adhere together, forming a soft
solid, which is Butter, and which floats in the liquid. The
separation of the butter, which takes place suddenly, is per-
formed by the familiar process of churning, and in certain
countries by agitating the milk in bags of hide or leather.
What remains after the separation of the butter is termed
Buttermilk. Buttermilk is therefore merely milk deprived
of its butter, and still contains the caseous and other con-
stituents.
Butter thus obtained has the properties of an expressed
oil, and fuses at about the temperature of the human body.
It is a very compound substance, being resolvable into various
animal fats and acids; and, further, it is not obtained pure
by the mechanical means employed to separate it, but retains
a portion of caseine, serum, and the soluble matter of the
milk. When exposed to the air, it speedily undergoes a
change, and becomes rancid. To preserve it from decompo-
sition, it is mixed with salt and other substances. The
people of the warmer countries of the East subject it to
fusion, by which means the extraneous matters are sepa-
rated. It is then termed Ghee, in which state it is used by
the Hindoos and other Asiatics. The Arabs consume it in
enormous quantities. Burckhardt informs us, that it is a
common practice among all classes to drink every morning
a coffee-cupful of ghee. The taste for it is universal, and
the poorest persons will expend half their daily income, in
order that they may enjoy their melted butter in the morn-
ing and at noon. Large quantities of this substance, accord-
ingly, are yearly shipped for Arabia from Abyssinia and
Egypt.
The butter of milk, it has been seen, is separated by
means purely mechanical; the caseous or cheesy portion is
obtained by causing the albuminous matter of the milk to co-
here or coagulate. When milk, with or without separation
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of its cream, is kept for a time, the caseous matter diffused
through it, or dissolved in it, coagulates and forms curd.
This coagulum envelopes the parts which still remain liquid,
and renders the whole of a gelatinous consistence. By
pressure, and breaking the coagulum, the greater part of the
liquid readily separates, and the curd, being compressed,
forms cheese. But the process of coagulation may be has-
tened by the mixture of various substances. All the acids
possess the property of coagulating milk, even at common
temperatures, and more readily when assisted by heat. Even
alcohol, gum, sugar, and soluble neutral salts, produce the
formation of curd. Certain vegetable principles, as tannin,
and the juices of numerous plants, likewise coagulate milk,
as an infusion of the stems or leaves of sorrel, of butterwort,
of ladies' bedstraw, of the flowers of the artichoke, and of
the roots of the marsh-marigold. But the substance the
most approved of for producing coagulation is runnet, whic
is prepared by macerating the stomach of a sucking animal
in water, so as to extract the gastric juice, of which a very
minute quantity, contained in the infusion, suffices to coagu-
late a large quantity of milk. As acids promote the coagu-
lation of milk, so the alkalies prevent it, by rendering the
caseous matter soluble. When, therefore, soda, potassa, or
ammonia, exists in milk, coagulation will not take place
until the alkalies are neutralized by the addition of acids, or
by their spontaneous formation in the milk.
After the curd has been formed, either by the slow forma-
tion of acids in the milk, or by the addition of coagulating
media, the curd is broken, and the liquid which it envelopes
is separated by pressure. The expressed liquid is Whey;
and whey, therefore, is merely milk deprived of its cheesy
matter. Whey accordingly contains butter, in so far as the
cream has not been separated, and butter, therefore, may be
derived from whey. It contains likewise the sugar of milk,
which may be obtained separately, in the crystalline form,
by evaporation; and, in certain parts of Europe, the sugar
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of milk is prepared on the large scale, and forms the subject
of commerce. Whey is sometimes used as human food, but
more generally for feeding the animals of the farm. It
quickly becomes acid, and yields vinegar; it passes likewise
through the vinous fermentation, in which state it has an in-
toxicating effect.
Cheese, as formed by the common methods, is a mixture of
the caseous with the oily matter of milk, to which it owes its
richness. When the cream, therefore, is separated from the
milk before coagulation, the cheese contains less of oil, and
is of inferior estimation. When newly made, cheese is soft,
gelatinous, and mild, but after a time it undergoes a chemi-
cal change, and becomes strong-scented and stimulating. It
produces certain fungi, termed mould, and becomes the abode
of innumerable larvæ, derived from the eggs of two insects,
the one a species of bug, the other a kind of fly. It is when
in a state of decomposition, and inhabited by these disgust-
ing creatures, that it is the most valued as a stimulant to
the appetite.
:
Milk then, it is seen, may be separated by easy means into
four parts 1st, into Butter, which is obtained by simple
agitation, either of the entire milk, or of the cream separated
from the milk; 2d, into Buttermilk, which is obtained by
separating the butter; 3d, into Cheese, which is produced by
coagulation either of the whole milk, or of the milk after se-
paration of the cream; and, 4th, into the liquid residue, or
Whey. The means of obtaining these several products are
so easy, that it is not surprising that they should have been
known from the earliest times, and practised by the rudest
people. In the more advanced stages of rural economy, the
art of the dairy is reduced to principles, and merits the highest
attention as a branch of public industry and domestic economy.
The Cow goes with young about nine months, but with.
great inequality of time beyond this period, dependent on
temperament, food, and treatment. The lacteal secretion is
observed previous to the birth, but only takes place in quan-
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tity when the young is born, though in a few rare instances,
heifers, without contact with the male, have been known to
produce milk; and the same curious anomaly has been ob-
served in the case of young mares. For a few days after the
birth, the milk, then termed Colostrum, is viscid, and of a
deep yellow colour, and tends more readily than other milk
to undergo decomposition, and yields butter with difficulty.
The colostrum should not, therefore, be mixed with the other
milk of the dairy, but be given to the new-born calf. The
milk, in a few days after the birth, assumes its usual proper-
ties, and for about ninety days is yielded abundantly, and
with an increase of richness in cream. The produce after a
time continues to diminish, and in about forty days before
the birth, the milk becomes alkaline and incapable of coagu-
lation, and ceases to be saccharine. The further milking of
the animal should then cease. Cows are usually milked twice
in the day throughout the year, in the morning and evening,
but they may be milked three times in the day when very full
in milk. The operation should be performed with gentleness
and care, and the milk withdrawn to the last portion. The
first drawn milk is always comparatively serous, while every
succeeding quantity improves in richness and abundance of
cream, so that the last portion contains many times the pro-
portion of cream contained in the first.
The domestic dairy is directed indifferently to the procur-
ing of milk for food, to the preparation of butter, and some-
times to the production of cheese. But the larger dairies
designed for the sale of milk and its products, are devoted
more exclusively to one or other of these productions. The
first class of dairies consists of those directed to the disposal
of milk in the fresh state as human food. Of this kind gene-
rally are the dairies in and around towns. These are the
dairies in which the largest return is obtained from the pro-
duce of the Cow. The second class consists of those in which
the milk is chiefly employed for the production of butter to
be disposed of in the fresh state. These are the next in pro-
fitable return to those in which the milk itself is disposed of;
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and they are generally limited to the vicinity of the markets
of consumption, or to places having easy access to them.
Where the market is remote, or the access to it difficult, the
butter, in place of being used in the fresh state, is salted for
preservation. The third kind of dairy is chiefly employed in
the preparation of cheese; but, for the most part, in the prac-
tice of the dairy, the manufacture of cheese is combined with
the preparation of butter to be disposed of in the salted state.
The interests and habits of the dairyman will lead him to the
kind of dairy which he shall establish. If he is in the vicinity
of a town, he will generally adopt that which is to supply the
inhabitants with milk in the natural state. In this kind of
dairy the rule of practice is, that the milk shall be conveyed
to the consumer before the cream has separated from the
liquid, and before acidity has taken place by the formation
of acids. To prevent ascescence and the separation of the
lighter parts, it should be kept at the greatest possible degree
of cold. The ascescence and coagulation of the milk, too,
may be retarded or prevented by the addition of an alkaline
carbonate, of which the most suitable is carbonate of soda.
The crystallized salt, being dissolved in two or three times
its weight of cold water, is to be mixed with the milk, until
a slip of turmeric paper, dipped into the fluid, retains its
yellow colour, or rather just begins to change its yellow
colour to brown. And even when milk has become acid
and curdled, it may have its properties restored by this
mean. Milk, too, may be preserved by heating it when taken
from the Cow, and once a-day afterwards. When milk is
evaporated to dryness, the residuum, in the form of a powder,
may be preserved in close bottles; and when required for
use, mixed with water, to be formed into an emulsion, which
is not very different in its flavour and qualities from the ori-
ginal milk; and in this manner the substance of milk may
be preserved for the longest sea-voyages and distant jour-
neys. The trade in milk in large towns has given rise to a
system of adulteration which ought to be punished as a fraud
upon the consumer. The primary adulteration is dilution by
THE OX.
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water, which is known to be practised to a great extent in
some of the capitals of Europe, and chiefly in London and
Paris. The effect is not confined to an impairing of the
nutritive properties of the milk: it leads to other devices,
still more criminal, for the purpose of concealing the adul-
teration.
The next destination of the dairy is the production of
Butter. The preparation of butter is a simple process, capable
of being performed on the large scale, as well as on the small
by the domestic inmates of the household. It may be ob-
tained either by separating the cream from the milk and
churning it, or by churning the cream and milk together. By
churning the cream alone, butter will be obtained of better
flavour and more valued for domestic use; by churning the
milk without separation of the cream, butter will be obtained
in larger quantity, and, though not usually so delicate in its
fresh state, equally suited for being salted.
When butter is to be prepared by churning the cream alone,
the following is the method adopted. The Cows being milked,
the milk is carried home to the dairy in pails or larger vessels,
into which the smaller ones have been emptied, with the least
possible delay or agitation of the milk. For which reasons,
as well as in order to economize the time of the milkers, the
cows to be milked may be driven quietly home to the vici-
nity of the dairy. The milk is passed through a hair-sieve
into the vessels in which it is to remain. These vessels may
either consist of shallow troughs formed of marble or slate,
of a size to contain the milk of several cows, and having an
aperture with a stopcock at bottom; or of shallow circular
vessels capable of containing from half a gallon to a gallon.
The latter are made of wood, but better of unglazed earthen-
ware; and, with still greater advantage, of zinc, or of cast-
iron softened by annealing, turned smooth inside, and coated
with tin. Whichever class of coolers is employed, the milk
is emptied into them to the depth of from four to six inches,
and the liquid is left at rest in the milk-room. In twenty-
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282
four hours, the greater part of the cream will have risen to
the surface; but a larger quantity will be obtained if the
milk is allowed to stand for a longer time. Sometimes, in
very
cold weather, it is permitted to stand for forty-eight
hours; but twenty-four will suffice for obtaining all the more
valuable part of the cream. When the larger troughs are
used, the stop-cock is turned, and the serous milk is with-
drawn from beneath the cream; and then the cream is in
like manner withdrawn into a separate vessel; and in the
case of the smaller coolers, the cream is skimmed off, which
may be done by a flat perforated dish of tin. Sometimes re-
peated skimmings of the cream take place, and sometimes
its separation is favoured by the application of heat. The
apartment for containing the milk, commonly termed the
milk-room, should be well protected from the effect of the
sun's rays, and formed so as to admit of easy ventilation.
It should, if possible, be arched with brick or stone, have a
northern exposure, and be distant from standing ponds of
water and putrid effluvia.
THE OX.
The cream being removed, is put into a vessel, frequently
a barrel, but better a jar of unglazed earthenware, or vase
of marble. Fresh portions of cream, from successive milk-
ings of the cows, are added, until a sufficient quantity is col-
lected for churning. It may remain a week, but it is better
that the period should not exceed four or five days. In this
state the whole cream becomes acid and coagulates, which
favours the separation of the butter; and in order to produce
coagulation, the acid juice of lemon may be added. When
the necessary quantity of cream has been collected, it is put
into the churn.
Churns are of various kinds. The most common is the
Plunge-churn, as it is called, moved by the hand. It consists
of a cylindrical vessel of wood placed upright. The agitation
is given to the milk by a perforated board, which nearly fits
the cylinder, and to which is attached a long handle. This
being moved up and down, the milk is agitated, and the butter,
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after a time, is separated. The other kind of churn, termed
the Barrel-churn, consists of a cylindrical vessel of wood,
placed horizontally, through which an axle passes having
sparred arms or wings, which are fixed to it within the cylin-
der. A handle is attached, and either the churn is moved
round, or the axle with its arms is moved, the churn remain-
ing stationary. Of the two kinds described, the best is the
plunge-churn, which may either be moved by the hand, or be
on the larger scale, and driven by machinery.
The best temperature for churning is about 56° of Fahren-
heit, the heat of the milk rising 4° by the action of churning ;
and in the warmer season of summer, the most suitable time
for performing the operation is in the cool of the morning.
In winter, when the weather is cold, the temperature of the
milk should be raised to 60° or more, by the addition of warm
water. The time required for churning by the hand varies
from about an hour and a quarter to two hours; and in win-
ter to three hours. The process should be begun gently, so
as to break the coagulum, and then continued equally and
without intermission.
THE DAIRY.
The butter being formed, is collected and removed from
the churn. It is then worked to and fro on a board, or
smooth slab, so as to express the serum, dried with a cloth,
or moderately washed with water. The operation of knead-
ing may be performed by the hand, but it is better done by
wooden spatula, the contact of the hand injuring the butter.
When the butter is not designed for immediate use, the pres-
sure and washing should be so performed as that all the
serum shall be separated, any portion of it remaining caus-
ing the butter to spoil in a short time. When the butter is
intended for sale, it is mixed with a little pure salt, and
formed into lumps or rolls, usually of a pound or half a pound
each. It is kept cool, but in no case under water. When
the butter is not designed for present consumption, it is
more or less impregnated with salt, in the proportion of an
ounce or less to the pound. The salt being worked into the
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butter, the latter is put in jars or casks. The casks should
be of lime-tree, or other hard wood, carefully seasoned by
being boiled for several hours before being formed into casks,
and afterwards by being exposed to the air, and well soaked
in cold water or brine previous to use. The cask being rub-
bed in the inside with salt, the butter is pressed into it, and
in seven or eight days a quantity of melted butter, or a satu-
rated solution of salt and water, may be poured in to fill up
any vacuity between the butter and the wood; and the whole
being then covered with a layer of salt, the top of the vessel
is put on. With the salt employed in curing may be mixed
a proportion of purified nitrate of potash, and sometimes a
quantity of sugar, which preserves the butter without com-
municating a saline taste.
THE OX.
The other method practised consists in churning the milk
and cream together. In this case the milk, as it is brought
from the cows, is put into the cooling vessels, as before, in
order that it may cool down quickly to the temperature of
the milk-house. When this has taken place, or even with-
out the preliminary cooling, the whole milk is emptied into
a barrel, where it remains until it becomes acid and coagu-
lates. This will take place in a week or less, according to
the temperature of the air. It is then put into the churn,
and gently churned for a few seconds, so as to break the
coagulum, and mix its parts; and then a little hot water is
added, so as to raise the temperature to 70° or 75°. The addi-
tion of hot water is not necessary, but it saves labour by
causing the butter to separate more readily. The process of
churning is more laborious than when the cream alone is
used; and therefore machinery should be employed to move
the churn. In the larger dairies the churn may be made to
contain sixty or seventy gallons or more, and this quantity
of milk may, by means of a small pony or slight water-power,
be churned in an hour and a half.
When the cream alone has been used in churning, the re-
siduum, after removal of the cream, is skimmilk. This sub-
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THE DAIRY.
285
stance still retains the caseous matter of the milk, and may,
therefore, be employed for the making of cheese. But it is
not so well suited for this purpose as the entire milk, because
the cream, which adds to the richness of the cheese, has been
mostly withdrawn. It may be used for human food, and is
perfectly nutritious, containing both the cheesy matter and
sugar of milk. Over a large part of England it is chiefly
employed for the feeding of Hogs, which is a great misappli-
cation of a substance fitted for human aliment, and practised
in no other country in Europe.
When the milk and cream are churned together, the dairy
affords no skimmilk. But in place of it there is the butter-
milk, which is a greatly more nutritive substance than that
which is obtained when the cream alone is churned. It is
merely, in truth, the milk deprived of its butter. It is sub-
acid and cooling, and is used for food in some of the western
counties of England, largely throughout the west of Scotland,
and all over Ireland. It may be coagulated, and cheese pre-
pared from it; but the cheese of buttermilk is of little esti-
mation. When buttermilk is kept, it partially undergoes the
alcoholic fermentation, and becomes intoxicating.
The consumption of butter in the British Islands is prodi-
giously great. It is used by all classes in the solid form as
a grateful food; and is applied to the same purposes of house-
hold economy for which oil is used in the countries of the
olive. Notwithstanding the vast internal production, a large
importation takes place from other countries, chiefly from
Germany and Holland. The principal district of the butter
dairy in England is the southern and south-eastern counties.
Butter is brought to London in the fresh state from the dis-
tant provinces; and even when salted, it is the practice of
the dealers to wash out the salt, and sell the butter to the
inhabitants as fresh.
The other product of the dairy is Cheese, which may either
be produced by curdling the entire milk, or by separating the
cream and coagulating the milk alone. The first process is
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286
THE OX.
the preparation of the coagulating medium termed runnet or
rennet, which is most conveniently derived from the gastric
juice contained in the abomasum, or fourth stomach, of a
sucking calf. When the animal is just killed, this organ
with the coagulated milk and chyme which it contains, is
taken out to be preserved by salting and drying in the man-
ner of bacon. When required for use, it is cut into small
pieces, and macerated in water for a few days, and the liquor,
which is Runnet, is preserved in bottles. Prepared stomachs
of the calf form the subject of commerce. They are imported
from Ireland under the name of Vells; but every dairyman
should prepare them for himself, as in this way only he can
be assured of the strength and goodness of his runnet.
When a cheese is to be formed, the course of proceeding
is determined by the quantity of milk at the command of the
dairyman. If there is a sufficient number of cows to make
one or more cheeses at each milking, then the milk, as it is
brought from the cows, is strained through a hair-sieve into
a tub or vat, and while it is yet warm the runnet is added;
and if it shall have been too much cooled after milking, it is
raised to the required temperature by the addition of hot
water. The quantity of runnet used depends upon its strength,
and this again on the method by which it has been prepared;
so that no precise rule exists for adapting the quantity of
runnet to that of the milk to be acted upon. It is used in all
quantities, from a table-spoonful or two to the third part of
a pint, the rule of practice being to employ it in such a quan-
tity, as shall just suffice to coagulate the milk in the space of
not less than an hour. Previous to the addition of the run-
net, it is common, in the English dairies, to add some colour-
ing matter, in order to give a red tinge to the cheese. The
substance commonly employed is arnotto, which is derived
from the red pulp covering the seeds of the shrub Bixa Orel-
lana, and is imported from South America and the West
Indian Islands in the form of red balls. It is dissolved in a
bowl of milk by rubbing a small piece of it on a smooth stone
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287
kept for the purpose, which causes the milk to assume a deep
red colour; and the milk thus coloured, is added to that to be
curdled in the quantity required to give it a deep orange tinge.
The dye being mixed, the runnet is added, and the whole
being stirred, the vat is covered with a thick canvass cloth,
so as to prevent the milk from cooling: the whole is then left
at rest, and the coagulation proceeds to its termination.
This is the method of proceeding, when there is a sufficient
quantity of milk at each milking of the cows to form one or
more cheeses; but when there is not a sufficient quantity of
milk for this purpose, or when for any reason the milk of a pre-
vious collection is mixed with the new, then the older milk is
to be heated to the required temperature before being mixed
with the new. This may be done by heating the old milk
in a boiler to the temperature of about 90°, or better, by
putting the milk in a tin or copper can, and placing this in
a cauldron of boiling water; or else by heating only such a
portion of the milk as, when added to the remainder, shall
raise it to the temperature sought for. The heated milk and
the new being then mixed together, the colouring matter and
runnet are added, the vat is covered, and the coagulation
allowed to proceed.
THE DAIRY.
The most suitable temperature for the milk to be curdled
is found to be about 90°. The quantity of runnet should be
so adjusted to the liquid, as that the coagulation shall take
place in about an hour. If the coagulation take place too
quickly, either from an excess in the proportion of runnet, or
too high a temperature of the milk, the curd produced is hard
and tough, and the cheese is wanting in delicacy of texture
and flavour; and if, on the other hand, the strength of the
runnet, or temperature of the liquid, is too small, the curd
does not acquire sufficient consistence.
The curd being formed, the whey is expressed. This is at
first done gently, because otherwise, before the curd has
acquired consistence, a portion of the cream would be ex-
pressed along with the serum. The most approved practice
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288
is to cut the curd quickly, and in all directions, with a knife.
A common table-knife will suffice; but it is better that it be
formed of several blades, at the distance of an inch from one
another. On dividing the curd, the whey rapidly exudes and
rises to the surface, and the curd subsides to the bottom.
As soon as this has taken place, the whey is to be rapidly
removed. This is done partly by pouring it off, and partly
by baling it out with wooden bowls, although it might be
better done by a syphon. The subdivision of the curd with
the knife at the same time is continued, and when all the
whey that can be separated in this manner is removed, the
curd is taken out and placed on a long sieve, and permitted
to drain. When the whey by these means has been drained
to the utmost, the curd is placed on a board, or in a perforated
vat. It is then minutely comminuted and compressed by the
hands; and this manipulation is continued so long as any
whey can be expressed.
THE OX.
یس
The curd is then to be subjected to the action of the cheese-
press, in order that it may be consolidated, and that all the
further serous matter may be expressed. To this end it is
pressed into the mould, which is a wooden vessel of the size
and shape of the cheese to be made, formed generally by the
turning-lathe out of a solid block of wood, and furnished with
a thick separate top, of a size sufficient to fit the interior of
the mould. A linen cloth, to be folded round the cheese, is
put into the mould; and the comminuted curd is heaped into
the cloth, which is covered over it, and the whole is put
under the press. The curd remains in the press for an hour
or two; when it is taken out, wrapped in a fresh cloth, and
replaced in the press. After this it is taken out every six
hours, or oftener, the same operations being repeated. In
three days, or more, according to the degree of previous ma-
nipulation, the operation will be completed. The pressure
on the curd should have been gradually increased from about
60 lb. to 300 lb., or more.
The cheese has now to be removed to a warm apartment.
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289
If it has not been previously salted, which may have been
done either by salting the curd, or by rubbing the cheese
with salt each time it was taken out of the press, it is now
to be salted. To this end, it is to be rubbed with salt daily
for eight or ten days. It may likewise be washed once or
twice with hot water, and finally rubbed with butter, so as
to soften the external surface, and prevent its cracking. It
is then placed in the store-room, on a shelf, where it remains
until disposed of. It is for a time to be turned daily, and
the skin is to be kept clean and soft, by anointing and brush-
ing it. The cheese apartment should be moderately cool,
and be ventilated without admitting any current of wind. It
should be kept exceedingly clean, and the walls and other
parts should be frequently washed with a solution of chloride
of lime, so as to destroy effluvia, and prevent the multiplica-
tion of insects which deposit their eggs in the cheese.
When cheese of peculiar richness is required, the prac-
tice is to add a further quantity of cream to the milk to be
curdled than that which itself produces: thus the cream of
one milking is added to the milk of the following one, which
is made into curd. By this mean the milk for each cheese
has not only its own cream, but that of the previous milking.
There is waste in this practice, but the higher price of the
cheese compensates the dairyman. In this manner are made
the rich cheeses of Stilton, Cottenham, and Southam, usually
termed cream-cheeses. The process is, after having milked
the cows in the morning, to skim off the cream of the pre-
vious evening, and mix it with the new milk. The runnet
being added, the coagulation is allowed to take place in the
usual manner, with this difference, that the temperature of
the milk is kept somewhat lower, and the coagulation more
slowly produced. To retain the cream, too, the whey is
more cautiously separated, and, in place of the strong pres-
sure of the cheese-press, the cheese is pressed with cloths
bound round it. In the preparation of the cheese called
Stilton, which is the most esteemed of this class, the curd,
T
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THE OX.
after being formed, is gently lifted out of the vat and placed
on a sieve. When the whey is strained off, the curd is care-
fully compressed by the hand till it has become dry and firm,
and then placed in a box or mould. It is afterwards set on
a dry board, and bound round with fillets of linen cloth,
which are tightened as occasion requires. The ends of the
cheese are carefully brushed, and when the cloths are re-
moved, the sides are treated in the same manner; and this
manipulation is continued for two or three months. Some-
times the curd is hung upon nets, but the cheeses formed in
this way are not so much valued as those which are made in
moulds.
•
Another class of cheeses consists of those which are made
after a separation of the cream, usually termed skimmilk
cheeses. They are less oily, and consequently less valued
than the others; but they are nearly equally nutritious, and
are largely consumed in the recent state by the less opulent
classes. They withstand the heat of warm climates better
than the richer kinds, are less subject to injury from the
larvæ of insects, and are better suited, accordingly, to the
victualling of ships. They should be made in the same man-
ner as the full-milk cheeses, with equal attention to the slow
coagulation of the milk, to the careful separation of the
whey, and the gradual pressure on the curd.
Cheese is produced in almost every part of the United
Kingdom; but its quality varies greatly in different districts,
according to the care with which the manipulation is per-
formed, and the skill derived from experience. The manu-
facture is more especially carried on in the country north
and west of the line extending from the Wash to Somerset-
shire. The centre of the principal cheese-district of the
south-western division of the kingdom, is the county of
Gloucester, where the rich vales of the Severn and the Avon
are depastured by extensive herds of dairy cows. The cheese
of Gloucester is of two kinds, the single and the double.
The first is made with new milk in the morning, to which
Sam
291
is added the milk of the previous evening deprived of its
cream, which is made into butter. The single Gloucester,
therefore, contains only half the natural cream of the milk;
yet it is so admirably made, that it excels that of other dis-
tricts where the whole cream is consumed. The double
Gloucester, the greater part of which is produced in the hun-
dred of Berkley, is made of the milk with all its natural
cream. It is the most generally esteemed kind of cheese
produced in England, possessing all the richness that ought
to be required, with a mild and grateful flavour. Although
Gloucestershire still retains its pre-eminence, the same kind
of cheese is produced in all the neighbouring counties. The
Berkley cheeses are purchased by the cheese-factor about
Michaelmas: he judges of the quality by the blue colour of
the skin appearing through the red dye with which their
surface is tinged: he used to walk over each cheese; if it
yielded to the pressure of the foot, it was said to be heaved,
and was rejected as unfit for the London market. The Vale
of Berkley alone is computed to produce annually from a
thousand to twelve hundred tons of these unrivalled cheeses.
THE DAIRY.
J
From Gloucester the manufacture of cheese, on the large
scale, extends into Oxfordshire, and up the Avon into War-
wickshire, which is computed to produce above twenty thou-
sand tons annually, and into all the neighbouring districts.
The county of Somerset likewise abounds in dairies, but ap-
plied as much to the production of butter as of cheese. The
marshes between Bridgewater and Cross produce a fine oily
cheese; and that of the Vale of Cheddar has something
of the flavour of Parmesan. In North Wiltshire, likewise,
are many dairies. The cheese is prepared nearly in the
same manner as that of Gloucester. It is mild and agree-
able: the cheeses are small, and being made into fanciful
forms, as pine-apples, and the like, are widely distributed in
the towns.
The next great cheese-manufacturing district is Cheshire,
which has been earlier distinguished for this production than
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any other part of England. The cheese of Cheshire is pre-
pared from the milk of the morning, to which is added that
of the previous evening, with its cream. It undergoes a
more laborious manipulation than that of Gloucester, and it is
more largely saturated with salt. It is not only salted when
in the state of curd, but it is rubbed externally, and steeped
in brine. The cheeses are made very large, weighing from
60 to 100 lb., and more. They are not regarded as matured
for use until they are two years old. They have a strong
taste, which increases with age, and are altogether different
in texture and flavour from the mild and fragrant cheeses of
Gloucester and the adjoining districts. But they keep ad-
mirably well, and are more largely carried to other countries
than any of the other cheeses of England. The same kind of
cheese is largely produced in Shropshire on the south, and
likewise in Lancashire on the north.
THE OX.
Turning to the eastern counties, the extensive district
stretching from the Humber northward, and comprehending
the counties of York, Durham, and Northumberland, neces-
sarily yields a large quantity of milk, and all the products of
the dairy. But this is rather a breeding and fattening than
a dairy district; and the cultivation of Cows for milk is sub-
ordinate to the other purposes of the grazier. The main
productions of the dairy are milk and butter, which, with the
cheese produced, are chiefly, though not exclusively, destined
for the supply of the numerous population of the country
itself. The cheese of this part of England differs greatly
from the strong and harsh cheese of Cheshire; but it is in-
ferior in delicacy and flavour to that of the south-western
counties. In contact with Yorkshire to the west, is Derby-
shire, in which numerous dairies are established. The cheese
of Derbyshire is known in the market by its own name; the
butter used in the same district is chiefly derived from whey.
Crossing the Humber to the south, we enter the district
where the richer cheeses, with an excess of cream, are pro-
duced. They are termed Stilton, from the market-town of
293
that name where they first became known. They are chiefly
produced in the county of Leicester, and especially in the
villages round Melton Mowbray; but they are likewise manu-
factured in the counties of Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Rut-
land, still retaining the name of Stilton. These cheeses,
it has been said, are formed from the morning's milk, with
the addition of the cream of the preceding evening. They
are in great request, from their superior richness and agree-
able flavour; but, from their high price, their consumption
is limited to the more wealthy classes, and their economical
importance is therefore greatly inferior to that of the more
common kinds. They are not reckoned sufficiently mellow
for use until they are two years old, when they are in a state
of incipient decomposition. In the county of Cambridge are
produced the rich cheeses of Cottenham and Southam.
Another kind of cheese is produced in Yorkshire, Lincoln-
shire, and many parts of England, formed wholly of coagu-
lated cream.
This must be used in the recent state, and is
merely the subject of household luxury.
Scotland, although abounding in milk, is greatly inferior
to England with respect to the production of the finer kinds
of cheese. The cheeses of Scotland are, for the most part,
meagre and deficient in richness, flavour, and aroma; but,
with the progress of the dairy, this manufacture has been long
in a state of improvement. The district of Cuningham, in
Ayrshire, became the first distinguished for the manufacture
of cheese, which is known by the name of Dunlop, and has
long been much esteemed, and is largely used in the western
counties of Scotland. It is mild and well tasted, but want-
ing in the peculiar pungency which distinguishes the finer
cheeses of England. It has, however, been continually im-
proving with the enlarging demand, and more extended prac-
tice of the dairy. Similar cheese is produced in the neigh-
bouring counties of Renfrew and Lanark. In general, the
practice in the Scotch dairies is economical, simple, and
efficient; but the manual processes are less carefully executed
THE DAIRY.
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than in the practice of the superior dairies in England. Ire-
land is in no way distinguished for the manufacture of cheese.
The principal destination of the dairy in that country is
butter and buttermilk, which better consists with the state
of the poorer tenants, and the divided possessions of the
country.
The manufacture of skimmilk cheese is not confined to any
part of the kingdom, but is carried on wherever the dairy is
established. As the food of the working classes, this kind
of cheese is deserving of much attention. But from the
greater demand for the richer cheeses which exists in Eng-
land, and the consequent inferiority of the price of the other
kinds, it has happened that the manufacture of skimmilk
cheese is often performed in a too careless and imperfect
manner. On this account the skimmilk cheeses of England
are inferior to what the experience of other countries shews
they could be rendered.
With respect to the produce of the dairy, the ordinary
computation is, that from 7 to 8 pints, or nearly a gallon, of
new milk, will produce 1 lb. of cheese. When the cream is
removed, the residuum or skimmilk will produce in about the
proportion of 25 per cent. less of cheese than if the cream
had remained. Somewhat more than 2 gallons of milk, with
its cream, will produce 1 lb. of butter; but if the cream be
removed and churned separately, about 3 gallons of milk will
be required to yield 1 lb. of butter. The price of full-milk
cheese may be estimated on a medium at 6d. per lb.; that of
skimmilk cheese at from 3d. to 4d.; that of butter at from
10d. to 1s. The quantity of milk yielded by a Cow varies
greatly with the breed, and properties of the individual. In
the case of the smaller and inferior class of Cows, the produce
may be from 200 to 400 gallons in the year; in the case of
the superior class, from 500 to 1000 gallons. The quantity,
too, varies much with the abundance and quality of the food
supplied, so that, cæteris paribus, a Cow will yield milk nearly
in proportion to the nutriment she is enabled to assimilate.
THE OX.
THE DAIRY.
295
The high value of the products of the dairy, and the prodigi-
ous diversity in the faculty of individual Cows to yield milk,
shew the great importance of extending a knowledge of the
best modes of performing the manufacture, of cultivating a
suitable race of Cows, and of feeding them in the best man-
ner which the means at the command of the dairyman will
allow.
The Dairy is a branch of rural industry deserving of at-
tention in the highest degree. There are no other means
known to us by which so great a quantity of animal food can
be derived for human support from the same space of ground.
In the British Islands the production of this kind of aliment
is very great, and its entire value forms no inconsiderable pro-
portion of the yearly created produce of the land. There is no
class of persons by whom milk in one or more of its forms is
not used. Cheese may seem to be a mere superfluity to those
who feed largely on other animal food; yet, even amongst
this class, the consumption, from its regularity, is consider-
able; but amongst the far more numerous classes to whom
cheese is a part of their customary diet, the consumption of
this substance is very great. Butter is used by almost every
family above the poorest, and to an enormous extent as a
substitute for oil in culinary preparations. Simple milk, too,
enters into the diet of every class; with this peculiarity, that
it is consumed in larger quantity in the rural districts than
in the towns. It may be difficult to make an approximate
calculation of the quantity and value of milk consumed by
the twenty-six millions of inhabitants of the British Islands.
It is perhaps a reasonable calculation, that, of twenty mil-
lions of these, each individual consumes a pint of milk in a
day in its different forms, which would produce 912,500,000
gallons per annum, and at 8d. the gallon, L.30,416,666,
besides more than 200 millions of gallons employed in the
rearing and fattening of Calves. Great as this production is,
it is not sufficient for the supply of the inhabitants; and an
importation takes place both of butter and cheese, which an
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THE OX.
extension of the native Dairy would enable the country to
dispense with.
We will now review the various Breeds of British Cattle,
whether suited for the dairy, or for being grazed and fat-
tened.
I. THE WHITE FOREST BREED.
The Wild Breed, or, as it may be termed when domesti-
cated, the White Forest Breed, identical with the ancient
Urus, is still preserved, it has been seen, in a few Parks,
where the animals, herding and breeding only with one an-
other, retain their pristine characters. Numbers, however,
existed in the domesticated state in Wales, until late in the
last century; but they have now, for the most part, become
so changed in colour and habits, that they can rarely be dis-
tinguished from the ordinary races of the country, although
scattered individuals are yet to be met with, as in the county
of Pembroke, in no respect distinguishable from the Wild
Cattle of the Parks. Between Stafford and Lichfield, too,
cattle of this race are in considerable numbers. They are
here destitute of horns, in which respect they resemble those
which are kept at Ribbesdale. They are of good size, and
are valued by the farmers as dairy cows. This race could,
doubtless, like any other, have its useful properties called
forth by the care of the breeder; but little benefit, it is con-
ceived, would result from generally domesticating it, or re-
sorting to it for the purpose of crossing the common varieties.
II. THE ZETLAND BREED.
In the Zetland Islands, races of Cattle, Sheep, and Horses,
have existed from time immemorial, distinct in their charac-
ters from those which are indigenous to the Northern High-
lands, and other parts of Scotland. These remote islands,
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297
the Thule of the Roman writers, were early united to the
kingdom of Norway, and, in the middle ages, were in the
hands of those lawless rovers, whose piracies extended to the
fairer portions of Europe. The Islands were at length trans-
ferred to the Crown of Scotland, and were for ages subjected
to the servitude of the feudal system in its most cruel form.
But the inhabitants, though mixed with their conquerors,
remained essentially Norwegian; and, even until the last
century, the Norse language continued to be that of the op-
pressed inhabitants. The domestic animals of the country
were, in like manner, distinct from those of the Celtic in-
habitants of the Main, and to this day present the traces of
their Scandinavian descent.
THE ZETLAND BREED.
The cattle are distinctly Norwegian in their characters,
and a similar race extends to Iceland. They are small, but
of very good form when pure, and fatten with great quick-
ness when carried to superior pastures. Their horns are
short, their skin is soft, and their flesh is equal to that of
any cattle produced in the British Islands. They are of
various colours, generally party-coloured, and tending more
to the lighter shades than the cattle of the Highlands. The
females receive the male at an earlier age than is known in
the case of any other breed in this country. The heat oc-
curs at the age of five or six months, and has been observed
even at four months, indicating an early precocity of the
animals, and a tendency to arrive soon at old age. The
cows are tolerably good milkers, in which respect they agree
with the cattle of Norway, and differ from those of the High-
lands; and in this respect too, they agree with the cattle of
Jersey and the islands of the Channel, which are likewise
believed to be of Norwegian origin.
These cattle are smaller than those of Norway, which is
to be ascribed partly to the absence of shelter, and partly to
the want of artificial food. These islands, though exposed
to perpetual storms from the tempestuous seas that surround
them, have not so cold a climate as Norway; but they are
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THE OX.
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totally destitute of the noble forests which, in the latter
country, afford shelter from the icy blasts of winter, while
the tillage of the country is every way inferior.
Norway is a country of independent proprietors, main-
tained, by their laws of equal succession, in a happy medio-
crity of condition, cultivating their paternal fields, and reap-
ing the direct reward of their individual industry. In the
Islands of Zetland, the cultivators of the soil are mostly
miserable tenants, who labour for others, and have neither
the means nor the will to call forth the resources of their
country. Hence it is, that, while the rude industry of the
Norwegians suffices to supply their domestic animals with
such food as the country affords, the cattle of the Zetland
Islands are left almost in a state of nature, without sufficient
sustenance in winter, and with scarce any other shelter than
the desolate rocks of the country supply. Thus they remain
without that development of form which sufficient food and
careful treatment never fail to produce. Like the Sheep of
the same country, they eat the fuci and other alge of the
coasts, and wait the ebbing of the tide, that they may pro-
cure this species of food.
GE
The cattle of Zetland have necessarily become much mixed
with those of Orkney, and the latter again with those of
Caithness and the Northern Highlands. These mixed races
are rarely equal to those of pure descent. The crossing, too,
has never been pursued on fixed principles, and hence the mo-
dern cattle of Zetland are far inferior to what they might
have been rendered by cultivating with care the parent stock,
But, above all things, the starving of the animals while young,
has contributed to render them puny and degenerate, as com-
pared with the ancient Scandinavian stock. It is pleasing,
however, to record, that the seeds of improvement are scat-
tered in these islands, and that the attention of intelligent
gentlemen is now directed to the improvement of the country,
aided by the increased intercourse which steam navigation
has opened up with the markets of the south. This latter
299
circumstance may be expected to increase the profits of the
producers of cattle, and enable them gradually to extend
their supplies of artificial food.
A question of economical importance is, the manner in
which the existing race of Zetland can be improved. The
first means, certainly, are a better system of feeding and
general treatment, applied to the animals when young. The
next mode is the introduction of suitable males for breeding.
These might be obtained from the West Highlands, but the
end would probably be still more effectually attained by re-
sorting to Norway, where excellent bulls of the parent stock
can be obtained with facility.
THE ZETLAND BREED.
It is remarkable, that the little cattle of these islands
form admirable first crosses with superior breeds, as the
Short-horned; but this system of crossing, though it may be
more profitable to individual breeders, can do nothing for the
general improvement of the stock of the country itself. The
animals reared must be of a kind suited to the conditions in
which they are placed. They must be small, hardy, and
adapted to the state of agriculture which circumstances
allow to be pursued.
The same general remarks will apply to the cattle of the
Orkney Islands. These likewise present the traces of their
Scandinavian descent, but they are greatly more mixed with
the races of the Main. In particular, many bulls of coarse
form have been introduced from Caithness, itself possessing a
mixed breed, and thus herds, without definite characters, are
everywhere produced.
In every considerable tract of country, it may be observed,
many advantages result from possessing a well defined breed.
In this case, the breeder has merely to select for propagation
the best animals of the race. He has the assurance that the
progeny will possess the general characters which he wishes
to communicate. But when there is no distinct breed, in the
ordinary sense of the term, his expectations will be con-
tinually subject to disappointment, by the progeny present-
•
300
ing characters different from those of the parents. An effect
of the same kind is seen every day in the case of Dogs. If
we breed solely from Greyhounds, Terriers, or Sheep-dogs,
we calculate securely on obtaining those varieties respec-
tively, with more or less of the virtues of the parents; but if
we produce a mixed race, we can predicate nothing certainly
regarding the form and qualities of the mongrel progeny.
F
THE OX.
III THE WEST HIGHLAND BREED.
The
High at Primary district of Scotland, usually termed the
Highlands, has been occupied, beyond the records of history
and tradition, by numerous herds of cattle, which have ac-
italy get fu
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quired the characters suited to a country of heaths and high
mountains. These cattle, although varying in size and
aspect with the nature and altitude of the country, present,
with few exceptions, such characters in common, as to entitle
us to refer them to a common origin. In the Zetland and
Orkney Islands, there has existed the peculiar race which
has been described; but in all the Highlands, properly so
called the herds of cattle, however distant in their habitat,
constitute a group, connected by affinities which form a breed
in the usual sense of the term. They are small in size; have
horns in the male and female, turning more or less upwards
at the points, have short, muscular limbs, and are largely
covered with hair. Their muzzle is usually black; they have
dewlaps, and on the neck a ridge of coarser hair, forming a
mane. Their colour is various, often black, sometimes brown,
or a mixture of brown or black, and often mouse-dun. They
are hardy beyond all the races of the cattle reared in the
British Islands. Their size bears a constant relation to the
supplies of natural food. In the Northern and Central High-
lands, it often does not exceed that of the calves of a few
months old of the larger breeds. Towards Argyleshire, on
the south-west, including several of the Hebrides, where the
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THE WEST HIGHLAND BREED.
301
production of the grasses and other herbaceous plants is more
abundant, the size of the animals becomes in a corresponding
degree enlarged. In like manner, towards the eastern coast,
where the mountains pass into the lower country, the cattle
gradually assume a character approaching that of the larger
breeds.
All analogy leads us to infer, that the Mountain Breeds of
Scotland are identical with those which formerly inhabited
the woods of that country, which, we have seen, were the
ancient Uri, and which we may term the White Forest Breed.
The physical circumstances of Scotland, however, have vastly
changed even within the historical era. Like Norway and
other countries of the north of Europe, it was once covered
with great forests, nearly all of which have disappeared,
leaving the country destitute of shelter, and covered with
heaths and the plants peculiar to peat. Under such circum-
stances, we must expect a corresponding distinction between
the ancient cattle of the forests, and those which have for
ages inhabited, in a state of semi-domestication, the bleak
mountains of the country. The main difference consists in
habits, the one class natural to a state of liberty, and the
other of dependence; yet this difference disappears when the
animals are placed under similar circumstances. The Wild
Breed becomes domesticated with the utmost facility; and
the tame breed, if left in a state of entire liberty, assumes
the more striking habits of the wild,—the shyness, the swift-
ness, the concealment by the mothers of their young, and the
like. In some of the few remaining pine forests of the north
of Scotland, cows which are left to stray become as wild as
deer, and are shot in the same manner. The white colour of
the Urus in many cases returns, so that we have almost
complete restoration of the ancient characters of the race.
Individual cattle are sometimes met with amongst the droves
of the Northern Highlands, resembling, even to the marking
of the ears, the White Forest Breed of the parks.
The finest of the native cattle of the Highlands are bred
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in Argyleshire and the neighbouring Islands. This charac-
ter they owe to the greater development of their forms, to
the superior herbage of the western coasts, but in a great
degree, likewise, to the superior care bestowed in breed-
ing. After the middle of last century, Archibald Duke of
Argyle, a worthy and patriotic individual, bestowed consi-
derable attention in improving the cattle of the district sur-
rounding his own seat of Inverary; and more recently, nu-
merous gentlemen of the Western Highlands have devoted
sedulous attention to the improvement of this breed. On
these accounts, the variety of the Western Highlands is
usually referred to as the model of the breed, just as that of
Pembroke is regarded as the model of the Mountain Breeds
of Wales. But the West Highland Breed has extended to
Perthshire and other parts; and in almost every part of the
Highlands, are now to be found gentlemen devoting their
attention to the improvement of this staple production of their
country.
THE OX.
Ma
Although it is well known to all breeders, that a certain
class of external characters indicates a disposition to arrive
at an early maturity of bone and muscle, and to become
easily fat, namely, a large cylindrical body, dependent upon
the greater curvature of the ribs, a body large with relation
to the limbs, or, in other words, limbs short with relation
to the body, a broad expanded chest, a skin soft to the touch
and expansile, a relative smallness of the bones, and an ab-
sence of coarseness in the extremities; and in certain breeds
of the lower countries, these characters may be developed
to a high degree; yet, in a country of mountains and heaths,
with a cold, humid, ungenial climate, there must be com-
bined with these a set of characters indicative of that hardi-
ness of constitution, without which the animals would be un-
suited to the condition in which they are placed. That ex-
treme delicacy of form which can be easily communicated
by breeding, must be avoided. The hair, while it is silky,
unctuous, and free from harshness, should be abundant and
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THE WEST HIGHLAND BREED.
303
curling; the neck should be strong and muscular; the fore-
head rather broad; and the nose, from the eyes to the muzzle,
somewhat short; a dewlap should exist as a character of
the breed; the eyes should be prominent and clear; the
horns should be of good length, without approaching to
coarseness, spreading, and tipped with black.
Now, in the genuine West Highlanders, we shall find such
a combination of these characters, as to shew them to be well
fitted to the country in which they are reared. Their limbs
are short, though muscular, their chests wide and deep, their
ribs well arched, and their backs as straight as in any other
breed. The neck, indeed, and dewlap, seem somewhat coarse
in the bull, but these are characters indicative of their moun-
tain state; and almost all their other points are what breeders
would term good. They are of various colours. A disposi-
tion exists in the breeders of the Highlands to cultivate the
black colour, as conceiving it to be more indicative of hardi-
ness; and hence the greater number of the cattle of the High-
lands are black. But the brown colour, or the mixed black
and brown, or the mouse-dun, are yet more generally indica-
tive of a disposition to fatten. The brown is attended with
that orange tone of the skin which is valued in other breeds,
as the Pembroke and the Devon; and there is a constant ten-
dency in the best bred cattle of the Highlands to assume it.
The breeders, therefore, should look to the essential charac-
ters of form, without limiting themselves to a black colour
of the hair, which is a property altogether secondary.
The Cows of this breed, like those of many alpine districts,
are deficient in the power of yielding milk. The milk they
give is rich in cream, but it is in small quantity; and they
very quickly tend to run dry. They are usually allowed to
suckle their own young, and often manifest the wildness of
their race, by refusing to yield milk, and quickly running
dry, unless their young be suffered to suck them.
Attempts have been sometimes made to cross this breed
with the cattle of the lower country, with the Ayrshire, and
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even with the Short-horns. Fine animals are produced by
first crosses of this kind; and many of the fat oxen sent to
be exhibited at cattle-shows are thus obtained. But the
benefit may be said to end with the first cross: the future
progeny is inferior to either of the parent races; to the larger
cattle of the plains in their peculiar characters, and to the
mountain breed in their adaptation to a steril country.
Every consideration, therefore, founded on our knowledge of
the character of the animals, and the nature of their country,
indicates the propriety of maintaining the purity of the race
of the Highlands, and calling forth its useful properties by
careful breeding. Over all the Northern and Central High-
lands, a vast scope for beneficial improvement is open; and
no easier method of effecting it presents itself, than the ob-
taining of Bulls from those districts where circumstances
have enabled the breeders to bring them to the greatest per-
fection of form.
THE OX.
IV. THE PEMBROKE BREED.
The Pembroke Breed of Cattle is proper to the county of
that name, which occupies the south-western extremity of
the principality. But the breed extends to all the neigh-
bouring districts, and may be said to be the type of the whole
Mountain Breeds of Wales. It has been seen that the
White Forest Breed, by the mere change of colour, becomes
similar to the modern Pembrokes, and is indeed identical
with them. The latter possess the distinctive horns of the
Wild Breed, and the yellow unctuous skin which character-
izes it. The horns are fine, tapering, turned upwards at the
points, and tipped with black, and the yellowness of the
skin appears as a deep orange, nearly black, on the inside of
the ears, the mammæ, and other naked parts. The skin is
soft, and well covered with hair,-a character which always
indicates a humid climate. The colour preferred by the
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breeders is black, and, in breeding, they adhere strictly to
this colour. They regard a mixture of white as a mark of
impurity, though it is manifest that it is not so, but a ten-
dency to the original character of the race. The size of the
Pembroke Cattle is that of the larger class of the breed of
the West Highlands of Scotland. They have naturally a
light hind-quarter, which is a character common to other
mountain breeds; but this is a defect which a due attention
to breeding corrects. Their flesh is excellent, the fat being
well mixed with the muscular parts. They produce a large
quantity of tallow, and, on this account, are esteemed by the
butchers; and great numbers of them are fattened in the
rich valley of the Severn, and elsewhere, for the supply of
the market of London. They are hardy, and subsist well on
scanty food: they are tolerably good feeders, to use the
technical term; and soon assume an appearance of maturity
and age. The females have fair milking qualities, and the
cows are accordingly esteemed in all parts of Wales for the
domestic dairy. The dark orange colour of the skin, ap-
proaching to black, is deemed an important indication of the
milking properties of the cow.
The Pembroke has been sometimes crossed by the Devon
and the Hereford breeds; but a just estimation of the cha-
racters of the former, will shew the error of this species of
intermixture. The Pembroke is truly a Mountain Breed,
and well adapted to the situations in which it is acclimated;
and a mixture of foreign blood takes from its hardiness, and
fitness for a country of mountains and scanty herbage.
The other races of the Welsh mountains have more or less
of an affinity with the Pembroke, and exhibit the traces of a
common origin; but they are most of them smaller in size,
lighter in the hind-quarters, and otherwise of inferior form.
Such are those of Caernarvon and Merioneth, which are
uncultivated in a high degree. The best method of improv-
ing these neglected breeds would be crossing with the ge-
nuine Pembroke.
THE PEMBROKE BREED.
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THE OX.
Anglesea is a low insular tract of North Wales, about
twenty-four miles by seventeen, separated from Caernarvon
by a narrow strait of the sea. It produces the grasses, but
yet is of only moderate fertility. It rears a considerable
number of cattle, which used to be forced to swim across
the Straits of Menai, until the noble iron-bridge which now
connects the island with the main was formed. During this
transit, the younger cattle were often carried several miles
by the current, or drifted seaward; and yet the Roman
cavalry swam across this strait, when, under Paulinus Sue-
tonius, they attacked this last stronghold of British liberty
and Druidical worship. The native cattle of this island are
allied, in their essential characters, to the Pembroke breed,
and manifest a common origin; but they are of larger size
and coarser form, having acquired the characters suited to a
lower country. The genuine Angleseas are distinguishable
by the upright position of the horns, and the orange-yellow
colour of the skin. This breed has been much mixed with
Long-horns, chiefly from Ireland; and various attempts have
been made by individuals to improve the breed by crosses of
different kinds. These attempts seem to have been made
without system, perseverance, or knowledge of the charac-
ters of the native race. They may be said to have produced
no beneficial effect upon the cattle of the country, the best
of which are manifestly those which approach the nearest to
the ancient type. The main end to be aimed at in the im-
provement of the breed of Anglesea, is to remove that coarse-
ness of form which is characteristic of the race; and this
could be effected by a fitting selection of individuals for
breeding, from the best and purest of the native stock.
Another and important breed of Wales is the Glamorgan ;
but the improved Glamorgans are to be ranked with the
larger oxen of the plains, rather than with those of the
mountains. They will be treated of in the sequel, along
with the Herefords, and other breeds of the lower country.
The parent stock of the Mountain Breeds of Wales, it has
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been seen, is distinguished by a tapering upright horn. As
the mountainous country passes by gradations into the lower,
the cattle deviate from the native type, and assume insen-
sibly the character of what are termed Long-horns. This
character is indicated by the direction as well as by the length
of the horn. It may be considered as a character connected
with that thickness of skin which the Ox, under certain cir-
cumstances of feeding and treatment, tends to assume; for
the corneous system, as could be shewn, is intimately con-
nected with the cuticular. It is the character which a very
large proportion of the oxen of these Islands had acquired;
and, accordingly, of the breeds of this country, the Long-
horned, as will afterwards be seen, were the most numerous.
They formerly extended over all the midland counties of
England, and the plains of Ireland. It is this tendency of
the oxen in the central parts of Wales to assume the Long-
horned character, as well as actual intermixture with the
breeds of the plains, that produces that mixture of races
which is to be seen in the country. These mixed races ave
generally of coarse and defective form, and greatly inferior,
as fattening animals, to those which approach the nearest
to the parent stock.
THE PEMBROKE BREED.
Although Wales is generally a country of mountains, in
which the animals reared must mainly depend on the natural
pastures, yet it is intersected by many fertile vales, and often
the mountains pass by degrees into the richer plains of the
lower country. In such cases, it is not required that breed-
ers should confine themselves to the smaller cattle of the
mountains. They may adopt the breeds which their respec-
tive localities enable them to maintain, as the Durham, the
Hereford, and the superior class of Glamorgans. In this
case, their own judgments must guide them in the selec-
tion of the kinds of animals best suited to the nature of
their respective farms. But, in general, the breeders of
Wales would do well to avoid that system of indiscriminate
crossing and changing, which prevails in so many parts of
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the country. A true breed, it is to be observed, is never
to be formed by casual crossing, but by long perseverance in
breeding from similar animals, until a uniform class of cha-
racters is acquired and rendered permanent. For this rea-
son, it is generally better to adopt a good breed already
formed, than to attempt to produce a new one by a mixture
of the blood of dissimilar animals.
THE OX.
The Pembroke Breed is well adapted to all the moun-
tainous parts of Wales; and it is important that it should be
cultivated with care. It is not necessary that the breeders
resort to other races for its improvement. They have merely
to apply those principles of selection, which in all other cases
have been successful, to render the breed good with relation
to the circumstances in which it is reared.
The district of Castle-Martin is that from which the finest
of the Pembrokes are at present derived. The breeders in
this district strictly adhere to the black colour, which has
become at length regarded as indicative of the purity of the
breed. This colour has, indeed, no necessary connexion with
the really useful properties of the animals; but having be-
come a test of the purity of the breed, both on the part of
the producers and consumers, it is to be believed that the
character will, on this account, be preserved, just, as in the
case of the North Devons, the red colour is retained as
an index of the purity of descent. The breeders of the
Castle-Martins, however, have fortunately not confined their
attention to the secondary character of colour. They have
devoted assiduous care to the really useful characters of the
breed. Preserving its essential characteristics, they have
removed the too great lightness of the hinder quarters, and
given that general symmetry of form, which experience shews
to have an intimate connexion with the economical proper-
ties of all animals cultivated for human food.
THE KERRY BREED.
V.—THE KERRY BREED.
309
The native breeds of Irish cattle may be divided into those
of the mountains, moors, and bogs, and those of the richer
plains, with intermixed breeds resulting from the union of
different races, foreign or native. The mountain breeds ap-
proach to the characters of the ancient White Forest Breed,
in a sufficiently near degree to indicate a common descent
with the cattle of the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and
the high lands of Devon.
Of the native breeds of Ireland, one very peculiar and
well defined is derived from the mountainous county of Kerry,
the most westerly land in Europe, and remarkable for the
humidity of its climate. The Kerry cattle of the mountains
are generally black, with a white ridge along the spine, a
character agreeing with the account which older writers have
given of the Uri of the woods of Poland. They have often
also a white streak upon the belly, but they are of various.
colours, as black, brown, and mixed black and white, or black
and brown. Their horns are fine, long, and turned upward
at the points. Their skins are soft and unctuous, and of a
fine orange tone, which is visible about the eyes, the ears,
and the muzzle. Their eyes are lively and bright, and,
although their size is diminutive, their shape is good.
These cattle are hardy, and capable of subsisting on scanty
fare. Although stunted in size when brought from the bogs
and barren pastures on which they are reared, they make a
wonderful advance in size, even though seven years old, when
supplied with suitable food. The fat of their beef is well
mixed with the muscular parts, or, in technical language,
marbled; and they fatten well in the inside, a character
which renders them valuable to the butcher, and distinguishes
them in a remarkable degree from the Long-horned Breeds
of the lower country.
But the peculiar value of the Kerry Breed is the adapta-
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tion of the females to the purposes of the domestic dairy. In
milking properties, the Kerry Cow, taking size into account,
is equal or superior to any in the British Islands. It is the
large quantity of milk yielded by an animal so small, which
renders the Kerry Cows so generally valued by the cottagers
and smaller tenants of Ireland. She is frequently termed
the Poor Man's Cow, and she merits this appellation by her
capacity of subsisting on such fare as he has the means to
supply.
This fine little breed has been greatly neglected. Scarcely
any means have been used to produce a progressive develop-
ment of form, by supplying proper nourishment to the breed-
ing parents and the young, and no general care has been be-
In almost
stowed on preserving the purity of the stock.
every part of Ireland the breed has been crossed with the
Long-horns, and a great proportion of the Cows of the country
known under the name of Kerries, are the result of crosses
of this kind, and so have deviated in a greater or less degree
from the native type, and almost always for the worse.
A few honourable exceptions, however, exist to this too
general neglect of the mountain dairy breed of Ireland. One
attempt had succeeded to such a degree as to form a new
breed, which partially exists with the characters communi-
cated to it. It has been termed the Dexter Breed.
It was
formed by the late Mr Dexter, agent to Maude Lord Haw-
warden. This gentleman is said to have produced his curious
breed by selection from the best of the mountain cattle of the
district. He communicated to it a remarkable roundness of
form and shortness of legs. The steps, however, by which
this improvement was effected, have not been sufficiently re-
corded, and some doubt may exist whether the original was
the pure Kerry, or some other breed proper to the central
parts of Ireland now unknown, or whether some foreign blood,
as the Dutch, was not mixed with the native race. One
character of the Dexter Breed is frequently observed in cer-,
tain cattle of Ireland, namely, short legs, and a small space
THE OX.
THE KERRY BREED.
容量
​311
from the knee and hock to the hoofs. This has probably
given rise to a saying sometimes heard, of "Tipperary beef
down to the heels." However the Dexter Breed has been
formed, it still retains its name, and the roundness and depth
of carcass which distinguished it. When any individual of
a Kerry drove appears remarkably round and short-legged,
it is common for the country people to call it a Dexter.
Amongst the successful cultivators of the dairy breed of Ire-
land ought to be mentioned the late Bishop of Killaloe. He
sedulously endeavoured to preserve and improve a breed
which he conceived to be so useful to the peasantry of Ire-
land; but his example has scarcely spread amongst other.
breeders of the country.
The Kerry Cows afford admirable first crosses with the
Short-horns, Herefords, and other larger breeds. Of these
crosses, that with the Short-horns is the most general, and
appears to be the best. The crosses are found to be well
adapted to fattening, as well as to the dairy; and the profit
from this system is so immediate, that it is to be believed
that it will be more largely resorted to than a progressive
improvement of the parent stock. Nevertheless, the cultiva-
tion of the pure dairy breed of the Kerry mountains ought
not to be neglected by individuals or public associations.
The breed is yet the best that is reared over a large extent
of country, from its adaptation to the existing state of agri-
culture, and to the humid mountains and bogs in which it is
naturalized. Were it to be reared with care in a good dis-
trict, the form would be gradually more developed, and the
Kerry breed might then bear the same relation to the moun-
tain breeds of Ireland which the Castle-Martin does to those
of Wales, or the West Highland to those of the north of
Scotland.
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THE OX.
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VI. THE ANGUS BREED.
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The country from which this breed of cattle is derived is
the tract of Old Red Sandstone which forms the plains and
less elevated parts of the counties of Forfar and Kincardine.
This tract of country is of varying fertility, has long been
enclosed, and is now extensively applied to a mixed system.
of tillage and grazing, and, in a peculiar degree, to the pro-
duction of turnips. The breed of cattle is to be regarded as
one of those races which are intermediate between the races
of the mountains and those of the richer plains. The older
breed of the district was horned, but with a tendency, it may
be believed, to assume the hornless character. But, however
this be, the hornless variety ultimately became the predomi-
nant one, and is now to be regarded as the cultivated breed
of the district. The animals are termed by the country
people dodded, and sometimes humbled, cattle. Attention
seems to have been especially devoted to them as a separate
variety soon after the American war, when the agriculture
of this part of Scotland began a course of rapid improvement.
During the war with France, the cultivation and improve-
ment of them continually extended, and numbers of them
were driven to the English markets under the name of Gal-
loways, which they resembled in their aspect and general
character. There has been ever since a large exportation of
them to Yorkshire, Norfolk, Leicester, and other grazing
counties, where they are fattened for a longer or shorter time
according to their condition. They find their way in num-
bers to Smithfield, and form a part of the consumption of
the capital.
This breed has a certain resemblance to the Galloway, and
a mixture of blood seems to have taken place between them;
but the cattle are less compact in form, and longer in their
limbs, than the true Galloways, and have not the depth of rib
so characteristic of the latter breed. But the Angus, living
→
THE ANGUS BREED.
313
in a less humid climate, being subjected to more artificial
treatment, and being less exposed, accordingly, to the incle-
mency of the weather, have a finer though not a softer skin,
and a less rough coat of hair, than the Galloway. They are
better treated when calves, and during the whole period of
their growth; and, though less uniform and confirmed in their
characters than the Galloways, owe more to art and careful
culture. Finer animals have been produced, by the care of
distinguished breeders, in Forfarshire than in Galloway,
though those of the latter district have the advantage de-
rived from a country of milder temperature, and more pro-
ductive of the natural grasses. The Angus are better milkers
than the Galloway, though the dairy does not form an object
of especial attention in the district.
The Angus are of different colours, but are mostly black,
with white marks. Many of them are brindled, as it is term-
ed, or a mixture of black and brown with different shades.
The Angus breeders prefer the black, without confining them-
selves with the same rigidity as the breeders of Galloway to
that colour. The breeders of both districts would do well
to disregard this secondary character of colour, and look
solely to the form and superior fattening powers of the indi-
viduals.
The Angus breed has recently been much extended in the
north of Scotland, and is justly gaining preponderance over
the native cattle of some of the districts adjoining. The coun-
try which it inhabits, from its excellent state of cultivation, is
suited to maintain any race of cattle, and the Short-horned
breed has accordingly been introduced, and may be expected
to gain on the native race. The interests of breeders them-
selves will determine, in the several cases that may arise,
when the preference should be given to the native, and when
to the imported, breed.
An error regarding the value of the different breeds of
cattle may be here noticed. Over a great part of this coun-
try the fattening of cattle is not the purpose of the breeder.
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He rears the cattle to the age which consists with the nature
of his farm, and then disposes of them to another class of
traders, who fit them for ultimate consumption. Vast num-
bers of cattle are reared in the mountainous and less fertile
districts and farms, and then transferred to the lower coun-
try and richer farms to be fattened for use. This species of
transfer is continually going on, and constitutes a great part
of the trade in cattle in the British Islands; and much of the
profit of graziers and others.depends on the skill with which,
on the one hand, the purchases are made, and, on the other,
on the manner in which the processes of grazing and fatten-
ing are carried on. The person who purchases lean stock
for fattening may often be better paid by the smaller cattle
than by the larger and finer; that is, he may receive a larger
return from the capital laid out. But it were an error on
this account to say, that the one breed is equal or supe-
rior to the other. The value of a breed is not determined
by the profit which persons may obtain by purchasing, but
by the nett produce derived from the animals from the period
of birth to that of maturity. An Ox that, at the age of two
years old, can be fattened to the weight of sixty stones and
upwards, like those of the Short-horned breed, is regarded
as a more valuable animal than one that would require three
'or more years to be fattened to the same weight. The Angus
is a good breed, well adapted to the natural and acquired
fertility of a great tract of country; but it cannot be brought
to the same weight of muscle, and degree of fatness, and in
the same period of time, as the Short-horns and Herefords.
The latter, therefore, form the more valuable breeds, in the
sense in which the term valuable is here employed. In like
manner, the Short-horned and Herefords are said to be supe-
rior in value as breeds to the West Highland, though the
latter is immeasurably superior to the others in adaptation
to the countries in which it is naturalized, and may be equally
a subject of profitable trade to the grazier and feeder. When
we employ the term valuable, then, in the abstract, with re-
THE OX.
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|

A
2950
3XL 10
42.298
AO.
MICHIG
WH Davies.
The Property of Mr. Isaac Machray..
H.Beckwith
An Aberdeenshire Polled Bull,
Torie Form, Kincardineshire, which received the first prize at the Highland Society's Show, at Aberdeen, October 1840.
THE POLLED ABERDEENSHIRE BREED.
315
lation to a breed, it must be understood as denoting the qua-
lity of reaching to the greatest weight of muscle, and degree
of fatness, in the shortest time, and with the least consump-
tion of food, and not the adaptation of the race to peculiar
localities, or the profit that may be derived between the
periods of buying and Bething These considerations kept in
mind, may prevent some of thos
which sometimes
relative superiority
arise between persons contending
of their respective breeds of animals
Sometimes the Angus breed has been crossed with the
Short-horned, and in this way very fine animals, superior to
the native race, have been produced but the benefit ends in
a great degree with the first cross and the subsequent pro-
geny is inferior to the pure Short-horns in size and tendency
to fatten, and to the indigenous stock in hardiness and adapta-
tion to rough treatment. The safer course, therefore, to pur-
sue, is to preserve the two breeds distinct and pure. Where
the condition of farms, or the wishes of breeders, induce the
adoption of the Short-horned breed, this ought to be cul-
tivated in it state of purity, where other circumstances
exist, the native breed should be preserved unmixed, care
being used to call forth its useful properties by proper feed-
ing, and due attention to the selection of the breeding parents.
VII. THE POLLED ABERDEENSHIRE BREED.
The county of Aberdeen, covering nearly a sixteenth part
of the entire surface of North Britain, produces numerous
cattle which have long been a staple production of the dis-
trict, for the consumption of the towns, and for exportation
to the markets of the south. This extensive county consists
essentially of gneiss and granite, but presents great diversity
of surface, from the lofty mountains of the south-west and
west, some of whose summits rise nearly to the region of
perpetual congelation, to the sheltered valleys of the rivers,
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and the lower grounds of the coasts. But, generally, the
county of Aberdeen may be described as being rocky, barren
of soil in most parts, and interspersed with great tracts of
peat, covering the site of those noble forests which once over-
spread this part of Scotland. The cattle vary with place,
and the natural or acquired fertility of the parts where they
have been naturalized. In the higher and wilder districts
inland, they are identical with those of the Central High-
lands; and even in the lower country, where a mixture of
blood has taken place, their characters evince that the parent
stock has been that of the Highland mountains. But in the
cultivated country, they have become enlarged in size with
the progress of cultivation, and altered in their characters
by the admixture of other races. Up to a late period in the
last century, all the principal labours of tillage in this part of
Scotland were performed by oxen, which caused the farmers
to cultivate size and strength as a property of their cattle,
and to resort to the richer districts southward for larger ani-
mals than their own district produced, and especially to the
eastern part of Fifeshire, where the Falkland breed was
reared. Although the cattle of the lower parts of Aberdeen-
shire became, from these causes, enlarged in size, they long
remained of bad form, having thick skins, long horns, and
coarse extremities. With the progress of improvement, how-
ever, during the present century, a variety has been culti-
vated and widely extended, now generally termed the Polled
Aberdeenshire Breed, in which the absence of horns may be
ascribed in part to the introduction of the hornless cattle of
other districts, but mainly to the breeding from animals of
the native stock which possessed this peculiarity, in prefer-
ence to those having the long horns characteristic of the
older race. This modern variety, however, scarcely even yet
presents that uniformity of characters which constitutes a
true breed, although it is continually approaching to this
condition, in consequence of increased attention to breeding;
and more extended intercourse between the different parts of
THE OX.
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the country. The individuals are of better form than the
older race, and generally of larger size, weighing upon a me-
dium when fat, at the age of four years, from forty-seven to
sixty stones English. They are rarely fattened at an earlier
age than four years, when they are valued by the butchers
for the manner in which they cut up, and the comparative
absence of coarser parts. Although improved, and conti-
nually improving, they are yet, with respect to form, and
tendency to fatten at an early age, greatly short of the per-
fection to which they are capable of being brought.
THE GALLOWAY BREED.
✔
Into this district, as into most others where artificial food
can be raised in sufficient quantity, the Short-horned breed
has been introduced. It is cultivated by several breeders in
the pure state; but more generally it is made to cross the
native stock, by which means a present profit is obtained.
But, from the nature of the far greater part of the district,
the importance will appear of carefully preserving the native
stock, and communicating to it those properties of form which
it is capable of receiving.
Extending from Aberdeenshire northwards to the Pentland
Firth, is an extensive tract of country, more or less fertile
and improved, lying between the sea and the great moun-
tains of the Highlands. The cattle of this extensive district
are of mixed blood, and rarely present such uniform charac-
ters as to allow them to be classed as true breeds. They
have long been undergoing progressive changes, by the in-
creased attention paid to the selection of superior animals for
breeding, and latterly by the partial introduction of the Tees-
water Short-horns.
VIII.—THE GALLOWAY BREED.
The district termed Galloway forms the termination on
the west of the range of greywacké hills, which stretch from
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St Abb's Head, on the east coast, to the North Irish Chan-
nel. It comprehends the modern counties of Wigton and
Kirkcudbright, but formerly included, and still does so in
popular language, a portion of the shires of Ayr and Dum-
fries. The general character of the district is moist. The
winters are more temperate than on the eastern coasts, snow
does not remain long upon the ground, and the soil tends to
produce the grasses, rushes, and other herbaceous plants,
rather than the heaths. This district has long produced
great numbers of cattle, which have acquired a distinct class
of characters.
THE OX.
The breed of Galloway is properly one of the mountains
rather than of the lower country, and its characters adapt it
well to the degree of productiveness of the district, the nature
of its agriculture, and the humidity of the climate. The
cattle are of larger size than those of the Highlands of Scot-
land, but smaller than the breeds of the plains. Their ave-
rage dead weight, when fat, at three years' old, may be
reckoned about 45 stones, of 14 lb. to the stone: those sold
in London at the age of nearly four, weigh from 55 to 60
stones. The skins are thick, though soft to the touch, and
the hair is long and soft. The predominant colour is black,
the breeders preferring that colour, and regarding it as in-
dicative of hardiness and purity of blood. The form of the
body of these cattle is compact, the limbs are short and fleshy
to the knee and hock, the chest is moderately deep, the throat
is furnished with a dewlap, and the neck is somewhat coarse.
The sides are very long, and this character distinguishes the
breed. The "Galloway rib" is well known in Smithfield,
and the general form of the animal is valued by the butchers.
These cattle are hardy, exceedingly docile, sufficiently good
feeders, when carried to suitable pastures, and weigh well
in proportion to their bulk; and they produce beef, which is
esteemed in the English markets, on account of the fat being
well mixed with the muscular parts. Hector Boece, who
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THE GALLOWAY BREED.
wrote in the 16th century, speaking of the cattle of Galloway,
says, “In this region ar mony fair ky and oxin, of quhilk the
flesh is right delicius and tender."
319
The cows are indifferent milkers, and soon run dry. In
this respect they resemble other mountain breeds of Scot-
land. The character may be partly the result of breeding,
the care of the breeders of the district having been always
directed to the grazing, and not to the milking, properties;
but the milk, though comparatively small in quantity, is rich
in cream.
A remarkable character of this breed is the absence of
horns in the male and female. It is said that the older breed
of Galloway, as it existed in the middle of last century,
possessed horns; but this is not perfectly ascertained, and
some earlier notices rather conduct us to the conclusion, that
the absence of horns has been for a much longer period a
distinctive character of the race. It may be either due to
the physical circumstances of the country, which produce
this constitutional character, or to the effects of selection in
breeding, or to a combination of these causes. If the consti-
tutional tendency existed, it was easy for breeders, by breed-
ing only from animals destitute of horns, to render all the
breed hornless. Sometimes, even yet, the horns are developed
in individuals, and, as this is regarded, erroneously indeed,
as a test of impurity, they are cut out. In a few cases the
development of the horns is partial: the nucleus or bony
part is wanting, but the horny part has been formed, and
hangs loose on the skin.
The trade in cattle between Galloway and England appears
to have begun soon after the union of the two Crowns, and
for upwards of 150 years has been regular and extensive.
It is computed that upwards of 20,000 head are annually
exported from the district, of which from 16,000 to 18,000
are sold at Smithfield; but it is probable that the total ex-
port exceeds the quantity mentioned. They are reared to
the age of two or three years on the farms of the country,
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THE OX.
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320
and are driven southward, mostly in the latter part of the
season, and chiefly to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.
They are purchased by the English graziers, wintered on
straw, hay, and green food, and fattened on the grass of the
following season, and driven to Smithfield, supplying a large
part of the consumption of the city from Christmas to July.
They are well known, accordingly, in this great market, and
are greatly valued by butchers and consumers. A number
are likewise fattened in the lower parts of Dumfriesshire,
and indeed, over a great part of that extensive county, the
prevailing breed has hitherto been the Galloway. But for
many years the Ayrshire breed has been gaining ground in
Dumfriesshire with the progress of the dairy, and in some
cases the Short-horns have been introduced,
In Galloway proper, the management of the cattle when
young is rude, but suited to the character of the district.
The calves are generally permitted to suck the dams, are
fed on the coarse herbage of the country, left a great part of
the winter in the fields, or kept on straw or coarse hay. The
production of corn in the district is limited, and is regarded
as subordinate to the purpose of producing straw for the
stock. The habit of trading in cattle was very general
amongst the farmers of Galloway, and gave rise to a spirit of
speculation which was somewhat unfavourable to the pursuit
of regular agriculture. The farmers are still in the practice
of attending markets, and making purchases and sales of
cattle, with the view of a profit on the transfers. The great
trade, however, is in the hands of the Norfolk and Suffolk
drovers, who used to settle with the owners by bills, which
was attended with hazard to the sellers, and was sometimes
productive of great losses to the district. The practice of
spaying the heifers prevails to a greater extent in Galloway
than in any part of the kingdom. The operation used to be
performed at the age of twelve months, but is now very gene-
rally done at two months. The greater part of those that
are not retained for breeding are thus treated. Those heifers
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THE GALLOWAY BREED.
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do not quite attain the size of oxen, but they are regarded
as better suited for fattening, and their beef is reckoned
more delicate, and brings, accordingly, a somewhat higher
price. The practice, however, though it may be justified on
these grounds, is unfavourable to the improvement of the
breed, by limiting the number of females, from which a selec-
tion may be made for breeding.
Extensive as has been the trade in this staple production
of the country, it was long before any thing like attention to
the principles of breeding was given by the farmers. Not-
withstanding the spirited efforts of individuals, the stock of
the country was treated with much neglect, with relation to
the preserving and improving of the breed. The bulls were
almost always defective in essential points, and an injurious
mixture had progressively taken place with cattle from Ire-
land, 10,000 and more of which are supposed to pass every
year through the country, by way of Donaghadee and Port-
Patrick. Efforts have, from time to time, been made to
cross the breed by the Dishley Long-horns, the Ayrshire,
and the modern Short-horns. These attempts, it is believed,
have been all failures, in so far as they were designed to im-
prove the general breed of the country; and modern breed-
ers, with better knowledge, have turned their attention to
the improvement of the existing race. In this field there is
a wide scope for the exertion of individuals, and, if steadily
pursued, the system cannot but be attended with beneficial
results. The breed of Galloway is peculiarly confirmed in
its characters, and thoroughly adapted to the condition of
the country; and all that is wanted to promote its progres-
sive amelioration, is a careful selection of suitable males and
females for breeding, with that due attention to early and
liberal feeding of the young stock, which, in every case,
tends to the production of superior animals. If, on any par-
ticular farm, another race of cattle can be reared, as the
Short-horns, let this stock be substituted; but it would be
an error to attempt a mixture of blood with the race so
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long acclimated, and so excellent in itself, as that of Gal-
loway. The great advantage of having a breed possessing
uniformity, is manifest in Galloway, as in every country
where a race with determined characters exists. The breeder
has always in such a case the assurance of being able to
reproduce in the offspring the essential properties of the
parents; whereas, in countries where no uniform breed has
been established, he never can be so assured of the result of
coupling animals together. The cattle of Galloway, though
they have all the characters of resemblance which constitute
a breed, yet vary greatly in size and form, according to the
fertility, natural or acquired, of the farms on which they are
reared, shewing the importance of providing an increase of
food for the animals when growing in bone and muscle. One
of the great defects, at the present time, over a large part of
Galloway, is the not supplying the growing stock with suffi-
cient food.
THE OX.
IX. THE POLLED SUFFOLK BREED.
The Polled Suffolk Breed is usually termed the Suffolk
Dun, from the county of Suffolk, where it is found in the
greatest numbers, and from the mouse-dun colour which was
once the prevailing one of the breed. Although termed Suf-
folk, the breed extends over Norfolk, Cambridge, and a part
of Essex, where it either remains pure, or has been mixed
in blood with other races. In Smithfield, the fattened cattle,
whether of pure or mixed lineage, receive the name of Home-
breds.
The Polled Suffolk cattle are, as the name denotes, desti-
tute of horns. They are mostly of small size, and of defec-
tive form, when we regard them as animals to be fattened.
The characteristic colour of the older breed was a mouse-
dun, or some shade approaching to that colour; but now
they are generally reddish-brown, or brown mixed with
THE POLLED SUFFOLK BREED.
323
white. The general form of the unmixed race is uncouth;
the head is heavy, and the extremities are coarse.
The belly
is large, and the back narrow, which gave occasion to Bake-
well to observe of them, that they were too like a penthouse-
top, and would do very well if turned upside down. The
cows have the udders very large, with the subcutaneous ab-
dominal vein prominent,-a character which always indicates
the power of the female to yield much milk. Nearly a cen-
tury ago, the cows were described as having
"the carcasses
large, the belly heavy, the back-bone ridged, the chine thin
and hollow, and the loin narrow." With the exception of
the narrowness of the loin, this description applies truly to
such of the descendants of the older breeds as remain un-
mixed. They are found in the greatest purity and numbers.
in the middle division of the county of Suffolk, where numer-
ous dairies are established. This may be regarded as the
central habitation of the breed, its characters changing as
we recede from this district. About Ipswich, and southward
to the coast, the animals are larger, and of coarser bone,
retaining, however, the conformation and colour distinctive
of the breed. In Cambridge and Essex, they exhibit a greater
or smaller degree of departure from the parent type. In
Norfolk, they are mixed in blood with an older race, distin-
guished by small upright horns, which has now disappeared,
either by the substitution of the pure Suffolk, or by the effects
of crossing.
The breed was probably formed at an early period, its pe-
culiarities having arisen from the attention of breeders being
mainly directed to the fitness of the animals for the dairy.
Camden thus describes the county of Suffolk between two
and three centuries ago: "A large country it is, and full of
havens, of a fat and fertile soil (unlesse it be eastward), being
compounded (as it is) of clay and marle; by meanes whereof,
there are in every place most rich and goodly corne fields,
with pastures as battable for grazing and feeding of cattell.
And great store of cheeses are there made, which, to the
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great commodity of the inhabitants are vented into all parts
of England, nay into Germanie, France, and Spaine also, as
Pantaleon, the Phisitian writeth, who stucke not to compare
these of ours, for colour and tast both, with those of Placen-
tia."* And Speed, who wrote in 1676, thus speaks of the
productions of the same part of England: "The commodi-
ties of this shire are many and great, whereof the chiefest
consist in corn, cattle, cloth, pasturage, woods, sea-fish and
fowle; and as Abbo Floricensis hath depainted, This country
is of green and passing fresh hue, pleasantly replenished
with orchards, gardens, and groves: Thus he described it
above six hundred years since, and now we find as he hath
said; to which we may add their gain from the pail."†
These notices suffice to shew that it is long since a breed of
cattle suited to the uses of the dairy had been established in
the county of Suffolk. Some, judging from the absence of
horns, and the size and general aspect of the animals, have
imagined that the Polled Suffolk is a variety of the Galloway
breed of Scotland, introduced into this part of England by
the long intercourse between the Scotch breeders and the
Suffolk and Norfolk graziers. The Polled Suffolk, however,
has as much the characteristics of a distinct native breed as
the Galloway itself. The individuals differ from the Gallo-
ways in the colour of the skin and hair, in the muscular de-
velopment of the neck and shoulders, which are naturally
large in the Galloway, but thin in the Polled Suffolk, in the
smaller depth of the ribs, and in the superior milking pro-
perties of the females.
THE OX.
The Polled Suffolk breed is regarded as hardy to the de-
gree of bearing careless treatment, and subsisting on in-
different food; and the cows are noted, as in former times,
for the large quantity of milk which they yield, in proportion
to their size and the food consumed. It is this property
* Camden's Britannia, translated newly into English by Philemon Holland,
Doctour in Physick—1610.
† Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain.
325
which gives its real value to the breed, which otherwise could
not have maintained itself in a fertile district, amidst all the
improvement which the cattle of the country have undergone.
Suffolk is still distinguished as a dairy district. The prin-
cipal manufacture is butter, which finds a sale in London,
and other markets. It also produces great quantities of
skimmilk cheese; which has given rise to the saying, that
Suffolk produces the best butter and the worst cheese in
England. From this kind of cheese being well suited to
withstand the heat of warm countries, it was formerly largely
employed in victualling the Navy. In consequence of the
early attention paid to the produce of the dairy, it is easy to
see that cows the best suited for that purpose would be
sought for, in preference to those possessing the property of
early fattening. The dairy farmers hold it sufficient to ob-
tain a good Milch-Cow, and, accordingly, the only principle
of choosing bulls is that of selecting those which possess the
reputation of breeding a good dairy stock.
This system
being pursued for a long period, the result has been what
our knowledge of the principles of breeding would lead us to
expect. The characters which indicate a disposition to arrive
at early maturity, and secrete fat, have been disregarded;
while those that indicate a disposition in the female to pro-
duce abundant milk, have been alone valued. It is remarked
by Arthur Young, that the Suffolk breed has been preserved
by a kind of accident. This observation cannot be admitted
to be just. The Suffolk breeders, indeed, may not have been
guided by very fixed principles in the choice of animals, but
they have followed a certain rude experience, which has led
them to select such as were suited to their uses, and they
acquired, accordingly, a race of animals admirably adapted
to a particular end, however defective they may be in those
other properties, which have long been desired by the breed-
ers of the country. The Cows of Suffolk, though subjected
to careless treatment, and supported on the most common
kinds of food, are scarcely surpassed by any other in their
power of yielding abundant milk.
THE POLLED SUFFOLK BREED.
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It is a question of economical interest for an extensive,
rich, and populous part of the country, whether the breed thus
formed, during so many ages, should be preserved and improved
on the present basis, or whether it should be abandoned for
some other possessed of different properties? Were the pro-
duce of the dairy the sole end of farming in Suffolk, then,
perhaps, no better course could be followed than to preserve
the breed as it exists, confining attention to the removing of
its more obvious defects. But Suffolk is not merely a dairy
county, but, like every other in England, employs a large
capital in grazing for the butcher; and, therefore, it does not
seem necessary or expedient to confine attention exclusively
to a race of ill-formed animals, merely because they possess
one property in perfection. This district is capable of rear-
ing any of the superior breeds of the Island, and others,
therefore, might be produced in it, combining a greater num-
ber of useful qualities than the native race. But, looking to
the actual state of Suffolk, as a district in which the hus-
bandry of the dairy is extensively established, and success-
fully pursued, it is rather to be regretted, that a race of cattle
so well suited to the uses required, should have been so much
neglected: for it is to be observed, that the forming of a good
dairy breed is greatly more difficult than the procuring of
one adapted to the purposes of the grazier. But the breed
has been long decreasing in numbers and purity, and it is
probable that it will ultimately be merged in races which are
made to cross it. The Ayrshire has been introduced to a
great extent into the district; but though the Ayrshire is
certainly a superior race to the Suffolk, for a combination of
useful qualities, it is greatly to be doubted if it is equal to it
in the power of yielding a large quantity of milk on indiffer-
ent food.
THE OX.
I
Attempts have been made to improve the Polled Suffolk
breed, for the purpose of rendering it suitable to the grazier
as well as to the dairy. Mr Reeve of Weighton, near Wells,
began a system of improvement of this kind more than fifty
years ago. He adopted the practice of careful selection,
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confining himself, however, to a particular colour, which, in
compliance with the popular opinion, was red, in place of the
dun, more characteristic of the race. The stock acquired the
conformation which he aimed at, and the property of arriving
at more early maturity. His son-in-law, Mr England, pre-
served, until a recent period, the same stock, and carefully
cultivated the properties which it had acquired; but, not-
withstanding of the perfection to which Mr Reeve's stock
had been brought, during a lifetime of attention, Mr England
found it for his interest to abandon it, and adopt the Short-
horned breed, as being more profitable. This, and other ex-
periments, lead to the conclusion, that, though the Polled
Suffolk is admirably adapted to the dairy, it does not form a
good basis for a breed suited to the mixed purposes of the
dairyman and the grazier.
THE POLLED IRISH BREED.
X. THE POLLED IRISH BREED.
The Polled Irish Breed is a variety scarcely known to the
breeders of England, but which, from its properties, deserved
far more attention than it has received in the parts of the
country where it had been naturalized. It has existed in
Ireland for an unknown period, and appears to have been
once widely diffused. It is now scattered throughout the
country, but is only found in some numbers in the vale of
Shannon. The cattle are of a light brownish colour, and
destitute of horns, on which account they have been sup-
posed to resemble the Suffolk Duns. But they are superior
in size to the Suffolk Duns, equalling, in this respect, the
larger class of Short-horns. The breed has been probably
formed by an early mixture of Dutch cattle with some of the
native races. It has been long diminishing in numbers, in
consequence of the immediate profit derived by a first cross
with the improved Short-horns. From this cause, and from
long neglect, the Polled Irish Breed will probably, in a few
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THE OX.
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years, cease to be found. Had attention been directed at an
earlier period to its preservation, Ireland might have now
possessed a true Dairy Breed, not surpassed by any in the
kingdom.
XI. THE FALKLAND BREED.
The peninsula of Fife, stretching into the German Ocean,
between the noble estuaries of the Forth and Tay, has long
been possessed of cattle of a larger size than those of the higher
countries, and exhibiting such points of resemblance with
one another, as to have acquired the appellation of a Breed.
The existing cattle of Fifeshire, however, do not really con-
stitute a breed or family. They are rather a mixture of
breeds, the members of which are not so amalgamated with
one another as to present a uniform class of characters. They
vary greatly in size, aspect, and shape. Some have horns,
and some are destitute of horns; and, for the most part, they
are of coarse angular forms. The prevailing colour is black,
or black mixed with white. They are hardy, and subsist well
on indifferent food, and the Cows are usually good milchers.
Like all the races of the lower country termed home-breds,
they are slow in arriving at maturity, but the muscular sub-
stance is well mixed with the fatty; and as they produce
a good proportion of internal fat, they are valued by the
butchers in the markets to which they are carried. The
mixture of races which exists in Fifeshire, is to be ascribed
in part to the locality of the district, intermediate between
the northern and southern divisions of Scotland, and in part
to the condition of its agriculture up to a recent period. On
the west and north-west, it lies in contact with a tract of
country in which numbers of a kind of home-breds are rear
ed, and of which there has been long an influx into the richer
parts of Fifeshire, for the purpose of being grazed. On the
north, again, the country is only separated by the Frith of
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Tay from the breeding county of Forfar, from which numbers
of cattle have been introduced; and a general favour having
existed in Fifeshire for hornless cattle, the Angus Breed has
been largely mixed in blood with the native stock. The do-
mestic dairy, too, having been extensively cultivated by the
numerous smaller possessors of the district, Cows have been
sought for possessed of the properties of good milchers, without
relation to the breed, and thus Calves of a very mixed lineage
have been continually reared, and mingled with the other
varieties. Further, although the county of Fife was early
noted in the history of Scotland for its populousness, and the
number of its towns, its rural population has not, until lately,
been very forward to introduce modern improvements. After
the glorious peace of 1763, when every branch of industry in
Scotland received a new impulse, Fife seemed rather to lan-
guish. Its fisheries decayed, in consequence of the extension
of the same branch of industry elsewhere; its rich mines
were not yet sufficiently called into operation, and the popu-
lation of its numerous towns and hamlets shewed a tendency
to decline, while a long period elapsed before its minutely-
divided farms could be so united as to favour general im-
provement. By the commencement of the present century,
however, a great change had been effected in the condition
of this as of other parts of North Britain; but still the im-
provement of its cattle did not advance in a corresponding
degree, or rather they had been undergoing deterioration,
by a continued departure from the type of the only really
pure and valuable breed which the country produced. This
breed was termed the Falkland, from the ancient royal manor
of that name.
THE FALKLAND BREED.
The domain of Falkland, situated in the lower part of the
vale of Eden, had early merged into the possessions of the
powerful Earls of Fife, the descendants of that illustrious
chief who, as Macduff the Thane, has had a memorial of his
name bequeathed to every age, by the creative genius of
poetry. In the reign of James I., all the possessions of this
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ancient family were forfeited to the crown for multiplied acts
of treason; and from that period the manor of Falkland, with
its noble palace, its woods, and hunting-grounds, became the
favourite retreat of the princes of the House of Stuart.
James II. erected into a royal burgh the little town of Falk-
land, because, as the preamble of the charter states, "of the
frequent residence of the king at the manor of Falkland, and
of the damage and inconvenience from the want of victual-
lers, to the prelates, peers, barons, nobles, and others of the
king's subjects who came to the Court." Falkland was equally
the favourite retreat of his son James III., and of the gay
and gallant James IV. during the few brief years accorded
to him ere he rendered up his crown and life on the bloody
field of Flodden. It was the early residence, likewise, of
the accomplished James V., who, less happy than his father,
died of a broken heart at the youthful age of thirty-one; and,
in more peaceful times, it became the frequent residence of
his grandson James VI., ere he had the happy fortune to
unite into one the long-divided realms of Scotland and Eng-
land. It is from the domains of this ancient seat, rendered
memorable by the abode of so many princes, that the breed
of Falkland cattle beyond a doubt originated. A tradition
has been handed down, that James IV., when he married
Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII. of England, received,
along with the dowry of his youthful queen, a present of 300
English Cows, which were conveyed to the park of Falkland,
whence their descendants spread into the neighbouring coun-
try. There is nothing inconsistent with probability in this
tradition; although the Falkland Breed appears to be of
foreign origin. It resembles the Black Dairy Breed of the
Low Countries, common in the dairies of Holland; and,
therefore, if brought from England, it must have been an im-
ported race, though not the less likely, on that account, to
have been deemed a gift worthy a royal prince. It may
rather, however, have been brought directly from the coun-
tries that produced it. Fifeshire, like all the rest of the east
THE OX.
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331
THE FALKLAND BREED.
of Scotland, early received numerous colonies of Flemings,
and had carried on with the opposite continent such an inter-.
course as the limited commerce of these rude times admitted.
The Flemings and Hollanders were, even at this early period,
known for their Cows; and it is altogether probable that some
of these animals were brought to the royal park of Falkland,
as something that was curious and useful. The ancient
kings of Scotland, it is to be observed, were farmers and
breeders of the useful animals on the great scale, nearly all
their household revenue being derived from the produce of
their own domains. Of this, innumerable evidences are de-
rived from the charters and other documents of our early
history; and it is reasonable to believe, that, during the fre-
quent residence of the royal household at the rural retreat
of Falkland, cows, and the produce of the dairy, were not
neglected.
But however the dairy breed of Falkland found its way
thither, whether from England, or from the marshes of the
Scheldt and Rhine, it is manifest that it had been natural-
ized at some early period in the place where its remains are
yet found. Unfortunately, it has been so merged in the
common races of the country, that individuals can now with
difficulty be obtained pure. It was of a black colour, marked
often with white, and having the skin of an orange-yellow
tinge. It had short and very white horns, turned up in a
manner sufficient to distinguish it. Although now difficult
to be obtained free from mixture, its traces are everywhere
to be found in all the home-breds of the eastern parts of
Fife; and it is probably to this intermixture that the modern
Fifeshire cattle owe the most useful qualities which are sup-
posed to distinguish them. It is much to be regretted that
the former breeders of Fifeshire should have been too care-
less of the preservation of a breed so much superior to the
mixed varieties that have succeeded to it. Had the Falkland
Breed been cultivated with care, during a period when arti-
ficial food could have been supplied in the requisite quantity,
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it is probable that Fifeshire would now have been possessed
of a breed combining, in a degree not surpassed by any other
in the kingdom, the properties of grazing and yielding milk.
But the breed of Fifeshire being now, from whatever
causes, mixed, and the Falkland Breed existing in too small
a number to allow of any reasonable hope of restoring it,
the economical question which arises, is, in what manner the
existing varieties may be best improved? This certainly
may be effected in the case of the Fifeshire, as of any other
cattle, by a careful selection of the parents, and by a conti-
nued system of breeding amongst the individuals of the im-
proved progeny; but the end could not be accomplished
without the long labour which such improvements demand,
and hardly without a more general accordance in the opinion
of breeders than now exists, with respect to what the Fife-
shire breed really is, or what it should be. While one class
of agriculturists shall cultivate a race on the model of the
Angus or Galloway, and another, one on the type of the
horned Falkland, particular herds and stocks may be im-
proved, but no uniform breed can be established. It would
seem better, then, to recur at once to a breed already formed,
and of recognised goodness. The improved Short-horns, or
Durhams, have already supplanted the coarser home-breds
over a great part of the British Islands. They have taken
root far beyond the Forth, even in the most northern coun-
ties; and in the high range of the Lammermuir, to the south
of the same river, the breed is now reared in its purity by
every farmer; and it would be absurd to contend, that a low
country like Fife, abounding in fertile soil, capable of pro-
ducing turnips and the cultivated grasses, and continually
advancing in its agriculture, should not be able to support
any of the finest and largest breeds which the Island can
produce. Intelligent individuals have already introduced
stocks of pure Short-horns, but even the merely crossing with
superior Bulls of the breed would at once remove all the
harsher characters of the Fifeshire varieties; and although
THE OX.
THE ALDERNEY BREED.
333
crossing, in the case of certain breeds which have acquired a
fixed class of characters suited to the condition of a particu-
lar country, as the Ayrshire and the Galloway, might be in-
judicious, it would never be found to be so with a class of
cattle so mixed and various as that of Fifeshire. Doubtless
the Durham Breed is not so well fitted for the ordinary pur-
poses of the dairy as the home-breds of Fifeshire; but then,
in that locality, the dairy, though extensively pursued, is little
more than an affair of the household. The main purposes of
the grazier are grazing and fattening; and it seems proper
that a breed of the first class should be established in a dis-
trict so well fitted to pursue this branch of industry.
Extending from Fifeshire westward to the Ochil Hills, the
cattle are generally hornless, and of a size intermediate be-
tween the breeds of the Highland mountains and those of
the plains. Some of these cattle, especially those of the
Ochil Hills, are really good, and suited to the country in
which they are reared, and merely demand that attention to
the selection of the breeding parents, which shall call forth
their more useful properties.
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XII. THE ALDERNEY BREED.
The Breed termed Alderney is derived from the group of
beautiful islands, pertaining to the British Crown, which lie
near the shores of France, in the bay formed by the coasts of
Normandy and Britany. Although termed Alderney, the
breed, with some difference of characters, is common to all
the islands. The Cows are imported into England in consi-
derable numbers, and are esteemed beyond those of any
other race for the richness of the milk, and the deep yellow
tinge of the butter. Hence they are in demand by the more
opulent classes for the domestic dairy, and regarded as a
kind of appendage of the park and rural villa. They are in-
troduced likewise into the regular butter dairies, chiefly of
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THE OX.
Dorsetshire and Hampshire, and they are mingled in blood
with the native races, especially the Devon and its varieties.
To supply these sources of demand, the importation from the
islands is regular, and forms a considerable branch of their
commerce.
The cattle of this race are small and ill-formed, when
regarded as animals to be fattened. The cow is greatly
below the male in strength and stature, in which respect she
resembles the cows of the Devon and its kindred breeds.
Her neck is thin, her shoulder light, her chest narrow, and
the belly large. The limbs are slender, the pelvic bones
prominent; the lumbar region is deep, the croup short and
drooping, and the udder large. The muzzle is narrow, the
horns are short, slender, and curving inwards. The colour
is usually of a light red or fawn, mixed with white; but fre-
quently individuals are black, mixed with white or dun, and
sometimes cream-coloured. The skin is thin, and of a rich
orange-yellow, and the fat, as well as the milk and butter,
is tinged with the same colour. The animals are gentle,
and somewhat delicate in constitution. Being small in size,
the milk they yield is likewise small in quantity, although
fully in proportion to their bulk of body; and it is viscid, and
rich in cream. In their native country, the Bullocks are
used for labour, to which they are better adapted than, from
the slender form of the dam, might be inferred.
The islands from which these cattle are derived, are the
sole remaining appanage to the English crown of the ancient
Duchy of Normandy. When the rude Northmen had hewed
a passage by the sword to the fair plains of Western France,
they subdued likewise the lovely little islands on its shores;
and, after a hundred years of strife, having ravaged Bur-
gundy and the adjacent provinces, and twice assailed the city
of Paris, and once reduced it to ashes, these wild invaders
were put in possession of the conquered lands by a formal
investiture. In the year of our Lord 912, Charles the Simple
concluded a treaty, from which a thousand mighty events
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were to spring, with Rollo, the Scandinavian chief, to whom
was yielded up the whole of Normandy and its dependencies,
to be held for ever as a fief of the crown of France, but in truth
to be an independent kingdom; for so little did the warlike
Northman understand or regard the feudal fiction, that he
refused to undergo the customary forms. One hundred and
fifty years later, his great successor, surnamed the Con-
queror, added the proud kingdom of England to his Norman
inheritance. In the memorable course of events, the Duchy of
Normandy was severed from the English sway; but the
islands on its coasts were preserved, and have remained, in
all the changes of fortune, to the present hour, a part and
dependency of England. The customs and language of the
people were retained by them, and their laws and ancient
privileges have been respected for the long space of 900
years. The inhabitants have been treated by England with
the favour which their fidelity and peculiar condition seemed
to demand. While all the privileges of British subjects are
accorded to them, with respect to their commerce with other
countries, they are freed from the heavy imposts to which
the parent country is necessarily subject. Their corn, their
timber, their wine, their sugar, and all colonial and foreign
merchandize, may be imported by them free of all the cus-
toms and restraints which, in England, must be imposed for
the purposes of revenue and protection; while they may ex-
port them again, as well as their own productions and manu-
factures, to all the world. Although Norman in their ori-
gin, and speaking the ancient language of the country from
which they have been severed, they are English with respect
to their interests, their religion, and their feelings as sub-
jects. Insulting, as it were, by their contiguity, the proud
and warlike nation which regards their country as a natural
adjunct of France, they have bravely aided in repelling the
attempts of repeated armaments to subdue them. But their
true defence is the powerful navy of England, without whose
C
THE ALDERNEY BREED.
The
336
1#
THE OX.
1
incessant vigilance in the time of war, nothing could guard
them from surprise and subjugation.
The islands are four, Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey, and Sark,
with their dependent islets. The most northerly, and nearest
to the coast of France, is Alderney, which is well protected
by its rocky shores and dangerous currents. The most wes-
terly is Guernsey, which is the least fertile in soil; and the
smallest is Sark, which consists of a beautiful table-land,
scarcely accessible from the sea, and capable of being de-
fended by a handful of men. The largest, richest, and most
populous is Jersey, lying about six leagues from the coast of
France. Its surface, except where it rises into rocky emi-
nences, presents to the eye a rich forest of fruit-trees, gar-
dens, and little cultivated fields, among which are to be seen
the villas and chateaus of the opulent, with the lowlier, yet
not less beautiful, dwellings of the humbler classes, green
with vines and myrtles, and embosomed in groves of the
cider-apple. When viewed more near, all the surface of the
country is seen to be intersected with innumerable banks of
earth, covered with trees, and verdant with the leaves of
bushes and the creeping ivy. These are the divisions of the
numberless little fields and possessions of the inhabitants,
into which, as an effect of the old Norman law of succession,
enforcing an equal division of land amongst the children of
a family, the whole country has been partitioned. The neces-
sary effect of this law, operating for more than nine centuries
within the narrow limits of a small island, has been to re-
duce all the land of the country into small possessions.
Scarcely an estate is to be found in the whole island of forty
acres, many vary from five to fifteen, and the greater number
fall below the extent of the least of these. The tendency
and effect of such an institution, continued from age to age,
might seem to be to produce an interminably minute division
of property in land; and yet experience proves that there
are limits to such a division, even in a tract so narrow and
$
***
2
4
337
populous as Jersey. The children, in succeeding to the par-
celled inheritance, make such arrangements with one another
as their interests require. The younger sells to the elder,
and he who does not wish for land to him who does; and
thus, besides the law of mortality, which unites, from time
to time, the scattered possessions into one, the interests of
the possessors present a barrier to an indefinite subdivision.
The law, founded on the simple principle, that every man is
bound to provide equally for his children out of his stock in
land, and that every lawful child has an equal right to the
inheritance of his father, is cherished by these islanders as
the most venerable of their institutions. It was derived by
them from their Norwegian ancestors, in whose country it
exists to the present hour; and where, after the lapse of
more than a thousand years, it has not produced an excessive
subdivision of estates. The land of Norway is indeed more
divided than it would have been under the feudal system,
but not into smaller possessions than the interests of the in-
heritors demand; and in no country in Europe does there
exist a happier and more independent race of yeomanry than
the Udal proprietors of Norway. In Jersey, and its sister
islands, the division has been more minute, merely because
a greater number of families can subsist on a given space of
ground.
W
All the practices of rural industry in these islands are mo-
dified by this ancient institution. The land thus partitioned
is cultivated in the manner of a garden, and the industry of
the people supplies the place of that art which simplifies and
economises labour; and that the substitution is sufficient ap-
pears from this, that larger returns in produce and money are
here obtained than in the richest parts of the British Islands;
and in the island of Jersey, in the cases where it is let on
lease, brings from L.4 to L.5 and upwards the acre; and
in the neighbourhood of St Helier, the principal town, it lets
as high as from L.8 to L.12; and at these enormous rents, it
is to be observed, families are reared in humble affluence on
THE ALDERNEY BREED.
Y
F
t
338
spots which elsewhere would be considered insufficient to
maintain the poorest labourer. The people cultivate cider as
the principal subject of export, and fruits of different kinds;
and in an especial manner, lucerne, clover, potatoes, carrots,
parsnips, turnips, and cole, for the food of their cows. They
cultivate, likewise, pease and the cereal grains, and reap
abundant returns. Their land never lies fallow for a season,
but is either in patches of fertile meadow, or yields continued
crops in the manner of a garden. They manure it with the
marine plants which grow in great abundance over all their
rocky shores. The sea-plants thus collected, they term Vraic,
and use either fresh or burned. They obtain their vraic as
it is cast on shore, or they shear it from the rocks at stated
times. The periods and the mode of gathering it are nicely
regulated by the insular laws, so that all the people may
equally partake of this natural gift of their seas. It forms
their domestic fuel, and the ashes are carefully preserved
for use.
The Cow, in an especial degree, is the subject of
the care of these island farmers. She is penned on a narrow
space, and shifted to fresh spots of herbage several times in
the day, and in the nights of winter she is warmly housed,
and, when about to calve, is nourished with cider. Through-
out all the year these little cows are to be seen in their
patches of meadow, often under the shade of the apple-trees,
and so fastened that they cannot raise their heads to pull
the fruit. In addition to their herbage, they are fed with
lucerne, clover, carrots, parsnips, and the large Jersey cole,
the leaves of which are stripped off as they grow. A value
is here attached to the Cow greater, perhaps, than in any
other part of Europe. She is the resource of the household
for food, and her surplus produce is a part of the returns of
every farm.
A Jersey man, it is said, will treat every ani-
mal on his farm with neglect except his cow. To preserve
the purity of the race, an act of the insular Legislature was
passed in the year 1789, and yet subsists, by which the impor-
tation into Jersey of any cow, heifer, calf, or bull, is prohibited
THE OX.
ų
339
under the penalty of 200 livres, with forfeiture of the boat
and tackle, and a further penalty of fifty livres is imposed on
any sailor on board who does not inform of the attempt. The
animal itself is to be immediately slaughtered, and its flesh
given to the poor.
The breeds of the several islands are essentially the same,
although that of Guernsey deviates from the common type,
and presents a greater affinity with the races of Normandy,
the individuals having more spreading horns, the size being
larger, the form rounder, and the bones less prominent, than
in the cattle of the other islands. The true Alderney has
a great resemblance to certain breeds of Norway, which
leads to the conclusion, that, in the intercourse with the
North which followed the subjugation of Normandy and its
dependencies, Scandinavian cattle were introduced into the
Islands of the Channel.
THE AYRSHIRE BREED.
XIII. THE AYRSHIRE BREED.
Of the cattle of these Islands, reared especially for the
uses of the Dairy, those of but a few districts present such
an affinity in conformation and habits as to be regarded as
constituting breeds or families. But the cattle of Ayrshire,
'which are reared exclusively for the supply of milk, have
spead over a large tract of country, and, by continued inter-
mixture with one another, have acquired such a community
of characters, as to form a distinct and well-defined breed.
The county of Ayr, stretching along the estuary of the
Clyde, and the Irish Sea, for about eighty miles, consists
in part of moory hills, in part of an undulating surface of
common clay, intersected by narrow vales, and in part of a
flat tract nearer the coast, bounded towards the sea by a
belt of barren sand. The climate is moist, but not intem-
perate, although the country, like that of all the western
shores of Scotland, is too much exposed to the continued winds
J
340
and humid vapours of the Atlantic. It contains fertile tracts,
and presents to the eye picturesque scenes; but throughout
it is only of a very moderate fertility, and exhibits a far dif-
ferent aspect from those rich and verdant plains of the Severn
and the Avon, of the Trent and the Cam, where the largest
cattle in Europe can be reared, and the richest productions
of the Dairy obtained. And further, the artificial improve-
ment of the country is but as of yesterday, when compared
with that of the fertile plains of England. Within the
memory almost of the living generation, the agriculture of
Ayrshire was in a state of utter rudeness. Its condition at
the middle of the last century, and long afterwards, is thus
described by eye-witnesses. There was hardly, says Colonel
Fullarton, in his Survey of Ayrshire, a practicable road in the
country. The farm-houses were mere hovels, built with clay,
baving a fire-place in the middle, with an open space for the
escape of the smoke, and they were placed in a dunghill.
The lands were overrun with rushes and weeds of all kinds.
There were no fallows, no green crops, no sown grasses, no
carts or waggons, no straw-yards. Hardly an esculent root
was raised, nor indeed any garden vegetables, beyond some
Scotch greens, which, with milk and oatmeal, formed the diet
of the people. There was little straw, and no hay beyond
the scanty portion collected from the bogs and wastes. The
little dung produced was dragged to the ground on cars or
sledges, or on what were called tumbler-wheels, which turned
with the axle-tree, and supported the wretched vehicle scarcely
able to draw five hundredweight. The ground was scourged
with successive crops of oats after oats so long as it would
pay the seed and labour, and afford a small surplus of oat-
meal for the subsistence of the family. It then remained in
a state of absolute sterility, and covered with thistles, until
rest again enabled it to produce a scanty crop of corn. The
rent was generally paid in kind, on the condition of what was
termed half labour. The stock and implements were fur-
nished mutually by the parties concerned, or on such terms
THE OX.
+
341
as could be agreed upon, one-half of the crop going to the
landlord as rent, and the other remaining to the tenant, to
enable him to maintain his family and cultivate his farm.
There being scarcely any enclosures, the horses and cattle
were either tethered during the summer months, or intrusted
to the discretion of the shepherd and his cur, by whom they
were kept in continued agitation, being impelled, through
famine, to fly from their bare leas, and commit continued de-
predation on the adjacent crops. The cattle being starved
during winter, were hardly able to rise without assistance in
spring, and were never in fit condition for the market. No
tenant could command money to stock his farm, and scarce
a landlord could raise the means to improve his estate. Such
was the condition, not of Ayrshire alone, but of a great part
of Scotland, during half the reign of George III., and down
to the times which men yet living can remember. Ayrshire
did not surpass, in the course of improvement, districts like
itself, but rather lagged behind, Scarcely any thing that
deserves the name of agricultural improvement was effected
in it until after the disastrous close of the American war;
most of what has been done has been effected since the com-
mencement of the present century; and much of it within a
few years.
It is under these circumstances that a race of
cattle has been formed and perfected, which, with relation to
the purposes to which it is especially destined, ranks with
some of the most useful produced in Britain.
Authentic records are wanting to shew by what progres-
sive steps the Dairy Breed of Ayrshire has been moulded
into its present form. That it was late in arriving at the
estimation in which it is now held, is sufficiently known. Mr
Culley, who wrote his treatise on live-stock before the year
1790, does not even mention the Ayrshire as one of the re-
cognised breeds of the country, nor once refer to it in the subse-
quent editions of his work; and Colonel Fullarton, in describ-
ing the country in which it was found, speaks of it in a man-
ner so general, as to shew that he did not regard it as any
THE AYRSHIRE BREED.
اسلام
*** }
342
thing remarkable. The older breed of the country seems to
have been one of those varieties of coarse cattle, with horns
of a medium length, which formerly occupied all the central
mountains south of the Forth, and extended into the plains.
Mr Ayton, who published a treatise on the Dairy Husbandry
of Ayrshire in 1825, describes them, from his own recollec-
tion, as having been a puny unshapely race, not superior to
those yet met with in many of the higher districts. They
were mostly, he tells us, of a black colour, marked with white
on the face, the back, and the flanks, and few of the Cows
yielded more than from one and a half to two gallons of milk
in the day, at the height of the season, or weighed, when fat,
more than 20 stones. But previous to the period referred
to, cattle of other races had been mingled in blood with the
native Ayrshire. It is stated, on competent authority, that,
even so early as the middle of the century, the Earl of March-
mont had brought, from his estates in Berwickshire, a bull
and several cows which he had procured from the Bishop of
Durham, of the Teeswater Breed, then known by the name
of the Holstein or Dutch Breed; and mention is made of
other proprietors who brought to their parks foreign Cows
apparently of the same race. To what degree these casual
importations affected the native breed of Ayrshire is not cer-
tainly known; but tradition refers likewise to an early impor-
tation of individuals of the Alderney Breed to the parish of
Dunlop, which became first distinguished for its Cows and
the produce of its dairy. This tradition is almost confirmed
by the similarity existing between the Alderney Breed and
the modern Ayrshire, which is so great as to lead us, inde-
pendently of tradition, to the conclusion, that the blood of
the one has been largely mixed with that of the other. There
is the same peculiar character of the horns, and colour of the
skin; and the general resemblance of the form is so great,
that in many cases a Jersey Cow might be mistaken for an
Ayrshire one. We may assume, then, from all the evidence
which, in the absence of authentic documents, the case admits
THE OX.
55
THE AYRSHIRE BREED.
343
of, that the Dairy Breed of Ayrshire owes the characters
which distinguish it from the older race to a mixture with
the blood of races of the Continent, and of the Dairy Breed
of Alderney.
mæ.
1;
The modern Ayrshire may stand in the fourth or fifth
class of British Breeds with respect to size. The horns are
small, and curving inwards at the extremity after the man-
ner of the Alderneys. The shoulders are light, and the
loins very broad and deep, which is a conformation almost
always accompanying the property of yielding abundant milk.
The skin is moderately soft to the touch, and of an orange-
yellow tinge, which appears about the eyes and on the mam-
The prevailing colour is a reddish-brown, mixed more
or less with white. The muzzle is usually dark, though often
it is flesh-coloured. The limbs are slender, the neck is small,
and the head is free from coarseness. The muscles of the
inner side of the thigh, technically called the twist, are thin
and the haunch frequently droops much to the rump, a charac-
ter which exists likewise in the Alderney Breed, and which,
although it impairs the symmetry of the animal, is not re-
garded as inconsistent with the faculty of secreting milk.
The udders are moderately large, without being flaccid. The
cows are very docile and gentle, and hardy to the degree of
bearing to subsist on ordinary food. They give a large quan-
tity of milk in proportion to their size and the meat con-
sumed, and this milk is of excellent quality. Healthy cows,
on good pastures, will give from 800 to 900 gallons in the
year, although, taking into account the younger and less pro-
ductive stock, 600 gallons may be regarded as a fair average
for the low country, and somewhat less for a dairy-stock in
the higher.
Few of the steers of this breed are reared for grazing, and
the male sucking-calves are sold to the butchers either when
young, or when fed with milk for a longer or shorter time.
The cows, when they become dry, fatten quickly, which is a
property common to all good milch-cows. But the value of
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344
the breed is to be estimated solely by its adaptation to the
uses of the dairy. The attention of breeders having been
directed exclusively to this end, the animals have acquired,
in an eminent degree, the properties sought for; and their
external form accords with that which indicates this faculty,
and not with that which shews a disposition to arrive at early
maturity of muscle and fatness. Those, therefore, who sup-
pose that the Ayrshire Breed combines the properties of a
dairy and grazing stock, entirely mistake its distinctive cha-
racters. It stands in the first class as a dairy stock, but
occupies an inferior place as one to be reared for fattening.
The Ayrshire Breed has long been extended from its na-
tive districts to all the neighbouring counties where the regu-
lar dairy is established. It now forms the prevailing stock
of Renfrew, Dumbarton, Stirling, and Lanark, and it has ex-
tended into the shires of Dumfries, Wigton, and Kirkcud-
bright. It has been carried into England, where, however,
it has never arrived at the estimation which it possesses in its
native pastures. All cows succeed best in the places where
they have been reared, and those of Ayrshire appear to have
the peculiarity of tending too much to fatten, with a corre-
sponding diminution of milk, when they are transported to
richer herbage than is natural to them. They have been
tried in the great dairy establishments of London, but have
always been relinquished in favour of the Yorkshire and
larger breeds.
THE OX.
Some breeders in Ayrshire have begun to cross the breed
with the Short-horns. This may suit the purposes of parti-
cular breeders, because the first crosses will always be supe-
rior to the native stock in size, form, and grazing qualities,
and little inferior to it for the production of milk; but the
practice cannot benefit the general breed, now so uniform in
its characters, and so well suited to the husbandry of the
country. The true method of improving it is to preserve it
in the purity which it has acquired, and to adopt such modes
of treatment and feeding as shall conduce to the further de-
Edit

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LIBRARY
Beckwith.
A North Devon Steer
The Property of M. The Umbers of Wappenbury, near Royal Leamington Spa for which the First Prize and Silver
awarded in Class Three at the Smithfield Cattle Show, Dec. 1843.
were awards
THE DEVON BREED.
345
velopment of its properties and form. The Ayrshire Breed
has been nearly doubled in weight, with a great increase in
its power of yielding milk, within the present century; and,
with the further progress of cultivation, its improvement
cannot but be progressive.
rela
XIV HE DEVON BREED.
随着
​On the southern side of the Bristol Channel extends the
country of the ancient Damonii, comprehending the present
counties of Devon and Cornwall Much of this tract re-
sembles Wales in its aspect and reological characters; and
like Wales, it afforded in a former age a refuge, amongst its
mountains, rocks, and fastnesses for the Celtic Britons. In
this country we find the remains of the same older breeds
of cattle which yet exist in the Welsh mountains, modified
by the effects of a lower altitude and more temperate climate.
In the county of Cornwall to the westward, the old breeds
of cattle resembled those yet existing in the mountains of
Wales, although they have been long so mixed with other
races and with one another, that it is difficult to assign to
them any distinctive characters. But farther to the east-
ward, and occupying the high lands of Devonshire on the
Bristol Channel, is a peculiar variety of cattle, distinguished
by such a common resemblance of properties and form as to
render it one of the best-defined breeds of the British Islands.
It is usually termed the Devon Breed, and sometimes the
North Devon, from its being found in the greatest purity in
the northern division of the county. These cattle have been
extended very widely, but their peculiar district is the north-
ern slope of Devonshire, extending from Barnstaple eastward
beyond the river Exe.
The true North Devons are to be classed with the breeds
of the higher country. They exceed a little in weight the
hardier and more muscular Pembroke and West Highland
cattle; but they fall short of the Long-horned, Hereford,
=
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:
+
346
;
and other varieties of the lower plains. Their general form
is light and graceful; their skin is of an orange-yellow colour
and they are distinguished by having the hair of a bright
red, and by their eyes being surrounded by a ring of the
colour of the skin. The nose is likewise of the same colour,
and the inside of the ears is orange-red. Their horns are of
medium length, very fine, and bending upwards in the manner
of the Wild Cattle of the parks. Their skin is unctuous and
soft to the touch, and the hair is fine, and tending to curl, like
that of other cattle inhabiting a humid climate. The neck
is long, and the chest has little dewlap. The shoulders are
oblique, the hoofs and bones of the extremities are small, the
limbs are slender and long, the chest is only of moderate
width, the back is long, and the distance large between the
last asternal rib and the pelvis. These are the most marked
characteristics of the true Devons, taking as the type of the
breed the variety proper to the elevated district of North
Devon. As we recede from this centre, the size and form
of the animals deviate more or less from the pure type. In
the countries of richer herbage they become enlarged in size,
and lose somewhat of the delicacy of shape which they ex-
hibit in their native pastures. They appear to be of that
variety of the ancient cattle which were valued for their
white colour, and the peculiarity of their red ears.
THE OX.
The females of this race are small as compared with the
bulls and oxen, deficient in the power of yielding milk, and
tending to run soon dry. Nevertheless the milk is very rich
in cream, and of a fine yellow colour, on which account many
prefer the Devons, for the domestic dairy, to other races whose
milk is more abundant. The flesh of the cattle is juicy and
tender, and tolerably well mixed with the muscular parts.
The fat has a peculiarly yellow tinge, corresponding with the
colour of the integuments; but this is not regarded as an
imperfection in those markets where the principal beef is the
Devon, and where the eye is reconciled to this peculiarity in
the colour of the fatty tissue.
The Devon cattle are gentle, agile, and above all our races
E
347
adapted to active labour. Their shoulders have that obli-
quity which enables them to lift freely their fore extremities;
and their quarters behind are relatively long, which is a cha-
racter connected in the Ox, as in the Horse, with the power
of active motion. Their bodies, too, are light, and their limbs
long, muscular to the hock and knee, and below these joints
sinewy. These cattle, then, although wanting in the power
of heavy draught which the larger Oxen can exert, have the
faculty of muscular exertion in a higher degree. They trot
well in harness, and will keep pace with a horse in the or-
dinary labours of the farm. They are largely employed
throughout the county of Devon for the purposes of labour,
usually four together, and mostly attached by the yoke and
not by the collar. The team of the labouring Oxen in this
beautiful county is one of the charms of the rural landscape.
A boy accompanies the ploughman and his team to drive the
Oxen. He chaunts continually a simple melody in low notes
rising to the higher. From morn to night this simple song
is heard, the ploughman putting in from time to time his
lower notes in happy keeping. The beasts seem cheered by
the music; and from hour to hour the team may be observed
in motion, without a harsh word being uttered by the plough-
man or his youthful companion.*
Although the Devon Ox presents a symmetry of parts.
which pleases the eye, yet his form is not precisely that which
the breeder seeks for in an animal destined to fatten quickly
and arrive at great weight. His neck is too long, his chest
is too narrow, his sides are too flat, his limbs are too long
in proportion to his body, or, in other words, his body is too
small in proportion to his height. The Devon Ox is a kindly
enough feeder, but he requires good pastures and a some-
what favourable climate, and could barely subsist on food
which would suffice to fatten some of the hardier mountain
breeds of nearly his own size.
THE DEVON BREED.
* Mr Youatt, Library of Useful Knowledge.
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348
THE OX.
But the defects in the form of the genuine Devons are
capable of being removed by the care of the breeder. How-
ever long the Devon has been in existence as a separate
variety, nothing like care had been bestowed on its improve-
ment in the country which it inhabits, until a recent period.
Even until several years after the commencement of the last
war, the breeders of Devonshire seem to have been ignorant
that there was any thing remarkable in their native breed;
and they appear to have only become aware of its importance,
and the profit of improving it, by the demand which arose for it
in other districts. Since the beginning of the present century,
however, the breed has received its full share of public at-
tention. Many eminent breeders in different parts of the
country have adopted it, and, by selection of the parents,
and enlarged supplies of food given to the animals when
young, have succeeded in imparting to it properties which it
had not acquired in its native district.
But, nevertheless, the Devon Breed, however much the
defects of its conformation may be corrected, and however
desirous graziers may be to procure it from the district in
which it is reared for the purpose of fattening, is not calcu-
lated to supplant other breeds to any great extent in this
country, when the end is rearing as well as grazing. It does
not equal in hardiness some others nearly similar in weight,
as the Pembroke, the West Highland, and the Galloway. It
falls short, in the weight at which it usually arrives, of the
Short-Horned and Hereford Breeds, and will not generally
yield so large a return as they will do from the period of birth
to maturity, however well it may remunerate the grazier be-
tween the periods of buying and selling. Neither is the
breed well suited to the bringing up of calves, or to the hus-
bandry of the dairy, in which the profit depends on obtaining
a large quantity of milk for a considerable period of the year.
For these reasons, the breed of North Devon, however greatly
it is to be valued, is not now found to extend itself in dis-
tricts where the richer pastures are found, and where the
349
means exist of cultivating artificial provender. In such situa-
tions, the larger individuals of the Short-Horned and Here-
ford races are preferred by those whose purpose is breeding
as well as grazing; and we may be well assured that the in-
terests of individuals have conducted them, in this respect,
to the course which is most profitable. The Devon Breed,
however, must always be held in estimation over a large tract
of country. It will be sought for by those who purchase
cattle to graze for a limited period, and sufficient inducement
is therefore held out to the Devonshire breeders to preserve
the purity of their native race, and to bring it to all the per-
fection to which, by a careful selection of the parents, and
liberal feeding of the young, it can be brought. There is no
need of exaggerated statements of the superiority of the
Devon Breed over others, in order to place it in its proper
rank. Like the West Highland, the Castle-Martin, and the
Galloway Breeds, it has a high intrinsic value for the gra-
zier; but assuredly it does not surpass, as some of its too
eager admirers maintain, other breeds which arrive at greater
weight, and attain earlier maturity.
The Devonshire breeders adhere scrupulously to the deep
red colour of the hair, and reject individuals having a ten-
dency to produce white on the face and the body. This is a
merely conventional test of purity and goodness, for certainly
white is, still more than red, the pristine colour of the race,
and its appearance ought not to be regarded as a sign of
degeneracy. But although the strict adherence to a given
colour may limit in some cases the selection of males and
females for breeding, it tends in an eminent degree to ensure
the general purity of the breed. The deep blood-red colour
of the pure North Devons is so peculiar, that there is no
other race in this country, in which an admixture of foreign
blood is so easily traced, or which, accordingly, has remained
so free from foreign intermixture. Inasmuch, then, as this
limitation of colour ensures uniformity in the typical charac-
ters of the race, it is beneficial; and it is not, therefore, ex-
THE DEVON BREED.
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THE OX.
pedient that the agriculturists of North Devon should de-.
part from the standard of the purity of their beautiful breed
which has been so long established.
The Devon Breed extends from the northern division of the
county into South Devon all the way to the British Channel.
Here the red colour characteristic of the purer race becomes
less bright, and white frequently appears on the body and
extremities, and the animals become enlarged in size, corres-
ponding with the increased fertility of the country, and as-
sume a coarser form. The South Devons, accordingly, are
held in far inferior estimation to the variety proper to the
higher country for ready fattening; but they are greatly
valued in their own district as rising to a good weight, and
supplying the larger beef which is in demand at the numerous
shipping ports of the coast. For this latter purpose, indeed,
the Durhams and Herefords would probably be found better
adapted; but if the breeders of South Devon shall continue
to prefer the existing.race, then surely the means ought to
be used to improve it in the degree of which it is susceptible.
It is absurd to say, as some have done, that the South Devon
breed is bad in itself, and incapable of improvement. The
South Devon Breed is only bad because sufficient attention
has not been paid, by selection of the parents, to the improve-
ment of the progeny.
As connected in some characters with the Devon group,
may be mentioned a variety of cattle rendered remarkable
by the striking contrast of colours on the body, which is found
in Somersetshire and some other of the south-western coun-
ties. It is usually termed the Sheeted Breed of Somerset-
shire. It has existed in the same parts of England from
time immemorial. The red colour of the hair has a light
yellow tinge, and the white colour passes like a sheet over
the body. The individuals are sometimes horned, but more
frequently they are hornless. The cows are hardy, docile,
and well suited to the dairy. The beef of the oxen is of
good quality and well marbled. The breed has become rare,
THE SUSSEX BREED.
351
which is to be regretted, since it is much better suited to the
dairy than others that have been adopted.
The peculiar marking which distinguishes these cattle is
not confined to any one breed. It appears amongst the cattle
of Wales when they are crossed by the White Forest Breed;
and is frequent amongst those of Ireland, and used to be so
amongst the older Galloways of Scotland. It is very com-
mon in Holland, where the colours are black and white. It
may be ascribed to the intermixture of two races having each
a tendency to produce the pristine colour of the stock from
which it is derived. Thus a mixture of the White Forest
Breed and a Devon might produce an animal resembling the
Sheeted Somerset, with the Black Falkland, one resembling
the sheeted varieties of the Dutch, and so on.
The pecu-
liarity, when communicated, is very constant; and, when two
animals possessing it are mixed together in blood, the pro-
geny never fails to preserve the marking of the parents.
XV. THE SUSSEX BREED.
The North Devon Breed of cattle, it has been seen, in-
habits the elevated district on the southern side of the Bris-
tol Channel, and is manifestly derived from the older race
which inhabited the same country. In passing from the
greywacké district of Devonshire into the calcareous country
to the eastward, comprehending the greater part of Somer-
setshire, and the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Berks, and Hants,
the Devon Breed ceases to appear, or, if found, is manifestly
not indigenous to the districts, but derived from those to the
westward. It reappears, however, in the county of Sussex,
a portion of which differs entirely, in its geological charac-
ters, from the districts with which it is in contact. The
Weald of Sussex, or, as it termed by geologists, the Wealden,
is believed to have been a deposite from some vast river flow-
ing from a continent, no longer existing in its former state,
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and long accordingly before the historical era, and before the
Island of Britain had assumed its present form. This stream
of fresh water appears to have formed at its mouth a delta
like that of the Ganges, the Nile, and other great rivers,
washing along with it numerous animals, whose remains
exist, and testify to the living generation the prodigious
revolutions which this globe has undergone in its physical
constitution and animated inhabitants. Amongst the amaz-
ing monuments of a former age, which this remarkable delta
presents, is a reptile which fed on herbage, and which, from
the measurement made of its bones, appears to have been
upwards of seventy feet in length; and there are found, too,
the remains of numerous other species, not one of which now
inhabits the earth. The Wealden forms part of Sussex, and
extends into Kent, and is distinguished by its surface being
a tenacious clay, entirely distinct from the chalky soils which
surround it. In later ages this tract became covered with
dense forests, and is yet remarkable, beyond any part of
England, for the number of noble trees which it produces.
"The hithermore and northern side thereof," says Camden,
in describing this part of Sussex, "is shaded most pleasantly
with woods, like as in times past, the whole country through-
out, which, by reason of the woods, was hardly passable.
For the wood Andraswald, in the British language Coid
Andred, taking the name of Anderida, the city next ad-
joining, tooke up in this quarter, a hundred and twentie
miles in length, and thirtie in bredth; memorable for the
death of Segibert, King of the West Saxons, who being de-
posed from his roiall throne, was in this place stabbed by a
swineherd, and so died." Long after the Romans landed
in Britain, the Wealden continued to be a vast thicket of
wood, in which the persecuted natives sought refuge, and
it abounded with the Uri, and other wild animals of the
Island, even until the times of the Norman princes. This,
then, is a part of the country in which we might look for the
preservation of ancient races of the domestic animals; and,
THE OX.
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accordingly, it is found that the same race of cattle which
exists in the mountains of North Devon, yet survives in the
Wealden.
The breed of the Wealden is usually termed the Sussex
Breed, from its being chiefly reared in that county. It pos-
sesses all the essential characters of the Devon Breed, but
more resembles the variety of South than of North Devon,
being reared in a country which affords larger supplies of
artificial food. It is accordingly of larger size than the
North Devon Breed, and of coarser form. It has not, per-
haps, been preserved in the same degree from foreign inter-
mixture; yet it is a very pure breed, and exhibits as great
a uniformity of characters as almost any other in the Island.
The Sussex is to be ranked amongst the larger breeds of
the country. The skins of the individuals are covered with
short hair, but have not usually the same unctuous feel
which so eminently characterizes that of the true North
Devons. Their horns are longer, approaching in this respect
to the character of the Long-horned varieties of the central
counties. Their shoulders are thick; and their legs, though
moderately short, have not the fineness of bone which is dis-
tinctive of the North Devons; nor have they the same length
of body and elegance of general form. The distinctive colour
is red, but of a less florid shade than in the North Devons;
and often it is mixed with white on the face and body. The
cows are restless, eminently deficient in the faculty of yield-
ing milk, and little used accordingly for the regular dairy.
They are likewise small as compared with the males, a
character which seems to be common to all the members
of the group with which they are associated, and which al-
ways indicates a deficiency in the milching properties of the
females of a race of cattle.
THE SUSSEX BREED.
The practice of employing oxen in the labour of the farm
is universal in the county of Sussex; and the native breed is
eminently suited to this purpose, combining weight of body
with a sufficient degree of muscular activity. For the pur-
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poses of labour, indeed, the Suffolk Breed is equal, if not
superior, to any in the kingdom. It has more action than
the Hereford, and more physical strength than the Devon;
and is superior to the Long-horned varieties for a combina-
tion of activity and strength. The employment of oxen for
labour prevails all over Sussex, but chiefly in the stiff soil
of the Wealden. The animals are usually worked four, and
sometimes six and even eight together; and heifers as well
as oxen are employed. They are broken to the yoke at
three years old, worked usually until the age of five or six,
and then they are fattened for the butcher. The employment
of oxen in the labours of the farm is recommended by certain
apparent advantages, which has led to some erroneous con-
clusions with respect to the extent to which these animals
may be profitably employed in the ordinary business of the
farms of this country. The Ox is reared to the age of labour
at less expense than the Horse, his subsequent charge of
maintenance is smaller, he requires less care and attend-
ance, and at a certain age, when unfitted for labour, he can
be fattened; whereas the Horse declines in value soon after
his prime, and ultimately becomes useless. On the other
hand, the Ox, although well suited for a slow and steady
draught, such as the plough demands, is not so well adapted
as the Horse for active motion, for distant journeying, or
for those sudden and unequal exertions which the varied
labours of a modern farm require. When oxen, too, are
employed largely on the farm, and disposed of after two or
three years' labour, there is a continued recurrence to the
training of young oxen for the yoke, by which means time,
so necessary to be economised on a well-ordered farm, is
lost in a degree which does not occur when horses are the
beasts of labour. Even in those parts of the country where
the working of oxen is the most largely practised, and where
the breeds of the country are the best adapted for the pur-
pose, few farmers attempt to cultivate their farms by oxen
alone: they employ horse-teams in at least equal numbers;
THE OX.
THE SUSSEX BREED.
355
thus shewing, by their practice, that, even under circum-
stances the most favourable to the employment of this kind
of draught, the Horse possesses certain qualities in which
the Ox is deficient, and that at best the use of oxen can only
be subsidiary to that of horses on ordinary farms. The use
of oxen has invariably declined in those parts of the country
where improvements are the most extended, and where the
most active system of farm-labour has been established; and
now it may be said, that the general use of oxen is confined to
those parts of the country where the peculiar races of cattle
suited for labour are reared. In all the districts where the
Short-horned Breed of cattle is established, the employment
of oxen in labour is almost unknown; and, in all the districts
where the active labour of the turnip-culture is largely prac-
tised, the Horse is almost exclusively made use of. Indeed,
it may be said, that this is an arrangement indicating an
advanced state of agriculture. By means of it, the two kinds
of animals are employed for the purposes to which they are,
respectively, the best adapted--the Horse for active labour;
the Ox for being reared the most quickly to that maturity
which fits him for human food. It is with the especial view
of directing attention to this result that these remarks are
made. The principle of breeding, when applied to an animal
to be fattened, is to develope those properties which have
relation to the earliest maturity of muscle and fat; and the
principle of fattening is to apply to the animal the largest
quantity of nutriment, from his birth to maturity, which con-
sists with the preservation of his health, or which the means
of feeding at our command may allow. But these principles.
cannot be fully applied when the oxen of the farm are to be
employed for labour. The external form which indicates the
fitness of an animal for the exertion of its physical powers
is different from that which indicates its adaptation to the
purpose of early fattening; and hence, the general employ-
ment of oxen in tillage is unfavourable to due attention to
another class of properties, while it does not admit of that
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THE OX.
continued feeding from the birth which brings the animal
soonest to the maturity required. Reasons, then, it will be
seen, exist for confining the use of oxen for labour within
certain limits, and for not extending the system to parts of
the country where breeds of animals unsuited to the purpose
are now reared, or where a different system of agriculture
is established.
The Breed of Sussex has, like every other, had its warm ad-
mirers, as well as its too prejudiced opponents. If it has not
obtained that favour which has been sufficient to cause its
extension to other parts of the country, this has not been
because the breed is naturally bad, but because the same
attention has not been employed in calling forth the proper-
ties now most generally valued in a race of cattle. It is nct
until a period comparatively recent, that much general atten-
tion has been paid to the improvement of the Sussex Breed,
with respect to symmetry and early maturity. Latterly, how-
ever, great attention has been paid to these properties. Va-
rious eminent breeders have employed the usual means for
correcting the defects of the existing race; and, at the pre-
sent time, numerous admirable oxen are derived from this
county, to supply the larger markets with which it is in com-
munication.
XVI. THE GLAMORGAN BREED.
The county of Glamorgan is a district of the coal-forma-
tion, situated on the Bristol Channel. In its geological cha-
racters, it differs entirely from the elevated parts of Wales
with which it is in contact. Towards the north, it consists
of mountains producing a coarse herbage of grasses, largely
mixed with sedges, rushes, and other innutritious plants; its
central part is less elevated, and more productive, but still
chiefly adapted to pasturage; its southern division lying on
the coast, and extending from six to ten miles inland, forms
THE GLAMORGAN BREED.
357
a fine undulating vale, mostly on a substratum of carbonifer-
ous limestone. From time immemorial, this part of Wales
has been distinguished for the production of numerous herds
of cattle. "The air," says Speed, " is temperate, and gives
more content to the mind than the soile doth fruit, or ease
unto travellers; the hills being high and very many, which,
from the north notwithstanding, are lessened as it were by
degrees; and towards the sea-coasts the country becometh
somewhat plain, which part is the best, both for plenty of
grain and populous of inhabitants. The rest, all mountain,
is replenished with cattel, which is the best means to wealth
which this shire doth afford; upon whose hills you may be-
hold whole herds of them feeding; and from whose rocks
most clear springing waters through the valleys trinkling,
which sportingly do pass with a most pleasant sound-."
The cattle of Glamorganshire, naturalized in a tract of
country differing somewhat in its vegetable productions from
the higher parts of Wales, have assumed a class of charac-
ters proper to themselves. The colour of the hair, like that
of the Devons, tends to red, in place of the black character-
istic of the races of the higher country; but the skin pos-
sesses the same orange colour which distinguishes the Pem-
broke and allied breeds, manifesting an identity of origin in
these races. It has been imagined by some that the pecu-
liarities of the Glamorgan breed are due to foreign intermix-
ture, and this has been referred to so remote a period as the
age of William Rufus, when certain Norman knights seized
violently upon the country, and partitioned it amongst them-
selves and their retainers. But this country possessed its
native cattle long before the Normans had acquired a footing
in it, and the pursuits of these barbarous soldiers were far
other than the improvement of flocks and herds. Rapine,
the chase, and warlike exercises, occupied their thoughts;
and the occupations of peaceful industry were left to their
dependants, too ignorant and oppressed to think of any thing
beyond the rude wants of their condition. In such a state
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358
of society, the improvement of breeds of cattle by foreign im-
portations, could scarcely take place. Approaching nearer
to our own times, when freedom of intercourse between dif-
ferent parts of the country was established, it may be sup-
posed that cattle from other districts found their way into
Glamorganshire, but not in sufficient numbers to obliterate,
or change essentially, the characters of the native cattle.
These, from some old notices, seem to have been of a red-
dish colour. A Welsh writer, upwards of a hundred years
ago, describes the Cows as being of large size, some red and
some pied; which sufficiently agrees with the aspect of
the present breed, whose colour is a dark reddish-brown,
broken with white. Within the last forty or fifty years, in-
deed, various attempts have been made to improve the cattle
of Glamorganshire by crosses with the Hereford, Devon,
and other breeds; but still the essential characteristics of
the native race remain sufficiently distinct and uniform to
constitute a well-defined breed.
THE OX.
The breed of Glamorganshire differs in the size of the in-
dividuals, according as they are the natives of the hilly parts
of the country, or of the lower and maritime. The breed,
however, is essentially the same in both districts, and varied
only by the condition of the country, and the care with which
the animals have been selected and reared. In the higher
country, where their food is the rough herbage of mountains,
the cattle are in a corresponding degree small, but coarse
and robust in form, active like other mountain cattle, but
slow in arriving at maturity. In the Vale, where the her-
bage is fine, and the means exist of cultivating artificial pro-
vender, the cattle become of larger size, of more developed
forms, and having a greater aptitude to fatten readily. The
Glamorgans of the lower country fall short of the ordinary
size of the Durhams and Herefords; but yet they are of the
larger class of cattle. Their horns are small, fine, and point-
ing somewhat upwards; and in the breed of the hills, the horns
have yet more of the upright curvature. The skin is generally
•
THE GLAMORGAN BREED.
359
orange-yellow, and the individuals are most esteemed in
which this colour prevails. The hair is dark-brown, usually
broken with white; and very generally there is a uniform
marking of the latter colour, extending along the belly, and
forming a streak along the back. Their chests are well
formed, with moderate dewlaps, and their beef is excellently
marbled. The Cows are exceedingly good milchers, giving a
rich yellow cream. The domestic dairy has always been an
important object of attention in this and other parts of Wales,
and hence the property of yielding abundant milk has been
sought for and obtained in the races of the country. In this
respect the Cows of Glamorgan differ essentially from those
of Hereford and North Devon, in which the attention of
breeders has been directed to grazing, and not to the dairy.
It is an opinion frequently expressed by Glamorgan breed-
ers, that the native breed had been injured by an intermix-
ture of other races. This deterioration is supposed to have
taken place after the commencement of the last war; and
one of the proofs of it cited is, that the Glamorgan cattle,
which had formerly been in great request for grazing, began
to lose favour in the districts to which they had before been
carried, as in Leicestershire, and other grazing counties. This
effect, however, is sufficiently accounted for by the increased
attention which had begun to be paid throughout the country
to the improvement of live stock, and to the extension of su-
perior breeds. It is less likely that the Glamorgan cattle had
become deteriorated, than that the breeders of them had
failed to keep pace with those of other parts of the country.
With respect to the presumed mixture of other blood, this has
probably been as little in Glamorganshire as in most parts of
the kingdom. The native farmers appear to have long taken
a peculiar pride in their ancient breed, and are at this hour
very generally as tenacious of its purity as any breeders can
be supposed to be. Individuals, indeed, chiefly in the Vale,
have made experiments in crossing, just as has happened in
other parts of the country; and insensible mixtures may have
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360
taken place with the Herefords and cattle of the neighbour-
ing districts; but that the Glamorgan breed has remained
wonderfully pure, especially in the higher country, may be
inferred from the uniformity of characters which it has pre-
served. Various modern breeders, instead of a system of
crossing, have, with better judgment, directed their attention
to the improving of the breed which their country has for so
many ageş produced. These improvements have been chiefly
carried on in the Vale, where the means are favourable to
the rearing of a superior breed of cattle. The result of these
experiments has shewn, that the native Glamorgan affords
the basis of a valuable breed, requiring only that the same
care and time shall be given to breeding and rearing which
must be bestowed in order to bring any race of animals to a
perfect state. Many of these improved Glamorgans have
been able to contend successfully, with respect to early ma-
turity, symmetry, and even weight, with the Durhams and
Herefords; and they are certainly superior to either of these
breeds in their adaptation to the dairy. No question, then,
can exist, that the breeders of Glamorgan are able to bring
the breed of the country to the degree of size, aptitude to
fatten, and economical value, which consists with the na-
ture of the district, and the state of its agriculture. The
improved Short-horns have, indeed, been largely introduced
into the Vale of Glamorgan, as into most other parts of the
country where the means exist of supplying them with suf-
ficient food; and there has been a great inducement to culti-
vate them, seeing that this breed has been already perfected,
and that it is found in numbers sufficient to allow any one to
obtain and rear it, whereas the finest class of Glamorgans
are only as yet in the hands of a few breeders who have made
them the subject of especial attention. But, excellent as the
imported breed is, this advantage would have resulted from
adhering to the older race, that the whole county would have
then been occupied by a uniform race; and that from the
lower country to the higher superior males might have been
THE OX.
361
carried, so that the cattle of the mountains would have been
gradually improved to the degree which was suitable to the
nature of the pastures. As it is, this advantage will not be
obtained by the introduction of the Short-horns, for these are
unsuited to the higher country, and the degree of cultivation
which must necessarily exist in it. The cultivators of the
superior Glamorgans will find it difficult, in a district so li-
mited, to pursue their improvements in opposition to the ex-
tension of another breed; and Glamorganshire will probably
present the singular example of having the general improve-
ment of the live-stock of the country retarded by the impor-
tation of a breed in itself good, and calculated to benefit the
individuals who adopt it. But it is the interests of the
breeders themselves that must determine the question as to
the breeds to be adopted, and it cannot be supposed that
considerations founded on general benefit will prevail against
private interests. But this the landed gentlemen of the
country may do: they may and ought to give all encourage-
ment to the preservation and improvement of that race which
is naturalized, which occupies so great a part of the country,
and which experience shews to be susceptible of so much im-
provement. The native and imported breeds should be kept
distinct and pure.-Besides the Short-horned, the Dairy
Breed of Ayrshire has been introduced into this district,
though it is difficult to see with what aim. The native cattle
already possess the qualities of milch cows in a very high
degree, and they have this advantage over the Ayrshire, that
they are the natives of the country. Individuals may, in-
deed, if they think fit, possess themselves of an Ayrshire or
any other stock, but no benefit could result from mixing these
strangers with the native race.
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THE GLAMORGAN BREED.
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THE OX.
XVII.—THE HEREFORDSHIRE BREED.
Extending along the base of the mountains of Wales is a
tract of fertile country, calculated to increase the size, and
so to modify the characters, of the cattle which it maintains.
This effect is seen in the fine race produced in the Vale of
Glamorgan, in the mixed races which occupy the lower parts
of Montgomeryshire, and yet more in those of the richly cul-
tivated county of Hereford. If we suppose that at any time
a common race of cattle occupied the higher country and the
lower, we must believe that its characters would gradually
diverge as the animals became naturalized in mountains of
natural herbage, or became the inhabitants of a cultivated
country capable of yielding artificial food. Herefordshire
was of old a part of the country of the Cambro-Britons, but
at a very early period fell under the dominion of the Anglo-
Saxons. Yet although it has thus for a vast period been
connected with Wales only by contiguity of situation, its
cattle retain the traces of a common ancestry. They have
that orange-yellow colour of the skin which distinguishes the
Pembrokes and the Devons, and that medium length of horns
which separates these breeds and their varieties from the
race termed Long-horned. It cannot be supposed that they
have been kept free from intermixture with the Long-horned
and other varieties of the lower country, but they may be re-
ferred to that group of breeds which comprehends the Pem-
broke, the Devon, the Sussex, and the Glamorgan, and which
some writers have proposed to term Middle-horned, a desig-
nation which distinguishes them from the Long-horned on the
one hand, and the Short-horned on the other, but which does
not sufficiently separate them from other very different va-
rieties, as those which occupied many of the former forests
of the country, and even from the older Yorkshire Short-
horns. Of the changes which the Herefords have, until a
period comparatively recent, undergone, from mixture or
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THE HEREFORDSHIRE BREED.
363
otherwise, we know nothing from any authentic records.
When we first obtain accounts of them, they appear to have
been of a good size, but of mixed characters. The Dairy
was at a former period largely pursued in Herefordshire, the
effect of which must have been to collect together animals of
mixed descent, and only agreeing in the common character
of yielding much milk. Many of them were black, many red,
and so far were they from exhibiting the common charac-
ters of a breed or family, that a skilful observer, who saw
them late in the last century, believed them at first to be a
mixture of Welsh Cattle and Long-horns, although it appears,
from the remains of the older race which yet exist, that the
greater part of them consisted of a race of red cattle, which,
in colour, and in the upward curvature of the horns, re-
sembled the coarser kinds of Devons.
But whatever were the characters of the former cattle of
Herefordshire, the breed, as it now exists, owes all its repu-
tation to modern changes. About the year 1769, the late Mr
Benjamin "Tomkins began a system of breeding, which ulti-
mately exercised a great influence on the stock of this part
of England. It appears that size, and adaptation to the
dairy and the purposes of labour, were then the properties
chiefly sought for by the breeders of Herefordshire. Mr
Tomkins, when a young man, was in the employment of an
individual, afterwards his father-in-law, and had the especial
charge of the dairy. Two cows had been brought to this
dairy, supposed to have been purchased at the fair of King-
ton, on the confines of Wales. Tomkins remarked the ex-
traordinary tendency of these animals to become fat. On
his marriage he acquired these two cows, and commenced
breeding from them on his own account. The one with more
of white, he called Pigeon, and the other, of a rich red colour,
with, a spotted face, he called Mottle; and it is remarkable
that the marking of the two cows may be distinguished in
their descendants at the present day. Mr Tomkins appears
to have selected good cows where he could obtain them in
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THE OX.
364
the district, but to have reared his bulls from his own stock,
although, in the earlier stage of his improvements, he some-
times made use of other bulls when they suited his purpose.
After a time, however, he abandoned this practice, and con-
fined himself in breeding to his own stock. It thus appears
that the principle of his system was selection of the most
suitable individuals for breeding, and that having produced,
by this mean, animals of the properties required, he con-
fined himself to his own herd. Having arrived at the im-
provement sought for, he communicated to the individuals,
by intermixture with one another, that uniformity and per-
manence of character which constitutes a breed. In this
latter respect, however, he was not so successful as Bake-
well, and many of the Herefords deviate considerably from a
common type. Tomkins, indeed, had what he termed his
different lines of stock, as his Mottle line, and his Pigeon or
Silver line, from which we are merely to infer that his ani-
mals had not been so amalgamated as to acquire a perma-
nent class of common characters. Tomkins continued his
improvements during a long life. He was a person of very
retired and unassuming habits, seldom, if ever, shewing his
cattle from home, or concerning himself much about what
was passing beyond his own circle. In this respect his con-
duct was the reverse of that of his distinguished contem-
porary Bakewell, who took every opportunity to derive ad-
vantage from his stock, and to spread the reputation of it
throughout the country. In one respect, indeed, the course
of the two breeders was similar. Each maintained the ut-
most reserve with respect to his mode of practice, and the
sources from which he derived his original stock. It is merely
known that Tomkins began breeding from the humble stock
of cows which he had early acquired; but of the breed of
⚫ these cows nothing is known, nor of the animals, male or fe-
male, which he afterwards made use of for extending and
improving his herd. It may be believed that the selection
was made from the best of the cattle then existing in the dis-
THE HEREFORDSHIRE BREED.
365
trict; and that thus the breed of Tomkins was formed from
the pre-existing cattle of Herefordshire, rather than by any
mixture with dissimilar kinds proper to other parts of the
country. The Short-horns were then of little estimation be-
yond the districts which produced them, and there is little
appearance of the Long-horned blood in the modern breed.
A resemblance, indeed, has generally been sought for between
it and the Devons. The resemblance, however, is merely
such as may be supposed to arise from a common and distant
ancestry; and the form of the modern Herefords differs
greatly from that which is typical of the true Devons. There
is nothing, therefore, in the breed as it now exists, which can
lead us to the conclusion, that its original improver had re-
course to any other races than those which he found na-
turalized in his native district.
From the unobtrusive course pursued by Tomkins, it was
only by slow degrees that the merit of his stock became
known, and its influence felt; and early as had been the
period at which the improvement of it had commenced, the
Hereford Breed was late in being brought prominently before
the public, as one possessed of the valuable properties which
are now, by common consent, ascribed to it. The progress
of the breed, however, though slow, was sure, and it silently
extended itself throughout all the county of Hereford, gra-
dually assimilating to a more uniform standard the stock of
the county; so that Herefordshire became the most import-
ant breeding district of a distinct family of the larger cattle
in the West of England. Tomkins himself died at an ad-
vanced age, having realized the honourable competence to
which his high merits as an original, skilful, and successful
breeder, entitled him. Eminent agriculturists in the district
and elsewhere contributed to extend the reputation of the
breed; amongst whom it may not be regarded invidious to
mention the names of the Honourable George Germain, Mr
Price, and the Earl of Talbot, who became purchasers of the
!
you
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366
stock of Tomkins, and cultivated it with a scrupulous regard
to the purity of descent.
The modern Hereford is a breed of the larger class, the
oxen attaining a weight scarcely surpassed by any other in
the kingdom. The colour is a dark red, or reddish-brown,
with white faces, and more or less of white on the back and
belly; and the aim of modern breeders has for a considerable
period been to produce more of the white colour, which is
characteristic of the Pigeon or Silver line of Tomkins, and to
which the preference has long been given. The horns are of
medium length and spreading, but sometimes very short in
the bulls; the forehead is broad, and the countenance open
and mild; the shoulder is well formed, and the chest broad
and deep. Their beef brings a good price in the market, al-
though it is not so well marbled as that of some other breeds,
even of the lower country. They tend to accumulate fat
upon the rump, but not in the same degree as the Long-horns.
They fatten readily, and on ordinary food; and hence the
general estimation in which the oxen are held for the pur-
poses of grazing. Although a docile race, the bulls frequently
become vicious when old. The cows, like the Devons, are
small as compared with the size to which the oxen attain.
They are likewise indifferent milchers, so that this breed is
rarely employed in the regular dairy. This must be ascribed
to the exclusive attention bestowed by modern breeders on
the fattening property, for the unimproved Herefords do not
seem to be deficient in this property, and the Glamorgans,
which are nearly allied to the Hereford Breed, possess it in
a high degree.
By the acquisition of this beautiful breed, Herefordshire
has become a breeding rather than a grazing district. Com-
paratively few of the Herefords are fattened in the county
itself. They are bought by the graziers of other districts,
and thus fattened for the London and other markets. Num-
bers of them, after being worked for several years, are car-
THE OX.
367
ried to these markets, presenting as fine specimens of the
matured and fattened Ox as are to be seen in any country.
The Hereford breeders naturally set a high value upon this
breed. They esteem it to be the finest in England. It has,
indeed, many excellent properties for the grazier; but the
general judgment of the breeders has long been pronounced
in favour of another breed, likewise perfected by the skill of
the breeder-the Short-horned Teeswater, or, as it is now
frequently termed, the Durham Breed. This has for many
years been progressively extending, and been carried even
within the native districts of the Herefords. The Herefords
will frequently pay the graziers better than the Durhams;
but the value of a breed is to be determined, not by the pro-
fit which it yields between buying and selling, but by that
which it yields to the breeder and the feeder conjointly from
its birth to its maturity; and taking into account the early
maturity of the Short-horns, and the weight to which they
arrive, it may without error be asserted that they merit the
preference which has been given to them. The two breeds
have been sometimes crossed with one another; but, although
fine animals are produced by a first cross, the future progeny
rarely equals the parents of pure blood. Unless, therefore,
the Herefords were to be crossed until they became Short-
horns, the proper course seems to be to preserve the two
breeds in a state of purity, the breeder and the grazier con-
tenting themselves with the excellencies which each has ac-
quired.
THE HEREFORDSHIRE BREED.
XVIII.—THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
The term Long-horned, when applied to a variety of Bri-
tish cattle, denotes not only a simple character of the horns,
namely, their extension or length, but a certain similarity in
the external form of the animals, which united a great pro-
portion of the older cattle of the country into what might be
ཀ
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368
termed a breed. Length and grossness of horns may be sup-
posed to be connected, in certain circumstances, with the
nature of the pastures and the humidity of the climate. A
moist climate tends to produce thickness of skin and length
of hair; and the corneous system is so connected with the
cuticular, that it is reasonable to believe, that what affects
the skin and its covering, may exercise an action on the
parts connected with them. The true Long-horns seem to
have been the inhabitants of the western parts of the British
Islands. They extended nearly over all the plains of Ireland,
and the greater part of the mountains, and yet form the pre-
vailing race of that country. In England, they occupied Lanca-
shire, extending northward into Cumberland and Westmore-
land, and southward through Cheshire and Shropshire, to
the districts on the Severn, and even into Somersetshire,
where the traces of them still exist in the higher country.
From the mouth of the Severn they extended inland through
the midland counties even to Leicestershire. They were
found, and are yet reared, in Derbyshire, and partially occu-
pied, and still occupy, the bleak range of heathy hills which
extend from that county northwards, and which divide the
more westerly and humid country on the Atlantic from the
eastern and drier on the German ocean. But, on the eastern
slope of this range of hills, they gradually diminished in
numbers, until the traces of them were lost; and they were
not found within the period of any records in the south-
eastern counties of the Chalk. Although they had stretched
through the midland counties as far to the eastward as Lei-
cestershire, yet, as they extended eastward, their characters
appear to have undergone a progressive change; for, al-
though Leicestershire became in time the centre of a highly
cultivated breed of Long-horns, the older cattle which pos-
sessed it seem either to have been a mixed race, or to have
deviated greatly from the type of the true Long-horns of the
western counties. Thus the Long-horned Breed appears
to have been derived from the western and more humid
THE OX.
8
3
THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
369
countries, and to have disappeared, or lost its distinctive
characters, in the eastern and drier; and hence it seems
reasonable to infer, that it owed the characters which dis-
tinguished it to the influence of climate. Yet in the west of
Ireland, in the moistest climate of Europe, and spread exten-
sively over the whole country, there is a race, the Kerry,
which differs, in almost every respect that constitutes a
breed, from the Long-horns. The Wild White Forest Breed,
though reared for ages in parks in the west of England and
Scotland, never assumes the characters of the Long-horned
race. The North Devon, and all the native cattle of the
humid mountains of Wales, are alike removed from it ; and
in all the west of Scotland, in tracts exposed to the con-
tinued vapours of the Atlantic ocean, no trace of the charac-
ters distinctive of the Long-horned race presents itself.
The Kerry Breed, the Devon, the Welsh, and the Scotch
Highland, differ as much from the Long-horned as the white
man from the negro; and the two classes retain their charac-
ters distinct, though naturalized in the same tract of country,
beyond all records. The influence of climate alone, then,
does not satisfactorily account for the formation of breeds,
which, naturalized under conditions apparently similar, differ
so greatly from one another; and we are rather conducted
to the inference, that races so unlike were derived from dis-
tinct sources. But if the Kerry and other breeds inhabit-
ing the country have been derived from natural stocks dis-
tinct from the Long-horned, all the traces of their naturali-
zation have been lost in the obscurity of time.
The Long-horned Breed, as it existed before the artificial
improvements to which it has been subjected, varied in size
with the natural and acquired fertility of the districts to
which it had become indigenous, being larger in the richer
plains, and smaller in the mountains. The prevailing colour
of the animals was black and brown, and they had more or
less of white on the body, a streak of that colour always
extending along the spine. They had thick dark skins, and
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370
THE OX.
abundant hair. Their horns were long, and bending down-
wards; a peculiarity, however, which seemed to give place
to the influence of external agents, since, at the eastern and
southern limits of the breed in England, their horns fre-
quently turned upwards, in the manner of other cattle in-
habiting these districts. Their bodies were long, their sides
flat, and their shoulders heavy as compared with their hind
quarters. They were hardy, capable of subsisting without
shelter, and on indifferent food, but they were slow in arriv-
ing at maturity. Their flesh was of a dark colour, and the
fat of a yellow tinge. They were of docile tempers, and
steady in the yoke, though sluggish in their motions. They
were with difficulty amalgamated with other varieties, re-
taining with greater obstinacy than any other race their dis-
tinctive characters. The females were suited to the domes-
tic dairy, yielding good milk, though not in large quantity.
This breed having been naturalized in Ireland from a
period of unknown antiquity, it may be believed that the
fertile pastures of that country would tend to produce a
great development of form and size in the animals. Very
large cattle, accordingly, appear to have been produced on
the rich plains of the Shannon and elsewhere. Early writers,
however, give us little information further than that the
country abounded in cattle, which were the chief wealth of
the inhabitants. But soon after the middle of last century,
competent judges bear testimony to the excellence of many of
the Long-horned cattle of Ireland. Mr Bakewell found, in
the fair of Ballinasloe, individuals of the breed, which he re-
garded as inferior only to those which he himself had per-
fected; and it may therefore be believed, that cattle were
produced in Ireland not inferior to those of the same race in
the sister island. In England, the nursery of this breed was
the county of Lancaster. Writers frequently refer to the
fair beeves, with spreading horns, of this part of England.
"A man may judge," says Cambden, "of the soile partly
by the constitution and complexion of the inhabitants, who
1
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THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
371
you
are to see to, passing faire and beautifull, and in part, if
please, by the cattaille. For in their kine and oxen, which
have goodly heads and faire spread horns, and are in body well
proportionate withall, you shall find in maner no one point
wanting, that Mago, the Carthaginian doth require, as Colu-
mella specifieth out of him." And another and later writer
observes of the same country, "The soil, for the generality,
is not very fruitful; yet it produces such numbers of cattle,
of such large proportion, and such goodly heads and horns,
as the kingdom of Spain doth scarce the like." From Lan-
cashire the same breed extended not only into Westmoreland
and Cumberland, but across the intervening moorlands into
Yorkshire, occupying the more elevated tracts which formed
the ancient county of Richmond. The district of Craven, in
an especial degree, became distinguished for its breed of
Long-horns; so that bulls, we are informed, used to be sent
from it to other districts, even to Leicestershire and the mid-
land counties. The Craven Breed is still to be found in the
same district, now crossed by the improved variety of the
midland counties, but differing in no essential respect from
the native race of Lancashire.
The ultimate improvement of this breed, however, took
place, not in Lancashire or Craven, but in the midland coun-
ties; and we are informed that breeders there had been
early in the habit of procuring stock from Lancashire and
the adjoining districts, for the purpose of improving their
herds. Amongst the earlier breeders of this part of Eng-
land is mentioned Sir Thomas Gresley, in the county of Staf
ford. He is said to have kept a fine stock of Long-horns, at
his seat, near Burton on the Trent. Little, however, is
known of the breeding experiments of Sir Thomas Gresley;
but it is well established that another individual, Mr Web-
ster of Canley, near Coventry, in the county of Warwick,
had, sometime about the middle of last century, become one
of the most eminent breeders of Long-horns in that part of
England. His stock became known as the Canley Breed.
;
#
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372
He is said to have bred on the basis of cows derived from
the stock of Sir Thomas Gresley, but to have afterwards
resorted for bulls to Lancashire and Westmoreland. The
Canley Breed is described by contemporaries, as being the
best that had been then produced in England.
The Canley Breed, however, after a time, gave place to
one yet more distinguished, the formation of which became
an era in the history of breeding in this country, and ulti-
mately exercised an important influence on a great propor-
tion of the Long-horns reared in the British Islands. Robert
Bakewell of Dishley, in the county of Leicester, was born at
that place about the year 1725. His father and grandfather
had been considerable farmers upon the same estate; and,
on his succeeding to the farm of Dishley, about the year
1755, he began to pursue with diligence those plans for the
improvement of the domestic animals, which had, doubtless,
occupied the thoughts of his earlier years. He cultivated
alike the Sheep, the Ox, the Horse, and the Hog, and ap-
pears to have early laid down a set of principles to which he
steadily adhered. He sought for the best animals of their
respective kinds, and, coupling these together, endeavoured
to develope, in the highest degree, those characters which he
deemed good. He appears to have disregarded, or made
light of, size in all the animals which he reared, and to have
looked mainly to those characters of form which indicate a
disposition to arrive at early maturity, and become readily
fat. He acted to the fullest extent upon the principle that
the properties of the parents are communicated to their de-
scendants. This led him to attach the highest importance
to what is termed blood, or breeding from individuals the
descendants of those of approved qualities. A maxim of his
was, that "like begets like"-a principle in nothing new,
but never, perhaps, acted upon in breeding to the like degree
before. He aimed at producing the large cylindrical body,
in all the animals destined to be fattened, and a smallness
of the head, neck, and extremities, or what is called fineness
THE OX.
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373
of bone. A saying of his, often quoted, is, that "all was
useless that was not beef;" and hence his endeavour to lessen
the quantity of what is usually termed offal. He adopted,
too, the homely profit-and-loss maxim of breeding the ani-
mals large in the parts which are of most value to be sold;
and hence, in his breed of cattle, he made the shoulders com-
paratively small, and the hind-quarters proportionally large.
He had a thorough confidence in his own judgment, and
relied entirely upon his own resources. In the whole series
of his numerous experiments, he appears to have consulted,
and even trusted, no one. It is said that his only confi-
dant was an old shepherd, who alone knew what animals
were covered, and with what blood. Although young gentle-
men resided with him, for the purpose of receiving instruc-
tion, they knew nothing of the course of his experiments;
and when it is mentioned, that amongst these individuals
were the late distinguished Earl of Leicester, Mr Cully, Mr
Buckley, and others likely to take a deep interest in the pro-
ceedings, it will be seen what a methodised system of caution
and secrecy was pursued. He seems to have obtained the
respect of those connected with him, for his character and
judgment; but within the circle of reserve which he cast
around him, where his own proceedings were concerned, no
one was permitted to pass; and, strange to say, he left not
behind him a single written record of his curious experi-
ments. It is not probable that this can be ascribed to any
higher motive than the selfishness of a trader, careful to pre-
vent others from profiting by his acquired knowledge. But
yet it manifested a certain strength of character, and may
shew that Bakewell, though actuated by ordinary motives,
was not an ordinary man. He struck out for himself a new
course of action; and, carrying on a long course of peculiar
experiments, ultimately succeeded, and laid down, by his ex-
ample, principles which experience has since proved to be
sound. There had not before been another Bakewell; and
all who have sought the same end have but followed in his
THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
1
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374
track. Amidst many disappointments, he never despaired of
his ultimate purpose, but bore up against ridicule, neglect,
and predictions of failure, till the end. He was at one time
involved in great pecuniary difficulties, but at length he suc-
ceeded in all his plans, and left a competent fortune to his
successors. Even after he had succeeded in perfecting his
stock, he kept all kinds of animals in his park, and was con-
stantly engaged in his favourite experiments. He died,
universally regarded as the most successful breeder that this
country had produced, in his 70th year.
THE OX.
Much fruitless inquiry has arisen regarding the precise
course followed by Bakewell in forming his breed of Long-
horns. The opinion, seemingly founded on the best autho-
rities, is, that he obtained some of his first cows from Mr
Webster of Canley, but that he likewise selected elsewhere
the best animals, male and female, that he could obtain. He
is said to have purchased, amongst others, a very fine cow
from Sir William Gordon of Garrington, near Loughborough,
and from her to have had a fine bull, which he called Two-
penny, because a person had observed of him that he was
not worth twopence. This bull became the most celebrated
of the early stock of Bakewell, and is constantly referred to
in the pedigrees of the improved Long-horns. It must be
observed, however, that other accounts are given of the de-
scent of Twopenny; and that much uncertainty necessarily
exists in everything that relates to the origin of the Dishley
stock, since this was precisely the point of practice which
Bakewell himself desired to involve in mystery.
Mr Bakewell adopted the practice of breeding from ani-
mals without relation to their affinities in blood, in a degree
which had perhaps never before been attempted. He pro-
bably adopted this system from the very commencement of
his experiments, and ultimately confined himself entirely to
his own herd; one exception only being recorded, when, at
a late period, he bought a cow from Mr Harris, a descendant,
however, from the Dishley stock. The effect was, that he
1
375
gave a permanent uniformity to the characters of his ani-
mals, and formed, after a time, a distinct and well-defined
breed. Further, the effect of continually breeding from ani-
mals near of blood, is attended with the effect of giving a
delicacy of temperament and form to the progeny. It dimi-
nishes the size of the bones, and produces, as it were, a ten-
dency to arrive at premature age. The animals, getting
soon old, arrive quickly at maturity of bone and muscle,
which is the very end aimed at by the breeder. Bakewell
probably adopted the system from the mere desire of pre-
serving the properties of form which his stock had acquired ;
but he would learn by experience, in the sequel, that the
effect was likewise to produce a more complete development
of those properties.
THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
The success of Bakewell called other breeders into the
field. Of these the earliest and most distinguished was Mr
Robert Fowler of Little Rollright, in the county of Oxford.
Mr Fowler purchased several heifers from Mr Webster of
Canley, and hired the bull Twopenny from Mr Bakewell,
from which stock he bred several fine cows. He continued
to hire bulls from Mr Bakewell, and, in particular, one in
the year 1778 or 1779, called D, which, by one of his first
cows of the Canley stock, produced a bull termed Shakspeare,
the most celebrated in the annals of the improved breed, and
continually referred to in the pedigree of the stock. Mr
Fowler became the breeder of numerous other fine bulls.
His splendid stock was sold in the year 1791, at high prices.
#
* Garrick, a bull, 5 years old, by Shakspeare, of Bro-
ken-horn Beauty, which came of Long-horn Beauty, L.215 0 0
brought
Sultan, 2 years old, by Broken-horn Beauty,
Washington, by Shakspeare, out of Washington's mother,
Young Sultan, one year old, by Garrick,
Brindled Beauty, a cow, by Shakspeare, of Long-horn
Beauty,
Cow, by Shakspeare, of Broken-horn Beauty,
Cow, by a son of old D, brother to Shakspeare,
220 10 0
215 5 5 0
210 0 0
273 0 0
*
120 15 0
194 5 0 &c.
+
f
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*
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་་
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376
Mr Princep of Croxall, and numerous other individuals, ac-
quired and bred from the Dishley stock; and the rearing of
bulls for hiring and sale became a distinct branch of the
profession, by which means the influence of the new breed
was extended in a surprising degree. The midland counties
became the great centre, from which it extended beyond the
limits which the older Long-horns had occupied in the country.
The effects were beneficial in a high degree. The Dishley
Breed itself, indeed, has now lost the favour which it once
possessed; but the traces of its influence remain in the
parts of the country in which the Long-horned breed is still
cultivated.
L
སྐ
The Dishley Breed is of good size, but generally inferior
in weight to the old Lancashire Long-horns, the Short-horns,
and Herefords. The horns, for the most part, bend down-
wards by the side of the head, having more the appearance
of bent hops than arms of defence. The shoulder is well
formed, the neck remarkably thin, the head fine, and the
limbs are moderately short and small boned, in which respect
the artificial differs from the natural breed. The skin, though
thick, is soft, and the hair is usually reddish-brown, with more
or less of white on different parts. The ribs are remarkably
well arched, forming a fine cylindrical trunk; the loin is mo-
derately broad, and the hind quarters are long. The animals
are docile, easily maintained on ordinary food, and readily
fattened. The flesh has never entirely lost that darkness of
colour distinctive of the unimproved race, and the fat is less
mixed with the muscular parts than in any other kind of
British cattle. The tendency of the fat to accumulate on the
rump is so great, as to produce a kind of deformity in the
fattened animal; yet this character might not of itself be
regarded as an imperfection, were it not indicative of the
general tendency of the fatty tissue to remain separate from
the muscular. The fat, too, retains the tinge distinctive of
the older race; so that it became a familiar remark of the
opponents of Bakewell, that breed as he might, he would not
སྐ
THE OX.
THE LONG-HORNED BREED.
377
get rid of the black flesh and yellow fat of the Long-horns.
The cows are eminently deficient in their power of yielding
milk. They are in this respect greatly inferior to the older
Long-horns, and are scarcely ever used for the purposes of
the regular dairy. The character of the beef, and the defi-
ciency in the females of the power of yielding milk, are the
most manifest defects of this breed; and, notwithstanding all
the care bestowed on the formation of it, few individuals of
the race are now reared in England for the purpose of graz-
ing. The breeders of the pure Dishleys confine themselves
chiefly to the rearing of bulls and cows for the purpose of
breeding; and the really beneficial influence of the stock
has been the crossing of the older and coarser kinds yet
reared in different parts of the country. In this latter respect
the Dishley stock has been of great economical importance;
but the breed itself, in its state of purity, is deficient in the
really useful properties of a grazing stock. It has been
questioned whether Bakewell acted with judgment in taking
the Lancashire Long-horns as the basis of his new breed.
There is little ground, however, for impugning, on this ac-
count, the judgment of Bakewell. The Long-horned Breed
was then regarded as the most valuable in the kingdom;
and it was a natural course for an original improver to en-
deavour to form a superior one on its basis. The modern
Herefords were not then called into existence; and the Short-
horns were a coarse race, of no estimation beyond the limits
of a few districts. Bakewell, therefore, adopted what must
have seemed at the time a fitting course; and no one will
deny, that in what he attempted, he succeeded to the utmost
extent which the natural characters of the pristine race
allowed.
This description of the once celebrated Dishley Breed will
account for the singular fact, that its reputation has passed
away, even more quickly than it was acquired. It has given
place to other breeds, possessing characters as grazing stock,
in which it is deficient. A few eminent breeders still employ
#
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378
THE OX.
themselves in the rearing of bulls, chiefly for exportation to
Ireland; but the numbers of the breed reared in England
are continually diminishing, and the time will probably arrive
when all that remains of the breed of Dishley will be the
record of a bold, curious, and interesting experiment. On the
very farm on which Mr Bakewell's original experiments were
instituted and completed, and within many miles around,
there does not exist a single bull, cow, or steer, of the breed
which he had cultivated with so much labour. Its history
forms a singular contrast with that of another race of animals
which he had formed by similar means, namely, his breed of
Sheep, which has extended over all the kingdom, and which
remains established as one of the most important additions
to the domestic animals of these Islands.
The history of the breed of Bakewell has shewn, beyond
anything before attempted, the power of cultivation over the
form and properties of animals, and has shewn us, too, the
limits within which the efforts of art must often be confined.
Bakewell looked to the property of acquiring fatness as the
essential one to be aimed at in breeding. He acquired for
his beautiful stock this property in an eminent degree, but
he acquired it in excess. The fat mingled less with the lean
than even in the older race, spreading itself in a thick layer
under the skin, and even accumulating in a cushion upon one
part of the body. "Having painfully, and at much cost,'
observes an amusing writer, "raised a variety of cattle, the
chief merit of which is to make fat, he has apparently laid
his disciples and successors under the necessity of substi-
tuting another which will make lean." Looking to this pro-
perty of making fat as the sole end to be aimed at, this emi-
nent breeder disregarded other properties which, though they
may be said to be secondary, are yet a necessary element in
the economical value of a breed of cattle.
""

AIVERSITY OF MICH
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H.Darts
A First Prize Short, Horned Bulls
H.Bedr
THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
XIX.-SHORT-HORNED BREED.
379
While Ireland and the western parts of England have been
possessed, for an unknown period, of a race of cattle having
long horns, and furnished with thick skins and abundant hair,
fitted to protect the animals from long and continued rains,
the eastern and drier districts towards the German Ocean
have been inhabited by varieties of cattle having thinner
skins, shorter hair, and horns comparatively short. In the
fens of Lincolnshire, and the other tracts of alluvial country
towards the Wash, the cattle were of great bulk and coarse
figure, and had usually a dingy colour of the skin, and short
blunt horns. More inland, and following the course north-
ward of the Vale of Trent, and thence across the Ouse,
through the central plains of Yorkshire, to the river Tees
and beyond it, the cattle assumed a less gross and unwieldy
form, but were still a very tall race, of varied colours, with
horns of medium length, but which might be termed short
with relation to the same parts in the Long-horned breed.
In comparing these varieties of cattle with the races of the
opposite continent, the large dingy breed of the Fens may
be compared with the native black cattle of the flats and
marshes of Holland, and the more varied kinds north of the
Humber, with those of Holstein and Jutland, whence the
finest cattle of the north of Europe have been derived. It is
not unreasonable to believe, that the latter, during the early
period of Saxon colonization, may have been brought to the
country by the Jutes and Angles who settled in this part of
England. But however this may be, no other race of cattle,
except that which may be termed Short or Middle-horned,
has ever, within the period of any known records, inhabited
the Fens and north-eastern parts of England.
But at a long subsequent period, near our own times, it
appears that cattle were frequently brought from the oppo-
site continent, and mingled with the native varieties. They
Br
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380
were chiefly imported from Holland, the Cows of which
country were the most celebrated of all others in the north
of Europe, for the abundance of their milk, and their uses
for the dairy. The earliest importations seem to have been
made to the country of the Humber, where the port of Hull
maintained a constant and extended intercourse with Ham-
burgh and the United Provinces. The Dutch Breed was
especially established in the district of Holderness, on the
north side of the estuary of the Humber, whence it extended
northward through the plains of Yorkshire; and the cattle
of Holderness still retain the distinct traces of their Dutch
original, and were long regarded as the finest dairy cows of
England. Farther to the north, in the fertile district of the
Tees, importations likewise took place of the cattle of the
opposite countries, sometimes from Holland, and sometimes,
by the way of Hamburgh, from Holstein, or other countries
of the Elbe. Sir William St Quintin of Scampston is said
to have procured bulls and cows from Holland, for the pur-
pose of breeding, previous to the middle of last century; and
at a later period, Mr Michael Dobinson, in the county of
Durham, visited Holland, for the purpose of selecting bulls
of the Dutch breed. Other persons had resorted, for their
breeding cattle, to Holstein, whence the finest of the Dutch
breeds had themselves been derived. Of the precise extent
of these early importations we are imperfectly informed; but
that they exercised a great influence on the native stock, ap-
pears from this circumstance, that the breed formed by the
mixture became familiarly known as the Dutch or Holstein
Breed, under which names it extended northward through
Northumberland, and became naturalised in the south of
Scotland. It was also known as the Teeswater, or simply
the Short-horned, Breed.
THE OX.
Improvers of the Teeswater Short-horns existed early in
the last century, both in Durham and the neighbouring parts
of Yorkshire. One of these, Mr Millbank of Barningham,
was early noted for the excellence of his stock, some records
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of which have come down to us, shewing the great weight at
which individual animals from time to time arrived. Mr
Dobinson, before referred to, became likewise a very success-
ful breeder; and various other gentlemen are noted as im-
provers of the Teeswater Breed, chiefly after the successful
experiments of Bakewell had excited a spirit of emulation in
this species of improvement. Up to the period of the Ame-
rican war, however, the Teeswater Breed had not gained
greatly in public estimation, beyond the district to which it
had early extended. Great size seems to have been chiefly
aimed at by the breeders; and the animals, though valued on
this account, were of forms comparatively coarse, great con-
sumers of food, and deficient in many of those points which
are now regarded as essential in a well-formed ox. In the
qualities of form and disposition to fatten readily, the Short-
horned Breed fell short of that which Bakewell had already
perfected in the midland counties, although excelling the
latter in the quality of the flesh, in the production of inter-
nal fat or tallow, and in the adaptation of the females to the
uses of the dairy.
THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
The improvement of the Teeswater Short-horns, however,
had been continually advancing in the hands of the breeders
who cultivated it, when Charles and Robert Colling of Dar-
lington became its ultimate improvers, removing, with admi-
rable skill, the defects which it inherited, and communicating
to it properties which it did not before possess in the same
degree. These individuals had become considerable farmers
soon after the year 1770. Mr Charles Colling, the younger
brother, is justly regarded as the founder of the new breed,
although his elder brother followed him in his course of en-
terprise and improvement, step by step. Charles Colling
cannot, indeed, be compared with Bakewell for boldness and
originality of design; but he was greatly more fortunate
in the selection of a basis for his breed. Colling, like Bake-
well, seems to have regarded size in his animals as a qua-
lity secondary and subordinate to those which he wished
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to communicate, and to have directed almost exclusive at-
tention to beauty and utility of form, and development of
the properties of early maturity and facility of fattening.
Having, by selection and the skilful conjunction of the best
individuals for breeding, become possessed of animals with
the properties sought for, he continued to breed from his
own stock, disregarding affinities of blood; by which means
he gave to it the necessary permanence of characters, and
that delicacy of form which this system of breeding tends
to communicate. He adopted the practice of hiring out his
bulls, by which means he realized a competent fortune, and
extended the influence of his stock to the districts around
him.
THE OX.
The information possessed by us regarding the early prac-
tice of Colling, in his course of improvement, is meagre and
obscure, since he himself manifested a great dislike to throw
any light on his views and practice. It is generally believed,
that the first radical improvement which he effected on his
stock, was through the medium of a young bull, which he
acquired by a kind of chance. This animal is said to have
been a calf belonging to a poor man who grazed his cow on
the sides of the highway. The calf was purchased from its
owner by Mr Waistel and Mr Robert Colling, and soon after-
wards transferred to Charles, whose sagacity led him to per-
ceive the value of the young animal. He seems, likewise, to
have acquired the cow, which, however, on being removed to
superior pastures, became so fat that she did not again breed.
The calf inherited the same, property, and as he grew up be-
came so fat as to be useful as a bull only for a short time.
This bull was termed Hubback. He was below the ordinary
size of the Teeswater cattle, but his points and touch were
admirable, and he is generally regarded as the father of the
improved Short-horns. However this may be, Colling, from
this period, continued to produce many fine bulls, as Petrarch,
Bolingbroke, Favourite, Comet, and others whose names are
quoted in the pedigrees of the Short-horned Breed, in the
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THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
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383
same manner as those of the Darley Arabian, and Godolphin
Barb, in the case of Horses of the Turf. The properties of
his stock thus became more and more appreciated through-
out the district of the Short-horns, and, about the year 1800,
had begun to extend to distant parts of the country, where
hitherto the Short-horned Breed had not been cultivated.
A circumstance, apparently trivial, contributed in a consi-
derable degree to this result. A fine animal, termed the
Durham Ox, the son of Favourite by a common cow, was
sold for public exhibition, and carried in a caravan to all
parts of the country. He was exhibited in this manner for
nearly six years, and excited much interest amongst the
country people. He arrived at great weight, but was chiefly
remarkable for the fineness of many of his points. When
killed, after two months' illness, during which he had lost
considerably in flesh, he weighed 165 stones 12 lb., besides
tallow and offal.
Colling, by continually breeding from his own stock, seems
to have pushed refinement in breeding to its limits, and pro-
bably began to experience that impairment of constitution in
his animals which never fails to accompany a continued and
forced intermixture of blood, in a limited number of indi-
viduals. Whether from this cause, or from a mere desire to
try experiments, it is understood that he attempted various
crosses with the cows of other breeds, and chiefly, it is said,
with the Scotch Highland and the Galloway. The experi-
ment with the former did not succeed, but that with the
latter led to a remarkable result. Colling procured a fine
Galloway cow, of a red colour, and this cow was covered by
one of his best bulls, a grandson of Bolingbroke. The pro-
duce was a bull-calf, which in due time was conjoined with a
fine Short-horned cow, Johanna. The produce of this union
was likewise a bull-calf, which, in the fitting time, was put to
another fine Short-horned cow, Lady, from whom has de-
scended a family termed, in reproach, the Alloy. The family
of the Alloy, however, has proved not inferior to those of
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384
what are termed pure blood. At the sale of Mr Colling's
stock, which took place in 1810, this cow, Lady, with her
descendants, sold at enormous prices, shewing that, in the
estimation of the public, the Galloway cross had not impaired
the excellence of the pure stock. Thus it appears, that by
a single cross with another race, and then by breeding back
again to the superior one, no injury was sustained; nay, a
fresh infusion of vigour was probably made into the parent
stock. Similar results are common in the breeding of horses,
dogs, and other animals. The proceeding, in the case of
Colling, was nothing more than a rash experiment, the
favourable result of which should not diminish the caution of
breeders, in preserving the purity of a family of animals
whose characters have been established.
The whole of the unrivalled stock of Colling was sold in
the year 1810. The particulars of this sale have been long
familiar to the breeders of this country. It is important, as
a record of the successful result of the experiments of Col-
ling, of the high estimation in which his stock was held by
English breeders, and as enumerating the names of animals,
most of which are continually referred to in the pedigrees of
the breed.*
* LIST of SHORT-HORNED CATTLE the property of Charles Colling, Esq.,
sold October 11. 1810.
Names.
Out of
Cherry.. Old Cherry...
Kate.....
……….
...
Peeress...... Cherry
Countess Lady
Celina .. Countess...
Johanna Johanna.
....
Lady………………….. Old Phoenix
Laura........ Lady
Cathelene
Lily......
Daisy
{
THE OX.
...
A daughter of the dam
of Phoenix
Daisy.......
Old Daisy
··
COWS.
Got by
Favourite
Comet...
Favourite
Cupid.....
Favourite
Do.
{
A grandson of Lord Bo-
lingbroke
Favourite
..
} Washington
Comet......
A grandson of Favourite
Carry forward,
…….
Cows' Sold for
Age.
G8.
11
4
5
9
5
4
14
4
8
3
6
83
35
170
400
200
130
206
210
150
410
140
2134
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Contemporaries and successors of Colling followed the same
course of improvement. His brother, Mr Robert Colling,
was very distinguished as a breeder, although his stock did
Names.
Cora......
Beauty....
Red Rose... Eliza
Flora
Miss Peggy
...
Names.
Comet
Yarborough
Major
Mayduke
Petrarch
Northumberland
Ossian
Harold
Alfred
Duke...
Alexander
··
Countess....
Miss Washington
Magdalene.. A heifer by Washington Comet......
•
Names.
Ketton...
Young Favourite
George..
Sir Dimple.....
Narcissus..
Albion...
Cecil...
Charlotte
Johanna
Names.
THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
Phobe
Young Duchess
Young Laura
Young Countess
Lucy'
Out of
..
COWS-continued.
Age.
6 Phoenix.
9
3 Lady...
3 Cherry
2
2
1
1
1 Cora
a.
1 Magdalene
1
Old Venus
Venus
Duchess
Age.
3
2
Cherry..
Countess
Lady
Daisy
Flora
BULLS.
Out of
Red Rose...………………
Out of
Beauty...
Peeress
Favourite
Marsk.
Comet.
Do.
·
Got by
Brought forward,
BULL-CALVES, UNDER ONE YEAR OLD.
Got by
A son of Favourite
2
2
2
1
1 Johanna
•
HEIFERS.
Out of
Dam by Favourite.....
Do. do.
Laura
Countess
..
Comet
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
……..
Dam by Washington..
Cathelene
Got by
Favourite.....
Do.
Comet
Do.
Do.
Favourite
Comet
Do.
Do.
Favourite....
Windsor
Do.
Do.
Got by
Cows' Sold for
Age. Gs
2134
70
120
Comet
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
.......
444K ∞ c
3
3
3
..
45
70
60
170
2669
Price.
Gs.
1000
55
200
145
365
80
110
105
63
76
50
2249
Price
Gs.
50
140
130
90
15
60
170
655
Price.
G8.
105
183
101
206
132
136
35
898
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not altogether reach the high reputation at which the other
had arrived. It was sold, however, in the year 1818, at
great prices :-
4141 guineas.
1287 do.
1343 do.
713 do.
7484 guineas.
Up to the present time, the breed of Colling has main-
tained its early reputation, and extended its influence to
most parts of the kingdom, where the natural or acquired
fertility of the country is favourable to its cultivation. It is
usually termed the Short-horned Breed, but modern breeders
frequently term it the Durham Breed, as indicating the part
of the country where it was perfected, and as distinguishing
it from the older varieties of Short-horns, and the less im-
proved ones yet existing. It is the practice to preserve and
record the pedigrees of the animals employed in breeding,
their descent being usually deduced from the stock of some
distinguished breeder, and traced, more or less remotely, to
that of the Collings. Various breeders devote their atten-
tion exclusively to the rearing of bulls, as was practised by
Bakewell and the breeders of the Dishley stock; but innu-
merable agriculturists, in the ordinary practice of the farm,
bestow assiduous care on the perfecting of their stock by
selection and careful culture, so that increasing numbers of
34 Cows produced the sum of
17 Heifers,
6 Bulls,
4 Bull-calves,
61
THE OX.
Names.
Lucilla
Calista
White Rose..
Ruby....
Cowslip.......
..
HEIFER-CALVES, UNDER ONE YEAR OLD.
Got by
Out of
Laura....
Cora...
Lily..
Red Rose...
-BAILEY's Report on the County of Durham.
Comet
Do.
Yarbro❜
Do.
Comet
··
………………
Price.
Gs.
106
50
75
50
25
306
andy
THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
387
animals, of the first class, are now every year produced
throughout the country.
The Durham, or improved Teeswater Breed, differs nearly
as much from the older cattle of the Tees, as the Dishley
Breed of Long-horns from the older race from which it was
derived. The height is less, but the trunk is more round
and deep; the limbs are shorter in proportion to the depth
of body, and the chest, back, and loin, more broad, so that
with less apparent bulk of body the weight is usually greater.
The skin is light-coloured, and the hair reddish-brown or
white, either separate or mixed. The muzzle is flesh-coloured,
and rarely black, the appearance of which colour on the skin
indicates the revival of a character of the older varieties,
which modern breeders study to exclude. The horns are
shorter than in the former breed, light-coloured, blunt, and
sometimes laterally flattened. The skin is soft to the touch,
the general form square and massive, the shoulder upright,
and the hind-quarter large. The uprightness of the shoulder
produces a hollowness behind, which does not exist in the
same degree in the Devons, the Herefords, and other varie-
ties allied to them. The uprightness of the shoulder is re-
garded as a defect, but it were more correct to say that it is
a character in harmony with the squareness of form distinc-
tive of the breed. Although Colling preferred cattle of a
medium size, yet the breed being derived from one of great
bulk of body, there is a constant tendency to the production
of large animals. The breed communicates its characters
readily to all others, and the first progeny, even with races
the most dissimilar, is usually fine. The females retain, in
a considerable degree, the properties of the Holstein race,
in yielding a large quantity of milk, in which respect they
greatly excel the Long-horns, the Herefords, and the Devons.
In the property of yielding milk, however, the new breed is
inferior to the older and less cultivated one, shewing that
refinement in breeding, and the greater tendency to produce
fat, are unfavourable to the secretion of milk. Individual
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cows, indeed, are found to retain the milching properties of
the older race, but this is an exception to the common re-
sult. The Oxen are eminently distinguished by the property
of arriving at early maturity of muscle and fatness. Great
numbers of them are now disposed of at the age of about
twenty-four months, in the highest perfection, and of a weight
at which no other cattle in Europe arrive at the same age.
This highly cultivated breed, it has been seen, extended
from the district of the Tees, as from a centre, as soon as
its value became known. It quickly spread northward all
through Durham and Northumberland into the valley of the
Tweed, and in later years, it had extended northward through
the eastern lowlands of Scotland to the Pentland Firth, and
is now mingling with the native breeds. It soon extended
southward through Yorkshire, where it was cultivated on the
largest scale. The district of Holderness, it has been said,
early obtained cows from Holland, and became distinguished
beyond any other part of England for the excellence of its
dairy stock. Many cows of the Holderness variety are yet
to be found, but generally they have been more or less mixed
with the Durham blood. The effect has been to improve
their form, but to impair their milching properties; never-
theless, the modern Holderness still stands in the first rank
of dairy cows, and the great London dairies are chiefly sup-
plied by them. The Durham breed extended likewise across
the Humber, and was largely mingled with the cattle of Lin-
colnshire and the neighbouring districts. Individual animals
are still to be found in the fens, with the clumsy form, dark
muzzle, and dingy skin, of the former race; but, generally
speaking, the blood of the improved Teeswaters has been
more or less infused into all the cattle of this part of Eng-
land. Further, the breed has extended westward through
Leicestershire and most of the midland counties, where it
is either cultivated in a state of purity, or has been so mingled
with the former breed as to modify or efface the Long-horn
characters. It has taken root in Lancashire, Westmoreland,
THE OX.
[1
389
and other parts, where the Long-horned Breed had been the
most firmly established, and it has been carried to the coun-
ties bordering on Wales, where the breeds allied to the
Devon have been before cultivated. It has passed into the
drier counties of the Chalk, though in smaller numbers, than
into the central and western counties. It has been trans-
ported to Ireland, and, in an incredibly short space of time,
has effected a great change in the cattle of the breeding dis-
tricts. Being made to cross the native Long-horns, the first
progeny is always found to be good, and this effect naturally
leads the breeders to resort again to the superior race, so
that after a time the traces of the Long-horns become lost.
This breed, so highly valued at home, has been carried to
the Continent of Europe, to the United States of America,
where it is cultivated with perfect success, and to the brilliant
colonies of England, now rising to greatness in the Southern
Ocean.
THE SHORT-HORNED BREED.
A
The multiplication, in this country, of a breed so greatly
improved by art, must be regarded as highly conducive to
the improvement of this branch of rural industry. A large
part of all the cattle of England consists of a mixture of
races, having no uniformity of characters, and generally de-
fective in some important points. The possession of a breed
which can always be resorted to for crossing these mixed
and defective races, is a great mean of improvement, appli-
cable to a class of animals that require it the most, causing
the larger cattle of the country to approach to a better model,
and assume a greater degree of uniformity.
Further, the extension of the pure breed, and the mul-
tiplication of its numbers, are conducive in a high degree to
its own permanence and improvement. When but a few
cultivators of it were to be found, the system of breeding
from animals of the same family, and from the nearest affi-
nities of blood, could scarcely be avoided by those who wished
to preserve their stock from deterioration; but now so many
fine animals are reared of the same race, that no one is laid
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390
under the necessity of breeding solely from a few individuals;
and in the future cultivation of the breed, hardiness, sound-
ness of constitution, and the milching properties of the females,
may all receive their due share of attention. The external
form has been already brought to all the perfection which
art seems capable of communicating; and now those other
properties remain to be attended to, without which no fur-
ther refinement of breeding will avail for the purposes of
profit to individuals, and benefit to the country.
I
THE OX.
The Breeds of British cattle which have been described
K
are,-
1. The Wild or White Forest Breed, derived from a race
which formerly inhabited, in a state of liberty, the woods of
the country. Remains of this remarkable race have been
preserved for ages in the parks of opulent individuals, where
the animals, herding and breeding exclusively with one an-
other, retain the habits of their wild condition. In other
cases, they have been reared in a state of domestication,
when they assume the habits and essential characters of
the common varieties.
2. The Zetland Breed, of Scandinavian origin, inhabiting
the remote islands of that name, and spreading over the
Orkneys. These cattle are of diminutive size, but fatten
readily, and are valued by the consumers. The females ex-
cel the cattle of the Highlands in the faculty of yielding
milk.
3. The Breeds of the Highlands of Scotland, spreading
over the primary mountainous tracts of North Britain. These
cattle are of small size, covered thickly with hair, hardy, and
suited to a country of heaths and mountains. The finest,
usually termed the West Highland Breed, are produced in
the countries on the western coasts, and certain islands of
the Hebrides, the smallest in the central Highlands, and the
.
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THE OX.
•
391
largest towards the eastern coasts, in the countries mixing
with, or bordering on, the plains. These hardy cattle are
reared in vast numbers on the natural herbage of the moun-
tainous country where they have been indigenous from time
immemorial, and whence they are transferred, at the suit-
able age, to be fattened in the lower country.
4. The Welsh Breeds, somewhat exceeding in size the
West Highland Breed, and, like it, suited to a country of
hills and natural herbage. They have dark or orange-yel-
low skins, and are mostly of a black colour. The finest are
reared in the county of Pembroke, in the district of Castle-
Martin.
5. The Kerry Breed, naturalized in the mountains of
Kerry, but spread over all parts of Ireland. The cattle of
this breed are of small size, and of various colours, with
tapering horns. They subsist on scanty food, and the fe-
males, yielding milk abundantly, are valued by the poorer
inhabitants for the dairy.
6. The Polled Angus Breed, allied, in its essential charac-
ters, to the cattle of the mountains, but increased in size by
being naturalized in a country of richer herbage, where arti-
ficial food can be supplied. This breed has dark skins, and
is destitute of horns. It has been greatly improved by the
care of the breeders, and is reared over a considerable tract
of country.
7. The Polled Aberdeenshire Breed, of mixed origin, and
reared in the lower parts of the county of Aberdeen.
8. The Galloway Breed, inhabiting a tract of greywacké
hills in the south-west of Scotland; the cattle of which are
greatly valued for their hardiness, their adaptation to the
purposes of the grazier, and the quality of their beef. They
are carried in great numbers to the pastures of England,
chiefly of Norfolk, whence they are transferred to the London
and other markets. They have deep bodies, dark skins, and
are destitute of horns.
9. The Polled Suffolk Breed, cultivated, for an unknown
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THE OX.
period, in Suffolk and the adjoining districts. The indivi-
duals are of medium size, with defective forms; but the cows
are admirable for the quantity of milk which they yield.
The breed is losing ground continually, from the want of
care of the breeders, and the effects of crossing.
10. The Polled Irish Breed, of large size, and well suited
to the dairy, but much scattered, and merging in the races
with which it is crossed.
11. The Falkland Breed of Fifeshire, apparently derived
from Holland, inheriting the milching properties of the Dutch
races, but now nearly extinct in the pure state.
12. The Alderney Breed, reared in the Norman Islands of
the Channel, of small size and ungainly form, with short
crumpled horns, of delicate constitution, and requiring a tem-
perate climate, but yielding a rich and finely-coloured milk.
This breed is regularly imported into England, where it is
kept for the luxury of the opulent, or partially employed in
the regular dairies of the countries of the Chalk.
13. The Ayrshire Breed, derived from the county of Ayr,
but widely spread over the dairy districts of Scotland, and
extending in considerable numbers to Ireland. This is the
most numerous breed, cultivated exclusively for the dairy, in
the British Islands. The individuals are of medium size,
and of various colours, with short horns. They are capable
of subsisting on ordinary pastures, and yield a large quan-
tity of milk in proportion to their size and the food con-
sumed.
14. The Devon Breed, naturalized in the higher parts of
Devonshire, on the Bristol Channel, but spreading through
the lower country. These cattle have orange-yellow skins,
fine tapering horns, and are of a deep red colour. They are
of a light and graceful form, agile, and suited for active
labour. They fatten with sufficient facility on good pastures,
and in a temperate climate; but they are inferior in hardi-
ness, and the power of subsisting on scanty herbage, to the
mountain cattle of Scotland and Wales. They increase in
1
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bulk when naturalized in a lower country, so that the breed
of South Devon differs in size and aspect from that of the
higher lands. The females are small, and deficient in the
power of yielding milk, though the milk which they afford is
well-coloured and rich in cream.
THE OX.
15. The Sussex Breed, a variety of the Devon, and inhe-
riting its properties, but of larger size, and less delicate
form. This breed is now undergoing great improvement,
but is little sought for, for the purposes of grazing, beyond
the district in which it is reared.
16. The Glamorganshire Breed, proper to the county of
that name, common to the high and low grounds, but only
brought to perfection in the vale of Glamorgan. This breed
possesses valuable qualities, and combines well the properties
of milching and fattening; but the numbers of the improved
variety are limited, and circumscribed in their diffusion by
other breeds more generally cultivated.
17. The Herefordshire Breed, greatly valued for its fat-
tening properties, and extensively diffused, for the purposes
of grazing, in the west of England. It has a remote affinity
with the Devon Breed, and the cows inherit the defect of the
latter, in being small and imperfectly suited to the dairy.
18. The Long-horned Breed, from time immemorial spread
over Ireland and the western counties of England, still occu-
pying a great tract of country, both in the mountains and
plains, and varying in size with the fertility, natural or ac-
quired, of the districts in which it has been naturalized. It
was on the basis of this widely-spread race, that Bakewell
reared the beautiful Breed of Dishley, which spread over the
midland counties, and extended its influence by crossing the
older and coarser varieties. The Long-horned Breed is now
giving rapid place to others better suited to the purposes of
the breeder, the grazier, and the consumer.
19. The Tees water Short-horned or Durham Breed, de-
rived immediately from the district of the Tees, and per-
fected by Charles and Robert Colling, in the county of Dur-
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THE OX.
ham. This breed is believed to possess a better combination
of properties than any of the larger cattle yet produced in
the British Islands, is everywhere extending its limits, and
superseding the pre-existing breeds, or modifying their cha-
racters by intermixture.
To these breeds of British cattle might be added a numerous
class of mixed character and origin, but which rarely exhibit
such a uniform class of characters, as to admit of being re-
garded as true breeds. These mixed races are to be found
in all parts of the kingdom, and especially in the countries of
the dairy, where individuals are selected for their milching
properties, without reference to a common origin. It is the
effect of a better knowledge of the practice of breeding, and
of more extended intercourse between different parts of the
country, to diminish the number of these mixed, and mostly
inferior, races, by adopting superior modes of breeding.

SIAMESE BREED.
IV. THE HOG.
THE HOG FAMILY comprehends various species, and, ac-
cording to the views of modern Zoologists, several genera.
All the species are allied in the form, temperament, and
habits of the animals: the face is prolonged, truncated, and
terminated by a moveable cartilaginous disc; the skin is
thick; the body is covered more or less with bristles and
hairs; the neck is strong and muscular; the limbs are stout
and short. All the species feed on plants, but especially on
roots, which their strong and flexible trunk enables them to
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grub up from the earth. They devour animal substances,
but they do not seek to capture other animals by pursuit.
Like the thick-skinned animals to which they are allied,-
the Elephant, the Rhinoceros, the Hippopotamus, and the
Tapir,—they delight in humid and shadowy places. They
are voracious, and bold in their own defence, but have nothing
of the thirst of blood which distinguishes the carnivorous
tribes. Their voices is a kind of groan, or grunt, though,
when wounded, they utter piercing cries: their senses of
smell and hearing are eminently acute.
The species may be divided into two groups, 1st, Those
inhabiting the Old Continents; and, 2d, Those proper to the
New; namely (1.), The Wild Hogs of Europe, Asia, and
Africa, the Babiroussa of the Indian Islands, and the Wood
Swine and Wart-bearing Hogs of Africa; and (2.), The Pec-
caries of America.
THE HOG.
The WILD HOG or Wild Boar, Sus aper, is greatly the
most diffused and important. He can be domesticated with
the utmost facility; and, in a single generation, his descend-
ants relinquish the habits proper to them in the state of
nature.
The BABIROUSSA, Sus babirussa, is found in Sumatra, Java,
and other Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and some say
in the marshes of the Indus. He is of lighter form than the
common Wild Hog. He is thinly covered with bristly hairs
of a reddish-brown colour, and he is distinguished by the
remarkable position of his upper tusks, which, penetrating
the skin, bend upwards like horns rising from the snout:
He grunts in the manner of the common Swine, but when
irritated he utters a hoarse growl. These creatures asso-
ciate in herds, dwelling in the impenetrable marshes of the
sea-coasts, where they feed on herbs and shell-fish. When
pursued, they throw themselves into rivers or the sea, and
swim with ease and swiftness. They are sometimes seen in
large herds swimming from island to island, or crossing
the broad estuaries of rivers. It is then that they are
397
attacked with spears by the Malays and other natives, from
canoes, and slain in such numbers that the waters are dyed
with their blood. The people preserve their skins and fat,
which last is melted, and used in place of butter or oil. In-
dividuals are easily tamed, and they could, doubtless, be sub-
jected in any number to permanent servitude. A male and
female were brought by the Astrolabe to Paris: the female
bred after arriving in Europe, but the progeny perished in
the second or third year, of diseased lungs, from the effects
of cold; the male lived the usual term, and became very fat,
feeding and grovelling in the manner of common swine. The
female used to cover him with straw, and slip underneath the
litter, so that both remained concealed from view.
The MASKED AFRICAN BOAR, or Wood Swine of the Cape
Colonists, Sus larvatus, is a native of Madagascar, and the
south of Africa. He has a larger head and shorter neck
than the common Swine, and he has a fleshy excrescence on
each side of the face beneath the eyes, giving him a savage
and hideous aspect. He dwells in holes which he has ex-
cavated. He is ferocious, prompt, and swift of foot: he
does not court a contest with enemies, but, when molested
in his lonely cavern, he rushes forth upon his assailants
with resistless fury, snapping their limbs asunder in an in-
stant, and ripping them up with his for midable tusks. The
natives say they would as soon encounter a Lion as a Wood
Swine.
THE HOG.
Whether these fierce and powerful creatures breed with
the domestic species is not known. Sparrman states, that he
saw two of them at the house of a farmer in the province of
Lange-Kloof perfectly tame. They went down on their knees
to graze, and changed their posture to that of standing with
the greatest ease. An individual of this species was sent by
the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope to the Hague, in
1763, as a present to the Prince of Orange. He was gentle,
except when offended, and then his keepers were afraid to
approach him. But, for the most part, whenever his cage
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was opened, he came out in good humour, and frisked gaily
about in search of food, devouring greedily whatever was
offered to him. He was pleased to be stroked, and delighted
in a rough brush. Sometimes, with his tail erect, he would
amuse himself for hours, pursuing the fallow-deer and other
animals. On one occasion, being left alone for a few minutes
in the court-yard, he was found, on the return of the keepers,
employed in digging the earth. He had made a large exca-
vation over a sewer, which doubtless he intended to reach.
It was only by the force of several men that he could be
made to relinquish his attempt; and then he expressed his
grief and resentment by uttering a sharp and mournful noise.
The family of Hogs presents itself also, under a slight
change of characters, in other parts of Africa, constituting
the PHACOCHÆRES, or WART-BEARING HOGS, so named on
account of certain fleshy prominences and excrescences on
the face. These creatures appear to be wild and fierce, and
are armed with tusks of great magnitude, which they use
with deadly effect when attacked or disturbed in their re-
treats. It has been supposed that there are two species;
one of which, inhabiting Guinea, the interior of the Cape,
and a vast extent of country, is the Phacocharis Africanus,
DES.; another, found in Kordofan and Abyssinia, is by some
believed to be the creature referred to by Ælian as the Hog
with four Horns, and hence has been termed Phacocharis
Eliani. He has a mane of long bristles extending along
the back, powerful tusks, and on each of his cheeks two
fleshy lobes, one larger and one smaller. He is an inhabi-
tant of forests and bushy tracts, and his principal food, like
that of others of the family, is vegetable. It is not known
whether any of the Wart-bearing Hogs have been reduced
to domestication by the tribes of Africa, or whether they
breed and form a fruitful progeny with the Common Swine.
In the New World, the Hog family likewise appears, but
under a distinct form. It is there represented by two species,
characterized by a glandular opening in the back, whence the
THE HOG.
399
term dicotyles, signifying a double navel, has been applied to
the genus. These animals, termed PECCARIES, are smaller
than the common Swine of Europe, but resemble them in
their general form. Their canine teeth are sharp, and capa-
ble of inflicting severe wounds, but do not curve upwards in
the manner of tusks. The glandular openings on their backs
exude a peculiar liquid, the use of which is unknown. They
are nearly destitute of tail; and are covered with stiff bristles,
very long upon the neck and spine, which they erect when
irritated. They dig the earth with their trunk, and grunt in
the manner of the common Swine, but make a loud clashing
with their teeth when alarmed. They are omnivorous, but
feed chiefly on vegetable substances: their flesh is leaner, and
less delicate than that of the common Swine. They are
readily tamed, and are pleased with the caresses of those
with whom they are familiarized. Of the two species, the
one, the Collared Peccary, Dicotyles torquatus, inhabits the
countries of the Atlantic from Guiana to Paraguay, and is
found in pairs, or in small numbers together; the other, the
White-lipped Peccary, Dicotyles labiatus, inhabits nearly the
same regions, and congregates in herds. The habits of the
latter species have been well described by Azara and other
writers. They are eminently gregarious, associating in bands
of many hundreds: they traverse the country in quest of food,
unimpeded by the broadest rivers, and making their way
through the densest thickets. Should the cultivated lands
of the settler lie in their course, they devastate every field
that can afford them food, lay waste the inclosures, and
trample down and devour the growing corn. They defend
themselves resolutely against the beasts of prey by which
they are unceasingly assailed. Erecting their long bristles,
and clashing loudly their teeth, they rush upon their as-
sailant, and unless he shall have escaped to a tree, or saved
himself by rapid flight, surround and tear him to pieces in an
instant. Even the formidable Jaguar, it is said, fears to at-
tack these united hordes. He follows them in silence, and
THE HOG.
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THE HOG.
seizing on an individual in the rear, in an instant strikes him
dead, and then escaping to a tree, waits until the herd, un-
able to reach their enemy, pass on, leaving their wounded or
dead companions behind. The Indians shoot them with
arrows from trees and inaccessible rocks. They are said to
be under the guidance of a leader, and to take to flight the
moment he is slain. A singular description of an encounter
with these creatures is given by M. Schomburgk, in his ac-
count of his ascent of the river Berbice. While his men
were employed in cutting a mora tree, information was
brought that a herd of Indian Hogs was feeding at a little
distance from the river. All the guns were immediately put
in requisition, and the party started off in pursuit.
M.
Schomburgk himself first came upon the herd: he found them
in a muddy pool of water, wallowing and enjoying themselves,
the younger ones in the centre. When within fifteen yards,
the sentinel observed him; his bristles rose, and turning to-
wards the intruder, he clashed his teeth; but the next
instant he was prostrate, pierced by the ball of the rifle.
The traveller graphically describes the bustle, the rush, the
clashing of the tusks of the herd, which sought security in
rapid flight in the opposite direction. They were followed
by the party, and M. Schomburgk himself, having given up
his arms, remained alone. In a little time he heard a rush-
ing noise approaching through the thickets, and the well-
known growl and clashing of teeth left him in no doubt as
to the cause. The herd had divided, and a part was coming
directly upon him. He stood alone, unarmed, and had not
even a knife to defend himself. He knew not how he climbed
the lower part of a mora tree, when past they rushed, their
rough bristles erect, and their muzzles almost sweeping the
ground. They came and passed, he says, like a whirlwind,
and before he had recovered his astonishment he heard them
plunge into the river, to swim to the opposite bank.*
These
* Menageries; Lib. of Ent. Know., vol. iii.
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little Hogs do not breed with the common race, and they had
not been domesticated by the native inhabitants. They are
far inferior in economical uses to the Swine of Europe, which
were introduced by the Spaniards, have multiplied wherever
the European settler has formed his home, and have even
found their way into the woods, and increased in the state of
liberty.
Of all the species of the Hog, the most important, with re-
lation to his uses, is the Wild Hog, commonly so called.
This creature, in almost every country which he inhabits,
seems to have been captured and enslaved. But we are not
entitled to say that all the domesticated races of the world
have the same descent. We are yet too imperfectly ac-
quainted with the subdued races of the interior of Africa to
be able to maintain that they are all descended from the
Wild Hog; and in the countries of the Indian Archipelago
and the South Seas, it may be that other species, endowed
likewise with the faculty of resigning their natural wildness,
and changing their characters under the influence of domes-
tication, have been reduced to slavery. Nay, the Wild Hog,
so called, varies so much in characters as he is an inhabitant
of Western Asia and Europe, of Eastern Asia, or of the
equinoctial parts of Africa, that naturalists have apparently
as much reason for regarding these races as distinct species,
as many other animals which are held to be so.
THE WILD HOG.
The Wild Hog is the inhabitant of the temperate and
warmer parts of Asia, Europe, and a great part of Africa.
His colour varies with age and climate, but in our latitudes
it is usually a dusky brown, with black spots and streaks.
His skin is covered with coarse hairs or bristles, but with a
soft wool intermixed, and with coarser and longer bristles
upon the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He
is a very bold and powerful creature, and becomes more fierce
and indocile with age. He feeds on herbs, and delights in
roots, which his nice sense of smell and touch enables him to
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find beneath the surface. He feeds, too, on animal sub-
stances, as worms and larvæ, which he finds under ground,
on the eggs of birds, and on the young of animals, which he
comes upon in his progress, and even on snakes, which,
though venomous, he attacks with impunity. He eats, too,
of carrion, but rarely, and perhaps only when pressed by
hunger. Like other hoofed animals, he is unfitted to capture
animals that secure themselves by flight. He dwells in moist
and shady places, which he quits in search of food when the
shades of evening fall; and he employs the night in search
of food, grubbing up the ground in long ridges. He is swift
of foot, keeping pace for a time with a horse at speed. His
common pace is a walk or trot, though, when urged, he passes
into the gallop. He readily descends steep places, notwith-
standing his bulky form. He bites with prodigious force,
and inflicts desperate wounds with his sharp and crooked
tusks. He quickly bleeds to death, so that he is not so tena-
cious of life as the Bear and some other animals.
The female carries her young for four months, or sixteen
weeks. She produces a litter once in the year, and in much
smaller numbers than when in the domestic state. She is
rarely seen with the male but in the rutting season, which, in
our latitudes, is in the months of December and January.
She suckles her young for several months, and retains them
for a yet longer time afterwards to protect them. When as-
sailed, she defends her offspring with surprising courage, and
the young reward her cares by a long attachment. She is
often seen to be followed by several families, forming a troop
formidable to their assailants, and destructive by their ra-
vages to the vineyards and cultivated fields. When the
young have acquired sufficient strength to protect themselves
from their enemies, they generally assume the solitary habits
of the race, and dwell apart in the recesses of the forest.
The male is endowed with the singular instinct of seeking to
destroy his own young at the birth, as if to prevent too great
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an increase of the numbers of his race. The female, con-
scious of the danger, seeks to conceal herself for a time after
the young are born.
There is something noble in the courage of this powerful
and solitary creature. All his strength seems to be given
him for self-defence. He injures no one, unless when dis-
turbed in his retreat, or in the search of the food which his
nature leads him to seek. He does not court a combat with
enemies that thirst for his blood, but for the most part seeks
to secure himself by betaking himself to the nearest covert. If
attacked by savage dogs, he sullenly retreats, turning often
upon them, and driving them back by his formidable tusks.
When wearied and tormented, and forced at length to fight
for his life, he turns on his persecutors, and aims at ven-
geance. If struck by the spear or ball of his pursuers, he
has been known to disregard all his other enemies, and single
out his destroyer. When pursued by dogs, he rushes fiercely
upon the foremost and strongest, maiming and killing num-
bers of the pack in an incredibly short time. In like manner,
he dashes upon the foremost horseman, overthrowing the
horse and rider in a moment.
THE WILD HOG.
The hunting of the Wild Hog has been, from early times,
a sylvan sport familiar to the people of Asia and Europe.
The classic writers of Greece and Rome abound with allu-
sions to the chase of this dangerous creature. Homer, the
magic of whose genius carries us back through thirty cen-
turies to the homes and feelings of the rustic warriors of his
country, refers to the grisly tenant of the woods in a multitude
of passages that live in the memory of every scholar. Later
writers inform us, that the practice was to hunt him with
large dogs, to encounter him with spears or javelins, and
sometimes, it would seem, to drive him into nets or pallisades,
in the manner pursued in Europe until our own times. Dur-
ing the middle ages, we have numerous accounts of the hunt-
ing of the Wild Boar. In England, the rude Anglo-Saxons
brought to their new country the fondness for this sport
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which they had acquired in their native forests; and our
chroniclers and early writers describe the arms employed,
which seem to have been chiefly the boar-spear, and power-
ful dogs trained to the chase. The animals, however, became
gradually thinned in numbers by the persecution to which
they were subjected; and the Norman invaders endeavoured
to protect them, by their numerous forest laws, against the
encroachments of the people. A law of William the First
enacts, that any one found guilty of killing a Wild Boar shall
have his eyes put out, and other savage enactments are on
record for preserving this and other beasts of venery. The
Wild Hogs continued for some centuries after the Norman
conquest to linger in the woods of Scotland and England, and
many places in both kingdoms retain names derived from re-
miniscences connected with their existence, and the heraldic
devices of illustrious families record the valour used in their
destruction. Fitzstephen, who wrote in the latter part of.
the 12th century, in the reign of Henry II., informs us, that
Wild Boars abounded, together with Wolves, Wild Bulls,
and other game, in the great forests surrounding London;
and we learn from the Scottish writers their existence in the
woods of Caledon. The precise period of their disappearance
in Britain has not been determined. Charles I. endeavoured
to restore the race in the New Forest, but all the animals he
turned loose for this purpose were destroyed during the civil
wars.
But the forests of other countries of Europe, as of.Russia,
Poland, Germany, and Spain, yet contain the Wild Hog, along
with his perpetual enemy the Wolf. He is killed by fire-
arms, or destroyed by the ancient methods of the boar-spear,
and pursuit of hounds. The Germans, in an especial degree,
have retained their fondness for this exercise; but it is solely
the occupation of the Lords of the soil, whose rights of chase
are guarded by rigorous laws. Sometimes the animals are
butchered in great numbers together: they are driven into
enclosed spaces in the woods, by surrounding their places of
THE HOG.
405
retreat, when, as they issue forth, terrified by shouts and
clamour, they are killed by fire-arms and spears.
But the most animating accounts we possess of the modern
hunting of the Wild Boar are from our countrymen in the
East, where the gallantry and address of the youthful hunters
may perhaps console us for the shedding of the blood of ani-
mals so unoffending, and so brave in their own defence. The
Hogs inhabit the thick jungles of the country, which men
and horses cannot penetrate; but often they quit these im-
penetrable coverts, either driven by the periodical firing of
the jungle-grass, or proceeding in search of food into the
plantations of sugar-canes, and the fields of rice, or of rhur
(a kind of legume, growing from four to six feet high), which
are often of great extent, or into the patches of long grasses,
several feet high, which are found in these countries of rich
vegetation. In such cases the game is to be dislodged, which,
in the cane plantations, is done by numerous natives with
staves or poles, drums, and other instruments, marching in
lines; and in other cases by the huntsmen themselves, on
horseback, entering with their attendants the ground where
the quarry is supposed to lodge. Elephants are likewise.
employed in this sport, in which Tigers may be dislodged
from their retreats. The Hog, being forced from his cover,
is followed by several horsemen with spears, which they use
in the manner of javelins. They pursue the animal at speed
as he makes his way to the nearest cover, darting their spears
into his body as they come up to him. "Those horsemen,"
says Captain Williamson, "who are posted at the nearest
corners, should gallop round to watch for the Hog passing
on, and giving the halloo, should dash at him at full speed,
spearing as they come up. Some Hogs, however, are aware
of the scheme, having been hunted before: many may be
seen with large scars, evidently the result of wounds received
on former occasions; and such are extremely difficult to deal
with. They will break the line repeatedly, ripping all they
meet, and eventually creating such terror as effectually to
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THE HOG.
discourage the beaters, who thence get into groups, and,
though they continue their vociferation, act so timorously, as
to render it expedient to withdraw them for the purpose of
trying a fresh cover. It is very common to see ploughs at
work at the very edge of the canes where the villagers are
beating for Hogs; and, as the bullocks employed are ex-
tremely skittish and wild, it rarely happens but, on the Hog's
debût, they take fright and run off with the plough, which is
often broken to pieces. The ploughman, alarmed equally
with his cattle, also takes to flight, as do all the peasants
who may see the bristling animal galloping from his haunt.”*
Mr Johnston, in his Indian Field-sports, gives us spirited
accounts of the danger and excitation of this kind of chase.
"It is difficult," says he, "to imagine or express the anxiety a
keen sportsman feels when sitting on his horse near a sugar-
cane, hearing the beaters calling out burrah suer (a large
Boar), and perhaps at the same instant hearing his grunt,
and the crashing of the cane, as he dashes on before them
through it, expecting every moment to see him come out. I
have often been thus situated, and have trembled all over as
if I were in a fit of ague, which did not arise from fear, but
from extreme anxiety, which went off the moment the Hog
made his appearance. When a Hog has proceeded to what
is considered a sufficient distance from a cane, the nearest
hunter should follow at a good rate, and, when he is off about
a quarter of a mile, should put his horse out at full speed,
pressing him as much as possible, observing minutely his
motions. If he slacken his pace suddenly, he is probably
waiting for an opportunity of making a desperate charge at
the horse, and if he be in wind, it would be hazardous to
withstand his charge; but if the hunter is determined to push
on and spear him, which is often necessary near a heavy
cover, by understanding and observing his manœuvres, he
will be prepared for the charge. If the country is open and
* Williamson's Oriental Field-Sports.
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THE WILD HOG.
407
clear, I think it is more prudent to draw in the horse, slacken-
ing his pace agreeably to the Hog's, keeping nearly at the
same distance from him as before he shewed signs of hos-
tility. When he finds the horse does not come on as he ex-
pected, he will be induced to increase his speed again, and
will soon be out of wind, and allow the hunter to ride up near
him without preparing to charge. Now, however, the hun-
ter should dash on at full speed, and as soon as he arrives
within a proper distance he should deliver his spear, and
having done so turn his horse instantly off to the left. If
other gentlemen are following, the nearest to the first should
keep immediately behind him, to take his place when he has
delivered his spear."
1
The same writer describes another scene eminently cha-
racteristic of the desperate fierceness and strength of the
animal. He was one, he informs us, of a party of eight
gentlemen on a sporting excursion, near the city of Patna, on
the banks of the Soane river. Returning one morning from
shooting, they met with a very large Boar in a rhur, which
they did not fire at or molest, as several of the party were
fond of hunting, and they had no spears with them. The
next morning they all sallied forth in search of him, and, just
as they arrived at the spot where they saw him the day be-
fore, they discovered him at some distance trotting off to-
wards a grass jungle on the banks of the river: they pressed
their horses as fast as possible, and were nearly up with him,
when he disappeared all at once: the horses were then nearly
at their full speed, and four of them could not be pulled up
in time to prevent their going into a deep branch of the river,
the banks of which were at least fourteen or fifteen feet high :
happily for them there was no water in it, or any thing but
fine sand, and no person was hurt. One of the horses which
was very vicious got loose, attacked the others, and obliged
all the gentlemen to quit them and walk to their tents. A
few days afterwards they went again early in the morning in
pursuit of the same Hog, and found him further off from the
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THE HOG.
grass jungle in a rhur field, from which with much difficulty
they drove him into a plain, where he stood at bay, challeng-
ing the whole party, boldly charging every horse that came
within fifty yards of him, grunting loudly as he advanced.
"The horse I rode," says Mr Johnston, "would not go near
him, and when I was at a considerable distance off, he charged
another horse with such ferocity, that mine reared and plunged
in such a violent manner as to throw me off: two or three
others were dismounted nearly at the same time; and al-
though there were many horses present that had been long
accustomed to the sport, not one of them would stand his
charges; he fairly drove the whole party off the field, and
gently trotted on to the grass jungle (foaming and grinding
his tusks), through which it was impossible to follow or drive
him."
11 *
These anecdotes of the habits, the courage, and strength,
of this wild and solitary creature, are interesting as facts of
natural history, and likewise physiologically, as shewing the
vast change which domestication produces on his character:
and not more remarkable is the difference in the conditions
of liberty and subjection in the case of this animal, than the
readiness with which he yields up his natural instincts, and
resigns himself to bondage. If the wild pigs be taken young
from their mothers in the woods, they become nearly as do-
cile as the domesticated races, and in a single generation all
the fierceness which distinguished the parents is lost. Their
very form becomes changed, and those characters which fit
them for a state of liberty disappear, as if in obedience to
some natural law.
When the Wild Hog is subjected to domestication, these
changes, amongst others, take place: The ears, not being
required to collect distant sounds, become less moveable:
the formidable tusks of the male, no longer needed for self-
defence, diminish: the muscles of the neck, not being exer-
Johnston's Indian Field-Sports.
29.2.
409 ·
-
cised in the same degree as in the natural state, become less
developed, and the head becomes more prone: the back and
loins become more long, the body is rendered more capacious,
and the limbs become shorter and less muscular: and ana-
tomy shews that the stomach and intestinal canal have ex-
tended. With the enlargement of the trunk, the animals be-
come less suited for active motion, and, along with the form of
their bodies, their habits and instincts change. They are more
insatiate of food, and the tendency to obesity increases. They
become diurnal in their habits, and so do not choose the night
for their search of food. The male no longer seeks to dwell
secluded from his fellows, and the female brings forth her
young more frequently, and in greater numbers. With the
diminished strength and power of active motion, the desire
of liberty leaves them: they become content to grovel in the
sty, and to return to it after a few hours of freedom. The
creature that would have rushed on the armed horseman, and
laid prostrate the fiercest dogs, now flees from the swine-
herd's cur, and yields obedience to the voice of a child. Nay
more, they communicate their change of form, appetites, and
habits, to their progeny; and a new race of creatures, in
truth, is formed, suited to a new condition. Nor is it certain
that the animals ever revert to their former state. At least,
when the domestication has continued for a long time, as in the
case of the common Swine of Europe, the tendency to return
to the ancient type proceeds with a degree of slowness which
is imperceptible. Many of the Swine of South America carried
thither by the Spaniards have escaped into the woods, but
they have not become Wild Hogs, but remain in herds. In
the woods of Sweden and Norway, where pigs are allowed
to roam at large, they are troublesome, and even dangerous
to be met with, but they remain together, and are easy to be
distinguished from the parent race. In the North Highlands
of Scotland the pigs are left almost in the state of nature,
being suffered to graze on the hills like sheep, and to search
undisturbed for their food; yet these creatures, although
THE HOG.
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they acquire a certain wild and grisly aspect, never reassume
the true characters of the Wild Hog. They remain grega-
rious, the male continuing with the herd, and never betaking
himself to his solitary lair: they are somewhat more wild
and agile than the breeds of the lower country, but they never
regain the swiftness, the strength, and the courage of the
parent stock.
THE HOG.
Of the causes which produce this adaptation of the animal
to a new condition, one may be believed to be the difference
in the nature and supplies of aliment.
When the Hog is brought from the wild to the domestic
state, food is supplied to him in larger quantity than he is
enabled to procure in his natural condition. This produces
an enlargement of certain parts of the body; but the increase
of size in one part of the body necessarily implies a corres-
ponding modification in others. Thus, when the supplies of
food are increased, the size of the stomach and intestinal
canal, and consequently of the abdominal cavity, becomes
extended; and this is indicated by a prolongation of the back,
and enlargement of the capacity of the trunk. To support
this increased volume, the limbs are placed at a greater la-
teral distance from one another. The tendency to secretion
of fat increases in a greater proportion than the tendency to
the production of muscle and bone. With these changes the
animal becomes less fitted for active motion, and the exercise
of his powers of self-defence; and not only do those changes
take place in the individual, but he communicates them to
his progeny, and thus a form acquired becomes permanent in
the race.
Nor are the changes which thus occur in the form and
characters of this animal, from alteration in the conditions in
which he is placed, of a slight or superficial kind. They are
often as great in degree as those employed to distinguish
species; and if we were to apply the term species to indicate
differences of form alone, we might say that the Domesticated
Hog was specifically distinct from the Wild one.
The num-
IX
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411
ber of teeth, regarded as the most constant of characters in
the discrimination of species, and constantly employed in
classification, varies with the external agents which affect
the animals. In the wild state, the Hog has six incisor
teeth in the upper, and six in the lower jaw; but, under the
effects of domestication, the number is reduced to three in
each jaw, and this number is not constant. The vertebræ of
the back vary from fourteen to fifteen in number, the lumbar
from four or five to six, the sacral from four to six, the caudal
from twenty-three to three or four, the tail being often rudi-
mental in the domesticated races.
THE HOG.
From the earliest times the Hog has been subjected to
domestication; and his flesh has furnished food to the inhabi-
tants of Europe, and other regions of the Old Continents,
beyond all the records of tradition and history. By most of
the ancient nations his flesh was in great estimation, but by
'others it was held in the utmost abhorrence. The Egyptians
not only abstained from the flesh of the Hog, but regarded
the very touch of the living animals as pollution, and the
persons employed in tending them as degraded outcasts.
The same feeling was entertained by the Hindoos, from
whom the Egyptians appear to have derived a part of their
arts and religious observances.
In the marvellous Commonwealth of Moses, a like absti-
nence from the flesh of the Hog was enjoined upon all the
people of Israel. The Levitical code upon this subject is
precise: and in the precepts, warnings, and threatenings of
the Prophets, the use of swine's flesh is denounced as a
breach of the law, and an abomination in the sight of God.
The Jews were not even permitted to offer this detested
creature as a victim of the sacrifice, as the Egyptians were
allowed to do, and as the Greeks, Romans, and other people
practised. The sacrifice of the Hog is declared to be an
abomination to the Lord, and is compared in the degree of
guilt with the killing of a human victim, or the immolation
of a dog. To precepts so clear, and denunciations so ter-
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rible, is to be ascribed that unconquerable aversion to the
unclean beast which the Jewish people came at length to
entertain to such a degree, that they would not even pro-
nounce its name; and no example, mockery, or persecution,
ever brought them to adopt the usages of other nations in
this respect. Yet it is known that great numbers of Hogs
were reared in the country of the Jews, probably for the
uses of the strangers who dwelt amongst them, or for the
purposes of traffic with the neighbouring countries. But even
now, when all the glory of their beloved land is but to them
a splendid vision,-when their altars and tabernacles have
mouldered into dust with the temples of the idolators and the
palaces of their tyrants,-when nearly twenty centuries have
seen them scattered like chaff over every land, the humblest
mendicant that boasts the blood of Jacob would not pollute
his lips with the food which his forefathers held it impious
to taste.
THE HOG.
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Writers have laboured to explain the reason of this re-
markable prohibition against the use of an aliment so whole-
some and nutritious as the flesh of the Hog. One writer
will have it, that it was owing to the filthiness of the animal,
and the impurity of his food, the law carefully providing
against all filth in the fields, the camp, or in cities:* another
maintains that it was a lesson to the Jews to abstain from
the sensuality and grossness of which this animal was typi-
cal.† Tacitus informs us, that the Jews abstained from it in
consequence of a leprosy by which they formerly suffered,
and to which the animal itself was subject; and the common
opinion is, that the use of swine's flesh is calculated to pro-
duce that leprosy to which it is known the inhabitants of
Palestine, and the neighbouring countries, including Egypt,
were subject. To this has been attributed the rigid inter-
diction of its flesh for food by the Egyptians and Jews. It
may be doubted if any of these reasons are good with regard
* Maimonides, More Nevochim.
† Lactantius, Inst.
--
413
to the latter people. It is more safe to assume, that the
prohibition of the use of swine's flesh was a law, of whose
ultimate purposes we are ignorant, connected with the cere-
monial system of the Jewish ritual. We can no more know
why the Hog was prohibited than other animals, as the Hare,
whose habits are in no degree unclean, and whose flesh has
never been supposed to produce leprosy, or other maladies of
the country.
Mohammed, in imitation probably of the Jews, or in com-
pliance with prejudices existing in his own country, inter-
dicted, in like manner, the flesh of the Hog to his disciples;
and Mohammedans observe the law of the Prophet in every
country, however suitable for this species of food. Here
there is no Divine ordinance promulgated for purposes which
to us are unknown; but the art of an impostor has prevailed
against the common sense of mankind, in a matter affecting
the means of comfortable subsistence throughout a great
part of the habitable world.
The flesh of the Hog is nutritive and wholesome, and it is
an error to suppose that it is more unsuited to warmer coun-
tries than any other species of animal food. On the con-
trary, this kind of flesh seems peculiarly suited to the warmer
countries. It is in them that the animal arrives naturally
at his greatest perfection of form, and his flesh at its greatest
delicacy and excellence. It is the principal animal food
made use of by the Chinese, and by the people of the hottest
islands of the Indian Archipelago, and it is used by the
Negroes all over the burning regions which they inhabit.
The practice of Europeans, who reside in the warmest parts
of the Old and New Continents, shews, that not only is the
flesh of the Hog not unsuited to the warmer countries, but
that it is the best and wholesomest animal food that can be
used. That it is the cause of leprosy, is not in accordance
with effects observed. The Egyptians and Jews, who ab-
stained from this food altogether, were the greatest victims of
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THE HOG.
leprosy, while the people of the same countries who now feed
upon it, are comparatively exempt from that terrible malady.
All the older nations of Europe made large use of the flesh
of the Hog. The Greeks fed much upon it, as innumerable
references in their writings testify. To the Romans it afford-
ed a large part of the food of the people. So much attention
did the Romans pay to the rearing of the Hog, that their
writers describe it as a branch of rural economy, under the
term porculatio. They carried their fondness for this species
of food to excess in their modes of preparing it for use; and
numerous ordinances of the censors were passed against the
supposed abuse. These rigid monitors prohibited the use of
certain parts of the animal at festivals and repasts, as the
mammæ, the glands, the muzzle; but no laws could check
the brutal gluttony of the Roman people. To produce a dis-
eased state of the liver, they fed the animal on dried figs,
and then killed him by repletion with honeyed wine.* It
was their custom to torture the animal to death, that a higher
flavour might be given to his flesh. In the days of the Em-
perors, the dish called Porcus Trojanus became so extrava-
gant with relation to expense, that sumptuary laws were
passed to restrain the cost. This dish consisted of a Hog
roasted whole, stuffed with animals of all kinds,-beccaficoes,
thrushes, larks, nightingales, oysters,-bathed with the rich-
est wines and gravies. The laws sought to restrain the ex-
cess of expense, but they could not cure the corruption of
manners, which called for brutal banquets without regard to
animal suffering.
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Plinii Historia Naturalis, Lib. viii.
The Hog, in the state of domestication, has spread over
nearly all the world without the polar circles. He was not,
however, indigenous to America, though he was carried
thither by the earliest voyagers, and has now multiplied
throughout the continent, wherever the descendants of Euro-
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peans are found. Neither was he found in New Holland,
though now he has been transported thither, and finds a
habitat as suitable as any other on the globe. This univer-
sal diffusion seems due to the remarkable fecundity of the
animal in the domestic state, his easy maintenance, and his
adaptation to almost every situation. Even in the wild state
the female is prolific, but this faculty increases in a remark-
able degree in the state of slavery. The Sow frequently
gives birth to fifteen, to twenty, nay, sometimes she has been
known to produce upwards of thirty at a birth, although she
has not mammæ to nourish such a number. She is compa-
ratively a long-lived animal, living to the age of twenty
years or more: she is ready to receive the male before she
has reached the age of twelve months, and of giving birth to
two litters in the year, or even to five litters in two years.
M. Vauban, the great military engineer, made, long ago, a
calculation of the possible produce of an ordinary Sow in
ten years. He allows twelve at a litter, and excludes from
his calculation the males, which yet would be as numerous
as the females. The result is, that, in eleven years, which
is equivalent to ten generations, there would be 6,434,838
pigs, or taking round numbers, six millions of pigs, which
is about the number existing in France. Were we to ex-
tend our calculation, says M. Vauban, to the twelfth gene-
ration, we should find as great a number to result as all
Europe is capable of maintaining; and were the calculation
extended to the sixteenth generation, there would be as great
a number as would people the whole globe. With powers of
production so great as this animal possesses, it will appear
that, let the consumption be ever so great, the largest means
will exist of supplying it. Let us contrast this vast power
of increase with that of another of the Pachydermata, the
Elephant, and we cannot fail to discover a law of beneficent
design. This vast creature might be made to overrun the
whole earth, were not his reproductive powers limited. The
female brings forth only once in several years, and only one
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at a birth; and in the state of slavery, the male refuses to
propagate at all, or does so with the utmost rarity and re-
pugnance. An instinct which we may well call divine, seems
to prompt him not to produce a progeny of slaves, whose
strength and sagacity might administer to the most destruc-
tive passions of the human race.
The learned and ingenious Buffon, in his history of the
Hog, both in the reclaimed and wild state, describes it as
being the rudest of all quadrupeds, and as forming, even in
the conformation of its body, a kind of anomaly amongst
brutes. The imperfections of its form, says he, seem to
influence its dispositions; all its habits are gross, all its
tastes unclean; all its sensations reduce themselves to a
furious luxury and brutal gluttony, which makes it devour
every thing that presents itself, even its own progeny. Its
voracity seems to depend on the continual necessity it is under
of filling the capacity of its large stomach, and the gross-
ness of its appetites on the dulness of its senses of taste and
touch. The roughness of the hair, the hardness of the skin,
and thickness of the fat, render the animal little sensible to
blows, and mice have been seen to lodge in its back, and eat
its fat and skin, without its appearing to feel it.
"Its body
is as unshapely as its physiognomy is stupid; its neck is so
thick and short, that its head almost touches its shoulders:
its forelegs are so short, that it seems forced to lower its
head in order to support itself upon its feet, and all its body
seems as if it were about to fall forward. No ease appears
in its motions; no suppleness in its limbs, which it scarcely
bends in order to carry itself in advance. Even in its mo-
ments of greatest fury, it has always a dull and constrained
attitude; it strikes, thrusts, and tears with its tusks, but
always without agility and address, without the power of
being able to raise its head, or to bend its body like other
quadrupeds." These are the remarks of a writer whose elo-
quence never fails to charm, even when his arguments the
least satisfy the judgment.
THE HOG.
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But the Hog, in its conformation, presents no anomaly, as
our eloquent naturalist assumes, but is one of the links or
reticulations by which all the forms of animated beings are
connected. He is one of the pachydermatous or thick-skin-
ned animals, of which the existing genera are the Elephant,
the Hippopotamus, the Rhinoceros, the Hyrax, the Tapir, the
Hog. But while these types of many species alone remain,
it appears that, in a former condition of this planet, ere Man
himself was called into existence by his Creator, the Pachy-
dermata were numerous, and formed a large proportion of
the animated inhabitants of the earth. Their bones remain
in vast numbers, but entire families of them have altogether
ceased to exist. From the form of their teeth, it appears
that they were herbivorous, and those the most nearly allied
to the Hogs seem to have frequented vast rivers or fresh-
water marshes. While these creatures inhabited the earth,
the ruminating tribes, in which are comprehended the Sheep,
the Ox, the Deer, were comparatively rare; but as countless
periods -rolled on, and the earth became suited for a new
order of life, shall we say for the habitation of the last of
created beings, Man, the number of the pachydermatous
tribes diminished, and the ruminating, so essential to man-
kind, took their place. The huge Mastodons, Tapirs, and
gigantic Hogs, or creatures resembling Hogs, though re-
quired to consume the abundant herbs of a then prolific earth,
were not, we may infer, adapted to the present condition of
the world and its inhabitants; and therefore, we may be-
lieve they ceased to exist. Of these tribes, the few genera
that have been enumerated alone remain, and the number
and productiveness of each seem to be adjusted on the nicest
balance to the order of things which an Omnipotent Provi-
dence has ordained. The Elephant, which once spread in
countless herds to the Polar Circles, is now confined to the
woods of the Tropics; the Rhinoceros, yet more rare, is
limited to the hottest regions of India and Africa; the Hip-
popotamus, one of the hugest of living quadrupeds, is con-
THE HOG.
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fined to the larger rivers of Africa, where he passes his harm-
less life under the waters; and the Tapir, a creature inter-
mediate between the Pig and the Elephant, merely lingers
in some of the forests of intertropical countries. But the
Hog, the contemned and misshapen glutton, the lowest of
brutes, and an anomaly amongst his fellows,-survives the
revolutions of thousands of ages, and is reproduced in count-
less multitudes in every region of the earth. Let us consider
how far his form is imperfect, and how far he merits. the
obloquy which is cast upon the habitudes and instincts with
which Nature has endowed him.
THE HOG.
The Hog, we have seen, is chiefly herbivorous in his state
of nature, or, at least, he does not prey upon animals that fly
from him, and much of his food consists of the roots of plants,
and the worms and larvæ which he finds under ground. To
fit him for grubbing up this kind of food, the spinous pro-
cesses of the vertebræ of the neck and back are of great size
and strength, and large muscles attached to them and the
cranium, give a prodigious power to the neck, whose strength
is further increased by its shortness and little flexibility.
His fore limbs are short, and his face is prolonged, that, in
digging, he may reach below the plane of the surface on
which he stands; his face is wedge-shaped, that it may the
better penetrate the ground, and terminates in a moveable
disc of strong cartilage, furnished largely with nerves to give
it sensibility. The eyes are small and sunk, that, when the
animal rushes through thick coverts of brushwood, they may
not be lacerated; and, as a further defence to the eyes when
the animal rushes through woods, the tusks of the male curve
upwards before the orbits. The height and strength of his
haunch and limbs enable him to throw forward his body with
vast force; and his tusks are so placed that he can inflict despe-
rate wounds, by bringing them underneath his enemy, and tear-
ing or ripping him; and his strong jaws enable him to seize ob-
jects with such force, that the bite of no animal is more danger-
ous. So far is he from manifesting want of address in his modes
xì
419
of attack and defence, that both are precisely those in which
he is enabled to employ his natural weapons with the surest
effect. And with respect to his want of speed, it is seen that
it suffices for the purposes of his own safety, enabling him to
outstrip for a space the beasts of prey that are his assailants.
When the Hog is described as a creature of gross habits and
unclean tastes, as having the senses of touch and taste obtuse,
and as being so insensible that mice may burrow in his fat
without his seeming to feel, and so forth, we must see that
this is not the description of an animal as he has been formed
by nature, but as he is measured by some standard of our
own. We cannot say that he is unclean, because Nature has
furnished him with powerful organs of digestion, which enable
him to derive nourishment from so many substances; and with
respect to his voracity, what is this but the result of the ex-
tent and perfection of his digestive and respiratory organs?
We cannot know what his sensations of taste are, but have
no reason to conclude with M. Buffon that they are obtuse.
The dulness of his sense of touch is inferred from the exist-
ence of the thick layer of fat which envelopes his body; but
the plexus of nerves which give sensibility to the skin, is ex-
terior to this fatty layer, and is not affected by it. The skin
of the Hog is far from being insensible. He suffers under
the irritation of gnats and other insects, and endeavours to
protect himself from their persecution by rolling in moist
places, and covering himself with mud. He feels blows
acutely, and manifests his suffering by loud cries; and, with
respect to the burrowing of mice in his fat, this can scarcely
but be a fable, though vouched for by Varro, and handed
down as truth from writer to writer for 1800 years.
However grovelling and mean may appear the habits of
the Hog, when reduced to the degradation of slavery, yet he
is not destitute of sagacity, nor unsusceptible of attachment.
When he lives in the cabin of the peasant, he loses much of
his rudeness, suffers himself to be caressed, and recognises
his protectors. Instances are known in which the Hog, for
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the purposes of exhibition, has been brought to perform a
number of feats, displaying a marvellous degree of docility.
An instance, often quoted, of the degree of education of which
he is susceptible, is the case of a Sow which came into the
possession of Sir Henry Mildmay, which had been trained by
a gamekeeper to point at game in the manner of a pointer.
She was of the New Forest Breed, exquisite in her sense of
smell, delighting in the sport, and nearly as steady as the
best trained pointers. Colonel Thornton had a Hog trained
in like manner to point at snipes and other game.
Intractable, rapacious, and selfish, as we are wont to es-
teem this animal, no mother is more tender of her young
than the Sow, or more resolute in their defence. When the
young are born, it is interesting to see the little creatures
make their way to the head of the prostrate parent, to caress
her and soothe her, as it were, for the pains they have caused
her. Instances indeed do occur, though rarely, and never, it
may believed, in the state of nature, in which the mother de-
vours her young as soon as they are born. We cannot ac-
count for an act so revolting, though it may not unreasonably
be ascribed to pain and irritation, arising from the unnatural
and confined situation in which the animal is kept, in filthy
pens, and amid disturbance of every kind. It is known that
the Sow is very irritable at this period, snapping at animals
when they approach her; and that in proportion as she is ten-
derly treated, kept from annoyances, and supplied with proper
sustenance, the hazard of the accident diminishes or ceases.
Hogs are not insensible to natural affections: they are
gregarious and social, warming one another with their bodies
in cold weather; and, when assembled in herds, manifesting
the utmost sympathy for one another's sufferings. Should
one give signal of distress, all within hearing rush to his as-
sistance: they gather round their comrade, and fiercely assail
the largest animals that have injured him. In Calabria, where
they are grazed in herds, the keeper uses a kind of bagpipe,
which, when at sunset they are to be driven homeward, in-
THE HOG.
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stantly collects them from all parts. In certain villages there
is a common swineherd: in the morning, when he sounds his
horn, all the pigs rush forth and follow him to the place of
feeding; in the evening they return under his guidance, and
when they enter the village each runs to his own sty without
mistake. In some of the Southern United States, it is usual
to turn the pigs into the woods, but to collect them together
once a-week, by giving them salt and maize, or other
favourite food. At the very hour they are to receive their
weekly present, they reassemble from all parts, without a
straggler. They have the sagacity always to discover the
food that suits them, never being, like some other animals
whose senses are blunted by domestication, poisoned by the
plants they find in the wild state. Their exquisite senses of
smell and touch direct them to earth-nuts and other roots,
acorns, and the like, which are found buried in the ground.
They are conscious of an impending storm, and carry straw,
as if to shelter themselves from its violence. They are agi-
tated when the wind blows violently, screaming and running
to the sty for shelter, which has given rise to this singular
saying of the country people, that "pigs see the wind." The
explanation is, that the Hog dreads wetness and cold, and
is eminently sensitive to coming changes of the weather.
THE HOG.
The Hog is an animal of vast importance, as affording the
means of subsistence to the inhabitants of different countries.
The quantity of food of this kind consumed in our own country
is exceedingly great. The animals being reared at home for
domestic use, the number brought to market, large as it is,
does not give an idea of the prodigious quantity of pork pro-
duced and consumed. It is almost the only animal food which
the peasants of many parts of the country ever touch; and,
happily, the animal can be reared on the small scale as well
as on the large, by the peasant at his cabin, as well as by the
opulent farmer. His food, too, is what others reject, and
which would be wasted were it not consumed by him. But
the importance of the Hog as a mean of human subsistence.
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THE HOG.
is yet more seen in newly settled countries. It is the surest
resource of the settler during his first years of toil and hard-
ship. It is the soonest brought to maturity of all the larger
quadrupeds, the most easily fed, and the least subject to ac-
cidents and diseases in a new situation.
The fat of the Hog forms a thick layer beneath the inte-
guments. It is termed lard, and differs in chemical compo-
sition and properties from the fat of the ruminating animals.
It more readily imbibes salt than any other kind of fat; and
the same property being possessed by the flesh, there is no
animal food better suited than pork for preservation by salt-
ing. On this account it is largely employed in the victualling
of ships. When it is preserved by drying as well as salting,
it forms bacon.
In rearing and fattening, the Hog presents less difficulty
than any other animal. The Sow goes with young four lunar
months, bringing forth in the fifth, but, as in the case of all
animals reduced to servitude, with some irregularity as to
time. She indicates the period when she is about to produce
her litter, by carrying straw in her mouth to make her bed.
For a considerable time, however, before this period, she
should have been separated from her fellows of the herd,
placed in a warm house, supplied with suitable food, and kept
carefully littered with clean dry straw. These precautions
are required to allay that irritation to which she is subject
at the time of producing her young, increased by her being
suddenly removed from her companions, and put in a strange
place. Care must be taken not to handle the young pigs, or
remove them from the places in which they have been put by
the dam, for she herself knows where they nestle, and in this
case takes care not to crush them when she lies down. The
straw, too, should be short, and in moderate quantity, lest the
young should creep underneath it unperceived by the mother.
During all the period of nursing, the Sow should be well fed,
and the troughs so placed, that the pigs may be allowed to
partake of the food. In six weeks, if the pigs have been well
423
fed, they may be weaned, and in all cases in two months.
When they are separated from the dam, they should be re-
gularly fed three times in the day, and their food should at
first consist of whey, milk, or any refuse of the dairy or
kitchen, mixed with a little warm water, so as to be raised
to the temperature of the mother's milk. In a short time
they learn to partake of all edible substances that are pre-
sented to them, as potatoes, turnips, tares, lucerne.
The females reserved for breeding are to be sufficiently fed,
and not over-fattened. The other pigs should receive from
the period of weaning, until they are fit for use, a full allow-
ance of such food as the means at our command will allow.
In this manner the animal arrives the soonest at its maturity
of flesh and fatness, and the younger it is when it arrives at
this state the more delicate is its flesh. Any kind of vege-
table or animal food may be given to pigs, in the course of
being reared and fattened, and it constitutes the peculiar
value of these animals that they can be maintained on almost
any kind of aliment. They will feed even on herbage, pas-
turing in the fields and commons; but roots rather than her-
bage are their native food. Acorns, chestnuts, beech-mast,
hazel-nuts, and other esculent fruits, are eagerly consumed
by them; and in countries of forests they may be convenienly
suffered to range in the woods, and find their own food. They
are fond of all fruits; and hence, in the countries of the grape,
the ravages which the Wild Hog commits: in the places where
cider is produced, they are fed on spoiled fruits, and on the
residue of the cider-mill; in the countries of the olive, on
the refuse of the oil-press; and generally, where the olea-
ginous plants are cultivated, on the refuse of the manufac-
ture. Hay or dried fodder is not adapted to these animals,
though, if chopped and boiled, they will not reject it. But
their proper vegetable forage is that which is moist and suc-
culent; and hence they will feed on clovers, tares, lucerne,
sainfoin, succory, and the like. They feed eagerly on all
kinds of roots and tubers, as the turnip, the potato, the
THE HOG.
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THE HOG.
Jerusalem artichoke. This kind of food they will eat either
in the natural state, or when prepared by boiling. This
latter process is well adapted to prepare several kinds of
roots, as the turnip, for fattening these animals. They de-
light, in an especial degree, in all kinds of farinaceous sub-
stances, as meal, bran, pease or beans bruised, and generally
on the seeds of all gramineous and leguminous plants, the
buckwheat and others. They may be fattened on the grains
of breweries, and on the grains as well as the wash or liquid
refuse of distilleries. They may be fattened, too, with ani-
mal substances, and, above all, with the refuse of the kitchen
and the dairy. Attention to warmth and cleanliness should,
at every period, be paid to them when confined. It is an
error to suppose that they may be left in a state of neglect
and filth. It may seem absurd to say that the Hog is a
cleanly animal, yet it does not appear that his endurance of
filth is a matter of choice, or his rolling in the mire, any
thing but the effect of that love of coolness and moisture
which distinguishes him in the state of nature.
The Hog is subject to remarkable changes of form and
characters, according to the situations in which he is placed.
When these characters assume a certain degree of perma-
nence, a breed or variety is formed; and there is none of the
domesticated animals which more easily receives the charac-
ters we desire to impress upon it. This arises from its rapid
powers of increase, and the constancy with which the charac-
ters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny. There is
no kind of live-stock that can be so easily improved by the
breeder, and so quickly rendered suited to the purposes re-
quired. And the same characters of external form indicate
in the Hog a disposition to arrive at early maturity of muscle
and fatness, as in the Ox and Sheep. The body is large in
proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the limbs are
short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from
coarseness, the chest is broad, and the trunk round. Pos-
sessing these characters, the Hog never fails to arrive at
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425
earlier maturity, and with a smaller consumption of food,
than when he possesses a different conformation.
Of the races or breeds of the Hog in different countries,
the varieties are innumerable. One that requires especial
notice, as having been mixed in blood with the Swine of
some parts of Europe, and very largely with those of Eng-
land, is the widely-diffused SIAMESE BREED.
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The south-eastern countries of Asia, it is well known,
comprehending the territories of the Birmans, the kingdoms
of Cambodia, Siam, Cochin-China, Malacca, and others, are
covered with forests of magnificent growth, which are filled
with numerous animals, amongst which the Hog abounds.
In all these countries the Hog has been reduced to domesti-
cation, and all the rich and populous empire of China
proper, and
neighbouring islands and countries, it is
largely cultivated for human food. The Hogs of these coun-
tries present certain characters which may distinguish them
from those of Europe, but they have all the habits of our
common Swine, and breed as freely with them as the latter
do with one another.
;
BREEDS.
The race supposed to be the most typical of the domesti-
cated Hogs of those countries has been termed the Siamese
breed, from the kingdom of Siam, situated on the gulf of
that name, nearly in the centre of the countries sometimes
termed India beyond the Ganges. But the terms the Bir-
man, the Cambodian, the Malacca breed, would be equally
applicable; and, therefore, by the designation Siamese Breed,
must be understood not a race proper to Siam, but to a vast
extent of country situated in this part of Asia.
The individuals are of small size, and have a cylindrical
body, with the back somewhat hollow, and the belly trailing
near the ground, in consequence of the shortness of the limbs.
The bristles are soft, approaching to the characters of hair:
the colour is usually black, and the skin externally of a rich
copper colour. The ears are short, small, and somewhat erect.
The animals are less hardy and prolific than the native races
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of Europe, and the females do not yield the same quantity
of milk; but they arrive very soon at maturity, they fatten
on a small quantity of food, and their flesh is white and
delicate.
THE HOG.
The varieties of this widely extended race with which we
are chiefly conversant in this country, are derived from
China, being brought hither as sea-stock, or otherwise, by
the vessels employed in the trade which England has so long
carried on with the Chinese empire. They have usually the
dark colour characteristic of the race, but they are often also
white, and of a size exceeding the medium; for in China
there are varieties of breeds, just as in other countries.
Some of them kept in the temples attain, in consequence of
age and long fattening, to enormous magnitude; but it does
not appear that these sacred pigs are any otherwise distin-·
guished from the common breeds. The Chinese race with
which we are chiefly familiar, is derived from the neighbour-
hood of Canton. Those of the interior, or bordering on the
Tartar countries, are little known to us.
It is well known that the Chinese feed more largely on
pork than on any other kind of animal food. To this cause
some have attributed the rejection by the Chinese of the
Mohammedan faith. However this be, the flesh of the Hog
appears to have been long the food of this singular people,
and the animal itself is almost the only considerable quadru-
ped except the Dog, which is cultivated by them for human
subsistence. It is said that they sometimes use the milk of
the Sow; at least, there is reason to believe that they supply
with this substance the strangers who visit them. The Eng-
lish merchants and sailors who arrive at the port of Canton
are thus unconsciously furnished with a substance, perfectly
wholesome and nutritious, it may be believed, but the use of
which is revolting to the habits of Europeans.
The Chinese pay a minute care to the rearing and feeding
of an animal so important to them as a mean of subsistence :
but the information of travellers is exceedingly scanty with
*
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427
respect to the really useful details of practice in this as in
other branches of their rural economy. We learn, however,
that, in the treatment of the animal, an extreme attention
is paid to cleanliness and regular feeding. English traders
who have resided in the suburbs of Canton, describe the care
of the Chinese, in this respect, as exceeding any thing that
is practised in Europe. It is much to be regretted that we
remain so ignorant of the few useful arts, in which we might
hope to profit by the experience of this jealous people. Their
knowledge of details, founded on experience and practice, is
nearly all they have to communicate. Of principles, and
any thing that can be termed science, they are as ignorant
as barbarians: they can exhibit mechanical skill, and imi-
tate what is placed before them; but in almost every thing
that relates to the higher powers of inventive genius they are
as yet in the state of children. During their boasted dy-
nasties of numerous centuries, the Chinese people have been
the slaves of etiquette and form. They have formed an em-
pire, but one in which the human mind has been doomed to
stationary bondage.
The Hogs of China which have been introduced into Eng-
land, are too delicate and sensible of cold to be of much eco-
nomical value. The breed, therefore, is rarely maintained
in its state of purity. It is chiefly by intermixture with the
native races that its value is recognised; and it is in this
respect that the introduction of the Chinese breed into Eng-
land has been attended with beneficial results. The fault of
the old Swine of England was their coarseness of form, and
their consequent inability to arrive at early maturity of
muscle and fatness. The mixture of the Asiatic blood has
everywhere tended to correct this defect; though, at the same
time, it has lessened the size of the native races, and perhaps
their power to produce numerous young. The flesh of these
Eastern Hogs is peculiarly tender and good, but it is suited
for pork for the table, rather than for bacon. The pure race
communicates the quality of its pork to its mixed descend-
BREEDS.
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ants; and it is this transmitted character, as much as the
aptitude to fatten, which has induced so general an infusion
of the Siamese blood into the breeds of this country.
Of the other races of Eastern Asia, we scarcely know any
thing. In the woods of the large and fertile Island of Papua,
or New Guinea, has been found a race of small Hogs, which
has been classed as a distinct species, under the name Sus
Papuensis. They are destitute of tusks, and the tail is want-
ing. The colour is brown, and, in the young state, five
streaks of bright yellow extend along the back. The animals
are caught by the natives in the woods when young, and re-
tained in a state of captivity.
THE HOG.
On the discovery, by European voyagers, of the Islands of
the South Seas, a kind of Hog was found in great numbers,
affording to the simple natives their principal animal food.
He was held by them in a kind of veneration, and was offered
up to their divinities as the most acceptable sacrifice. They
could give no account of his introduction amongst them,
but regarded him as coeval with themselves. They fed him
with yams, and such other nutritive plants as the islands
produced. His flesh is described by our early voyagers as de-
licious, the fat resembling, in delicacy and flavour, the finest
butter. It has been doubted by some whether this race is of
the widely diffused Siamese breed, or whether it is allied to
the Sus Papuensis, or some other species yet undescribed, pro-
per to the Islands of the Eastern Seas. None of this breed,
so far as is known, has yet been introduced into Europe.
The Breeds of European countries vary so much, even
within the narrowest limits, that no classification of them
can be made. In general, it may be said, that the most de-
licate Hogs are found in the warmer latitudes. In the cooler
countries of richer herbage, as Holland, Belgium, part of
Germany, and the north of France, they tend to become large
in bulk, having long bodies, and pendent ears. In Sweden,
the north of Russia, and the higher latitudes generally, they
are frequently of a rufous-brown colour, of small size, and
429
wild habits, as if deviating less from the type of the Wild
Hog, than in the more temperate countries.
The Breeds of the British Islands, which may be regarded
as native, may be divided into two general classes; first,
those of smaller size, with the ears erect, or tending to erect;
and, secondly, those of larger body, with the ears long and
pendent. But between these extremes, there are such de-
grees, that numbers cannot be reduced to either class.
Of the smaller breeds, with sub-erect ears, the most
marked are those of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
These creatures are of very small size, usually of a dusky-
brown colour, having an arched back, with coarse bristles
along the neck and spine. They approach to the aspect of the
Wild Hog, without having acquired its habits. They are hardy
in a remarkable degree, and adapted to find their food in the
situations in which they are placed. They are left to forage
for themselves, and have usually no shelter afforded them.
They graze on the heathy hills and moors, grubbing up the
roots of plants with their strong snouts, and feeding on the
sea-coasts on algæ, shell-fish, and the bodies of fishes which
are cast on shore. In ranging over the hills, they destroy
the eggs of plovers, grouse, and other birds, nay devour such
new-born lambs as come in their way. They are the pest of
the cultivated fields, rooting up the growing potatoes, and
committing prodigious havoc in the corn-fields of their care-
less masters. They are generally very lean, and their flesh,
in this state, is coarse and fibrous; but when confined and
fed in a proper manner, they become fat more quickly than
their grisly exterior would indicate. When their principal
food is fish, their flesh acquires an oily disagreeable taste.
The next class of breeds consists of those having a large
body, and long pendent ears. These are the races of the
lower country, which have been long in the domesticated
state. They are of different colours, but are mostly white,
or white spotted with black. They fatten slowly, require
much food, and are late in arriving at maturity. When fat-
BREEDS.
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tened at the age of two or three years, they become of enor-
mous magnitude. Few, however, perfectly unmixed with
foreign blood, now remain. Those that are to be found, are
merely scattered individuals, in remote districts, or in the
hands of old farmers unwilling to change their modes of hus-
bandry, or in the possession of persons who retain the fe-
males for the purpose of rearing large pigs. They are chiefly
to be found in Ireland, and, until lately, were very numerous
in that country. The cause of their disappearance is the
mixture of blood with that of the more improved breeds.
THE HOG.
In the cases where the older races exist without intermix-
ture, the animal presents remarkable characters. Its form is
uncouth; the bones are large, and the limbs long; the back is
arched and narrow, the shoulder low, the face long, the ears
are large and flapping. It presents, in truth, a combination
of the characters which breeders now wish to avoid. Yet,
with all their defects, these animals possess one important
property. The females produce large litters, and are the
best of all nurses for their young. If crossed with the supe-
rior races, as with the Chinese or the Berkshire, the imme-
diate progeny is always good, retaining the size of the dam,
and acquiring the aptitude to fatten of the superior male.
Thriftless, then, as these animals are in themselves, with
relation to their power of fattening on a given supply of
food, yet any one who possesses a Sow of this kind, will find
her more valuable than any other for the purpose of rearing
pigs.
In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and generally in the
eastern counties, there are breeds of large size, of a white
colour, and with pendent ears. These breeds have been cul-
tivated with more or less care, and have all been affected in
their form and characters by crossing. The county of Suf-
folk has been long noted for producing large quantities of
pork, chiefly for the supply of the London market; and the
white breed of Suffolk became early known for its goodness.
This breed, however, has been crossed and recrossed by the
1
431
Chinese, or descendants of the Chinese variety, so as to suit
its size to the demand of the consumers. The Essex breed
has, in like manner, been crossed with the smaller and finer
breeds, so as to lessen its size, and increase the delicacy of
the pork; and the Essex Hogs are peculiarly distinguished
by the fineness of the skin and softness of the hair.
The same system of crossing has been applied to all the
former breeds of the country, the Northampton, the Shrop-
shire, the Hampshire, the Rudgwick. The latter, so called
from a village of that name on the borders of Surrey and
Sussex, were the largest Swine in England, and perhaps in the
world. The Hampshire Hogs were also a very noted breed,
from their being of large size, and well suited for bacon.
But the distinctive characters of these various races have
been more or less effaced, so that varieties described by for-
mer observers cannot now be traced. In general, it may be
said that all the breeds of this country have been tending to
a smaller size and greater uniformity of character.
Of the breeds of England, one greatly valued is the Berk-
shire. It is so termed from the county of that name, though
the principal improvement of the breed was made in the
counties farther north, chiefly in Leicestershire and Stafford-
shire. It still retained, however, its original designation,
and the Berkshire has been long known as one of the most
generally spread of the improved breeds of England.
The true Berkshires are of the larger races of Swine,
though they fall short in size of some of the older breeds, as
the Hampshire, the Rudgwick, and others. They are usually
of a reddish-brown colour, with brown or black spots, a cha-
racter which makes it appear that one of the means employed
to improve them was a cross with the Wild Hog. The Berk-
shire is still regarded as one of the superior breeds of Eng-
land, combining size with a sufficient aptitude to fatten, and
being fitted for pork and bacon; and it is held to be the hardi-
est of the more improved races.
But the Berkshire breed has, like every other, been crossed
•
BREEDS.
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432
and recrossed with the Chinese, or Chinese crosses, so as to
lessen the size of the animals, and render them more suited
to the demand which has arisen for small and delicate pork.
Many of the modern breed are nearly black, indicating their
approach to the Siamese character, and sometimes they are
black broken with white, shewing the effects of the cross with
the white Chinese. From this intermixture, it becomes in
many cases difficult to recognise, in the present race, the
characters of the true Berkshire. The great improver of the
breed was Richard Astley, Esq. of Oldstonehall.
Although no doubt can exist with respect to the great
benefit that has arisen from diminishing the size and coarse-
ness of the former Swine of England, yet, assuredly, there
should be limits to this diminution of size in the Hog, as of
every other animal cultivated for food. In many cases the
diminution of size has been merely to suit the caprice of taste.
The larger kinds of pigs do not find a ready sale in the mar-
kets of great cities, and hence the more essential property of
an abundant production of butchers' meat is sacrificed. But
we should remember that the supply of pork is of great im-
portance to the support of the inhabitants of this country.
In the state of bacon it is largely consumed by the mass of
the people, and in the salted state, it is used for the supplies
of our numerous shipping. It is not, therefore, for the gene-
ral good, that the old breeds of England should be merged
in the smaller races of China and other countries.
THE HOG.
While we should improve by every means the larger breeds
that are left us, we should take care that we do not sacrifice
them altogether. The country might one day regret that
this over-refinement had been practised, and future improvers
exert themselves in vain to recover those fine old breeds
which had been abandoned. In place of unceasing crossing
with the smaller races, it would be more praiseworthy and
beneficial to apply to our larger races those principles of
breeding which, in the case of our other animals, have so well
succeeded. By mere selection of the parents, we could re-
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move the defective characters of the larger breeds, and give
to them all the degree of fineness which consists with their
bulk of body; for there is no animal so easily changed in form
and moulded to our purposes as the Hog.
Amongst the kinds of crossing, that with the Wild Hog
has been lately revived to some extent. The only good effect
of this cross is a certain improvement of the flesh, by mixing
the fat more equally with the lean; for, in the Wild Hog, as
in all the less cultivated races of the Domestic Animals, the
fat is more mixed with the muscular parts. But otherwise
the crossing with the wild race does not seem to be advisable.
The form of the Wild Hog is not the perfect one at which
the breeder should aim, and we have greatly better models
presented to us in the best of the breeds already improved.
by cultivation.
THE HOG.
+
Hogs are from time to time brought by our innumerable
shipping from the countries of the Mediterranean, as Italy,
Turkey, Spain, and mingled with the Swine of the country.
Of the Mediterranean breeds, the Maltese was at one time
in favour. It was of small size, of black colour, nearly des-
titute of bristles, and capable of fattening quickly. At the
present time a breed from the country near Naples has been
introduced, and has been employed very extensively to cross
the other breeds. This breed, like the Maltese, is of small
size, and of a black colour. It is nearly destitute of hair or
bristles, but, on being bred several times in this country, the
bristles come. The flesh is exceedingly good, but the ani-
mals themselves are destitute of hardiness, and unsuited for
general use. But they have been made to cross the other
Swine of the country, and the progeny exhibit much fineness
of form and aptitude to fatten. Their flesh, too, is delicate,
on which account the Neapolitan crosses are at the present
time in 'considerable favour in several parts of England. But
there are other races of Italy which might, with greater
benefit than that of Naples, have been introduced into this
country. The best Hogs of Italy are supposed to be pro-
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434
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duced in the Duchy of Parma. They are of larger size than
those of Naples, while they possess even greater aptitude to
fatten, and yield pork equally white and delicate. Hogs are
sometimes introduced from Africa. Their descendants are
of tolerable size and square form, and, like the other Hogs
of warmer countries, fatten with facility.
THE HOG.

ARABIAN HORSE.
V. THE HORSE.
11 Foll
THE EQUIDE constitute a small but noble tribe of quadru-
peds, which have been termed Solidungula, from their hav-
ing but single apparent toes, covered by undivided integu-
ments of horn. Their stomach is single, and their food vege-
table. Their limbs are strong and sinewy, and their general
conformation is adapted to rapid movements. They have
the neck and tail covered with hair, longer than that of the
other parts of the body. Their ears are.very moveable, and
their eyes so placed as to include a large range of vision:
their voice is loud, in some of the species harsh and braying,
in others shrill and sonorous. They are social and migra-
5
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​436
THE HORSE.
tory, inhabiting the open country rather than woody coverts.
They abounded in a former condition of the world, their
fossil remains existing in numerous mineral deposites. Va-
rious species are yet found living in the state of nature, or
reduced to servitude. These species have usually been re-
garded by naturalists, following the illustrious Linnæus, as
constituting a single genus, Equus; although some prefer
dividing them into two distinct genera, namely, ASINUS, of
which the Ass is typical, and EQUUS, represented by the
Common Horse. But these genera pass the one into the
other, so that they can only be separated by conventional
characters; and we shall equally avoid confusion by regard-
ing them as forming a single genus, of which the species
may be considered as approaching more or less to the type
which we term Asinine, or more or less to that which is pre-
sented in the Horse. In this, as in all parts of the animal
kingdom, we find a progression, as it were, from species to
species; so that it may be said the living Equidæ present
gradations in form and attributes, from the humbler Ass,
with his homely exterior, his rudimental mane, and his harsh
and grating voice, to the beautiful creature, in which the form
and qualities of his tribe are most highly developed.
The WILD Ass, Ovaygos of the Greeks, Onager of the Ro-
mans, inhabits the regions of steril wilderness which stretch
from the deserts of Syria eastwards between the northern
shores of the Persian Gulf and the great saline Lake of Aral,
extending his range eastward into the boundless regions of
the Tartars, and southward to the deserts beyond the Indus.
He is found congregated in troops, sometimes in great num-
bers together. He trusts for safety to the exquisite senses
with which he is endowed, and shuns the fatal neighbour-
hood of man. In this his natural state of freedom, he shews
himself to be endowed with characters and instincts which fit
him for his condition. He prefers the bitter and saline plants
of the desert to the herbage of the richer plains. He con-
tents himself with the water of brackish pools and saline
437
springs. He is wary in a high degree, exquisite in his
senses of sight and hearing, swift in flight, bold in scaling
the rocky precipice, and resolute in his own defence. When
attacked, he employs his teeth and posterior limbs, without
abating his flight. He is hunted by the tribes of the desert
for his skin, and for his flesh, which is greatly esteemed by
the Tartar nations. He is sometimes, it is said, taken in
pitfalls, and thus reduced to servitude. He is hunted by the
Persians with a large kind of greyhound trained to the chase.
From the earliest times we have records of the habits and
condition of this wild and migratory creature. The Sacred
Writings make him the subject of many beautiful descriptions
and allusions. “Who hath sent out the Wild Ass free? or who
hath loosed the bands of the Orud? whose home I have made
the wilderness, and the salt land his dwellings. The range
of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every
green thing." He is often referred to as typical of indocility,
perverseness, and scorn of control; and his very presence is
associated with images of barrenness and desolation. "Upon
the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea,
upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city; because the pa-
laces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be
left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of
Wild Asses, a pasture of flocks."
The Wild Ass of the Desert is yet familiar to the people
of the countries which he inhabited of old. In stature he
equals the larger domesticated breeds. His ears are long,
and very moveable. His fur varies in colour, from brownish
to a silvery gray, being paler on the head, shoulders, and
haunches, nearly white on the limbs and lower part of the
belly, and dark brown on the mane, with a streak of the
same colour, forming a cross on the shoulder, and extending
along the spine. He is termed by the Persians Gor; and this
name coupled with Khur, the Persian term for an Ass, forms
Gor-Khur, by which designation the Wild Ass is known in
various countries of the East.
HISTORY.
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THE HORSE.
But besides the Wild Ass, properly so called, it has been
believed that another species, approaching yet more in con-
formation to the domesticated kinds, is found within the same
geographical limits. It has been described as the Hamar of
the Persians. But Hamar is merely the Arabic for a male
Ass; and the figures given by travellers of a species of this
name, are manifestly the representation of an animal that
has been domesticated, and not of a species really wild.
But Wild Asses extend to the great African Continent,
and present characters which appear to distinguish them from
those of Asia. They were classed by the Romans under the
general term, Onager, and were from time to time exhibited
in the bloody sports of the amphitheatre, while their colts were
regarded as a luxury by the gluttonous epicures of Rome.
They have been seen by many travellers, from the countries
of the Red Sea to Cape Verde on the Atlantic; and they
have been recently observed in great numbers above the cata-
racts towards the high lands of Bahr-el Ariad, or White Nile.
They are described as being of delicate form, as having the
hair very fine, of a silver-gray colour on the back, and pale
ashy-blue on the neck and sides, with the mane and tail black,
a dark cross on the shoulder, and a streak along the dorsal
line of the same colour. It is not known whether all the
Asses of Africa present the same characters. Those in the
subjugated state exhibit a certain difference of aspect in dis-
tant localities. Adanson, in describing those of Senegal,
brought by the Moors from the interior, says that he could
not recognise them to be the same animals as those of Europe.
From the Onagri of Asia and Africa, however distinguished
from one another by minor characters, it is reasonable to
suppose the domesticated races have been derived. But, at
the same time, from the different characters which appear in
the subjugated races, even in the same localities, it is not im-
possible that the blood of allied species, as of the Hemionus,
to be immediately referred to, has been mixed with that of
the common kinds. But from whatever stirps in the natural
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state the Common Ass has been derived, this creature, we
know, has been subjected to captivity from the earliest con-
gregation of men into societies. Amongst the treasures of
the early shepherds of Syria, the Ass is continually men-
tioned, along with the Camel and the Ox, as the beast em-
ployed in journeyings and the bearing of burdens; and even
after the return of the descendants of Israel from a country
of chariots and horses to the land of their promised inheri-
tance, they preserved the simple habits of their forefathers
in the use of this ancient servant. They seem to have had
their asses of nobler blood, to which they applied a peculiar
term. Princes and the honourable of the land did not dis-
dain to be borne by this ancient steed. Saul, when called
by a glorious destiny to be the King of Israel, was in search
of his father's asses, or atonoth, which had strayed. His
warlike successor had his superintendent of atonoth, as of
the other branches of his government; and even after the
Horse was introduced for the purposes of traffic and war,
the services of the patient Ass were neither disused nor de-
spised. He was, in like manner, domesticated from the
earliest times by the Arabians, the Persians, and other people
of the East. He was familiar to the Egyptians, as history
and their sculptured monuments attest; to the Libyans;
and, it may be believed, to the other inhabitants of Africa
bordering on the Great Desert. He was known to the Greeks,
as we learn from their earliest writers; to the Romans, who
cultivated the race with care; to the Spaniards, whose early
intercourse with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians could not
fail to make them familiar with so useful a creature. Ac-
cording to Strabo, he was unknown to the Britons, and to
the inhabitants of the countries of the Baltic. He at length
found his way beyond the Alps into Gaul, and, at a period
comparatively recent, into the northern countries of Europe.
The Ass, reduced to bondage, loses the fleetness, the spirit,
and the wildness, which he possesses in the state of nature.
Unlike to the Horse, who readily becomes devoted to his
HISTORY.
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THE HORSE.
master, and gives up all his powers to his use, this creature
seems to yield an unwilling service, and to feel the degrada-
tion of servitude. Yet he submits with patience to his lot,
and his progeny do not seem to recover the wildness of their
parents; for it is not known that the progeny of the domes-
ticated Ass ever seek to regain their liberty by joining their
fellows of the desert. It is otherwise with the Horse, who
is readily tempted to join the emancipated herds, and fly from
the bondage in which he has lived. In South America, nu-
merous Asses have been allowed to escape into the plains,
and multiply in a state of nature; but they never acquire
the habits of their free-born progenitors of the desert: they
linger near the places of their birth, and fall an easy prey to
their enemies. The change of nature in the Ass, by the
effects of subjugation, is entire. It seems to be less the
effect of discipline and education than of simple deprivation
of liberty. Thus it is that the Ass was amongst the earliest
of the quadrupeds subjected to permanent servitude, and re-
tains so strongly the impress of slavery.
In his state of domestication, the Ass is patient of thirst
and toil, and able to subsist on dry and scanty' forage. He
does not seem to be sensible of cold, but he fears wetness,
and is reluctant to enter pools and rivers. He is a strong
animal, and is better adapted to the bearing of burdens and
drawing of weights than, from his slender limbs and relative
bulk of body, could be inferred. He is docile and cheerful
under his burden when kindly used; but when urged to tasks
beyond his strength, and assailed by unmerited blows, he
manifests his natural temper. He sometimes draws up his
lips in a peculiar manner, and shews his teeth with a savage
grin; an expression of dumb agony which should speak to
the feelings, in place of exciting derision and repetition of
insult. It is painful to think that this creature, so meek, so
patient in our service, so grateful for our kindness, should
be too generally treated with contumely and harshness. Do
we not consider that he is a creature who is only degraded
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by our abuse of him, and a slave because Nature has formed
him with the instinct to resign his physical powers to our
service? His figure, his voice, his very patience and sub-
mission, have been the subject of ridicule in every age. He
has been regarded as the very emblem of stupidity, per-
verseness, and obstinacy, "tardus, piger, stupidus, stolidus.”
With respect to his form, we say that this, like that of all
the Equine family, is indicative of activity. His ears indeed
are somewhat long for our taste; but his ears, we should
remember, are the organs which in the desert enable him to
collect the distant sounds, and avoid the danger of his ene-
mies; and his voice, which appears to us so inharmonious
and rude, is designed to resound through the wilderness he
inhabits, to warn his comrades of danger, and collect the
distant members of the troop. His submission and patience
do not surely demand excuse, yet even these are not the cha-
racteristics of his free-born state, but of that condition in
which Nature forms him to be useful to us. His stupidity
is merely inferred from his external aspect; for his actions
do not exhibit a want of sagacity; and with respect to his
obstinacy and perverseness, it may be said that these are
the result of our ungenerous use of his services, for, when
treated with kindness, he manifests neither indocility nor
want of attachment to his protector.
HISTORY.
This animal, though capable of enduring great cold, is the
creature of the temperate and warmer countries. It is to
them that his temperament is adapted, and his spirit seems
to droop when he is reared in the higher latitudes. The
Asses of the north of Europe cannot be compared with those
of Syria, Persia, and the countries of the Levant, nor with
those of Spain and the north of Africa. The Persians, though
a nation of horsemen, pay great attention to the rearing of
an animal so suited to a rocky and arid country. They have
their different breeds, some of which are very large, and
suited to draught and the bearing of burdens, and others
are light and fitted for the saddle. Also, in Syria and Asia
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THE HORSE.
Minor are to be seen fine asses employed in travelling and
the labours of the field. In the arid deserts of Arabia, the
Ass shares with the Camel the burden of transporting the
tents and merchandise of the wandering tribes, the goods
of the caravan, or the solitary traveller. In Barbary and
Egypt, a light and agile kind of Ass is found. In Cairo,
numbers of them are to be seen standing ready saddled for
hire, serving the same purpose as hackney-coaches with us.
They are treated by their owners in the same manner as
horses, rubbed carefully, and fed on chopped straw, beans,
and barley. They are healthy, cheerful, and gentle, and the
safest animals that can be ridden. Their usual pace is a
pleasant amble, and they carry their riders rapidly and with-
out fatigue from place to place in the straggling city. The
Asses of the caravans of the interior frequently arrive in
Egypt, after having carried their riders sixty days and more
through the deserts, as fresh as if they had started the day
before. It is in situations like these that the services which
this creature renders save him from the unmerited contempt
which elsewhere accompanies him.
Of the Asses of European countries, those of Greece, Italy,
and Spain, have long possessed the greatest reputation for
their superior qualities. Greece had the means of obtaining
the Asiatic races from the countries on the Black Sea and
the Caspian. Those of Arcadia are celebrated by early
writers, and Cappadocia is mentioned as supplying Greece
with a valuable race. The breeds of modern Greece and the
islands of the Archipelago, though treated with the neglect
with which every thing useful is treated in those countries,
are still greatly superior to those of the northern parts of
Europe. The Romans paid extreme attention to the rearing
of this animal; and in the days of the Empire paid enormous
sums for procuring those that were the most beautiful and
of the finest races. Italy still produces Asses of a valuable
kind. But of all the countries of Europe, Spain is the most
distinguished for these animals. Many of them are fifteen
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HISTORY.
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hands high, and of corresponding strength and fine figure.
The communication of this country with the East and with
Africa, doubtless produced an early attention to the race;
and the extensive employment of the Mule has since caused
an extreme care to be devoted to the rearing of the parent
stock. The Asses of Spain are more numerous than the
Horses.
In the New World, the Ass, like all the domesticated ani-
mals of the Old, has found a habitation suited to his condi-
tion. He is sometimes employed, though more rarely than
the Mule, in the bearing of travellers and burdens through
the terrible passes of the Andes, and then he manifests
courage, fidelity, and sagacity. He bears his rider along the
ledge of the precipice, where the foot can scarcely find a
resting-place, and where a false step would entail destruction
upon both. Sometimes he descends declivities so steep and
dangerous that they seem impassable. The faithful creature
stops when he arrives at the edge of the descent, pauses, and
will not move until he has prepared himself for the danger.
He views the path before him, and at length, bringing his
hinder legs beneath him, he glides down the precipice with
frightful rapidity. He follows the winding of the path as if
he had fixed in his mind the very track he was to follow.
The rider trusts all to his guidance: the slightest check of
the rein might disturb the equilibrium, and cause both to be
hurled into the abyss below.
In the British Islands, asses are in great numbers, chiefly
used by the poorer classes. The animal was known in Eng-
land even during the reign of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, but
their numbers were small; for even in the reign of Elizabeth
they were regarded as foreign to the land. During the reign
of James I., however, they had become common. They are
now an object of economical importance. They are chiefly,
indeed, the property of the poor; but, whoever owns them,
they are beasts of useful labour, largely used by a numerous
class, and meriting more attention than they have yet re-
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THE HORSE.
ceived. Great numbers of she-asses are kept about London
and the larger towns, for the purpose of supplying a mild,
salutary, and nutritive liquid to the infirm.
Although the Ass does not well support the temperature
of the higher latitudes, yet beyond a question the breed could
be greatly improved even in countries colder than our own.
Were a proper selection to be made of the parents for breed-
ing, and were the young to be properly fed, so that their form
might be developed, and were they to be sheltered from the
inclemency of the weather in the same manner as the Horse,
we would succeed in rearing Asses greatly superior in
strength and spirit to the diminutive creatures which we see
on our highways and commons. The animals, indeed, are
mostly in the hands of those who have not the means to pro-
cure proper males, or pursue a right system of management;
but on this account it is the more important that some atten-
tion should be paid to the subject by the wealthier classes.
Our commercial relations with Spain and the Levant would
enable us, at no great cost, to improve the defective races of
the country by the easiest means.
Besides the direct services which the Ass can render to us
as a beast of burden, he is endowed with the faculty of pro-
pagating a race of animals superior to himself in strength,
and equal in sagacity, patience, and fortitude. The Mule is
a creature invaluable in the countries in which he is reared
for his many and varied services. In Spain, he is the beast
of burden the most generally used and esteemed. He is em-
ployed in coaches and chariots of all kinds, and used for the
saddle even by people of condition, as safe, hardy, and suited
to distant journeys. In a rocky and precipitous country he
is, of all known animals, the best adapted for the carrying of
loads. He has the mountain habits of the Ass with the
strength of his other parent. Countries divided from one
another by precipitous mountains would remain separated in
intercourse but for this hardy creature. In the transporting
of merchandise across the dreadful cliffs of the Cordilleras,
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no animal can be compared with the Mule. The parent Ass,
sagacious as he is, though he will bear the rider through
the dizzy pass, cannot support those weighty loads which the
Mule can carry with ease. Even when human life is at stake,
the sagacity and sure-footedness of the Mule may be equally
trusted as the parent Ass. Like him, he moves along the
slippery edge of the precipice, climbs the barrier of rocks,
and slides down the steep descent. In the Alps and Pyrenees
his services are in continued requisition, and the danger of
transporting the traveller and his baggage would be extreme
without his assistance. In the tropical settlements of
Europeans, where the sugar-cane is cultivated, the Mule is
greatly superior to the Horse for the labours of the mill and
other works.
HISTORY.
The Mule was known in the earliest ages. The Jews made
use of him, though their law prohibited the coupling of dif-
ferent kinds of animals together. He was well known to the
Persians and other Asiatics, to the Greeks, who employed
him in rural labour, as we learn from Hesiod and others, and
to the Romans, who made use of him in their equipages and
in various ways. The race cannot be propagated by breeding
from the individuals, though instances exist of the fertility
of mules with a horse or ass.
The Mule may be the produce either of a male-ass and a
mare, or of a she-ass and a horse; but it is remarkable that,
in all cases, the former is the larger, finer, and more spirited
animal. The progeny always most resembles the dam. The
Mule in which the Ass is the mother has long ears, and is of
a duller temperament and less beautiful form. The mare
receives the male Ass with a species of aversion, though,
when the union takes place, conception seems to be as cer-
tain as when the animals are of the same species.
The breeds of the Mule are greatly varied, for the progeny
is affected by the difference of character of both parents.
The Spaniards use the tallest and finest asses for breeding,
but the progeny varies according as the mare shall be of the
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lighter and more delicate breeds, as the Andalusian, or the
heavier and larger breeds, suited to the labour of draught.
By employing large mares, as those of Friesland and Nor-
mandy, mules can be produced nearly equal in stature to the
tallest horses: these are suited to the plough and the draught
of any kind when the mare is finer bred, the mule is best
fitted for the saddle. Not only in Spain, but in other parts
of the South of Europe, we meet with fine and graceful mules
whenever due attention has been paid to the qualities of the
parents. The Mule differs in this from the parent Ass, that
he can be reared in the colder countries equally well as in
the warmer; nay, he seems to be more robust when the cli-
mate is not too warm. The Mule is greatly less nice with
respect to the choice of food than the Horse, is more easily
maintained, more free from diseases, and less subject to ac-
cidents. He is soon fit for labour, but is long in arriving at
maturity. He is very long-lived, and preserves his vigour
to the last.
THE HORSE.
The expedience of extending the cultivation of the Mule in
Great Britain is in a high degree worthy of consideration.
Our means of doing so are equal to those of any country;
for, though we must have recourse to other countries for the
male asses, our intercourse with the countries of the Medi-
terranean would now render this peculiarly easy; and in the
variety of our fine mares, we should have the readiest means
of producing mules adapted to any kind of work. The Cleve-
land Bays, the Suffolk Punches, and other breeds of the larger
horses, would afford us materials for producing mules of a
size which would fit them for the dray, or for any kind of
work to which the largest horses of the country are applied;
while, should we require lighter mules for the road, our
thoroughbred mares and hunters would give us the finest
that any country has produced. It is the larger class of
mules, however, that would probably be the most calculated
to produce national benefit and private profit. The advan-
tages to be derived from the use of the Mule in labour might
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be more considerable than many who have never seen the
animal in his state of improvement could believe. We should
have an animal with speed superior to the draught-horse,
hardy, free from innumerable maladies to which the Horse
is subject, easily maintained, and as docile to the yoke as
any animal used in labour. It is an error to believe that
the Mule is vicious and intractable: this is the result of de-
fective education and improper usage, and will rarely occur
when the animal is trained up with care, as he should always
be, in the manner of the saddle-horse. When a number of
horses are used in carriers' waggons, as in England, we should
derive this advantage from the substitution of the Mule, that
an equal number of mules would do the same work as the
larger horses,-would be fed at considerably less cost,-
would be less liable to accidents and diseases, especially of
the feet and limbs, from which the Mule is remarkably ex-
empt,—would continue to work longer without fatigue,—and
would last longer. The farmer, too, might derive consider-
able advantages from a partial use of the Mule. He would
certainly find him able to maintain an equal pace in the field
with his other working cattle, and as fit for every labour of
the farm. As an animal of all work upon a farm, many indi-
viduals have found the advantage of possessing a single mule.
Although made the common drudge, subjected to irregular
labour, harnessed or ridden as the case may require, this,
the worst-used animal on the farm, has been found to main-
tain his condition with the best, and at less expense of feed-
ing. In the few cases in this country where mules have been
used for the humbler classes of carriages, as taxed carts,
common gigs, &c., they have been found to endure fatigue
and careless usage to an extent which no horse could sus-
tain; and these trials, it is to be observed, have been usually
made with an inferior breed of mules, destitute of size,
strength, and good breeding.
The Ass of Africa, it has been said, differs in certain cha-
HISTORY.
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racters from the Ass of the saline deserts of Asia. It has
been found in the state of subjugation as far as travellers
have yet penetrated to the north of the line: but at length
it gives place to another creature of the same tribe, but more
graceful in form, more beautiful in colour, not inferior to the
Wild Ass in swiftness, and still less subject to the influence
of Man.
THE HORSE.
The ZEBRA, the Wild Paard of the colonists of the Cape,
inhabits the mountains of Southern Africa, extending into
the interior to an unknown distance. He resembles the Ass
in general form, but he is more compact, graceful, and sym-
metrical. He is about four feet in height at the shoulder; and
his limbs are delicate, and his head and hoofs finely formed.
The ground colour of his fur is whitish, but the whole of his
body, head, and limbs, is covered with bright black or brown-
ish-black bands, placed wider or closer together; those on
the upper part of the body connected with the dorsal line;
those on the face terminating in the bay-coloured nose. His
ears are long and moveable, tipped with black, with streaks
beneath; his tail is dark, and tufted at the extremity; his
mane is erect and bushy, and adorned with alternate bands
of black and white; but the Zebra seems to vary in size and
colour with place, which has given rise to the conjecture, that
there may be more than one species. This wild and elegant
creature inhabits the mountains, but descends from time to
time into the plains, cheering the desert with his graceful
motions. Like all the Equine tribe, he is gregarious, and
migrates from place to place in troops. He differs in this
from the Ass, that he does not tamely resign his freedom.
Like other wild animals, indeed, he may be reduced to a cer-
tain degree of subjection; but he rarely resigns his natural
indocility, or shews that resignation to the power of man
which constitutes domestication. We must believe, then,
that this gay and beautiful Ass is not destined to administer
to the uses and enjoyments of society, by submitting himself
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to human control. He breeds with the mare, and the hybrid
progeny resembles the Mule.
}
The QUAGGA is taller than the Zebra, his height at the
withers being about four feet and a half. His body is more
round than that of the Zebra; his limbs are robust; and
his arching neck is surmounted by an upright mane streak-
ed with bands of brown. His ears, of moderate length, are
marked with irregular bands, and, like the Horse, he pos-
sesses a tail covered with long hairs. The colour of the
head, the neck, and the upper part of the body, is a reddish-
brown, marked with dark brown bands. The streaks be-
come fainter until they are lost in the shoulder; a broad
dark line extends along the back; the brown colour of the
back becomes gradually more pale towards the lower parts;
and the belly, legs, and tail are white.
The Quagga inhabits the plains of Southern Africa, within
nearly the same geographical limits as the Zebra, and extends
to an unknown distance into the interior. He is found within
the territories of the Cape, but the use of fire-arms has thin-
ned his numbers, and driven him beyond the limits of the
settlers. He is found in the interior in countless herds,
spreading over all the plains where water and herbage can
be found. He is hunted for his flesh by the African tribes.
The Quagga is of a greatly more gentle and pliant temper
than the Zebra, and he has sometimes been tamed for the
purposes of draught by the Dutch inhabitants of the Cape.
Sparrman saw one driven through the streets of Cape-Town,
in a team with five horses. Another, which had been taken
young, was so tame, that it came to be caressed when ap-
proached. Many years ago, a pair used to be seen at Hyde
Park, in the gay season, attached to a curricle, and as sub-
servient to the rein as well-trained horses. Thus this beau-
tiful and agile creature is capable of domestication, and might
doubtless be applied to all the purposes for which the Horse
is used, in the wild and arid regions which he inhabits.
Were not Africa peopled by human beings seemingly in the
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infancy of intellect, we might wonder that this the native
Horse of Southern Africa had not long ere now been sub-
jected to domestication. It is more surprising that the
European inhabitants of the Cape Colony should have omit-
ted to subdue an animal so easy to be obtained. These
lethargic Colonists, however, have manifested equal indif-
ference to the other means by which their intercourse with
one another might be facilitated. They have not introduced
the Camel, so well adapted to the long journeyings of a sandy
country; nor the Mule, which would doubtless surpass the
Ox for the transporting of merchandise.
The STRIPED QUAGGA, the Dauw, or Bonti Quagga of the
Cape colonists, was long mistaken for the Zebra, until it
was distinguished from it by Burchell, from whom it has
been termed Equus Burchellii. He is about the height of
the Common Quagga, but less robust in his proportions. He
has the ears comparatively short, and the hair of the tail
white and long; and his arching neck is surmounted by an
upright mane, about five inches in length, streaked with
alternate bands of black and white. The muzzle is black;
the general colour of the head, neck, and body, is a light
sienna-brown, variously streaked with black and deep brown
bands; the belly, legs, and tail, are of a pure white.
This beautiful creature is found within the territories of
the Cape, but chiefly beyond the Gariep river, where it is
seen in great herds, stretching over boundless plains. It
extends to an unknown distance, probably beyond the line,
even to the southern mountains of Abyssinia. It has been
found in Congo, with a slight difference in colour, and may
be supposed to vary in other places with the physical state
of the country it inhabits.
The Zebras, the Quaggas, and the Dauws, that people the
wild regions of Southern Africa, confound the imagination
by their numbers. Mingled with the Gnoos, the Elands, the
Caamas, the Camelopards, and all the beautiful species of
Antelopes, they gladden the face of the wilderness, and give
THE HORSE.
21.
HISTORY.
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451
an aspect truly African to the scene; whilst Lions, Leopards,
Hyænas, Jackals, and other Feræ, restrain their numbers
within fitting limits. Captain Harris, in his Account of the
Interior, gives vivid portraitures of the mass of life which
these wild scenes sometimes present. "On the morning of
the 9th October," says he, "when the waggons had started
on their way to the Meristane River, our next stage, I turned
off the road in pursuit of a troop of Brindled Gnoos, and pre-
sently came upon another, which was joined by a third still
larger, and then by a vast herd of Zebras, and again by more
Gnoos, with Sassabys and Hartebeests, pouring down from
every quarter, until the landscape literally presented the ap-
pearance of a moving mass of game. Their incredible num-
bers so impeded their progress, that I had no difficulty in
closing with them, dismounting as opportunity offered, firing
both barrels of my rifle into the retreating phalanx, and
leaving the ground strewed with the slain." Again, in de-
scribing his further hunting in the country of the Meristane
River," We soon perceived large herds of Quaggas and
Brindled Gnoos, which continued to join each other, until the
whole place seemed alive. The clatter of their hoofs was
perfectly astounding; and I could compare it to nothing but
the din of a tremendous charge of cavalry, or the rushing of
a mighty tempest. I could not estimate the accumulated
numbers at less than 15,000, a great extent of country being
actually chequered black and white with their congregated
masses. As the panic caused by the report of our rifles ex-
tended, clouds of dust hovered over them, and the long necks
of troops of ostriches were also to be seen towering over the
heads of their less gigantic neighbours, and sailing past with
astonishing rapidity. Groups of purple Sassabys, and bril-
liant red and yellow Hartebeests, likewise lent their aid to
complete the picture.' "The savages kept in our wake,
dexterously despatching the wounded Gnoos by a touch on
the spine with the point of an assagai, and instantly cover-
ing up the carcasses with bushes to secure them from the
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THE HORSE.
voracity of the vultures, which hung about us like specks in
the firmament, and descended with the velocity of lightning,
as each discharge of our artillery gave token of prey."
Turning from these scenes of life to the elevated deserts
of Central Asia, we find another great region of the Horse,
consisting of mighty chains of wild mountains, and boundless
plains, often without a tree or a bush for hundreds of miles,
where various species of Equidæ have been able to preserve
themselves in the state of liberty from age to age. Of the
species which inhabit this vast wilderness, now mostly com-
prehended in the empires of Russia and China, one, known
from early times, is the Wild or Cappadocian Mule of the
Greeks, the Dziggithai of certain Tartar tribes, the EQUUS
HEMIONUS of modern naturalists. This creature was known
to the Greeks, from his inhabiting the deserts of Asia Minor;
but the Greeks scarcely distinguished it from the Common
Mule, terming both 'novos, or Half-Ass, although some of
them knew that the Wild Mule was fruitful, while the hybrid
progeny of the Horse and Ass was barren. The Hemionus,
intermediate, as it were, between the Asinine and Equine
groups, has a wide range of place, but prevails in the more
temperate parts of Central Asia, whence he extends westward
towards the confines of Europe, eastward to China Proper,
and southward into Caubul, Beloochistân, and the deserts
beyond the Indus. His stature is that of the Mule, but he
is more graceful and swift. His fur is of a bay or fawn
colour, long in winter, but smooth and glossy in summer.
He has a bushy mane, which extends from the nape to the
withers, and his tail is terminated by a tuft of hairs about a
foot in length. Like the Horse in the wild state, he lives in
troops, migrating from place to place, mainly in the open
plains, and rarely approaching the forest. The animals are
hunted by the people of the desert for their skins and flesh.
They have the senses of sight and smell in exquisite perfec-
tion, and, when put to flight, they dart along with the swift-
ness of the antelope. They can be tamed when taken young,
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but when old, do not resign their natural wildness. They
have been partially domesticated, and may even have been
mixed in blood, in early times, with the Horses and Asses of
certain countries.
HISTORY.
Besides the Dziggithai, other species of Equidæ, exhibit-
ing, in like manner, a class of characters intermediate be-
tween those of the Horse and Ass, appear to exist in the same
regions. But, as yet, our information regarding them is too
imperfect to allow us to include them amongst determined
species. They seem to resemble the Hemionus, or to be
identical with it. One has been found at the sources of the
Kiang or Yong-ste river, in Thibet, scouring in herds along
elevated plains, at the height of 16,000 feet above the level of
the sea. This appears to be the animal described by Colonel
Hamilton Smith, from an individual found in a livery stable
´in London. It is described as being about three feet high at
the withers, of a reddish colour, with a dark dorsal line, and
streaks on the shoulder and limbs; as having a short tail,.
scantily supplied with long hair, an upright mane, ears
moderately short, the head graceful, and resembling that
of an Arabian horse, with the shoulder, croup, and limbs
asinine.
But of all the Equidæ found in the wilds of Asia, that
which the most interests us is the true or Common Horse,
Equus Caballus. Wild Horses, it is known from the con-
current testimony of many writers, existed in a former age
in Europe. Herodotus mentions their existence in Thrace,
Varro in Spain, Appian and other writers in different parts
of the Roman dominions. They appear to have been found
in some parts of Europe even up to the sixteenth century.
Boece mentions them as amongst the "Harts and other Wild
Bestiall" found in Scotland in his day, and refers to the
means by which the inhabitants were enabled to reclaim them;
and up to a later period, herds appear to have been kept by
Polish nobles in parks, in the manner of deer, for venison;
and in Corsica, at this day, a race of small wild horses,
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THE HORSE.
vicious and intractable, still lingers in the less accessible
mountains. But with the progress of population and settle-
ment in Europe, the Wild Horses, like the ancient Uri, were
subdued, dispersed, and exterminated; and they are now to
be found only on the Asiatic side of the Volga, but stretching
thence, over the boundless wilds of the interior, to the East-
ern Ocean. But they are chiefly known to us as they are
found in the Tartar dominions of Russia, where they are
familiar to all the nomadic tribes. As they are presented to
us in a state of nature in these countries, they are far infe-
rior in beauty and nobleness of form to the domesticated races.
Their heads are large, thick, and very convex above the eyes.
Their ears are long, habitually carried low, and hanging
backwards. Their limbs are long, but stout; the muzzle is
thick, and garnished with bristles; and long hairs grow be-
neath the jaws and under part of the neck. The mane is
thick and bushy. The hair of the body is long and shaggy,
and sometimes frizzled. It is usually brownish-dun, ap-
proaching to a muddy cream-colour. These horses are gre-
garious; they are often observed in numbers of several hun-
dreds together; but, for the most part, they are in little
bands, under the guidance of a stallion. Their senses of
smell and sight are acute. They are vigilant in a high de-
gree, the stallions guarding the troop from surprise. They
shun the presence of man; and, when alarmed, set off at
speed, and are quickly lost in the distance, availing them-
selves of the inequalities of the surface to conceal themselves
in their flight. They are hunted by the people of the desert
for their flesh and skins, and sometimes they are captured
alive, chiefly in winter, when the snows arrest their progress,
and allow them to be driven into hollows and ravines. In the
neighbourhood of the Sea of Asoph are horses in the state of
liberty, which Pallas supposes to be the descendants of Rus-
sian horses employed at the siege of Asoph in 1697, and turned
adrift for want of forage; but, although emancipated horses
are doubtless to be found here, as well as in the remoter de-
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serts, they are readily distinguished by the natives from the
true Wild Horses, by the more varied colour of their fur,
their tamer habits in the state of liberty, and the greater
facility with which, when captured, they can be reduced to
servitude.
HISTORY.
Of the Wild Horses of Africa, our knowledge is less pre-
cise than of those of Asia. In the range of mountains which
may be said to bound the basin of the Mediterranean on the
south, is found a race of small Horses, first, it is believed,
made known by Shaw, under the name Coomrie, applied to
them by the Moors or Negroes. They are from 10 to 11
hands high at the shoulder, usually of a reddish colour, with-
out any dorsal streak. They have the head broad at the
forehead, short, and narrowing much to the muzzle, the
ears wide, the eyes small, the hair long and woolly down to
the eyebrows, the mane black, the tail clothed with a short
fur at its commencement, and terminating with a tuft of
long black hair. This creature is exceedingly swift and
wild, taking refuge in woody coverts, and baffling pursuit.
It is not known whether it has been subjected to domestica-
tion. It may, perhaps, be one of the Wild Horses of Africa,
referred to by the Roman writers, and which were brought
to the shows of the amphitheatre.
Of other Wild Horses in Africa, we have merely the pass-
ing notices of writers and travellers. Leo Africanus men-
tions their existence, and describes them as being of a dusky-
gray colour, with short manes and tails. Wild Horses have
likewise been seen towards Cape Verde; and Mungo Park
states, that he met with a troop of them near Ludamar,
which fled at his approach, snorting and looking behind
them; but he gives us no further details. Thus meagre is
our knowledge of the unsubdued horses of Africa; but we
must remember, that the African region, which, of all others,
is likely to be the habitat of native horses, is as yet un-
known to civilized man, namely, the great range of moun-
tains and elevated terraces, rising, in some parts, to the
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regions of snow, which appear to stretch across the Conti-
nent, from the high lands of Abyssinia, until they terminate
towards the pestilential shores of the Atlantic.
From one or more of the wild of the species, whether of
Africa, Asia, or Europe, must be supposed to be derived
those innumerable varieties of the Horse which have been
subjected to human power. Whether those varieties are to
be regarded as a single species, or as several, depends upon
the meaning which we attach to our terms. If we include,
under the same specific type, all the characters presented by
the domesticated varieties, of colour and external form, then
all the subjugated horses are of one species, just as all the
varieties of the human race are of one species. But, admit-
ting that all the subjugated as well as wild horses are
specifically the same, which it is most consonant with our
ideas of natural classification to admit, the question still
arises, whether all Horses have been originally placed in one
region of the globe, or in more than one? for, as has been
before observed, we are not entitled to assume that the like
species may not have been called into existence in different
parts of the world, either at the same or at different periods.
We may either suppose, then, that the Horse, descended
from a single pair or family, was produced in some spot of
earth, whence he has been diffused, as from a common centre,
to all the parts of the earth which he inhabits; or that he
has been called forth in different parts of the earth's surface,
whence he has been diffused, as from different centres. If we
shall decide in favour of the former opinion, namely, that all
the Horses of the world have descended from a single pair or
family, and been dispersed from some one spot on the earth's
surface, then we may amuse our fancy by conjecturing where
this favoured spot is, whether in Central Asia, where the
animal so abounds, or on the banks of the Euphrates, whence
we believe our own species to have been dispersed, or in the
valley of the Nile, where we first hear of chariots of war, or
ín Arabia, as some naturalists have maintained, or at the
THE HORSE.
457
sources of the Indus, as the Hindoos assert, or, for any
thing we know, in the mountains of the Moon, which the
Negroes may, with equal reason, believe: and then, having
indulged our imagination with finding out the spot where
the first pair of Horses was called forth, we may exercise
our ingenuity in devising means for enabling them to trans-
port themselves, without the aid of wings, to so many dis-
tant regions. But, in truth, the origin of the Horse does
not admit of determination by any facts known to us; and
we have merely to consider whether it be more consonant
with reasonable probabilities that all the Horses of the world
have been produced in one spot, and spread from a common
centre, or have been placed ab origine, that is, from the com-
mencement of the present zoological distribution of animals,
in the regions proper to them.
From whatever regions we may suppose the Horse to have
been derived, we know that, from early times, he has been
subjected to human control. We read of him in the earliest
annals of the East, as typical of power and splendour, as
harnessed to the chariot of the Sun, as a sign in the firma-
ment, and as the object of adoration and sacrifice to mortals
below. The first great conquerors of the regions beyond the
Sinde, whom we call Hindoos, proceeded, there is reason to
believe, from near the western termination of the great Hi-
màlaya Mountains, where the most ancient and refined of
written languages, the Sanscrit, still lingers in the speech of
the people. We may suppose them to have been a nation of
horsemen and charioteers; and they themselves, in their le-
gends, derive the great river which has given name to their
country from the mouth of a Horse. Proceeding westward,
we have the first accounts of great empires, the Assyrian,
the Babylonian, and the Persian, where, as records, sacred
and profane, inform us, the Horse, with Chariots of War,
existed from the first ages. Proceeding still westward, and
nearly in the same parallel of latitude, we reach a kingdom
of Africa, where the Horse was subdued from the earliest
HISTORY.
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ages, and where marvellous monuments, which have sur-
vived the lapse of thousands of years, and all the ravages of
war and barbarism, attest the early subjugation of the ani-
mal.
THE HORSE.
In innumerable sculptures, as fresh as if they had been
chiselled yesterday, the Horse of the Egyptians appears as
harnessed to the chariots of their warriors and kings; and
all the history of the country shews how much it depended
upon his power in war. Although the Egyptians were not
ignorant of the use of cavalry, for we learn that they had
their horsemen as well as charioteers, yet, like the other
civilized nations of the same era,-the Greeks, the Hindoos,
the Persians and other Asiatics,-they gave the preference to
the chariot, which consisted of a light low carriage, open be-
hind, containing the charioteer and the combatant, having a
shaft or beam, and drawn by two or more horses yoked
abreast.
------ và man
From the records of the Jewish history we receive notices.
of the horses of the Egyptians; and from the same docu-
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ments we learn, that the ancestors of the Israelites were
not possessed of horses when they dwelt in the plains of
Syria. When Abraham sent his servant from Palestine to
Mesopotamia to bring a wife for his son Isaac, the man
announces himself to Laban, the brother of Rebecca, thus:
“I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord hath blessed my
master greatly, and he is become great; and he hath given
him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants
and maid-servants, and camels and asses." No mention is
made of the Horse, nor, in the subsequent enumeration of
the treasures of Isaac, is the Horse once spoken of. And
when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia to the land of his
kindred, he had oxen and sheep, and goats and asses, and
camels, but no horses. In a later age, the descendants of
Jacob multiplied in a district of Egypt, lying between the
Nile and the Red Sea, whence their great legislator con-
ducted them to the country which they were to render their
own. During their long abode of more than four hundred
years in the land of Egypt, they retained the habits of their
ancestors in what regarded the Horse. In the law which
they were required to obey, reference is made to the Ass, in
order to denounce its flesh as unclean, to condemn the sin
of coveting it when it belonged to a neighbour, and to com-
mand that it should be suffered to rest from its labours on
the Sabbath-day; but no allusion is made to the Horse as
a part of the goods of the people. Nay, it is an injunction
to them, that they shall not possess themselves of this ani-
mal in the land to which they were journeying. This rocky
and limited territory was then, as it is now, little suited to
the rearing of the Horse, and never could be so well defend-
ed by cavalry as by infantry; and it is a historical fact, that
the Jews were never so successful in war as when they trust-
ed to the latter arm, as in the earlier period of their history,
and at a subsequent age, during the glorious struggle of the
Maccabees. Moses, with a prescient knowledge of the na-
ture of the country which was to be subdued, discourages
HISTORY.
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the cultivation of an instrument of war which other nations
valued so highly. He counsels the people, when they go to
battle, to have no fear of the horses and chariots of their
enemies; but to put their trust in the God of Israel, who
had brought them from the land of Egypt. He directs the
future ruler of the country not to multiply horses in the
land, and so literally was the order obeyed, that it became
the practice to hough the horses which were made prize of
in the field. King David, on one occasion, in which he took
700 horses and 1000 chariots, hamstrung them all except
100 of the chariot horses which he reserved. He speaks
with a proud disdain of horses as an instrument of war; and
represents them as employed only by the enemies of his
country. But the restraints of custom and the laws were
soon broken through, and Solomon formed a numerous body
of cavalry and chariots. He even established a regular trade
in horses with Africa, and supplied the neighbouring country
with those of Egypt. Further, it is remarkable, that when
the Jews entered Palestine from the south, they encountered
no horses; for no mention is made of cavalry during the first
campaign of Joshua. The Philistines alone possessed horses
in the south of Syria, and they seem to have been an Egyp-
tian colony. Nay, it appears that Arabia, and all the coun-
tries stretching from Palestine to the Persian Gulf, were at
that time destitute of horses. When the Midianites, an
Arabian nation, were subdued, the spoil consisted of sheep,
oxen, and human captives, but no horses are mentioned.
When, in the reign of Saul, a war was carried on with cer-
tain Arabian nations on the Persian Gulf, the spoil consisted
of slaves, of camels, of sheep, and asses; and in an attack
on Judea by the Midianites, in a subsequent age, they came,
we are told, "with their cattle and their tents; and they
came as locusts for multitude;" and no mention is made of
horses. And in the remarkable account of the trade of Tyre
given by the Prophet Ezekiel, we learn that the trade in
horses and mules was with them "of the house of Togar-
THE HORSE.
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mah;" but that the trade with the Arabians and all the
princes of Kedar, was in "Lambs, and Rams, and Goats."
Although the Jews, on their first entrance into Palestine
from the south, encountered no horses, yet, no sooner did
they come into contact with the nations to the north, than
they were met by warlike enemies possessed of horses and
chariots. But these nations approached the countries of the
great region of the Asiatic Horse, whence, doubtless, they
derived their horses, and not from Africa, with which they
could have no intercourse, nor from Arabia, which had no
horses. We must come, then, to the conclusion, that Arabia,
and the southern deserts of Syria, were not countries of the
subjugated horse at a period posterior to the historical era,
and must be supposed to have derived the horses which
they possessed in a subsequent age, not from the south, but
from the great Officina Equorum in the north. It was from
contiguity to this region of the Horse that the great empires
of Assyria and Persia so early became nations of conquerors
and horsemen ; and we may believe that the people of Nor-
thern Syria derived the horses with which they encountered
Joshua and the Jewish infantry from the same source. From
other documents we learn that Asia Minor, from the earliest
times, was a country of horses; and these, we must believe,
were derived from the north, and not from the south. The
conclusion, further, which we may draw from these histo-
rical notices, sacred and profane, is, that the Egyptians de-
rived their horses from the vast continent which they them-
selves inhabited, rather than from a region from which they
were separated by a tract of country in which the Horse did
not exist in the first ages. In the high lands of Central
Africa, at this day and for ages, are the Gallas, and innume-
rable tribes of nomadic horsemen, whose horses we have as
much reason to regard as indigenous to Africa as those
which inhabit the wilds of Tartary are to Asia; and we may
reasonably believe, that the Horse, like other animals fitted
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to yield up their powers to human service,-the Goat, the
Sheep, the Ox, and the Hog,-was acquired and subdued in
different parts of the world where he was found.
The Horse, as he is presented to us in the state of domes-
tication, is not more remarkable for the grace and nobleness
of his form, for his strength, agility, and swiftness, for his
boldness and spirit, than for the docility with which he re-
signs his vast powers to the service of mankind. The sub-
jection of this noble creature is complete; but it is not the
degradation of unwilling bondage, but the instinctive sur-
render of physical powers for the purposes for which they
were given. If we can read design at all in the functions of
the animal economy, we must believe that the Horse, how-
ever we may have abused his powers, has been formed for
the service of mankind, and has had the faculties assigned
to him which are fitted for that end. His vast strength, his
courage, his powers of rapid progression, would avail us
nothing, were he not endowed with a temperament which
causes him to submit his actions to the control of superior
reason. Were he like the Zebra of the African mountains,
or the Dziggithai of Tartary, he would be the subject of per-
secution and the chase, instead of being an instrument of
civilization, by augmenting our means of mutual intercourse,
and increasing our command over the objects which surround
us. Nature has not formed this powerful creature to shun
entirely the control of man, but has linked him by his natural
wants and instincts to our society; and it is only when under
human guidance that his most useful faculties are exercised,
and that his full maturity of strength and form is attained.
The Horse is distinguished from all the others of the
Equine genus, by the superior expansion of his chest, the
larger development of his muscles, the greater strength and
lateral distance of his limbs, the elevation of his withers, the
long and flowing hairs of his mane and tail, and his loud and
sonorous voice. His hoofs are round at the base, whereas,
THE HORSE.
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in the asinine group, the soles of the hoof are oval. He is
herbivorous, and delights in the fruits of the gramineous and
leguminous plants,-as of the oat, the wheat, the maize, the
rice, the bean, the pea. He partakes, too, of succulent roots
and tubers, and in some cases even will eat of animal food.
He prefers soft water, as that of rivers, nay, of standing
pools, to the hard water of springs. His stomach is of me-
dium size, but the cœcum is very large; and, though he
seeks food frequently, he can endure considerable abstinence,
but less than the Ass, the Mule, and the Camel. He can
rest from fatigue, and enjoy sleep, in the standing posture.
At the age of two years he is able to propagate his race; and
at the age of five he has arrived at the full maturity of youth.
The male is a more powerful and courageous animal than the
female, more ardent in his temper, more difficult of subjuga-
tion, but not less attached and generous. His neighing is
more loud, sonorous, and frequent, and his action is more
noble. When deprived of his virile powers, he approaches
more to the character of the female; and although his
strength, ardour, and noble carriage are lessened, he retains
enough of these characters to fit him for every service, and
becomes more gentle, tractable, and safe. The female goes
with young eleven months, but with some variation, beyond
the medium term, dependent upon food and temperament.
The foal is born with long limbs, which enables it to reach
the mamme of the mother. It has considerable strength
even at the birth, and is soon able to follow the dam at
speed, and learns to take solid food by her side. In the fifth
or sixth month it is able to dispense with the milk of the
mother, and may be separated from her without injury to its
growth.
HISTORY.
✓
The brain of the Horse is small; but he manifests in a
sufficient degree the sagacity which fits him for his condition.
His sense of sight is moderately acute, and he has the faculty
of seeing well in the dark; but the deficiency in the sense
of touch at his extremities, which are defended by thick horn,
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renders him not always sensible of the nature of the objects
which are presented to him, on which account he is easily
startled at the sight of what is unusual. His sense of hear-
ing is good, and his large external ear is readily turned to col-
lect distant sounds. He is cheered by the voice of his rider,
and certain sounds give him pleasure, as the tones of distant ·
music, the baying of the hounds when he has been used to
the chase, and the noise of rejoicing and triumph.
He re-
His memory is tenacious with regard to localities.
members the path which he has once travelled after a long
interval, the place at which he is accustomed to feed, and
the tanks and pools at which he has quenched his thirst. A
horse lost in the desert of Southern Africa, has been known
to find his way for 500 miles to his native farm. He has the
faculty, like the Camel, of discovering water in the distance;
and hence he has sometimes been able to save the life of the
sinking traveller.
The horse is fond of caresses, and susceptible of attach-
ment in a high degree. The Arabs, who never beat their
horses, but treat them like the children of the tent, often owe
their lives to their gentleness and fidelity. The Desert-
Horse, so full of fire, should his master fall wounded or faint-
ing from the saddle, will stand by him till he rise, and neigh
for assistance, will shelter him from the burning sands of the
desert, stand over him during the glare of noon, and stretch
himself on the ground beside him when the dews of night
begin to fall. Major Denham thus speaks of his feelings on
the loss of a favourite Arab in the heart of Africa :—
"The
horse that carried me from Tripoli to Mourzuk, and back
again, and on which I had ridden the whole journey from
Tripoli to Bornou, had died a few hours after my departure
from the latter. There are situations in a man's life in which
losses of this nature are felt most keenly, and this was one
of them. It was not grief, but it was something very nearly
approaching to it; and though I felt ashamed of the degree
of derangement which I have suffered from it, yet it was se-
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veral days before I could get over the loss. Let it be, how-
ever, remembered, that the poor animal had been my support
and comfort,-may I not say companion,-through many a
dreary day and night ;—had endured both hunger and thirst
in my service with the utmost patience; was so docile, though
an Arabian, that he would stand still for hours in the desert,
while I slept between his legs, his body affording me the only
shelter that could be obtained from the powerful influence of
a noon-day sun."*
HISTORY.
The Horse manifests sensibly the pleasure which he feels
in the presence of those who treat him with kindness. The
Turks, who use their horses with a humanity which they do
not always exhibit towards their fellow-creatures, may be
sometimes seen followed by their fiery chargers as if they
were household friends. Sometimes the Horse forms strong
attachment to other animals which may have been useful to
him, or which may have remained with him in his stall to
cheer his solitude. Dogs are frequent favourites,-nay,
other animals less likely to form the subject of attachment.
Chillaby, a very ferocious race-horse, took an affection for a
lamb which used to employ itself in butting away the flies.
The Godolphin Barb formed an attachment to a cat, who
used to sit upon his back when in the stable, or nestle close
to him when he lay down; and the affection was mutual, for,
on the death of the horse, the cat refused to take food, pined
away, and died.
As the Horse is susceptible of kindness, so is he resentful
of wrongs. A foal that has been cruelly treated remembers,
when he has arrived at his full strength, the person that had
injured him, and sometimes endeavours to avenge the wrong.
A fine Cleveland Bay, who was noted for the sweetness of
his temper, had on several occasions been maltreated by a
strange groom. Once an unmerited blow was given on the
head, when the indignant animal raised his fore-foot, and
* Travels of Major Denham and Captain Clapperton.
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struck the offender dead in an instant, but never afterwards
shewed any symptoms of vice. The following singular story
is related by Mr Rolle, a gentleman of Devonshire :-A cer-
tain person of rank conceived the cruel idea of tiring out a
favourite hunter. After a long chase in the forenoon he
dined, mounted the horse again, took him to the hills, and
galloped him furiously, until the faithful creature had nearly
sunk down from exhaustion. On his being brought to the
stable, the groom shed tears at seeing the condition of his
poor favourite. The rider himself, some time afterwards,
came into the stable, but the insulted horse, languishing and
overcome as he was, sprung upon the wretch, and, but for
the attendants, would have put him to death. Even harsh
language used to a horse in the stall will cause his pulse to
rise many beats in the minute.
THE HORSE.
The Horse is susceptible of the feelings of pride and
rivalry. In triumphal processions and displays of parade,
he manifests distinctly the pleasure which he feels in his gay
and glittering caparisons. In the race-course, the spectators
are able to observe the ardour of the rival horses, the im-
patience with which they wait the moment of starting, the
spirit with which they press onward in the contest of speed.
It is manifestly less the terrors of the whip and spur, than
the passions which the contest itself engenders, that call
forth the exertion of the animals' powers. When the struggle
reaches the crisis, life or death seems to depend on victory.
A fine horse called Forester, known on the turf as having
been the victor in many well-contested races, found himself
on one occasion closely matched by a younger rival. The
latter began to gain ground; the horses at length ran side
by side, neck by neck, when Forester, finding his strength
failing, and his rival about to pass him, made a desperate
spring, seized his competitor by the jaw to hold him back,
and could scarcely be forced to quit his grasp. In those ruder
kinds of races, in which horses without riders are matched
against one another, the rivalship is more apparent to the
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spectators, though not perhaps more keenly felt by the com-
batants. Ancient writers give us examples, from the games
of the Hippodrome, in which horses, deprived by accident of
their riders, pursued the course, and came in the conquerors.
The Horse shares even the feelings of his master, and enters
with joy into his pursuits. Who that has seen the hunter in
the fields has not marked the fire which lights up his eye, the
eagerness with which he pricks up his ears, and listens to
the voice of the pack, the courage with which he surmounts
the obstacles opposed to him, and the ardour with which he
pursues the sport! Nay, not only in the pastimes which
suit his spirit and love of action, but in the sterner pursuits
of his master, is this gentle and generous creature formed
to take a part. Nothing seems more foreign to the very na-
ture of such a creature than martial strife and the shedding
of human blood; yet when, alas, has been the age in which
the Horse has not been made the instrument of cruelty and
bloodshed, and not even, it would appear, the unwilling in-
strument, for his gentle nature seems to adapt itself to the
purpose to which he is rendered subservient, and he becomes
fierce and cruel because his master wills it so! He shares
the fatigues of war, delights in the noise of arms, and braves
the shock of combat and the danger of wounds. "Hast thou
given the Horse spirit? has thou clothed his neck with thun-
der? Canst thou make him bound like the locust? The
glory of his nostrils is terrible: He paweth in the valley,
and rejoiceth in his strength: He goeth on to meet the
armed men: He mocketh at fear and trembleth not; neither
turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against
him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the
ground with fierceness and rage. He believeth not at first
that it is the sound of the trumpet which he heareth; but at
the full blast of the trumpet he crieth ha! ha! and smelleth
the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shout-
ing."
The Horse is seen to be affected in his character and form
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by the agencies of food and climate, and, it may be, by other
causes unknown to us. He sustains the temperature of the
most burning regions; but there is a degree of cold at which
he cannot exist; and, as he approaches to this limit, his tem-
perament and external conformation are affected. In Ice-
land, at the arctic circle, he has become a dwarf; in Lap-
land, at latitude 65°, he has given place to the Rein-deer;
and in Kamtschatka, at latitude 52°, he has given place to
the Dog. As he approaches to the limit of his natural habi-
tat, he loses much of the fiery spirit and swiftness which he
possessed in more genial climes. He may be hardy, saga-
cious, and enduring; but he needs the whip and the spur,
and is rarely roused to continued action by his natural energy
and love of motion. The nature and abundance of his food,
too, greatly affect his character and form. A country of
heaths and innutritious herbs will not produce a horse so
large and strong as one of plentiful herbage. The horse of
the mountains will be smaller than that of the plains, the
horse of the sandy desert than the inhabitant of the watered
valley. By a combination of these, and, it may be, of other
less apparent agencies, the Horse, like the Ox, the Sheep,
and other creatures formed for the companionship of man,
becomes suited to the conditions under which he is called to
exist. In the mountains of the colder countries he is small,
hardy, short, and muscular in his limbs, and covered with
abundant hair. Such is the little horse of Norway, of a great
part of Sweden, and other mountainous countries of the north
of Europe. In countries of abundant herbage, such as Hol-
stein, Jutland, Flanders, he becomes enlarged in his form,
and fitted for the exercise of physical strength, with a dimi-
nution of the powers of speed. When he passes into coun-
tries where, from the heat of the climate, his natural food is
burned up for a part of the year, he becomes of smaller bulk,
and suited to subsist on scantier food. Thus, the horses of
the south of Europe are of lighter form, and more easily
nourished, than those of England and other countries where
THE HORSE.
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HISTORY.
469
grasses are abundant; and this change of character still
more appears when we have passed into Africa, or the sandy
deserts of Asia. There the light and agile horse of the
desert shews himself to be adapted to the scantier nourish-
ment on which he must subsist. The heavy horse of Eng-
land and the plains of Germany could no more subsist on the
herbs of the sands of Tripoli than on the heaths of Lapland.
He would perish in such circumstances, did not Nature pro-
vide the remedy, by adapting him to his condition.
The colour of the hair of the Horse varies with causes
which we are unable to trace. Certain races exhibit a ten-
dency to certain colours, and retain them with surprising
constancy. A common colour of the domesticated Horse is
brown, of various shades, from light dun and chestnut to
bay. In various countries, from the Gulf of Bothnia to the
islands of the Indian Seas, are found horses of a mouse-dun
colour, with dark manes and tails, and a dark streak along
the spine, and sometimes even a cross at the shoulder.
Sometimes Horses are milk-white, of which colour are many
of the finest horses of Asia Minor, Persia, and the deserts of
Syria. These cream-coloured Horses have been held in
esteem in every age, and regarded as the fitting steeds of the
chariots of kings and heroes. The Circassian chiefs appro-
priated them to these uses; and at this day some splendid re-
giments of Russian cavalry are mounted upon them. Often
the fur is clouded, of which the most common variety is gray ;
and sometimes it is brown upon a white ground, as in a
beautiful race found in the western termination of the Him-
alaya Mountains in Caubul; and sometimes the different
colours are distinct, as in the variety termed piebald, a cha-
racter which remarkably distinguishes the mountain ponies
of parts of High Asia. The black colour is distinctive of
certain races of Europe, as those of Flanders and the fens of
England; it is common, too, in Africa, but rare in Arabia
and the countries of the East. It is a common aphorism
of jockeys, that a good horse is never of a bad colour; but
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yet colour is looked to, as it may gratify the taste, discrimi-
nate certain races, or denote the care bestowed in selection
and breeding.
THE HORSE.
Looking to the Horses of different countries, we find them
distinguished in every degree, by size, form, hardihood, the
power of speed, and other qualities. The Horses of Africa,
like the human inhabitants, present characters proper to
the region they inhabit. They are distinguished from the
Asiatic horses by their longer limbs, and by their smaller
girth at the loins. They more resemble the foal at the side
of its dam, than the more matured form of the Horse of
Western Asia. They are very fleet, and patient of thirst
and hunger. They have a high and graceful action, and
present much of that peculiar motion which every one will
understand who observes the movements of a foal, which, it
is to be observed, is an exceedingly fleet animal in propor-
tion to its strength and size. The race most characteristic
of the African form is found in Nubia and the adjoining de-
serts. The district of Dongola, lying about 20° of north
latitude, has been traversed by various travellers, and the
horses have been described. They are mostly of a black
colour, or black with white legs. They stand about sixteen
hands high, and, contrary to the form of the Asiatic horse,
their height is greater than their length from the neck back-
ward. They are described by travellers as forming the most
splendid cavalry in the world. Bruce, who was a skilful
horseman, speaks of them with admiration, and states that
they are docile and full of spirit. Bossman gives a similar
testimony, extolling their beauty, their symmetry, and their
docile and affectionate tempers. Some of them used to bring
enormous prices at Cairo. They have now become common
in that city, where they are to be seen ridden by persons
who prefer their high and showy action to the more useful
pace of the Arabian. It cannot but be regarded as remark-
able, that a race of such tall and powerful horses should be
produced in one of the most steril countries on the globe.
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The Arabian horse, in the same latitudes, scarce exceeds the
size of a pony; which leads us to the conclusion that the
African horse is distinct from the Asiatic, attaining his maxi-
mum of development, like the negro race of mankind, under
conditions of temperature and natural productions entirely
different from those which favour the growth of the Asiatic
species. How far this remarkable race of horses extends into
the burning regions of the interior we are ignorant, on ac-
count of our imperfect knowledge of these countries; but the
same general form of the animal has been observed in Bornou,
in the very heart of the Continent; and we have reason to
believe, from the notices of travellers, that the horses in the
countries extending westward have much of the same charac-
ter of lightness of body, and high and imposing action. Travel-
lers who have visited Abyssinia, which, however, is a country
of mountains, and therefore fitted to produce a small race
of horses, speak of them as possessing the proud aspect and
action of the horses of the Nubian deserts. Bruce describes
a favourite black horse which he himself rode, and with whose
action and demeanour he expresses himself charmed. It is
probable that the horses of Africa, as we depart from this
centre, deviate from the parent type. Passing through the
boundless countries of the Negroes to the south, the Horse
seems at length to disappear; and towards the countries of
the coast of Guinea, which differ greatly in their character
from the Nubian deserts, he appears to degenerate. We
learn, however, that horses exist in vast numbers through-
out all the interior, from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Benin,
and that they are everywhere used for the purposes of war,
of pomp, and of racing. But the horses of Africa, with which
we are most familiar in Europe, and which have been largely
mixed in blood with the horses of Southern Europe, and even
of England, are those which inhabit the countries of Africa
north of the desert of Sahara. They are termed Barbs, and
they inhabit the kingdoms of Fez, Morocco, and all the coun-
tries eastward to the deserts bordering on Egypt.
HISTORY.
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THE HORSE.
The country of the Barbs approaching in its geographical
situation to Europe, it may be supposed that the horses, like
the human inhabitants, approach nearer in their characters
to the European varieties. But this affinity has been in-
creased by an admixture of races from early times. First,
by means of the Phoenician colonies; secondly, by the long
subjugation of the countries of the coast to the Republic and
Empire of Rome; and thirdly, and far more extensively, by
the conquests of the Arabs, who settled in great numbers in
the country, and now form a large proportion of the inhabi-
tants. Notwithstanding of this admixture, the character of
the horses of Barbary indicates distinctly their African lin-
eage. They are about fourteen and a half hands high. They
are sufficiently deep at the girth, but tucked up in the belly,
giving that peculiar greyhound aspect which is characteris-
tic of this race. Their necks are long and well-formed, their
heads moderately fine, the chafron tending to the convex;
their shoulders are oblique, and the withers thin and well
raised. Their limbs, though thin and delicate, are sinewy;
their pasterns are oblique, and the feet well formed. They
are gentle and full of spirit; they are somewhat careless in
their paces, but distinguished by their graceful action. As
compared with the Arabians, they are more swift, but less
enduring, and their breeding and training have not been at-
tended to with the same care. The Moors, though admirable
horsemen, are harsh to their horses, as compared with the
Arabians and Western Asiatics. They use tremendous bits,
and the sharp edges of their stirrups serve the purpose of
spurs. These countries were of old inhabited by the Mauri-
tanians, the Numidians, the Getulians, and other nations of
horsemen. The horses were known and valued for their fleet-
ness before the Asiatic horse had found its way across the
Syrian wastes, and a thousand years and more before the
warlike soldiers of the Prophet had issued from their native
deserts. In the ages of the Roman empire, they were car-
ried to Italy to give swiftness to the horses employed in the
1ܐ 5
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sports of the Circus. They were mixed largely in blood with
the horses of Sicily and Spain; and, in a subsequent age, they
contributed to give its peculiar characters to the race-horse
of England. The finest of the Barbary horses have been de-
rived from the countries of the coasts of Fez, Morocco, and
Tripoli. Those of the interior, on the confines of the Great
Desert, are described as of a smaller size, but as being swift,
and wonderfully patient of thirst, hunger, and toil. Some of
them in the inland mountains of Morocco are said to be of
matchless endurance, to be swift,-swallowers of the wind, as
they are termed, but to droop and die when brought to the
countries on the sea, and deprived of their habitual aliment.
Turning from the regions of the swift and agile Horse of
Africa to the countries of the Euxine and Caspian Seas, we
find the animal reared under different conditions, and exhi-
biting a different class of characters. He is here of a robuster
form, with broader chest and more muscular limbs. He is
superior in strength of body to the slender African, but infe-
rior in speed. His bearing is more bold, his aspect more
noble. He is capable of tasks to which the strength of the
African is unsuited; but he requires a larger supply of food,
and would sink under the thirst and slender nourishment on
which the other can subsist. This race is found in perfec-
tion in the countries near the Caucasus, in Armenia, and
other parts of Asia Minor. The Circassians, amongst the
western Asiatics, are noted for the beauty and excellence of
their horses. These warlike mountaineers have their breeds
of noble blood, on which they set an extreme value. They
brand them by peculiar marks, as a horse-shoe, an arrow, a
lance, the imitation of which they punish as a capital crime.
The Turcomans possess horses of great strength and power,
fit for war and the chase; and likewise the Kurds, who have
in every age maintained their liberties. It is from the same
countries that the Turks derived that splendid cavalry with
which they subdued the neighbouring nations. Recurring to
the happier ages when Asia Minor was covered with cities,
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THE HORSE.
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474
and the monuments of civilization, we find that it was distin-
guished for its horses as for all its productions. Armenia
supplied with horses and mules the merchant princes of Sidon
`and Tyre; and, in a subsequent age, the horses of the same
countries are described by Vegetius and other writers as
being a race tall and beautiful. Homer, nearly a thousand
years before the Christian era, speaks of the horses of the
same countries as yoked to the chariots of his heroes; and,
at a subsequent period, the horses of Cappadocia, Phrygia,
and the neighbouring states, furnished steeds to contend in
the Olympic games of Greece. Now the fertile regions of
Asia Minor are laid desolate. The glory of its twenty na-
tions has passed away like a dream. Ages of tyranny and
misrule have marred the image of the lovely land, and left
us but the recollection of its former happiness. Its arts have
disappeared with the palaces of its kings and the tombs of
its heroes. If its noble horses still survive, though deprived
of their ancient glory, this is because the tyranny of man has
not been able wholly to destroy the bounties of nature in ber
animal productions. All the horses of the countries referred
to, although varying in strength and size with the fertility
of the districts they inhabit, exhibit a common class of cha-
racters.
-
To the southward, we enter the deserts of Syria and Me-
sopotamia, and the arid wilderness of Arabia. Of all the
countries of the East, Arabia has become the most celebrated
for its horses. This wild and barren country, however, does
not seem to have acquired the Horse until the less remote
periods of its history. The Camel, the Ox, the Sheep, the
Goat, afforded the inhabitants of old, as at the present day,
their chief means of subsistence. The Horse appears to
have been added as their habits became more predatory.
Their contact with Persia, and the countries of the Horse on
the north, put it in their power to obtain horses; and they
acquired them, just as we see tribes of savages in modern
times possess themselves of fire-arms, which they use for
I
475
mutual destruction or defence. No records exist to shew at
what era the Arabians began to use horses, but it appears that
they were little multiplied in the country till after the Chris-
tian era. Even in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Strabo states,
of the south of Arabia, then termed Arabia Felix, that it had
neither horses nor mules; and regarding the north of Arabia,
or Arabia Deserta, he says that it had no horses, and that
camels supplied their place. The warlike successors of Ma-
homet became horsemen, and laid the countries of the Horse
in the East under contribution; but up to the age of the.
Prophet himself, the horses of the country were neither nu-
merous nor generally diffused. On his advance to Mecca,
to take vengeance on his enemies of the Koreish, he had
only two horses in his army; and in the list of plunder which
he carried back with him, while there were camels, sheep,
silver, and human captives, not a single horse is mentioned.
When once, however, the Horse was added to the domesti-
cated animals of this eager and wandering people, the gift
was cultivated with boundless care. With them the Horse
acquired a value which it could scarcely anywhere else pos-
sess. Not luxury and enjoyment alone depended on their
horses, but liberty and life; and they acquired a love and
regard for the animal which no other people have manifested
in the like degree. They speak of their horses with all the
warmth of eastern enthusiasm, they cherish the memory of
their feats, and boast of their ancestry. They have formed
to themselves families which they hold to be of noble lineage;
and, breeding from these, and preserving the purity of de-
scent, they have succeeded, beyond all the people of the
East, in perpetuating a race of horses possessed of properties
which have suited them, in an eminent degree, to the condi-
tion of the country, and the uses of the people.
The horses of Arabia are connected, in all their charac-
ters, with those of the Caucasus and Asia Minor, as might
be inferred from the geographical position of the country in
contact with the great region of the Asiatic Horse on the
HISTORY,
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476
north. But inhabiting a very dry and arid region, their cha-
racters have become adapted to these conditions of climate
and food. They are more compact than the horses of Bar-
bary, having a rounder body, shorter limbs, with more of
sinew, or what is termed bone. Yet they are of the smaller
class of horses, very little exceeding, on a medium, fourteen
hands, or fifty-six inches in height. As compared with the
horses of countries abounding in the grasses, their aspect is
lean, their form slender, and their chest narrow. But the
slimness of figure of these horses is not inconsistent with
muscular force; and their movements are agile, their natural
paces swift, and their spirit is unmatched. The power of
their delicate limbs is indicated by the well-marked muscles
of the fore-arm, and the starting sinews of the leg. The
shoulder is sufficiently oblique; the withers are elevated;
the back is moderately short; and the quarters are good.
The head is well formed; the forehead is broad; the ears are
somewhat long, but alert; the eyes full and clear; the veins
prominent;—the whole rather indicating a happy union of
gentleness and spirit, than that fiery temper which is asso-
ciated with the common ideas of the Desert Horse. Bishop
Heber, in the narrative of his journey through the Upper
Provinces of India, gives, in a passing notice, a more correct
notion of the Arab than the more laboured descriptions of
others" My morning rides," says he, " are very pleasant.
My horse is a nice, quiet, good-tempered little Arab, who is
so fearless, that he goes without starting close to an ele-
phant, and is so gentle and docile that he eats bread out of
my hand, and has almost as much attachment and coaxing
ways as a dog. This seems to be the general character of
the Arab horses, to judge from what I have seen in this
country. It is not the fiery dashing animal I had supposed,
but with more rationality about him, and more apparent con-
fidence in his rider, than the majority of English horses."
The Figure at the head of this section represents correctly
the form of the genuine Arab. The horse here represented
THE HORSE.
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477
was taken in an attack by an Arab tribe on a party of the
Royal Family of Persia, when journeying on a pilgrimage.
The Arab chief who headed the attacking party was killed,
and his charger, running into the Persian ranks, was taken.
A ransom, enormous for so poor a tribe, was subsequently
offered by the Arabs for their noble horse, but refused; and
he was brought to England by Sir John M'Neil, the British
Resident at the Court of Persia. He stands fourteen and
a half hands high. He is gentle in the highest degree, and
so thoroughly trained to that kind of exercise which the
Arabs are careful to teach their horses, that he may be gal-
loped round the narrowest circle. When his portrait was
in the course of being painted, he was languid from the cold
of the weather. It was wished to rouse him for a little, and
the idea occurred of trying the effect of some tones of simple
music. The sounds no sooner struck his ear than his whole
frame was agitated; his heart throbbed so violently, that its
beating could be seen; and so great was his excitement,
that it was necessary instantly to stop the music. Some
chord of feeling, it seems, had been struck: perchance he
was reminded, for a moment, of his desert home, and of the
friends from whom he had been so rudely severed.
The horses of England would perish under the scanty
nourishment, the toils, and privations of the Arab. These
Desert horses subsist on the scantiest fare, and are patient
of hunger and thirst in a degree unknown in any other races
except the African. They feed on the scanty plants which
the borders of the desert supply, and when these are wanting,
they are fed on a little barley, with chopped straw, withered
herbs, roots dragged from the sands, dates, when these can
be obtained, and in cases of need, the milk of the Camel.
They drink at long intervals, and in moderate quantities.
They bear continued exposure to the fiercest heat, and day
after day pursue marches of incredible toil through the burn-
ing sands of the wilderness. The temper of these beautiful
horses is no less happily moulded than their bodily powers
HISTORY..
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to their condition. They are gentle, patient, and attached
to their rude and simple protectors. This, indeed, is to be
regarded as the effect of training as much as of tempera-
ment; for these horses, under the charge of Europeans, fre-
quently manifest a vicious and indomitable temper. But the
Arab treats his horse as a companion, never beats him, but
cheers him with his voice, and only uses him with seeming
cruelty in those demands on the physical powers of the ani-
mal which necessity requires. In the desert, the mare of the
Bedouin and her foal inhabit the same tent as himself and
his children. She is the friend and playmate of the little
household; her neck is often their pillow, and the children
roll upon and caress her and her foal, and no accident ever
happens. The mare of the Arab thus acquires a docility and
attachment to man which nothing afterwards destroys. She
is obedient to her master's voice, and will neigh when she
hears his footsteps. Without a bit she will obey the slight-
est motion of the rider, stand at a word, or put herself at
speed in an instant. Such is the creature so happily formed
for the scanty herbs, the thirst and toils of the desert. These
fine little horses have extended over all the East, and their
descendants retain for a long time the characters which had
been imprinted npon them in their native wilderness.
The horses of Arabia are produced in the greatest num-
bers in the countries bordering on Syria and the Euphrates,
and there likewise the finest races are reared; nay, a great
part of the horses called Arabian are in reality produced
beyond the true geographical bounds of Arabia. The
larger part of Arabia, consisting of sands and rocky deserts,
has never in any age been fitted for the rearing of many
horses; and it is altogether an error to suppose that these
steril regions are countries abounding in horses. Not only
are the countries too barren for the rearing of horses, but
the burning climate of the greater part of the country ap-
pears to be eminently unfriendly to the health and growth of
the animal. Those that are reared to the south of the
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479
countries stretching from Mecca to the Persian Gulf are
stunted in their forms, and so few in number, that there is
scarcely any inhabited country that contains so small a num-
ber of horses as the regions which some have supposed to be
the cradle of the race.
When the united chiefs of the Wahabees attacked Mehe-
met Ali at Bysset in the year 1815, there were only 500
horses in their whole army of 25,000 men; and when horses
are found in the most fertile parts of South Arabia, they are
reckoned a rarity, and are only in the possession of princes
and people of rank. "In affirming," says the distinguished
traveller Burckhardt, in a letter to Mr Sewell, "that the
aggregate number of horses in Arabia, as bordered by the
Euphrates and Syria, amounts to about 50,000, I am confi-
dent I have not underrated them. The richest country in
this part of the East appears to be Mesopotamia. The tribes
of Kurds and Bedouins in that quarter very likely possess
more horses than all the Arabian Bedouins put together; for
the richness of their pastures easily propagates their studs.
The best pasturing places of Arabia not only produce the
greatest quantity of horses, but likewise the best and most
choice breeds. The finest Koheyls of the Khomb are met
with in the Medgid on the Euphrates, and in the Syrian
deserts; while in the southern parts of Arabia, and especially
Zemba, no good breeds of horses exist but those imported
from the north. In the tract between Mecca and Medina,
between the mountains and the sea, a distance of, at least,
260 miles, I do not believe that 200 horses can be found; and
the same proportion of numbers is to be remarked all along
the Red Sea from Zemba up to Akaba." It is certain, then,
that Arabia is a country remarkably poor in horses, and that,
just as might be inferred from analogy, the best of the race
are to be found in the countries where the climate is most
temperate, and where a sufficient degree of food is produced.
It is, however, in the remoter districts inland that the purest
of the race exist, because the greatest attention is there paid
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THE HORSE.
480
to the rearing of them. It is usual to name the horses of
the Bedouins of the interior desert the Nedjed Breed, from
the desert of that name, extending from Medina eastwards;
but very few horses are produced in the Nedjed itself. There
used to be considerable difficulty in procuring the horses of
the inland tribes of even the Syrian deserts, from the sup-
posed hazard of confiding in the faith of the people, but, in
reality, from the distrust which these wandering tribes enter-
tained of the inhabitants of the towns. The intercourse,
however, has become more considerable within the last thirty
years, in consequence of which circumstance, the pashas and
other rich individuals in Syria have been enabled to supply
their stables with Nedjeds; and from the same cause, French,
Russian, and Prussian agents, have been able to procure
many fine stallions of the races of the remoter Bedouins, for
their respective governments. In the year 1817, according
to Mr Barker, whose long residence at Aleppo gave him full
opportunity of observing the growing intercourse of the Be-
douins with the settled inhabitants, three very numerous
tribes, who had never before beheld a Turkish minaret,
pitched their tents within a few miles of Aleppo, bringing
along with them, at least, 6000 horses. From these it was
easy for Europeans residing in Syria to select a number of
splendid stallions, but none of them, it is said, found their
way to England.* But though the breeds of the interior may
have been obtained with difficulty, a great number of horses
are continually being exported from the northern parts of
Arabia. The Turks of Asia Minor and Syria obtain consi-
derable numbers; but the principal trade is to the East
Indies, from Bussora on the Persian Gulf. The exportation
is chiefly of stallions, the Arabs retaining the mares for
breeding, and preferring them for the purpose of the saddle.
The Arabs, we are assured, pay great attention to the purity
of the descent of their horses, and have certain races of them
* St John's Egypt.
*
2
**
"
x=1
1
"
HISTORY.
481
which are deemed of noble blood. Contrary to the practice.
of Europe, they reckon their descent by the dam; but they
never attempt to prove the genealogy of their horses, except
by tradition, and the beauty of their form. The pretended
hujjis, or written attestations of descent produced by dealers
in Arabian horses, are, we are assured, a trick, either on the
part of the Moslem jockeys or the Christian.
:
In contact with Arabia upon the east is Persia, a country
of horsemen and soldiers from early times, in which we find
the same form of the Horse distinctly exhibited. Persia is
a country of much diversity of surface. It is very elevated,
and possesses an atmosphere of great purity and dryness.
Towards the south it presents much of the arid character of
Arabia; towards the north it is productive of the grasses and
other herbaceous plants, and retains its verdure for a great
part of the year. In the northern provinces, accordingly, the
horses are of greater size and more developed forms. Some
of them near the Caspian Sea are as large as the horses of
Normandy. Towards the south they resemble more the
horses of Arabia, with which, besides, they are much mingled
in blood but they have not the same delicacy of figure, and
are not so much valued in their own and other countries.
They are fed sparingly, like all the horses of the same warm
regions. The custom is to feed and water them at sunrise
and sunset; and the ordinary provender is barley and chopped
straw. They are kept clothed, and at night are piquetted in
open yards, their hinder legs being confined by cords of
twisted hair, fastened to rings with pegs driven into the
ground. The same practice is described by Xenophon as in
use amongst the Persians more than 2000 years before. All
persons of the least distinction in Persia ride on horseback,
and scarcely any one will deign to go the shortest distance
on foot. Sir John Malcolm gives an amusing anecdote illus-
trative of the national feeling. A naval officer belonging to
one of the British frigates, in paying a visit to the Envoy,
thought it fitting to procure a horse; but unfortunately, like
1
2 H
&
J
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W
482
other gentlemen of his profession, he did not feel himself
quite at home, as we say, in the saddle, that is, he rode very
ill. The native who supplied the ship with vegetables, jealous
of the honour of his European friends, excused the matter to
his countrymen by giving it out privately that the English
gentleman was drunk, conceiving it to be less dishonourable
to his new friends to be drunk at noon than to be unable to
ride. To the north and east of Persia are countries where
the same form of the Horse presents itself, but large and
powerful, and suited for the exertion of physical strength.
These countries, usually termed Independent Tartary, abound
in the grasses, and give birth to horses, not very handsome, but
possessed of good action, and great powers of endurance. The
horses of some of the Turcoman tribes are sixteen hands high.
THE HORSE.
Eastward of the modern limits of Persia is the wild, beau-
tiful, but now long-desolated country of the Afghâns, inha-
bited by races of men of mixed lineage, of old under the
stern dominion of the Persian kings, but now almost savage
from the absence of law, and perpetual feuds. The Horses of
this country are partly similar to those of Persia, and partly
a race of stout agile ponies, suited to the mountainous coun-
try and barbarous condition of its inhabitants. Many of them
are beautifully spotted, and sought after in the countries of the
East for their rarity and beauty. In contact with Caubul on
the south, and of the same physical characters, is the ancient
Gedrosia, now Beloochistân, inhabited in like manner by law-
less herdsmen and robbers, in possession of numerous horses.
Eastward we enter the noble region of the Seven Rivers
or Punjaub, the lower valley of Sinde, and the wide coun-
tries of India, so called. Over a country so vast and diver-
sified, numerous breeds of Horses necessarily exist, whose
characters have been formed by the nature of the localities
in which they have been naturalized, and by the introduction
of foreign races, either by the various conquerors of the
country, or by the means of commerce and otherwise. In
general, it may be said that India is not a country very fa-
→
483
vourable to the production of the Horse. The tallest and
strongest are found in the northern provinces, in the coun-
tries near the Indus; but towards the warmer countries of
the south and east, they fall off in strength and development
of parts. The Indian horses are generally of the smaller
class, seldom rising above fourteen and a half hands in height,
and mostly falling below that standard. They are showy
enough, but are deficient in bone, slim below the knee, and
often of bad temper. But there are prodigious numbers of
fine horses in India, chiefly of foreign lineage, either pure, or
mixed with the native races. There is a constant trade in
these animals going on from Persia, Caubul, and even Bok-
hara; and a continued importation from Arabia to Bombay
and other parts of the coast. This is due to European indi-
viduals and the wealthier natives; and the East India Com-
pany has long employed active means to improve the indige-
nous races by the establishment of studs, with the especial
design of being enabled to procure horses for their numerous
cavalry. In this manner are superior horses introduced, and
the races of the country preserved from deterioration.
In India are various races of diminutive horses or Ponies,
some of which have apparently acquired the characters proper
to them in the high lands and deserts of the interior of the
country itself, amongst which are the small coarse race
termed Tattoos, valued by the natives for their hardiness,
and power to subsist on common fare. Others are derived
from the mountainous tract which lies between the plains of
India and the crest of the great Himàlaya range, forming
the country of Nepaul and others, westward to beyond the
Sutludj. This is a region somewhat like Switzerland, but
more bold and rugged. It produces a great number of moun-
tain ponies, stout, and capable of sustaining drudgery and
hard usage. To the ponies of these mountains the natives
of India apply the term Tang-huns, which is likewise appli-
cable to the party-coloured race of Thibet.
The Himalaya mountains, so named from the Sanscrit,
HISTORY.
j
484
THE HORSE.
denoting a Region of Snow, ascend from Hindû-koh in Caubul
to their greatest elevation, about 85° of longitude, and then
decline by the mountainous country of Bhootân to the valley
of the Brahmapootra. Beyond the highest crest of these
noble mountains lies the country of Thibet, stretching from
east to west nearly 2000 miles, and mostly bounded on the.
south by a parallel chain of lower altitude. In this the
highest inhabited land of Asia, whence proceed its most
celebrated rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmapootra,
are found Horses raised in such numbers as the rugged na-
ture of the country will permit the inhabitants to rear them.
They are small but sinewy, and agile in a wonderful degree.
They are employed by the natives for the saddle, and, along
with the Mule, the Sheep, and the Yak, to carry merchandize
through the terrible passes of the wild mountains that bound
the country on different sides. They are often party-coloured,
or, as we say, piebald. Accustomed to make bounds to over-
come the obstacles they encounter, they retain the habit when
harnessed, and demand some care in training. They are said
to fall off in spirit when brought to the plains of India; but
yet they are greatly valued there, and a considerable exporta-
tion of them takes place to the northern provinces. They
extend westward into Caubul, but chiefly eastward by Bhootân
into China, where their characteristic colour appears among
the races of the lower country. They have extended along
the river Kiang, which, taking its rise in Thibet, flows east-
ward in a course of 3500 miles, until it falls into the sea at
the noble city of Nankin.
Of the Horses of the Chinese, we can say little from any
certain knowledge obtained by us. The Chinese scarcely
make use of Horses except to fatten and eat them, although,
in the provinces bordering on Tartary and Thibet, they are
numerous. In one of the latter, Gutzlaff informs us, Horses
are so abundant, that even the women will scarcely stir from
their houses but on horseback. But although the Chinese are
themselves no horsemen, they maintain a numerous army of
•
GORE
485
Tartar cavalry, capable of maintaining the influence of the
Empire amongst the neighbouring countries, but unable, as
events have shewn, to withstand for an hour in the field the
skill, discipline, and valour of European soldiers.
The great countries of Indo-China, south-east of the Brah-
mapootra, comprehending the dominions termed Siam, Cam-
bodia, Malacca, and others, are, generally speaking, a re-
gion of thick forests, unfavourable to the rearing and mul-
tiplication of Horses. The inhabitants of these countries,
therefore, can never have been horsemen like the nations of
Western Asia, or the nomadic tribes of the interior. The
horses, accordingly, of this part of India, are few in number,
and little cared for by the inhabitants. Those, however,
which are known to us, as at the sea-ports, are of good form,
of the pony size, fiery, and tolerably fleet, though not pos-
sessed of great power of endurance.
In the rich and beautiful islands which stretch from the
sea of Japan to Java, the Horses resemble those of the
neighbouring continent; and most of the islands to the west-
ward, of 125° of longitude, appear to possess them. So far
as they have been observed, they are all of them small, and
even diminutive in size, but possessed of stout shoulders,
having good action, and manifesting no want of spirit, though
apparently incapable of much endurance. Horses do not
seem to extend to the eastward beyond the island of Timor,
so that they are not found in the great and fertile island of
New Guinea. They did not exist in New Holland, although
now the finest races of the East have been carried to it, and
appear to find a habitat as suitable as any in the world. No
Horses existed in any of the Polynesian Islands at their dis-
covery, and none in America, although now multiplied in
every part of it where European arts have extended.
To return to Thibet, the highest land of the Old Continent
in which the Domestic Horse is reared. To the north lies
the sandy desert of Kobi, in contact with other tracts of
boundless deserts, stretching nearly from east to west. Be-
¿
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HISTORY.
1 - 1
e=
T
486
THE HORSE.
yond this dreary wilderness are the vast countries of the
Eastern Tartars, extending on the west to the little Altaic
mountains, the ancient Imaus; to the mountains of Siberia
on the north; and to the Sea of Okotsk on the east. This
great region is now included within the nominal and actual
dominions of China, and was long known as Chinese Tartary.
It is known to modern geographers as Mongolia, and the in-
habitants as Mongoles, names which probably have had no
other origin than the misapprehension of writers. It is the
great seat of the Kalmuk and allied people. It abounds with
Horses, which form the wealth of the nomadic tribes, who
have been horsemen and wanderers in every known period.
The horses of these countries are stout and enduring, but
very small, being, in truth, merely what we term ponies.
They have been the instruments, however, of extensive re-
volutions. It is generally believed that the Huns came from
this country. But, however this be, we learn that the pre-
datory horsemen of Eastern Asia were in the earliest periods
of history the ruthless enemies of the settled inhabitants
within their reach. The annals of the Chinese relate chiefly
to the unceasing contests with these barbarians, and inform
us, that at length a wall, more than 1200 miles in length,
was raised up against their encroachments. This wall, the
most remarkable monument of human labour in the world,
still exists, to inform us how frail a barrier it proved against
the warlike horsemen it was designed to curb. Twice after-
wards they rendered themselves masters of the empire, and
now remain its sovereigns. In the beginning of the thir-
teenth century appeared Genghis, the Pagan, the most ruth-
less conqueror that had appeared in the world. Uniting the
various tribes, both of the Eastern and Western Tartars,
he subdued, in an incredibly short time, the greater part of
Asia, bringing havoc and desolation wherever he carried his
hordes.
To the eastward of Thibet is what is termed Independent
Tartary, inhabited by the Turcomans, the Kirguisans, and
+
HISTORY.
487
others. But these races are not confined to this part of Tar-
tary, but extend more or less continuously southward into
Caubul, Persia, Syria, and even beyond the confines of
Europe, northward into Siberia, and eastward, beyond the
Altaic Mountains. These people, aided by their instrument
of war, the Horse, haye again and again been conquerors;
but, far superior as a race to the Kalmuks, they have been
able to found enduring kingdoms and empires. It was this
race which really supported the empire of Genghis, as it did
about 170 years later that of his successor Leng the Mos-
lem, generally known to us as Timur-Leng, or Tamarlane,
who, adding religious fanaticism to his thirst for power, renew-
ed the system of conquest and extermination of his precur-
sor. He overran Persia, sacked Bagdad, and, crossing the
Indus, laid Delhi in ashes, carrying off an enormous booty
of treasure and captives, and murdering the miserable inha-
bitants by thousands. This wretch died in the year of our
Lord 1405, and his empire soon after crumbled to pieces.
The Western Tartars became divided, and the greater part
of the Kalmuk tribes resumed their pristine habits, and are
now again herdsmen and horsemen, restrained from violence
by the arms and policy of the Chinese. Of the same race
were the people known to us as Turks, who subdued the
fairest parts of Western Asia, northern Africa, and Greece,
where they are still permitted to possess, through the mu-
tual jealousy of European powers, the throne of the eastern
Cæsars. And of the same class of rude horsemen, but mixed
in lineage, were the first Mahommedan invaders of India,
who, in the year 1208, founded the Moslem dominion in India,
which, afterwards known as the Empire of the Môguls, or
descendants of Timur, survived until our own times. The
Horses of these people are much superior in strength and
stature to those of the Kalmuks, manifesting the influence
of a more genial climate on the development of the animal
form.
Northward of Independent and Chinese Tartary, are the
andy
મ
1
I
dad de
488
THE HORSE.
immense dominions of Russia in Asia. Here, likewise, are
found nomadic tribes, but reduced to entire snbmission by
the powerful state under whose dominions they have lived
for ages. This region, now generally known as Siberia, con-
tains, we have seen, the Wild Horse; but, from the scanti-
ness of the population, domestic Horses are few as compared
with those of Chinese and Independent Tartary. The Horses
are small, sturdy, and enduring, but continually degenerating
with the increasing rigour of the climate, until, as we ap-
proach nearer the Arctic regions, they cease to be found
either in the wild or subjugated state, giving place to the
Rein-deer and the Dog.
Turning to Europe, the Horses are seen to partake of the
mixed lineage and character of the inhabitants. Northward
and westward of the chain of the Caucasus extend the gigantic
dominions of Russia in Europe, comprehending the countries
inhabited of old by the Sarmatians, and other warlike nations
of herdsmen and soldiers, known generally as Slavonians.
The horses of these countries are hardy, muscular in their
limbs, and capable of enduring great labour and privations;
but the finest of these are found in the countries near the
Black Sea, where a charming climate calls forth a rich vege-
tation. The Ukraine in particular, lying between the Don
and the Dnieper, is noted for producing a fine race of
Horses, distinguished by their long manes and flowing tails.
These countries have in various ages poured their swarms
of emigrants and conquerors westward or southward, car-
rying with them their Horses, the great engine of their con-
quests; and, at this day, Russia possesses the most for-
midable and well-equipped army of cavalry in the world.
The Horses of the Slavonic nations still prevail in Poland,
Moldavia, Hungary, and other countries of the Danube; and
they have penetrated into Prussia and the countries of the
Baltic.
The first of the European countries in which we have his-
torical records of the domestication of the Horse is Greece;
1
HISTORY.
489
but it does not follow that Greece was the first of the coun-
tries of Europe in which the Horse was subdued. On the
contrary, the legends of the Greeks themselves inform us,
that they had to maintain fierce contests with more early
horsemen under the fabled names of Centaurs, probably
from Thrace and the countries beyond the Danube. They
had contests, too, with the Amazons, so called, whom they
fabled to be women, but who were probably Kurds or other
Asiatics, clothed in the flowing robes distinctive of their
country. The Greeks never, in any age, became distinguish-
ed as horsemen. They did not, until a late period, learn
the use of the stirrup and the horse-shoe, which, from the
remains found in tumuli, there is reason to believe, were
familiar from time immemorial to the Tartar horsemen. But
the Greeks established, at an early age, the noble games
termed Olympic, which, by common consent, were held at
Elis, which became the theatre to which the warlike youth
of Greece resorted to claim the olive crown for victory in
the chariot race and athletic combats. Games at other
places were established, and continued after Greece had
ceased to be a country of warriors and freemen. The races
of the chariot were the first in order of time and pre-emi-
nence; but about the fifteenth Olympiad, the simple horse-
race was added, and sculptured monuments remain to show
the Grecian Horse as he was caparisoned for either use. The
Hippodrome, in which the horse and chariot races took place,
was of narrow extent, and from the frequent turnings, all the
address and courage of the charioteers and horsemen was
called for. The horsemen, using no saddles or stirrups, the
difficulty of the exercise was increased, and the horses were
unshod. The Greeks derived their finest horses from Asia
Minor, but the races of the country were then, as now, of
mixed blood, partly derived from the countries south of the
Caucasus, and partly from Thrace and the countries of the
Danube. The sculptured representations of the Grecian
horse which have reached us exhibit much of what may be
D
/
490
called the Caucasian character, mixed, however, with the
hardier aspect of the horses of the North. The modern in-
habitants of the same countries have likewise races of horses
of mixed lineage. The finest of the Turkish horses are de-
rived from the Asiatic provinces; the most esteemed for the
saddle are obtained from the Syrian deserts and Arabia; and
the most robust and most active and useful from Servia,
Bosnia, and the other provinces of the north.
In Italy, the Horse had been subjugated from periods of
great antiquity; but the Romans were long contemptible
horsemen, and to the last never equalled the Asiatic riders.
Even Julius Cæsar, we are informed by modern military offi-
cers, made such dispositions of his cavalry, as could only have
arisen from ignorance of the proper functions of this arm in
war. Of the character of the early horses of the Italians we
know nothing; but the representations of the Horse, in a later
age, lead us to the conclusion, that the Romans cultivated a
stout and muscular horse, rather than one of much lightness
and elegance of figure. But during the luxury of the empire,
horses were necessarily derived from many sources, and
races of mixed lineage established. Of the native breeds, the
Tuscan and Etrurian were the most esteemed; of foreign
races, the Spanish and Sicilian were valued; and, in a later
age, those of Barbary were introduced, to give greater light-
ness to the horses employed in the Circensian games. The
games of the Circus were established at an early period, and
included both horse and chariot races. The Circus Maxi-
mus, first built by Tarquinius Priscus, was an oblong of
three and a half furlongs in length, with rows of seats, one
above another, all round, capable, according to Pliny, of con-
taining 250,000 persons, and, according to modern measure-
ments, 380,000. Along the centre of the space ran a thick
low wall, at the ends of which were pyramidal columns,
rising from one base, termed Metæ, round which the horses
and chariots turned. The race usually consisted of seven
rounds, equal to between seven and eight miles. The horse-
THE HORSE.
Gy
A
491
men were generally slaves, or trained performers. A num-
ber of horses started together, and the riders were divided
into parties, distinguished by the colours they bore. The
spectators interested themselves in the success of these par-
ties, rather than in that of the individual horses, as on the
modern Turf; and the contests were altogether of a ruder
character than we now associate with the ideas of this kind
of exercise.
HISTORY.
The Horses of modern Italy present a great diversity of
character. On the irruptions of the barbarians, those of
the northern wilderness were introduced in great numbers,
and have left their traces, even to the colour of the skin,
to the present day. During the times of chivalry, and the
heavy-armed cavalry of the middle ages, it may be believ-
ed that the more powerful kinds of horses would be sought
for; and there are many of these still in Italy. The horses
of Naples are yet in high estimation for their strength and
noble action. Many of them were formerly introduced into
England, and contributed to form the mixed races of that
country. But the horses of Naples, as of other parts of
Italy, have lost their value, as compared with foreign races,
and few are now carried out of the country.
Spain is a country in which the Horse has been more
mixed with African blood than in other parts of Europe. In
the early part of the eighth century, the Moors and Arabs of
Northern Africa invaded the country, and maintained a long
dominion over it. During ages of heroic struggles, they
were by degrees subdued; and, after the lapse of nearly 800
years, the remains of them, when deprived of weapons, and
engaged in the pursuits of peaceful industry, were expelled
by edicts of unheard of bigotry and cruelty. During this
long period, the horses of Africa were introduced in great
numbers, and affected, in an important manner, the charac-
ters of the native races. This mixture of blood was the
greatest in Andalusia, Granada, and other kingdoms of the
south; and here it is that the Spanish Jennet was formed,
?
*
#
+
34
**
492
and is still found with its pristine characters. These elegant
little horses were greatly valued over Europe. They are
stouter than the Barbs, but have much of the same graceful
and easy action. They are gentle, spirited, and capable of
long and rapid journeys. They were used as Palfreys in the
middle ages, and numbers of them being brought to England,
they were mingled with the native races.
THE HORSE.
France has long produced a vast number of horses for
war, for the chase, for the saddle, and for carriages of every
kind. The native horses of France vary in strength and
size with the fertility of the districts in which they have
been naturalized. In the countries of abundant herbage
they tend to the massy form characteristic of the great
horses of Northern Europe. In the southern districts, and
generally in those in which the production of herbage is
scanty, they assume a lighter form. But besides the charac-
ters acquired from the nature of the districts in which the
horses are naturalized, there are other characters imprinted
by mixture of foreign blood. French writers divide the horses
of France into those of the Common and those of the Fine
race; the latter having had their characters communicated to
them by means of foreign blood. The largest and most power-
ful horses of France are produced in Normandy and Picardy.
The best for the saddle used to be derived from Limousin, but
the horses of Limousin are now greatly degenerated. In the
year 732, a mighty army of Saracens penetrated even to
the walls of Poictiers, where they were totally routed by
the heroic Charles Martel. It is perhaps to the horses
then left in the country, that those of Limousin and the
neighbouring districts owe that lightness of form which dis-
tinguishes them. Towards the mouth of the Rhone is like-
wise a race of agile horses, having the characters of Barbs,
from which they are probably descended. But the native
horses of France may be generally described as destitute of
that elegance and lightness of action which characterize the
horses of southern lineage. Astonishing pains, however,
G
*
493
have been taken by successive Governments of France to
improve the breeds of native horses. This was a favourite
object of Napoleon, who introduced considerable numbers of
Arabians by the way of Germany. But the enormous de-
struction of horses by war in the Revolutionary and Imperial
armies, and the necessity of resorting to every race of the
tributary countries around for cavalry, have greatly retarded
the improvement of the races of France. Since the peace,
the high-bred horses of England have been much sought for,
as possessing the qualities in which the French horses are
supposed to be deficient, namely, bone and action.
Germany is a country which, in every known age, has
produced numerous herds of horses. The native horses of
Germany vary with the fertility of the countries which pro-
duce them; but generally, Germany is a country productive
of the grasses and corn, and the horses are large and fitted
for the exercise of physical strength, but deficient in agility
and fleetness. They are well suited for heavy cavalry, for
which the Germans have always been noted in modern wars;
and, during the middle ages, the larger horses were especially
cultivated for the knights and heavy-armed horsemen of the
time. Lighter horses have also been introduced from the
Ukraine, and other countries to the eastward. The largest
horses in Germany are found in Holstein, Mecklenburg, and
other countries rich in the grasses, on the shores of the Bal-
tic, and the valleys of the great rivers. The same race of
heavy horses extends to the Danish dominions of the Conti-
nent, which have long supplied the other parts of Europe
with coach-horses. In Holland and Flanders the same
kinds of horses exist, but of yet more bulky and clumsy
form shewing that when the climate is moist, when the
grasses are abundant, and when artificial food is largely sup-
plied, the Horse assumes that grossness of form which in-
creases his powers of mere strength, but diminishes his speed,
and capability of active exertion.-The Horse of the nor-
thern marshes of Germany was probably that which gave
HISTORY.
!
1
I
494
THE HORSE.
distinction to the Belgian cohorts in the armies of the Ro-
mans: and, at a subsequent age, the great Black Horse of
the Vandals excited terror amongst the nations of Southern
Europe.
Scandinavia, though imperfectly fitted for the rearing of
many horses, yet possesses them in greater numbers than,
from the nature of the country, and the pursuits of the in-
habitants, might have been expected. But the warlike North-
men, themselves derived, as their legends, mythology, and
language attest, from those countries eastward where the
Horse abounded, retain a considerable attachment to these
animals. Their horses vary in strength and stature with
the fertility, natural or acquired, of the districts where they
have been naturalized, from the Alps of Norway to the
provinces of the Baltic shores. But, with the exception of
the larger kinds fitted for the labour of draught, the Scan-
dinavian horses may be described as being of small size, as
having stout muscular limbs, with great power of enduring
steady labour, but as being wanting in the spirit and fleet-
ness which characterize the horses of warmer climes.
In the British Islands the Horses present a greater diver-
sity than perhaps in any other country of the same extent.
This diversity arises in part from the different degrees of al-
titude and productiveness of the various parts of the country,
and in part from the great admixture that has taken place
of the blood of foreign races. But, before describing the
Horses proper to or naturalized in these Islands, we shall
consider the Horse as he is presented to us in another part
of the world, where, in regions of boundless fertility and ex-
tent, he has been subjected to the influence of new agents,
and regained his natural liberty under circumstances the
most favourable to the extension of his race.
When the Spaniards, forgetful of the precepts of the im-
mortal Genius who had guided them to the peaceful shores
of the New World, began a war of extermination against
the unoffending natives, they everywhere carried with them
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the Horse, and employed his powers to terrify and subdue
their victims. Wherever these merciless invaders established
their unjust dominion, the Horse was carried, and he multi-
plied with a rapidity unknown in the richest parts of the
ancient continents. And now, after the lapse of little more
than three centuries, he is found naturalized from the frozen
Straits of Magellan to the snows of Labrador, under every
variety of climate and country. From the oppressors he has
passed to the victims; and the most savage tribes of the in-
terior, from Patagonia to the Missouri and Columbia, have
been enabled to appropriate this gift of Providence, and em-
ploy it for their mutual destruction.
The most remarkable circumstances attending the history
of the Horse in Spanish America, is his escape from human
control, and multiplication in the state of liberty. This first
took place, according to Azara, about the year 1535, when
the city of Buenos Ayres was suddenly abandoned by its in-
habitants, who in their flight left behind them on the plains
five horses and seven mares, which had been brought from
Andalusia. These soon multiplied and gave origin to those
innumerable herds which people the boundless plains south-
ward and westward of the Rio de la Plata; while others,
escaping from the settlements north of the same river, mul-
tiplied in Paraguay and other parts of the interior. These
emancipated horses are at times in little herds, a stallion
attaching himself to a certain number of mares; but these
smaller herds likewise congregate into herds so vast in num-
bers as to strike the beholder with amazement. Many thou-
sands may often be seen together, acting upon a principle of
apparent subordination and union.
HISTORY.
Certain of the troop assume the guidance of the rest, place
themselves in the van when the herd migrates to new ground,
and, when danger is threatened, give the signal to advance
or fly. They gallop boldly up to the traveller and objects
that are new to them, unlike to the wilder race of Tartary,
who station sentinels around the troop, and fly from the sight
e
8
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the pl
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496
of danger and the footsteps of man. When they see the do-
mesticated horses, they gallop up to them, caress them with
affectionate neighings, and use every mean to induce them
to escape with them to the wilderness. The latter are not
slow to accept the invitation, and, when once restored to
liberty, never willingly submit to bondage again. When the
wild troops draw near, all the vigilance of the travellers is
required to prevent the desertion of their horses, who struggle
to disencumber themselves of their trappings and get free.
The Wild Horses advance in columns, never in a line, some-
times retreating and returning several times, before they can
be driven away, and sometimes charging the equipage, and
throwing every thing into confusion, in order to effect the
rescue. This generous sympathy for their subjugated fellows
does not exist in the wild races of Tartary, and, in the case
of the Spanish horses, may be safely pronounced to be the
result of instinctive feelings connected with their former state
of domestication. An amusing traveller, speaking of some
captured horses driven cruelly along at speed, goaded and
wearied, through the more settled parts of the country, thus
describes the effect upon their fellows. "As they are thus
galloping along, urged by the spur, it is interesting to see
the group of wild horses one passes. The mares, which are
never ridden in South America, seem not to understand what
makes the poor horse hang his head so low and look so weary.
The little innocent colts come running to meet him, and then
start away frightened; while the old horses, whose white
marks on the flanks and backs betray their acquaintance
with the spur and saddle, walk slowly away for some dis-
tance, then breaking into a trot as they seek for safety, snort
and look behind them, first with one eye and then with the
other, turning their nose from right to left, and carrying
their long tail high in the air."*
These Wild Horses are easily restored to domestication.
THE HORSE.
H
* Head's Journey across the Pampas.
8
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497
Either some of the docility of temper remains which the race
had acquired in the domestic state, or the genial clime and
abundant herbage render them of gentler temperament than
the pristine horses of the Asiatic deserts. The means, how-
ever, taken to subdue them are of unequalled barbarity, and
altogether different from the careful culture with which, in
other countries, the youthful colt is reconciled to obedience,
and gradually trained to administer to the wants and plea-
sures of his protector.
When it is intended to capture a Wild Horse or Baguale,
as it is called, the Guachos, or inhabitants of the plain, set
out in search of the herd on horses trained to the chase.
Either by means of the bolas and lazo, or of the lazo alone,
the animal is entangled, thrown to the ground, and either at
once mounted and furiously ridden, or tied to a post for se-
veral days without food or water, castrated and mounted.
The bola referred to consists of three stones rolled in leather,
and tied to a common centre, with strong leather cords more
than a yard in length. One being taken hold of, the others
are swung around the head, and, when the necessary impe-
tus is acquired, thrown with matchless dexterity round the
limbs of the animal to be entangled. The lazo has been
often described. It consists of a rope, about the thickness
of the finger, made of twisted thongs of untanned hide, fifteen
or twenty yards in length. It has a ring at one end forming
a running noose. The other end is attached to a strong belt
of hide, bound tightly round the horse. The coil is held by
the left hand of the horseman; the noose end trails on the
ground, except when in use, and then it is swung round the
head, when it expands in a circular form, and is discharged
from the hand with unerring aim, falling upon the part at
which it is aimed, the neck, or one or more of the legs, or
round the body, as may be wished, the horseman himself at
speed all the while. The entangled animal is hurled to the
ground with tremendous violence, and, before he can recover
himself, is seized, and sometimes a saddle is strapped upon
HISTORY.
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his back, and a bit forced into his mouth, before he is suffered
to rise from the ground. Such is the effect of the formidable
missile, which, in all these countries, is used to capture the
horse and other animals, and which incessant practice from
childhood teaches the Guacho to use with matchless dex-
terity. The very children, we are told, begin the practice of
the lazo almost as soon as they can run about, entangling
all animals that are so unfortunate as to come within their
reach-dogs, pigs, poultry, and the everywhere-persecuted
cat; so that, by the time they are able to sit on horseback,
they are dexterous in its use. Not only the wild but tame
horses are seized by this formidable engine, and the latter,
who have experienced its effects, regard it with terror. The
Guacho, it has been said, secures by it the wild horse which
he wishes to subdue. Nay, sometimes when pursuing a jour-
ney, he supplies himself in this manner with fresh horses,
and pursues his course on an animal which had never before
bent its neck to servitude. Approaching the wild animal,
the lazo is cast upon him with unerring aim, and in a mo-
ment hurls him to the ground. Before the animal can re-
cover the shock, the Guacho springs upon him, and snatching
the cloak from his own shoulders, wraps it round the head
of the prostrate animal. He then forces into his mouth one
of the bridles of the country, straps a saddle on his back, and
bestriding him removes the cloak, when the animal springs
upon his legs, and, by a thousand efforts, endeavours to free
himself from his new master. His efforts are vain: the
Guacho keeps himself firm in his seat, and, by the force of
his arm and dreadful spurs, reduces the animal to entire
obedience. The subjection is complete: the Guacho pur-
sues his journey on the captive horse, who, finding resistance
vain, yields himself to necessity, and becomes the slave of
man. These horses, though not very fleet, have amazing
powers of endurance. In this their state of sudden bondage,
they are sometimes ridden sixty, seventy, nay, it is said, a
hundred miles, urged on at speed by the spur of their bar-
THE HORSE.
I
HISTORY.
499
barous rider. When the dreadful task is done, mangled,
terrified, and fainting from fatigue, they are turned loose on
the plains to perish, or rejoin, as best they may, their lost
companions.
These Horses have reassumed, to a certain degree, the cha-
racter of the wild type, as it is exemplified in the Horses of
Tartary. The head has become larger, the ears more long,
the limbs more muscular, and the general form less sym-
metrical, than in the race from which they are descended.
Their hair, however, has not become long and shaggy as in
the Tartar horses, because they inhabit a soft and genial
clime; but it has tended to that uniformity of colour which
distinguishes the wild from the domestic races of all animals.
Their colour is always of a chestnut-brown, and never dun,
as in the Tartar races; and whenever a bay, a black, or
other colour appears, it is inferred that the individual is of
the domesticated race, and has made its escape and joined
the wild herds. They are enduring, it has been said, but
not very fleet, and are easily run down by the subjugated
breeds.
The domesticated horses of these countries possessed by
the Spanish Americans, possess the general characters of
the race from which they are descended; but being treated
with the utmost severity, and bred without attention to the
choice of the parents, they have lost much of the grace of
form and elegance of action which distinguish the true An-
dalusian. Stallions and mares are never ridden, and geld-
ings only are used for the saddle. They are usually kept in
extensive pasture-grounds, and driven periodically to the
corral, when the lazo and spur of the Guacho are employed
to remind them of their dependence. When colts are to be
broken in, they are driven in a herd to the corral, subjected
one by one to the discipline of the lazo, and by mere force
and terror reduced to obedience.
From the conquerors of these noble provinces, the Horse
has passed into the hands of the Indians of the interior, pro-
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ducing a great change in the habits, though but a slight one
in the moral feelings, of the Red Man of the plains. These
brave tribes, who have escaped the bondage of so many of their
fellows, may be said to pass their lives on horseback: their very
limbs have become feeble from disuse of walking; but they are
amongst the most perfect horsemen in the world. Naked as
when they were born, without a saddle, with a bit made of
hide, their long light lances in hand, they are ever in motion,
migrating from place to place as the pasture around them is
consumed. They have no tents, not even a covering for the
head; they have no bread, no cultivated vegetables, no fruits,
no salt. Their only food is the flesh of their mares, which
they never ride, or the produce of the chase, which is not
plentiful. Their whole thoughts and the pleasure of their
lives are riding and war. "Their system of warfare," says
Head, "is more noble, unencumbered, and perfect in its na-
ture, than that of any nation in the world.
When they
assemble, either to attack their enemies, or to invade the
country of the Christians, with whom they are now at war,
they collect large troops of horses and mares, and then utter-
ing the wild shriek of war, they start at a gallop. As soon
as the horses they ride on are tired, they vault upon the
bare backs of fresh ones, keeping their best until they posi-
tively see their enemies. The whole country affords pasture
to their horses, and whenever they choose to stop, they have
only to kill some mares. The ground is the bed on which,
from their infancy, they have always slept; the flesh of their
mares is the food on which they have ever been accustomed
to subsist." These wild people have not yet acquired fire-
arms, which might render them the most formidable of caval-
ry; but they have learned the use of intoxicating liquors,
which they obtain by barter from the towns. They have
some rude ideas of a future state, believing that, when they
die, they will be transferred to a paradise, where they will be
always drunk, and always on horseback. As they gallop over
the plains at night, we are told, they will point, with their
THE HORSE.
501
long spears, to constellations in the heavens, which, they
say, are the figures of their ancestors, who, riding in the fir-
mament, are mounted upon horses swifter than the wind, and
hunting ostriches. When they bury their dead, they kill
several of their best horses, believing that their departed
friends would otherwise have nothing to ride.*
The Horse is domesticated throughout all the settled parts
of South America, but is nowhere treated with the care which
is required to produce the full development of his form and
useful properties. If he is inferior in many qualities to the
races from which he is sprung, we may be assured that this
is no result of the absence of the bounties of nature in the
countries to which he has been carried. These are all that
can be desired for the perfecting of the Horse. If, in cer-
tain parts, a too humid atmosphere, and rank vegetation,
are calculated to give grossness to the animal form, there
are others embellished with every gift that can give to it
lightness, buoyancy, and grace. There are regions more
pure of air than the Caucasian Mountains, or the Syrian
Plains; and were but a tenth part of the care bestowed on
rearing the Horse in these beautiful countries as in the de-
serts of the wandering Bedouin, it cannot be doubted that
South America would produce Horses equal to any in the
world.
HISTORY.
North America seems equally adapted to the temperament
of the Horse as any similar countries in the Old Continent.
The Mexican horses are derived from Spain, and seem in no
other respect inferior to the European, than a less careful
management may account for. Mexican horses have likewise
escaped into the woods and savannahs of the prodigious
countries which extend northward and eastward from the
Gulf of Mexico; but they have not multiplied in the same
numbers as in the plains of the Plata. They have extended
northward even to the Rocky Mountains, and the sources
* Head's Journey.
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502
of the Columbia, in the 52d or 53d parallel of latitude. The
Indians of the country have learned to pursue and capture
them, employing them in hunting and transporting their fami-
lies from place to place; the first great change that has taken
place for ages in the condition of the Red Man of the North
American woods. The highest ambition, we are told, of the
young Indian of these northern tribes is to possess a good
horse for the chase of the buffalo. The Ossages form large
hunting parties for the chase of horses in the country of the
Red Canadian River, using relays of fresh horses, until they
have run down the wild herds. The horses in these parts
are yet more precious in the estimation of the Indians, than
in the countries of the South, where they have multiplied
more. To steal the horse of an adverse tribe, Dr Richardson
informs us, is considered by the people as an exploit nearly
as heroic as the killing of an enemy; and the distances they
will travel, and the privations they will undergo, in these
predatory excursions, are scarcely to be believed. So pre-
cious do they hold this new gift, that, in some cases, an In-
dian who owns a horse will scarcely continue to sleep after
nightfall, but will sit at the opening of his hut, with the
halter in one hand, and his gun in the other, the horse's legs
at the same time being tied with thongs of leather. Not-
withstanding of all his care, it sometimes happens that the
wearied hunter, suffering himself to be overcome by sleep
for a few minutes, is awakened by the noise of the thief gal-
loping off with his plunder.
The Anglo-Americans, the Canadians, and the European
Colonists of the West India Islands, have all acquired the
domesticated horse. The horses of Canada, chiefly of French
lineage, are coarse and small, but hardy, muscular, and use-
ful. Those of the United States are of every variety, de-
rived originally from England, but crossed by the modern
English racer, and even by the horses of Syria and Arabia.
From this cause, and the great variety and extent of these
countries, the inhabitants of the States have a very mixed
THE HORSE.
2
1
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CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
503
race of horses, many of which are excellent. It is the cha-
racter of this people to carry ardour and boldness of execu-
tion into every favoured pursuit, and the improvement of
their horses at this time occupies much of their attention.
They are fond of horse-races, particularly in the Southern
States, and have adopted, to a certain degree, the usages of
the English Turf. The nature of their country leads them
to cultivate useful horses for the road, and for their innu-
merable private and public carriages. They prefer the trot
to the paces more admired in the Old Continent; and, hav-
ing directed attention to the conformation which consists
with this character, the fastest trotting horses in the world
are to be found in the United States. The breeds of the
West India Islands are those of the parent states. The
horses of Cuba are derived from Spain, and retain the dis-
tinctive characters of the parent stock. Those of the Eng-
lish Colonies have been improved by the continued inter-
course with the mother country.
M
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
When JULIUS CÆSAR landed amongst the Belgæ on the
shores of Kent, about fifty-four years before our common era,
he found the natives possessed of Horses, which they used
for cavalry, or attached to chariots of war, after the manner
of the Assyrians, the Persians, and other people of the East
in the first ages, of the Egyptians in the remotest times, and
of the Greeks in the era termed Heroic. The early use of
the Horse, in a manner thus artificial, by nations so remote
from one another as the inhabitants of Celtic Britain and the
first civilized communities of the East, may be regarded as
one of the many proofs derived from history, from language,
and from similarity of customs, religious and social, of the
pristine relation between these early settlers of Europe and
-1
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504
the people of Western Asia, who used the same engine of
war. The most simple and natural manner of reducing the
Horse to subjection, is by making him bear the burden of his
rider; and it may be assumed that this was the method of
domestication which preceded that of attaching him to an
armed equipage, the construction of which infers a certain
advancement in the useful arts. It cannot be believed
that the scattered tribes which peopled Europe during the
earlier periods of colonization, had themselves devised a me-
thod of using the Horse so little suited to their wants, and
to the countries of marsh, forest, and mountain, over which
they were spread. It is more consonant with reasonable pro-
bability to suppose, that the early settlers brought with them
the practice from the countries from which they were them-
selves derived.
THE HORSE.
Of the pristine inhabitants of Europe, we know nothing
whatever; but, with respect to its later inhabitants, the most
reasonable supposition is, that they were derived from Asia,
and that they had spread themselves, in the manner of colo-
nists, westward; first, the Celtic and other allied people,
from the south of the line of the Caucasus; and, secondly, at
unknown and posterior epochs, when population had extended
northward into the regions known generally and vaguely to
the ancients as Scythia and Sarmatia, the other settlers, who
gave origin to the Scandinavian, the modern German, and
other nations, commonly comprehended under the general
term Teutonic, or, less correctly, Gothic. These migrations
may be supposed to have followed one after another, slowly
westward, like wave succeeding wave; and the latter settlers,
pressing upon the former ones, either dispossessed them, or
became mingled with them. But whatever be the particu-
lar history of these pristine movements, two races of men,
at least, were found, in the course of ages, inhabiting West-
ern Europe, distinguished from one another by speech, by
social habits, and religious observances; the first of which
the Celta may be considered as the type, and the latter
'
I
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
505
usually denominated Teutones or Gothi; the one, it has been
said, apparently derived from the countries south of the line
of the Caucasus, the other from the ruder regions extending
northward. The southern emigrants were usually found in
patriarchal communities of tribes or clans, generally dis-
united, and at war with one another, or only combined for
the purpose of aggression or mutual defence. The people
were submissive to authority, and had an order of priests of
great influence and power, who taught the immortality and
transmigration of the soul, worshipped in groves, erected
altars and sacred enclosures of unhewn stone, of which innu-
merable remains are yet spread over Europe,-paid, like the
Persian Magi, a reverence to fire, to the heavenly bodies,
and to certain plants,-and adopted the horrid rite of human
sacrifices, as practised by the Phoenicians and other Syrians.
On the other hand, the ultra-Caucasian or Scythian colonists.
formed larger communities, under a system rather feudal
than patriarchal. The people, although influenced by a wild
superstition, were tenacious of individual rights, like the free
Scythians in every age. They had horses, whose flesh they
sometimes used as food, and which they offered up in sacri-
fices to their divinities, but which, so far as is known, they
never attached to chariots of war, like the true Celtæ.
C
The Celta, continually pressed upon and driven westward,
were found, at the period of the Roman conquests, in Spain,
Gaul, part of Germany, and the Islands of Britain; and the
latter Islands appear to have been in their exclusive posses-
sion at the time of the Roman invasion. Some, indeed, have
supposed, that at this period a nation of Gothic origin had
found its way to Britain, and occupied, under the name of Belgæ,
the part of the country where Cæsar landed. This is probable;
but, at the same time, the Belge rather appear to have been
themselves a Celtic people, at least the testimony of Strabo,
and the description which Cæsar gives of them, seem to shew
that they were a race differing in no essential respects from
the other Britons. But be this as
But be this as it may, it was not for many
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ages afterwards, during the decline of the Roman empire,
that the really Gothic nations found their way in such num-
bers into Britain, as to reduce the greater part of it to sub-
jection, and impose upon it their customs, laws, and language.
At the time of our Saviour, and long afterwards, the inhabi-
tants of these Islands were essentially Celtic; and that the
same race had inhabited the country from an early time, ap-
pears from innumerable remains of ancient forts, sepulchral
tumuli and cairns, rude altars, and circles of stones and other
monuments, which can be referred to no other race but the
Celtic; and from the names of mountains, rivers, promon-
tories, and other natural objects, which to this hour retain
the designations imposed upon them by the Celtic inhabi-
tants.
THE HORSE.
When these Islands, then, became the prey of Roman am-
bition, the horses of the country were those of the Celtic
natives, either brought in a state of domestication from the
East, or derived from the wild races existing in the wastes
of Europe. That they were in great numbers, we learn from
the Roman writers. Cæsar continually refers to the daring
cavalry and destructive chariots by which he was opposed.
At his landing, the Britons, spurring their horses into the
sea, assailed his legions ere they could reach the shore. In
his first expedition, he merely saw the country which he came
to subdue. In his second, he followed the Britons into the
interior, and, fording the Thames, he routed on its banks
their great leader Cassivelaunus, who, he tells us, having
lost all hopes of success by battle, disbanded the greatest
part of his forces, and retained about 4000 chariots, with
which he harassed the Romans as occasion offered. Sub-
sequent writers speak of the horsemen and charioteers of
the Celtic Britons. Tacitus, in describing the last great
battle which the Caledonii fought with Agricola near the
passes of the Grampians, states that their first line was in
the plain, and the next on the sloping ascent of the moun-
tains, and that the space between the armies was filled with
•
*
507
the cavalry and charioteers of the Britons rushing to and
fro with loud noise. They rushed, he tells us, in their armed
chariots at full speed, and mixed in battle with the infantry.
Their first impression struck terror, but their career was
soon checked by the thick ranks of their enemies and by the
inequalities of the ground, and, crowding upon one another,
they were thrown into disorder. Chariots without a guide,
and horses without a rider, broke away in wild confusion, and
trampled upon the ranks. The horses of the country, it is
certain, must have been numerous when they formed the
strength of an army in a country so wild and mountainous.
Whatever was the character of these early Horses with
respect to size, strength, and other properties, it is probable
that for many ages they underwent little change. Previous
to the fall of the Roman Empire, northern pirates had ravaged
the coasts of Britain, and fixed themselves in some of the
remoter Islands. But it was not till the fifth century that
Gothic hordes began those regular invasions which termi-
nated in the subjection of nearly all the Island, and the im-
position of a new language and new customs on the people.
They seem first to have landed in numbers on the shores of
the Firth of Forth, although history usually refers their first
permanent settlement to an invitation of the Romanized Bri-
tons of the south for protection from the ravages of the
northern tribes. However this be, it is certain that about
the year 449, when the falling Empire could no longer pro-
tect the distant provinces, the Saxons, a Gothic people from
the countries of the Elbe, landed in South Britain, and being
followed by successive swarms of Saxons, Jutes, and Angles,
their countrymen, continually disembarking on the country
from the Forth to the shores of Kent, established a domi-
nion which, by creating a new nation, may be said to have
affected the whole condition of societies throughout the civi-
lized world.
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
The supremacy of the Saxons in England lasted for more
than 600 years, when it was overthrown by the Normans, a
3-
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508
THE HORSE.
mixed class of military adventurers from the north of Eu-
rope, of Scandinavian lineage. Scotland during this period
had continued essentially Celtic, with the exception of the
kingdom of the Lothians, extending from the Forth to the
Tweed, which had been early colonized by Saxons; and,
with the exception of a portion of the extreme north, colo-
nized by Scandinavians. The Celtic inhabitants of North
Britain were known to the Romans as Caledonii, and some-
times as Picti, although the latter term is by many antiqua-
ries supposed to indicate a distinct race of men. In the
third century, in the reign of Dioclesian, we first hear of
another people, certainly Celtic, who were to give their
name to the whole of North Britain. These were the Sceite
or Scots, the Scoti and Scoticæ gentes of the Roman writers,
who, landing from the north-east of Ireland on the nearest
coasts, gradually extended their power. In the beginning
of the sixth century, they had occupied the Peninsula of
Caentir or Cantire, and they gradually advanced northward
and eastward until about the year 843, when they had ac-
quired the ascendency over nearly all the native tribes, giv-
ing that name to the whole of North Britain, which it will
for ever retain.
In the year of our Lord 1066, that is, 605 years after the
first settlement of Saxons in England, the dominion of the
Anglo-Saxon princes was overthrown by an army of Normans.
But by this time a new race of men had been formed, of mixed
lineage, but now possessed of a common language, and mould-
ed to a common standard of national character. Scotland
was never subjected to the Normans; but in thirty-one years
after the Norman Conquest, a race of Scoto-Saxon princes
succeeded to the Scottish crown, and from that time the
Saxon speech and customs rapidly extended over all the
Lowlands of Scotland.
Coincidently in time with the Saxons in England, the rem-
nants of the Britons existed in Wales, and preserved a brave
independence in the mountains and fastnesses of that coun-
1
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
509 €
try. They preserved the native Horse; but it does not ap-
pear that they ever made the least figure as horsemen, in
which respect they resembled other Celtic nations who have
occupied countries of mountains.
The Saxons, though a Gothic nation, were little given to
the multiplying of Horses; and it does not appear that they
ever became distinguished as horsemen in their new country.
It cannot be supposed that they transported many horses to
a country already possessed of them, in the small and dan-
gerous vessels with which they navigated the northern seas;
and therefore it may be assumed that, up to the period of the
Norman Conquest in England, and for many centuries after-
wards in Scotland, the Horses of the country remained essen-
tially the same as when the Romans first encountered them
in the battle-chariots of the Celta.
But the Normans were ardently devoted to the Horse, as
an instrument of their wars and silvan exercises. William I:
transported with him a numerous cavalry, to which he mainly
owed the first victory which enabled him to give law to the
country, and his rude successors and feudatories retained in
after ages the Norman tastes in what regarded the Horse.
War and the chase occupied the thoughts of these barba-
rians, and the barons and great vassals of the Crown, amongst
whom the wretched kingdom was partitioned, carried the
Norman passion for the Horse to their newly-acquired pos-
sessions. But the Normans, although they conquered the
country, did not, like the Saxons, colonize it. They forced
upon it their laws and polity, but were too few in num-
bers to alter essentially the characters, the language, or,
for many ages, the social habits of the people. Neverthe-
less, with the conquest of the Normans began a change in
the Horses of England. The communication with France,
the Low Countries, and the neighbouring parts of Germany,
being opened, horses superior to those of the ancient Bri-
tons and Anglo-Saxons could be obtained. Then, too, was
the age of chivalry, of heavy-armed knights, and men-at-
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arms, for whom horses of good strength and size were re-
quired. The great Black Horse of Flanders and the plains
of Germany was in especial request; and our earlier re-
cords shew that the Norman princes largely resorted to
these countries for supplying their studs and armies. The
Crusades, too, had conveyed a knowledge of those gay and
elegant steeds which happier climes and distant lands pro-
duced; and by degrees horses from Spain and Italy, Bar-
bary and the countries of the Levant, found their way to the
land of the Anglo-Normans. King John, during his troubled
reign, found time to devote his attention to the improvement
of the native Horse. He imported at one time a hundred
stallions from Flanders. Edward II. imported Horses from
Lombardy; and Edward III. took yet more active means to
obtain the horses of foreign countries. The annals of his
reign shew that he was indebted in large sums to the Prince
of Hainault and other powers, for horses obtained for the
supply of his cavalry. He devoted the sum, great in those
days, of 1000 merks for the purchase of Spanish stallions.
While eager to avail himself of foreign horses to improve
the native races, and pursue his wars, he resolved that other
countries should not reap a corresponding advantage. He
prohibited the exportation of horses from England under
heavy penalties, and succeeding princes continued the sys-
tem; and up to the reign of Elizabeth, it was felony to carry
horses even from England to Scotland. In these ages, then,
it appears that not only were the larger horses fitted for
heavy armour and the tournament brought into England, but
by degrees the lighter and more active horses of the South
and East; and the employment of fusees in war, and the
gradual change of heavy armour, led to a more general pre-
ference of horses of lighter form and easy action. Henry
VIII. was the last of the English kings who maintained the
usages of chivalry. But even he saw the superiority of the
finer horses of the South and East, and imported them in
some numbers from Turkey, Naples, and Spain, for the im-
THE HORSE.
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CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
511
provement of the Royal stud. Yet, with all the inconsis-
tency and stupid barbarity of his character, he determined to
keep up the size of the great horses of England. He en-
acted that all his prelates and nobles, "whose wives wore
velvet bonnets," should keep stallions for the saddle at least
fifteen hands high. He caused an act to be passed that all
stallions found on commons below a certain size should be
confiscated, and that any mare or filly not likely to bear foals
of a reasonable size, or to do profitable labours, should, at
the discretion of the drivers of the commons, be killed and
buried. These monstrous edicts, could they have been car-
ried into effect, would have thinned the number of useful
horses in England, already reduced by the destructive wars
of the houses of York and Lancaster. So great had been
the decline in the number of horses in England, that Queen
Elizabeth could only muster about 3000 cavalry when the
terrible Armada of Spain threatened her kingdom with de-
struction. Contemporary writers give us no high idea of the
English horses at this period. They are described as strong
and sturdy indeed, but as fit only for draught. The coarse
cart-horse form was the prevailing one, even for horses em-
ployed in the chase. We see then, that, up to this period, no
very great change had taken place in the general character
of the horses of England. By the foreign importations, in-
deed, a class of horses had been formed called Running
Horses. These were not exclusively devoted to the race, but
were merely distinguished for a somewhat superior power of
speed. During the reign of Elizabeth, the use of heavy
armour went gradually into disuse, notwithstanding the
jousts and sports of the tilting-yard, which were still eagerly
pursued. When James I. ascended the throne, these sports
were in the wane, and he afforded them little support. James
had no fondness for warlike exercises. He is said to have
observed that he loved armour, because it both prevented
the wearer of it from being hurt himself and from hurting
others. He, however, gave great encouragement to a sport
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which has exercised an important influence on the characters
of the Horses of the country. This was the Horse-race,
which laid the foundation of a system by which a breed of
horses was formed solely for running. The system was per-
fected in the reign of Charles II., and from this period a
vast care has been bestowed in breeding a race of horses
exclusively devoted to the Course. This has been effected
by mixing the blood of the horses of the warmer countries
with that of the horses of England, and breeding from the
best of the mixed progeny. The horses imported were
chiefly from Africa, from Asiatic Turkey, and ultimately
from Arabia. The Barbs came generally from Morocco and
Fez, and the Turks from Smyrna and other ports of the
Levant; the Arabs generally from the deserts adjoining
Syria. From the reign of King James to that of Queen
Anne, in the beginning of last century, the imported horses
were Barbs and Turks, but chiefly Barbs, which had there-
fore the greatest share in forming the original characters of
the English Race-horse. The pure Arabs were chiefly in-
troduced in the early part of the last century. They con-
tinue to be imported up to the present day, but in diminished
numbers, and with little effect on the existing race, whose
characters have been long formed.
THE HORSE.
When the system of the Turf was perfected, those horses
only were able to contend in the race which possessed in the
requisite degree the property of speed; and as this property
is derived from animals possessed of the same virtue, the
horses used for the turf came to be distinguished by their
pedigree; and all may be traced by the parents to horses of
the South and East, which had been mingled in blood with
the pre-existing race. The pedigrees of horses which claim
the privilege of running, or rather which possess the proper-
ties of speed in a sufficient degree to enable them to run,
have been preserved with jealous care, so that there has
been formed a privileged class which may be termed horses
of noble blood, as amongst the Circassians and Arabs.
The
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513
horses of this caste or family being made to breed with one
another, its characters became permanent, and a distinct
breed, in the proper sense of the word, was produced. The
triumph of art was complete, and the breed produced, for
a combination of strength with the power of rapid motion,
became unequalled in the world, excelling in fleetness the
horses of the Arabian deserts, and surpassing in strength
and beauty the chariot steeds of the Olympic games. It
was not merely by mixing the blood of the African and
Asiatic horses with those of England that the full end was
arrived at. It was by continued reproduction between the
descendants of the mixed stock, selecting for breeding those
which possessed the characters required. Foreign nations
are desirous to obtain the Race-Horse of England for im-
proving the native breeds, and to this end these noble horses
are eminently suited; but this of itself will not form a race
of horses possessed of permanent characters. To effect this,
the long-continued care of breeding is required, until a race
shall be formed having that identity and permanence of pro-
perties which constitute a true breed of any kind. To the
class of characters which distinguish the horses of Africa.
and the southern parts of Western Asia from those of the
colder countries is applied the technical term “blood ;” and a
horse is termed a "blood-horse" which possesses these cha-
racters in an eminent degree. Thus, while many of our horses
possess more or less of the characters denoted by the term
blood, the term Blood-horse is limited to the race whose espe-
cial destination is the Course; and to this race of horses is
likewise applied the term Thoroughbred, which is regarded
as the more precise and sportsmanlike.
The formation of this race of horses, of mixed lineage, yet
moulded to a common standard, and capable of transmitting
the characters acquired to their remoter descendants, has an
important relation to the history of the breeds of horses
existing in the British Islands. Not only have the indige-
nous races their peculiar characters, acquired by the in-
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
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THE HORSE.
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fluence of climate, soil, and food, but they have the charac-
ters communicated to them by a mixture of the blood of the
superior race. The thoroughbred horses of England have
been employed to a vast extent to communicate the proper-
ties of increased action and spirit to the inferior races. By
this mean all the larger horses used for the saddle, for the
chase, for cavalry, for the innumerable lighter carriages of
every kind, nay, sometimes for the labour of heavy draught,
have had their characters modified by an admixture, more or
less, of what is termed blood. The history and character
of the British Race-Horse, and the institution of games to
which it is rendered subservient, will demand a more detailed
investigation. The effect has been, that a breed of horses
has been formed, of peculiar lineage and characters, and
been mingled in blood with the native varieties in every de-
gree. In this manner, certain properties have been com-
municated to the inferior races, and varieties have been mul-
tiplied without limits. Not only does there exist the diver-
sity of what may be termed natural breeds, but those fur-
ther differences produced by the greater or less degree of
breeding communicated to individuals. Many remain with
little or no admixture of the blood of the Race-Horse, and
so may be regarded as native breeds or families; but others
are so mixed with the superior Horses, or with one another,
that they cannot be treated of as Breeds, but must be re-
garded as Classes, suited to particular uses.
Of the races which have no mixture of the blood of the
Race-Horse, one inhabits the Islands of Zetland. These
are the least in size of any of the varieties produced in the
British Islands. They resemble the ponies of Norway,
Sweden, and Iceland, but they exhibit likewise traces of
mixture, which may be derived partly from ancient, and
partly from modern times. It is not certainly known whether
these desolate islands were inhabited at all when first oc-
cupied by Scandinavian plunderers; but being taken posses-
sion of, they long continued attached to the Crown of Norway,
+
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515
and it was not until the 15th century that they became sub-
ject to the Scoto-Saxon Princes. Their first and most inti-
mate connexion having been with Norway, it is reasonable to
suppose that their horses were derived from that country;
or that, if an anterior race existed in the country, it was
mixed in blood with that of the horses of the Northmen.
The more recent intermixture may be supposed to have been
with the horses of the adjoining islands of Orkney, and in
later times with those of Scotland proper. But tradition
refers to a further intermixture with the horses of Spain,
when the terrible Armada of Philip pursued its disastrous
flight round the extreme north of Scotland. Many of the
huge galleons and smaller vessels of that ill-fated expedition
were stranded on the Zetland shores, and others found refuge
in the creeks and natural bays of the country. It is further
known that the Spanish ships were largely supplied with
horses; and it may therefore be believed that some of these
Spanish horses were left behind, which could not fail to im-
press their characters on those of the Islands, probably few
in number, and held in little esteem. But this supposition
is almost confirmed by the aspect and properties of many of
the existing race, numbers of which are extremely handsome,
are fleeter in proportion to their size than any of the other
ponies of Scotland, and tend very generally to the brown or
bay colour, characteristic of the horses of southern climates.
But whatever be the origin or degree of mixture with other
races of the horses of Zetland, their diminutive size marks
the influence of a rigorous climate and scanty nourishment.
Their ordinary height is about 36 inches, or 9 hands; many
of them do not exceed 7 hands, or 30 inches; and some fall
even below the latter standard.
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
L
These little horses in their native islands are left almost
in the state of nature until they are caught for use. They
have no shelter from the continued storms of tempestuous
seas, beyond what the crags, ravines, and sides of hills, afford;
and they scarcely ever receive any food but what they can
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collect on the sedgy bogs, the heathy hills, and barren shores
of the country. They are thickly covered with a coat of
long hair, which becomes felted upon them like a garment
during the inclement season. Their colour is generally bay
or brown, sometimes mixed with white, and often it is of a
dullish black, and sometimes piebald. They are sagacious
and cunning, stealing into the patches of growing corn when
opportunity offers. They are gentle, and easily reduced to
obedience, and when domesticated and kindly treated, ex-
hibit almost as much sagacity as a dog. They will enter
an apartment and receive crumbs from the table, and stretch
themselves on the floor. They have sometimes been put in
hampers, and thus carried to a distance. They are in great
request for equestrian exhibitions, and are more easily trained
Thus
to the feats required than any other kind of horses.
they may be made to' leap through hoops, and in passing a
bar, to stoop beneath it, or leap over, as directed. The chief
demand for them is for saddle-horses for children. They
are the safest animals that can be used for this purpose; and
as the demand is considerable, and would be much greater
were the supply more extended, there is good reason for
directing attention to the rearing of them, and preserving
those peculiarities of size and form which give them their
value.
THE HORSE.
The Orkney Islands possess likewise their breeds of ponies;
but they are of more mixed descent, and of larger size and
coarser form, than those of Zetland. These islands, the Orc
of the ancient British, were discovered by the Roman fleet,
which, by command of Agricola, sailed round the Island.
They early formed the haunt of northern rovers; and, to-
wards the end of the 9th century, were reduced to subjection
by Harold Harfagre, the Norwegian, who established a dy-
nasty of Earls, who reduced Caithness, and parts of Suther-
land, Ross, and Cromarty, and made themselves be felt for
ages as the terror of the neighbouring coasts. In the year
1468, the Orkney, together with the Zetland Islands, were
1
517
given in pledge to King James III. as the dowry of his wife.
Margaret, the daughter of Christian, King of Denmark;
and, in 1472, they were annexed to the Crown of Scotland,
by an act of the Scottish Parliament. The early conque-
rors of these islands were pirates; and, fighting on foot,
made little use of the Horse in battle; so that the horses of
the country were probably few in numbers. Those which it
now possesses are small, although, in the progress of culti-
vation, others of a larger size have been introduced. They
are mostly of a dull black colour marked with white, or
dun marked with the dark streak along the spine, charac-
teristic of a widely diffused family. A few are white, and
some piebald, which has been ascribed to the wreck of a
number of white German stallions, which took place in the
latter part of last century.
The Habudes of the Roman geographers, by an early error
of transcription, changed into Hebrides, consist of two groups
of Islands; the first, the Outer Hebrides, consisting of Lewis,
Harris, and others, lying out in the western ocean, and ex-
tending in a long chain of about 140 miles; the second, the
Inner Hebrides, lying nearer the coast, and stretching from
Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, to Skye on the coast of Ross.
These numerous and gloomy islands were, beyond a doubt, pos-
sessed by the same Celtic race which peopled the other parts
of Britain, as is attested by the existing names of places and
natural objects, which have survived many bloody changes,
and by the like rude monuments as extend from Cornwall to
the ancient Orc,-from Wilts to the mountains of Kerry.
But the same ferocious seamen who ravaged the northern
islands, formed settlements in these. In the Outer Hebrides,
Scandinavian names have generally supplanted the Gaelic,
and the language of the people is mixed with the Frisian and
Norse. The Inner Hebrides were not so long and wholly
subject to these strangers, and the Gaelic names accordingly
prevail over the Scandinavian. The conquerors of these
islands cared for the sea, and made little use of horses.
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
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THE HORSE.
Nevertheless, all the islands of any magnitude produce
horses in considerable numbers. Those of the Outer He-
brides are small, round-shouldered, muscular, and thickly
clad with long hair. Those of the Inner Hebrides are usu-
ally of somewhat larger stature. The best of them used to
be produced in Mull, Barra, and Islay; and here, too, tradi-
tion refers to changes produced by the horses of the wrecked
Armada, a part of which having rounded the North Cape,
found its way to these dangerous coasts. It is abundantly pro-
bable that here, as elsewhere, some of the stranger horses
were left behind; but no such traces exist in the present
horses of the country as can enable us to refer them to
Spanish lineage. They are mostly of a brownish-black
colour, some brown, bay, or dun, some of a dull cream colour,
and some gray. They have the common characters of round
shoulders, stout limbs, and short upright pasterns.. They are
hardy in a high degree, but they have little speed. They have
lost much of the reputation which they once possessed. Be-
ing employed in carrying loads when young, they are gene-
rally bent in the back, and otherwise thrown out of shape.
No care is bestowed in selection, and the best of them being
picked up by dealers, those that remain suffer continued de-
terioration, so that it is now difficult to obtain a tolerable
pony in places where a few years ago they were numerous.
It will scarcely be credited, that numbers of them have been
recently bought by dealers to be fattened and sold as Irish
beef. Yet the demand for a better class of them exists,. suf-
ficient to induce attention to the breeding of them, and they
would become a valuable production of the country, were the
most ordinary care bestowed on their improvement. But it is
painful to state, that the condition of the greater part of these
lonely islands is far from being one of much advancement,
notwithstanding that the extended communication by steam
is eminently calculated to promote their industry and pros-
perity. The proprietors are generally non-resident; the
farms, as in Ireland, are divided into miserable possessions,
•
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CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
519
at excessive rents; and the mass of the people accordingly
are in such a state of penury as to preclude a beneficial em-
ployment of their industry.
The same kind of horses extends to the neighbouring parts
of Argyleshire, and, with some change of characters, depend-
ent on the greater elevation and productiveness of the heathy
pastures, through all the central and northern Highlands.
The prevailing colour is a dull brownish-black. They have
abundant hair, stout limbs, and short pasterns. They have
good feet, and are sure-footed and hardy in the highest de-
gree. They are well suited for climbing mountains, and mani-
fest great sagacity in making their way through swamps and
bogs; but they are lazy and slow, and altogether destitute
of the fire and mettle distinctive of the Arabs, the Barbs, and
other horses of warmer climates. They are carried in con-
siderable numbers to the low country, where they are valued
for their power of subsisting on scanty food, and enduring
careless treatment.
•
The mountains of Wales, in like manner, give birth to a
race of small horses, adapted to an elevated country of scanty
herbage. The Cambro-Britons necessarily depended for pro-
tection on their foot soldiers, and not on their cavalry, and
never appear to have been distinguished as horsemen in the
mountainous country which they so valiantly defended. From
their laws and chronicles we learn some curious details re-
garding their horses. Hywelda or Howell, surnamed the
Good, who lived in the tenth century, condescended to legis-
late on every subject of household and general economy. He
fixed the price of all things to be bought and sold within his
dominions, from horses to cats. The price of a foal under
fourteen days old was to be 4d., of one a year and a day old
48d., and so on. He turned his royal thoughts to the tricks
of horse-dealers, a class of persons who seem in every age to
have adopted the maxim of never speaking the truth in mat-
ters of trade. For every blemish discovered in a horse after
sale, one-third of the money was to be returned, except the
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520
THE HORSE.
blemish should be on the ears or tail! The buyer was to
have a certain time allowed him to ascertain whether the
horse was free from three diseases, namely, three nights for
the staggers, three months for the wind, and a year for the
glanders. Whoever borrowed a horse and rubbed the hair
off, so as to gall the back, was to pay 4d.; if the skin was
forced into the flesh, 8d. ; if the flesh was forced to the bone,
16d. No horse was to be used in the plough; but he was to
be brought up as a serving horse or palfrey, and his price
was then to be 120d. Horses can only be supposed to have
been valuable from the smallness of their numbers when such
absurdities could have become the laws of even the pettiest
province. When the Normans conquered and partitioned
Wales, other horses than those of the country could not fail
to be introduced. Roger de Bellesme, afterwards Earl of
Shrewsbury, is said to have brought the Spanish Jennet to
his estate of Powisland, to which circumstance has been as-
cribed the reputation which the horses of that part of Wales
once possessed. But whatever changes may have taken
place in the ancient horses of Wales, it is plain that many
of those which now possess the country are of mixed lineage.
In the higher country, indeed, considerable numbers of ponies
are reared, which may be supposed to be pure with respect
to their descent from the pristine race. They are much
neglected, but are usually superior to the ponies of the
Highlands of Scotland, having better shoulders, finer limbs,
and superior action. They tend to the lighter colours of
brown or bay, have good feet, and are sure-footed. But the
progress of cultivation has caused a class of larger horses,
suited for draught, to be reared in all the less elevated dis-
tricts; which, though useful, hardy, and true to their work,
are far inferior in symmetry to the race of the mountains.
In the forest of Dartmoor is reared a race of ponies, of
coarse inelegant figures, but hardy, sure-footed, and capable
of undergoing extreme drudgery; and in the high lands of
Exmoor is a similar race, but of somewhat smaller size.
I
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
521
These little horses are thickly covered with long hair, and
until caught for use are left nearly wild. They are resolute
and cunning, ascending the rocky eminences when pursued,
leaping from blocks of rock, or even jumping over their pur-
suers when hemmed in. The New Forest of Hampshire,
which William the Conquerer converted into a hunting
ground, by driving away the wretched inhabitants, and burn-
ing all the towns, villages, and churches within a compass of
many miles, long produced a race of ponies, of which the re-
mains yet exist. They are ugly, large-headed, and short-
necked, but hardy, sure-footed, and capable of bearing care-
less usage.
In like manner, over all the ancient wastes and forests of
England, formerly covering the larger part of the surface of
the country, were reared varieties of horses, the size and
strength of which bore a relation to the quality and abun-
dance of the natural herbage. Sometimes they were of the
pony size, falling short of twelve hands high; sometimes they
reached fourteen hands, and in rarer cases fifteen. They
were of coarse form, with short hairy limbs, and were capable
of much drudgery, but were destitute of elegance, and un-
suited for speed. From this class were derived the older
Pack-horses, which were used throughout the country before
roads were formed, and which, until late in the last century,
were the most numerous class of horses employed for draught
or riding. They were good drudges, hardy and sure-footed,
but wanted action and lightness for the saddle; while, for the
purposes of labour, they were inferior to the larger horses
now employed. Numbers of this very ordinary kind of horses
are yet to be seen in Cornwall and other hilly parts of Eng-
land. In the high parts of Devonshire they are still employed
in carrying loads. They are numerous likewise in Ireland,
and in parts of Scotland; and wherever they exist, exhibit
that form which the greater part of the horses of these
Islands possessed, until mingled in blood with the finer races
of Barbary and the East.
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522
THE HORSE.
A variety of horses, differing from the ordinary pack-horses
in their greater lightness and elegance of figure, were termed
Galloways. They exceeded the pony size, and were greatly
valued for their activity and bottom. They were derived from
the countries near the Solway Firth; and an opinion fre-
quently expressed is, that they had been early improved by
horses saved from the wreck of the Armada. There is
nothing beyond tradition to support this opinion, and it is
known that the Horses of Galloway were distinguished long
before the age of the Armada. The nature of the country,
mountainous, but not heathy and barren, may account for the
production of a larger race of ponies, without our resorting
to the supposition of foreign descent, just as the same country
at the present time produces a peculiar breed of cattle, larger
than those of the higher mountains, but smaller than those
of the richer plains. Besides, this part of Scotland was a
country of forays during the rude border wars of the times,
when a more agile race than the ordinary pack-horse was
naturally sought for; and all along the borders of the two
kingdoms, a class of similar properties existed. Many of the
true Galloways of the western counties were handsome, and
their general characteristic was activity, and the power of
enduring fatigue. In former times this breed was in great
demand in England, and the people of the country where
they were produced, up to a period not very distant, were
noted as horse-dealers. In England the term Galloway came
at length to be applied to horses of a particular size, without
reference to their origin, and this application of the word is
still in use. The term Pony is applied to Horses of twelve
hands or less, the term Galloway, to those of about fourteen
hands. The finer kinds of Galloways have long disappeared
in the district which formerly produced them, the farmers
having cultivated a race of larger size for the purposes of
labour.
A race of Horses, of foreign lineage, but long naturalized,
exists in the West of Ireland, almost unknown to the breed-
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ers of England. They inhabit the Connamara district of the
county of Galway. The tradition is, that, from the wreck of
some ships of the Spanish Armada on the west coast of Ire-
land, in the year 1588, several horses and mares were saved,
which continued to breed in the rugged and desolate country
to which they were thus brought. But the aid of tradition
is in no degree necessary to prove the origin of these horses,
since all their characters are essentially Spanish. They are
from twelve to fourteen hands high, generally of the pre-
vailing chestnut colour of the Andalusian horses, delicate in
their limbs, and possessed of the form of head characteristic
of the Spanish race. They are suffered to run wild and ne-
glected in the country of mixed rock and bog which they
inhabit, and where they are to be seen galloping in troops
amongst the rugged rocks of limestone of which the country
consists. When they are to be caught, which is usually
when they are three or four years old, they are driven into
the bogs, and haltered. They are hardy, active, sure-footed
in a remarkable degree, and retain the peculiar amble of the
Spanish Jennet. Any selection may be made from the wild
troops, after being hunted into the bogs; and individuals are
obtained at a trifling expense. It must be regarded as re-
markable that these horses should retain the characters of
their race for so long a period, in a country so different from
that whence they are derived. They have merely become
smaller than the original race, are somewhat rounder in the
croup, and are covered, in their natural state, with shaggy
hair, the necessary effect of a climate the most humid in
Europe. From mere neglect of the selection of the parents
in breeding, many of these little horses are extremely ugly,
yet still conforming to the original type. It would be desir-
able that the gentlemen of Ireland should direct attention to
this remarkable race, which would supply a class of horses,
of the Galloway size, now much wanted. By importing some
of the best Andalusian stallions, a wonderful change could
CLASSES AND BREEDS OF BRITISH HORSES.
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be effected in the breed, which would thus be rendered of
economical importance to the district which produces it.
But a class of native horses, of great importance, as the
basis on which have been formed the superior draught-horses
of the country, consists of the larger breeds of the plains,
distinguished by their size from the smaller varieties of the
higher countries, commons, and forests. These horses are
merely a larger variety of the Pack-Horse. They have stout
limbs, with long hair at the fetlock and on the legs. They
are of all colours, with abundant hair, and long bushy manes.
They are slow and unapt for rapid motion, but capable of
exerting great physical force in the drawing of loads, or
bearing of burdens.
THE HORSE.
From these native horses, all influenced, with respect to
size and form, by the nature of the districts in which they
have been reproduced, are derived, by amalgamation with,
one another, and then by the mixture of foreign blood, the
endless varieties which are now multiplied throughout the
country. Some of these varieties possess such a community
of characters, arising from common descent, or long inter-
mixture with one another, that they may be regarded as
families or breeds. But many more cannot be classified in
this manner, and therefore it has become common to arrange
the different kinds, not into Breeds founded on common re-
semblance, but into Classes founded on the uses to which
they are applied. Under this kind of arrangement, our
Horses may be divided into two general classes; first, those
employed for the saddle and the lighter wheel-carriages, and,
secondly, those employed in the heavier labours, and which
are commonly called Draught and Cart Horses. In the first
class are the Race-Horse, the Hunter, the Coach-Horse, and
all the varieties used for the saddle: in the second class are
the Cart-Horse, the Waggon-Horse, the Dray-horse, and
others.
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THE RACE-HORSE.
I.—THE RACE-HORSE.
525
The progressive steps have been referred to by which a
race of Horses has been formed, of recognised lineage, des-'
tined to a particular end, and possessed of a class of com-
mon characters. Although early importations of the lighter
Horses of the countries of the Mediterranean had contributed
to form the class termed Running Horses, it was not until
the reign of James I. that a race of Horses in the country
was especially devoted to the Course. James, while in hist
native country, had displayed a strong passion for field-sports
and rude horse-races; and, on his accession to the English
Crown, he had the means afforded him of gratifying his
tastes. He soon established regular courses; and, before
the expiration of his reign, a code of regulations was formed,
which became the foundation of the refinements of the mo-
dern Turf. Charles I. was not less attached to horse-races
than his father, but he brought greater taste and judgment
to the pursuit; and he would have been one of the great im-
provers of the English Horse, but for those civil disturbances
which deprived him of repose and life. Notwithstanding
the bloody dissensions of this period, the passion for horse-
racing gained ground amongst the people, whilst the ancient
sports of the tilting-yard declined. Cromwell, with all the
severity of his character, shewed no distaste towards these
pastimes. He had probably the sagacity to perceive the
national advantages to be derived from improving the Breeds
of Horses through the medium of popular sports. He culti-
vated his own stud with care, and did not disdain to exhibit
his skill of four-in-hand. But it was to Charles II. that the
final establishment of horse-racing, as a system and fashion
of the opulent, is to be ascribed. It was a sport entirely
suited to his own gay temper, while it was pursued with re-
newed eagerness by the people, tired of the fanatical seve-
rity of recent times. Charles sent abroad his Master of the
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THE HORSE.
Horse to make purchases for his stud. Two Barbs which
he imported are familiarly known as the Royal Mares, and
stand the first in rank amongst the parents of the turf-horses
in England. He continued all his life to take extraordi-
nary delight in this amusement. The place where he used to
sit at Newmarket, surrounded by his joyous Court, can yet
be pointed out as the King's Chair. James II. partook
of the same feeling, and attempted to pursue the same
pleasures during his brief and agitated reign. King Wil-
liam did not disdain this sport of the nation, and paid great
attention to the improvement of the Royal Stud. Queen
Anne had a decided taste for the same pursuits, and kept a
considerable number of race-horses. Amongst those which
we read of in the racing annals of the time, are the now well-
known names of Pepper and Mustard, which seem to have
been the most successful. The two first Sovereigns of the
House of Hanover gave way to the public feeling. George III.
was a judicious patron of the Turf: and George IV., long
the gay leader of elegance and fashion, was strongly devoted
to this class of spectacles.
-
The lighter horses for speed, introduced previous to the
reign of James I., were Spaniards, Barbs, and Turks. But
King James, on his accession to the English Crown, resolved
to try the Arabian, with which his reading had probably
rendered him familiar. He purchased a horse of that race,
imported from the East by an English merchant, Mr Mark-
ham, for which he paid the sum, great in those days, of
L.500. This horse, however, in no way distinguished on the
turf or for his stock, attracted little attention. The Duke of
Newcastle, who afterwards wrote a remarkable work on
Horses, took an especial dislike to this Arabian, abused him
as a bony creature, good for nothing, because, being trained
to the course, he could not run. This opinion seems to have
exercised a great influence on the breeders for the turf; and
it was not until after the lapse of more than a hundred years
that the neglected Arabian was again resorted to. During
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this long period, Barbs, and Turks from the Levant, were the
horses chiefly imported and mingled in blood with the pre-
existing race.
Of the foreign horses early introduced into England, one,
familiarly known as the White Turk, was the property of
Mr Place, the stud-groom of the Lord Protector Cromwell.
Another was brought by the Duke of Berwick from the siege
of Buda, in the reign of James II.; and a third, the Byerly
Turk, became the most distinguished of all the foreign horses
of that period. He was the charger of Captain Byerly, in
the wars of William in Ireland, about the year 1689. Of
the lineal descendants of this horse, one was King Herod,
born in 1758, bred by his Royal Highness William Duke of
Cumberland, brother of George II. This fine horse, on re-
tiring from the turf, was employed as a stallion, and got 497
winners at our various race-courses, computed to have gained
to their owners L.201,505. From the celebrity of Herod
and his stock, it is usual to call the descendants of the
Byerly Turk the Herod line of horses, and this distinction is
still recognised by English sportsmen.
In the latter years of Queen Anne, an Arabian had been
brought to England, which tended to impress a new charac-
ter on the English turf. This animal, the progenitor of some
of the finest horses that have perhaps existed in the world,
was purchased at Aleppo by a merchant, the brother of Mr
Darley of Yorkshire. He was supposed to have been of the
Desert Breed, although his precise lineage was not deter-
mined. He got the Devonshire or Flying Childers, and
another horse, termed Bartlett's Childers, who was never
trained, but who was the ancestor of Eclipse, one of the
most remarkable horses of which we have any records.
The Devonshire or Flying Childers, born in 1715, was so
named from his breeder Mr Leonard Childers, of Carr House,
near Doncaster, from whom he was purchased, when young,
by the Duke of Devonshire. He was a chestnut-horse, with
four white legs. He was of noble form, of matchless courage,
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and the fleetest horse that had ever been upon the English
turf. He was at first trained as a hunter; but his surpass-
ing speed being observed, he was translated to the turf.
About the year 1721, he ran a trial race with two of the
finest horses of the day. Carrying 9 st. 2 lb., he ran over
the Round Course of Newmarket, 3 miles 4 furlongs and
93 yards, in 6 minutes and 40 seconds; and over the Beacon
Course, 4 m. 1 fur. 138 yards, in 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
Eclipse was got by Marske, a grandson of Bartlett's Chil-
ders, out of Spiletta. He was foaled in the year 1764, dur-
ing the eclipse of that year; from which circumstance he
took his name. He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland,
and, on the death of that Prince, sold to Mr Wildman, a
salesman at Smithfield; and afterwards he became the pro-
perty of Mr O'Kelly. Eclipse had not the grandeur of form
of the Flying Childers, and might have escaped notice, but
for the accidental trial of his stupendous powers. He was
about fifteen hands and one inch high. His shoulders were
very low, oblique, and so thick above, that, according to the
observation of the time, a firkin of butter might have rested
upon them. He stood very high behind, a conformation
suited to his great power of progression. He was so thick-
winded as to be heard blowing at a considerable distance.
In the language of honest John Lawrence," he puffed and
blowed like an otter, and galloped as wide as a barn-door."
No sooner were his powers exhibited on the turf, than every
eye was set to scrutinize his form, and he was then admitted
to possess in perfection the external characters indicative
of great speed. A volume was written on his proportions
by M. Saintbel, a veterinary surgeon, whose investigation
shewed that his figure differed greatly from the conventional
form which speculative writers had assigned as the standard
of perfection. He was of an indomitable temper, and his
jockeys found it in vain to attempt to hold him, but con-
tented themselves with remaining still on the saddle, while
he swept along, his nose almost touching the ground. His
THE HORSE.
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full speed was not determined, since he never met with an
opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to the proof. He not
only was never beaten, but he was able to distance some of
the best horses of his time; and the fleetest could not keep
by his side for 50 yards together.
This remarkable horse first appeared on the turf, at the
age of five, in 1769. In the first heat, he set off of his own
accord, and easily gained the race, his rider pulling him in
vain with all his force for the last mile. O'Kelly observing
this, and aware of his horse's powers, offered, in the second
heat, "to place the horses," and he took heavy bets that he
did so. When called upon to declare, he said, “Eclipse
first, and the rest no place." He gained his wagers: Eclipse
was first, and all the others were distanced, or, in the lan-
guage of the turf, had no place. From this time Eclipse
was continually on the turf, and gained every race. No
horse daring to contend with him, he closed his career of
seventeen months by walking over the Newmarket Course
for the King's Plate, in October 1770. During this brief
period, it is said that he gained L.25,000 for his owner. He
was then employed with prodigious profit as a stallion. He
got 334 winners at our numerous race-courses, who are com-
puted to have gained about L.160,000 to their owners, be-
sides cups and plates. He died in 1789, at the age of twenty-
five.
THE RACE-HORSE.
Eclipse, it will be seen, was directly descended from the
Darley Arabian, and, besides, united in himself the best blood
of the turf. It has been proposed to distinguish the line
which he adorned as the Eclipse line of horses, just as that
in which Herod is found has been designated the Herod line.
Another horse of foreign lineage, scarcely inferior to the
Darley Arabian in the fame and value of his descendants,
and by many supposed to have exercised a yet more im-
portant influence on the horses of the turf, is the Godolphin
Barb, who lived a short time later than the Darley Arabian,
having been born about the year 1724. This splendid horse
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was long regarded as an Arabian, although his characters
approached to those of the Barb. He was found dragging a
water-cart in France, and was probably one of those neglected
presents of horses, frequent at that time, from the Barbary
Powers to the French Court. He was brought to England,
and finally presented to Lord Godolphin, in whose stud he
remained a considerable time before his value was suspected;
and then only it was discovered in consequence of the ex-
cellence of one of his sons, Lath, out of Roxana, who proved
to be the fleetest horse, Childers excepted, that had, till then,
appeared on the English turf. His grandson Matchem, was
in a peculiar degree noted for the excellence of his stock.
This latter horse is supposed to have yielded his owner, Mr
Fenwick, upwards of L.17,000 as a stallion alone. He died
in 1781, having had 354 sons and daughters, all winners at
our numerous race-courses, and computed to have gained to
their owners L.151,097. From the importance of the progeny
of Matchem, it has been proposed to term the line to which
he belongs the Matchem line.
As the greater part of the horses of the modern turf are
more or less allied in blood to Herod, Eclipse, and Matchem,
it has been proposed to classify them by their lineal descent
from these celebrated horses. This classification cannot be
deemed satisfactory, from the mixture of blood that has taken
place; but yet it is convenient, and may be found useful.*
THE HORSE.
* The following Table will suffice to give some idea of the mixture of blood
that prevails in the modern Race-Horse. Thus, it will be observed, that though
the sire and dam of Bay Middleton are both in the Herod line, they yet partake
more or less of the blood of both the Matchem and Eclipse lines. In the same
way, Charles the Twelfth, though lineally descended from Eclipse, partakes of
three successive infusions of the Herod blood; and Dr Syntax, though belong-
ing to the Matchem line, inherits also the blood of both Herod and Eclipse.
The same remark, indeed, applies even to Herod, Matchem, and Eclipse them-
selves; for, on referring to the Table, it will be seen that they all possessed
more or less of the blood of one another. The Table will be readily understood
when read thus: The Byerly Turk, and a mare descended through her sire
from the D'Arcy Yellow Turk, produced Jigg: Jigg, and a mare descended
through her sire from Curwen's Bay Barb, produced Partner; and so on :—
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The record of the pedigree of the horses of the English
Turf exhibits distinctly the formation of a race of horses of
HORSE.
Byerly Turk
Jigg
Partner
Tartar
Herod
Woodpecker
Buzzard
Selim
HORSE
Squirt
Marske
ST
Eclipse
King Fergus
Hambletonian
Whitelock
Blacklock
Darley Arabian
Bartlett's Childers
HORSE.
Sire-SULTAN.
MARE descended through
her Sire from
Eclipse
Herod
SULTAN.
D'Arcy Yellow Turk
Curwen's Bay Barb
White D'Arcy Turk
Darley Arabian
Godolphin Barb
Matchem
Sire-VOLTAIRE.
THE RACE-HORSE.
BAY MIDDLETON.
MARE descended through
her Sire from
D'Arcy Yellow Turk
Lister Turk
Herod
Herod
Eclipse
Herod
VOLTAIRE.
Hutton's Bay Turk
Godolphin Barb
Alcock's Arabian
Sire-PAYNATOR.
CHARLES THE TWELFTH.
PAYNATOR.
MARE descended through
her Sire from
HORSE.
Godolphin Barb St Victor's Barb
Cade
Matchem
Conductor
Trumpator
Byerly Turk
Jigg
Partner
Tartar
Herod
Highflyer
Sir Peter
Walton
Phantom
HORSE.
Eclipse
Don Quixote
DOCTOR SYNTAX.
Dam-COBWEB.
Darley Arabian
Bartlett's Childers
Squirt
Marske
Sancho
Prime Minister
HORSE.
MARE descended through
her Sire from
D'Arcy Yellow Turk
Curwen's Bay Barb
White D'Arcy Turk
Darley Arabian
Godolphin Barb
COBWEB.
Dam-WAGTAIL.
Darley Arabian
Eclipse
Eclipse
Matchem
Darley Arabian
Partner, or Byerly Turk Bartlett's Childers
Darley Arabian
Squirt
Partner, or Byerly Turk Marske
Alcock's Arabian
Eclipse
King Fergus
Beningbrough
MARE descended through
her Sire from
D'Arcy Yellow Turk
Lister Turk
Hutton's Bay Turk
Godolphin Barb
Holderness Turk
Herod
Herod
Eclipse
WAGTAIL.
Dam-BENINGBROUGH MARE.
MARE descended through
her Sire from X
D'Arcy Yellow Turk
Lister Turk
Hutton's Bay Turk
Godolphin Barb
Alcock's Arabian.
Herod
Godolphin Barb
BENINGBROUGH MARE.
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THE HORSE.
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exclusive lineage, or at least of a lineage interrupted only by
the further infusion of the blood of those races of other
countries from which its own characters have been derived.
The record is of great interest and value, not only with re-
spect to the matters of the Course, but as it relates to the
physiological history of the Horse, and the principles of
breeding. It proves, in a manner which no similar docu-
ment has done, the constancy of the law by which the pro-
perties of conformation and character are transmitted from
one animal to another, even to their remoter descendants.
It shews, beyond dispute, that the change produced on the
properties and figure of the ancient horses of this country
has been the result of the mixture of the blood of the horses
of the warmer countries, and explains the meaning of the
terms so often used, but so ill defined, of "blood," and
thoroughbred.” For the most part, the horses of this
privileged class have, since the more regular institution of
the turf, been kept wonderfully free from intermixture with
those of inferior breeding. Frauds have doubtless been
committed, and horses introduced into the racing lists with
false pedigrees; but, in general, an extreme vigilance has
been exercised in this matter by those whose attention is
constantly directed to the subject; and it may be safely said
that, for the last century and more, the instances of this
kind have neither been numerous nor important in their re-
sults. It has rarely happened that the inferiority of the
spurious breed has not been rendered manifest by deficiency
in the speed and other properties of the individuals or their
descendants; and though a few of doubtful origin may have
been introduced into the Course, one of two effects has gene-
rally resulted: either the animals have been of themselves
so good that no injury has resulted to the general race from
the supposed taint, or they have been so inferior in character
and value, that the blood has not been extended. In the
last age, a very famous horse called Sampson, the property
of the Marquis of Rockingham, was supposed to present such
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a deviation from the ordinary type of the Race-Horse, that a
very general opinion long prevailed on the turf that he was
of impure pedigree. He was a horse of immense size and
strength, was born in 1745, and died in 1777, at the age of
32. When he first appeared for trial on the turf, nothing
could exceed the ridicule of the jockeys at an attempt to run
a coach-horse, as he was called. Sampson, however, turned
out a racer of amazing power, and beat most of the horses
of the day with which he entered into contest. The pre-
vailing opinion of modern breeders is, that Sampson was
really of pure blood, and that his peculiarity of form was a
variety.
The records of recognised authority with respect to the
pedigree of Turf-horses, are the Stud-Book and Racing
Calendars. These works afford every detail required re-
garding the horses recognised as thoroughbred. It will
be seen that, while the pedigree of the dam is carefully re-
corded, descents are reckoned by the male. The Arabs,
it has been said, adopt a different practice, and reckon
descents by the female. Either usage is founded on the
assumption that the virtues of the parents are reproduced in
the progeny. The English breeders adopt the most natural
course, that of reckoning by the parent whose influence is
the most extensive with regard to the numbers to which he
communicates his qualities. The practices are not essen-
tially different in the result; for a male possessing certain
properties derives them, on the assumption of the regularity
of our law, from a male that has possessed the same virtues.
The establishment of a true system of genealogy, it is appa-
rent, must be founded on the derivation of both parents.
THE RACE-HORSE.
The Race-Horse, cultivated for a peculiar purpose, pre-
sents the conformation of parts which adapts him to the ends
proposed. His height is from fifteen to sixteen hands. A
medium, or even a smaller size, is preferred to one exceed-
ing the usual standard. Few very tall racers have been re-
markable for their performances on the turf, while many of
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THE HORSE.
the smaller size have proved themselves the most trustwor-
thy and valuable. He is somewhat light in the body; and
the limbs, with relation to the trunk, are somewhat longer
than in the horses suited for the endurance of fatigue, or the
exertion of physical force, as the Hunter, the Hackney, the
Cart-Horse; in which respects the Race-Horse approaches
nearer to the African than the Asiatic type. The chest is
deep, but narrow-a conformation suited to the exertion of
speed. The shoulder is finely formed, and oblique, but gene-
rally more low than consists with the safe and powerful
action of the fore extremities. The back is somewhat long,
and the distance between the last rib and the pelvis greater
than in the hunter, in which strength and the power of en-
durance are more regarded. The croup is long, the breadth
and length of the hind-quarters are large, and the muscles are
well developed. In these latter points, connected in the first
degree with the power of progression, the Race-Horse sur-
passes all other known breeds. The head is fine and mode-
rately small, the forehead broad; the eyes are large and
brilliant, the ears delicate, the lips thin, the nostrils wide,
the subcutaneous veins apparent. The neck is somewhat
long, straight, and thin, and the windpipe appears distinct.
The limbs are muscular to the knee and hock, and below
these joints, tendonous, thin, and flat. The pasterns are
long and oblique, and the hoof is well formed. The whole
conformation of the animal indicates lightness, activity,
and the power of rapid motion. To these properties, in-
deed, others have been sacrificed, indicative of strength,
safe action, and the power of endurance. A painter or a
sculptor, were he to choose the model of a beautiful horse,
would not select the thoroughbred Horse: he would prefer
the Turk, with his nobler carriage, or the Hunter, with his
broader chest, his shorter back, his more elevated crest and
withers; but knowing the uses to which the Race-Horse is
destined, we are reconciled to the peculiarities of his form,
and even associate them with ideas of beauty and harmony
THE RACE-HORSE,
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535
of parts. The prevailing colour of the modern Race-Horse
is the bright brown or bay, so generally characteristic of the
Horses of the East, with black legs, mane, and tail. A rich
chestnut, too, the colour of Eclipse, is not unfrequent. The
bright black, common to the larger horses of the plains of
Germany, is rare, although good horses, chiefly those of the
Trumpator blood, have been of this colour. Gray sometimes
presents itself; but dun, roan, and piebald, are unusual.
As the conformation of the Race-Horse has become adapt-
ed to the exercise of a peculiar class of powers, so his treat-
ment, food, and discipline, have relation to the same end.
From an early period of his life, he is placed in what may be
termed an artificial condition with respect to temperature,
nourishment, and exercise. He is scarcely separated from
the dam before he is clothed, placed in a hot stable, put on a
diet of dry food, and exercised according to rules. He is
brought upon the turf at the age of three years, or sooner.
According to a modern practice unhappily introduced, he is
frequently run at the age of two years, or even before. This
system is calculated to produce an injurious effect on this
noble race of horses. It deprives the animals of that food
which is best suited to the system in early life, substitutes
artificial discipline for that natural exercise which the young
and immature animal requires, and tasks his powers to the
extreme, before his natural growth has been completed. It
impairs by over-excitement the vigour of the system, pro-
duces a tendency to many maladies, and shortens the dura-
tion of life. Not only does it affect the individual, but it
acts upon the progeny, causing feebleness and disease, and
impairing the natural powers of the race.
The principle of the treatment of the modern Race-Horse,
which is to be brought to a forced maturity of muscle and
bone, is to keep him in what is termed condition, allowing
him only a period of relaxation after the labour of the sea-
son. He receives dry and nourishing food, is kept in a high
temperature by the heat of the stable and continued clothing,
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and is rarely exposed to the atmosphere uncovered. Under
this system the fatty secretion is interrupted, the organs of
respiration are kept in a state of constant activity, and the
muscular fibre acquires that tenseness which fits the animal
for the severest exercise of his physical powers. What the
heat of the climate and the aridity of the soil produce in the
case of the Horses of the Desert, artificial treatment effects
in the case of the Race-Horses of England, though with vio-
lence to the general system. The first training or breaking
in of these Horses is of the simplest kind, and has reference
to nothing beyond the exercise of the animals' powers on the
turf. None of that careful discipline and progressive instruc-
tion which are required in the case of the Saddle-Horse is
needed for an animal which has never to exercise his speed
but for a short distance, and on a level surface. In the case.
of these animals, we do not require to give an artificial car-
riage, for the purpose of rendering them docile and pleasant
to the rider, but we seek to preserve their natural paces, and
to call forth to the utmost the exertion of their muscular
powers in running. No discipline is required by which the
centre of gravity shall be thrown back, the horse brought
upon its haunches, and a higher and safer action given to the
fore extremities. It suffices that he clears the turf on which
he is exercised; and the weight of his body is to be thrown
forward, and not backward. He is therefore ridden by light
boys, whose weight does not require him to bear on his pos-
terior limbs, and who give him his daily exercise on a turf
similar to that on which his powers are to be called forth.
His walk is the long stride proper to the uninstructed colt;
and the only other paces required of him are the natural
canter and gallop. In these motions he is continually exer-
cised; and if he answer the rein to the degree of allowing
himself to be pulled up, and turned at the post, little more
in the way of instruction is required of him. He is from
time to time exercised in trials at running with his fellows,
and thus acquires the habits of exertion suited to the race-
THE HORSE.
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course. This species of training, it will be seen, has relation
only to a given end, and will be inapplicable to any other.
The horses thus educated are frequently unsuited to useful
purposes: they are so unsafe that they can scarcely be trust-
ed to ride over a rough surface; and great numbers of them
break down on the level turf on which they are exercised.
Numbers of them are so little obedient to the rein, that even
in the race they must be ridden with running martingales,
though, by this means, their necks and heads are placed in
a position unfavourable to speed.
THE RACE-HORSE.
The more immediate training for the Course consists of a
repetition and extension of the same system of treatment,
with the addition of physic and forced perspiration. The
horses being fed, are taken out early in the morning for se-
veral hours, and again for several hours in the afternoon.
They are mounted in the stable by the boys, and one taking
the lead, the others follow to the training-ground, which is
usually in the immediate vicinity of the stables. The pace
of the animals is gradually extended, until it becomes what
is termed a brushing gallop. They are occasionally tried at
speed with their fellows; and the period and degree of ex-
ercise are suited to the temperament and age of the animals,
as determined by the judgment of the training-groom. The
effect of this continued and severe discipline is to brace the
muscular fibre, to maintain the strength and activity of the
body, and to keep the respiratory organs in active play. To
prevent the undue secretion of fat, purgative medicines are
administered more frequently than in the case of any other
class of horses; and the animals are occasionally subjected
to a severe sweating, which is produced by clothing them
thickly from head to tail, and galloping them for a shorter or
longer space. When all the pores of the skin are opened by
this exercise, the horses are taken to an adjoining house, and
then scraped and rubbed till dry. These sweats are repeated
once a-week, or thrice in the fortnight, according to the con-
dition and constitution of the horse. The effect of the train-
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538
ing is visible to the eye, in the distincter marking of the ex-
ternal muscles and tendons, the prominence of the subcuta-
neous bloodvessels, and the force, lightness, and celerity of
the movements of the limbs and body. But a treatment thus
artificial, carried to the degree required, must necessarily
react upon the system, excite to excess the circulatory organs,
enfeeble the powers of digestion, and induce many maladies.
These horses, accordingly, arrive at premature age, are rarely
long-lived, and are subject to numerous diseases of the limbs
and viscera; and great numbers of them break down after
their first exercises on the turf, or sink under the preliminary
trials.
THE HORSE.
▾
The practice of the Course itself merits consideration, not
merely as a gay and exciting spectacle, affording relaxation
and delight to great numbers of people, but as a system of
games affecting public taste, national manners, and private
morals,—as putting to the hazard of chances an enormous
amount of capital,—and as being connected with the preser-
vation of a beautiful race of horses, especially destined for
the sport.
The number of established race-courses of the British
Islands amounts at present to 153; namely, 132 in England,
9 in Wales, 9 in Scotland, and 3 in Ireland. The value of
the stakes and prizes run for amounts to L.148,775,* forming,
however, a mere fraction of the vast sums dependent on bet-
ting. The number of Royal Plates is 50, now commuted into
payments of 100 guineas each, defrayed partly from the
Privy Purse, partly from the department of the Master of
the Horse, and partly from an annual Parliamentary grant.
Of the English race-courses, that of Newmarket is the first
in rank and early celebrity. The town itself stands partly
in Cambridgeshire and partly in Suffolk, 61 miles NNE. from
London, on the great road leading to Norwich. King James I.
built a house here, that he might enjoy the recreation of
* History of the Turf, by James Christie Whyte, Esq.
.
539
the chase, and Charles II. added to and repaired it, after it
had fallen into decay during the Civil Wars, frequently grac-
ing it with his presence during the races on the adjoining
Heath. The original palace of James has long been sold
and applied to other uses. The structure erected by Charles
is chiefly used for training-stables. Mansions in and around
the elegant little town are the memorials of success on the
turf. Club-rooms, coffee-hquses, billiard-tables, and circu-
lating libraries, afford relief from the ennui of the intervals of
business. They very air seems tainted with the spirit of the
place; and, from the Three Tuns to the aristocratic rooms
of the Jockey Club, all is redolent of betting and play. The
very boys of the place, we are told, consume their winter
evenings in cock-fighting and dog-matches, and at halfpenny
roulette tables stake their all as freely as their betters. The
racing-ground is reckoned the finest in England, from the
variety of its surface, and the dryness, softness, and elasticity
of the turf. It is in the vicinity of the town, is four miles in
length, and is vested in the Jockey Club, as holding it under
the Duke of Portland. The training-grounds, a mile and a
half in length, are equally suited to their purpose. Four
hundred horses are frequently to be seen in training during
the greater part of the year; and the spectacle of so many
fine creatures at their daily exercise on the heath is scarce
inferior in curiosity and interest to that of the final exercise
of their powers. The racing-ground is in eighteen divisions,
termed Courses, of which the longest is the Beacon Course,
4 miles 1 furlong 138 yards: the next, the Round Course,
3 m. 4 f. 187 yds.: the last division of the Beacon Course is
3 m. 45 yds.: the middle portion of the same course 2 m.
97 yds.; and so on to the Yearling Course, 2 f. 147 yds.
The variety of these courses, some on the rise, some on the
descent, and some flat, afford means of selecting ground for
matches suited to the age, strength, and qualities of the
horses. The chair of the Judge is on wheels, moveable from
place to place. The duty of the Judge is to declare the
THE RACE-HORSE.
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​540
winner, which he does by the colour worn by the rider, which
is handed to him before starting. He does not, as in other
places, superintend the weighing of the jockeys, or take any
cognizance of them in the race; and he rarely even sees the
horses till they come upon the course. Betting-posts are
placed at suitable places, to which the sportsmen resort after
each race, to make their bets for the following one; and the
process of offering, taking, and booking bets, is performed
with a quickness, regularity, aud decision, which cannot be
surpassed. As only half an hour elapses between each race,
the interest and excitement of the scene never flag. By the
time of starting, the eager crowd that had surrounded the
betting-post disperse, as if by a common impulse, some gal-
loping to the starting-post, some placing themselves where
the ultimate struggle of the horses is expected to take place,
and some surrounding the Judge's chair, where they can
soonest learn the momentous issue. All has an air of busi-
ness, which no other course in the kingdom presents. No
noisy crowds, as at the more popular meetings, fill the space,
and distract the attention by clamour. Rarely the number
of spectators exceeds 500 or 600, the majority of them on
horseback, and deeply engaged in the business of the day.
In the following morning all the bets are paid, when more
than L.50,000 may change hands in an hour. The meetings at
Newmarket are seven in the year :-first, the Craven Meet-
ing, so named in compliment to Lord Craven, commencing
on Easter Monday; and then, at intervals of a fortnight, the
First and Second Spring Meetings; then the July Meeting;
then three in October, the last of which, termed the Hough-
ton, is more numerously attended than any of the others.
Next in rank to Newmarket for its races is Epsom, situ-
ated about fifteen miles south-west from London, on the
verge of the Banstead Downs. Upon the open space formerly
stood an ale-house, called the Oaks, which was purchased by
General Burgoyne, and fitted up for a hunting-seat. It was
sold to the Earl of Derby, one of the most perfect sportsmen of
THE HORSE.
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THE RACE-HORSE.
541
his day, who enlarged the mansion-house, and beautified the
domain. In 1779 he established the Oak Stakes, so named from
his seat, and in the following year the Derby,-both of which
have been run for ever since, forming the most popular races in
the kingdom. The racing-ground is on the Downs. The new
course, termed the Derby, is a mile and a half, somewhat in
the form of a horse-shoe; the first three-quarters of a mile
are nearly straight, the next quarter of a mile forms a gradual
bend, corresponding with that of the shoe, and the last half
mile is straight. The first part of the course, for about half
a mile, is an ascent; the next third of a mile is level; the
remainder is on the descent, until within the distance, when
the ground rises again to the winning-post. The subdivision
courses are, the new Two-year-old Course, T. Y. C., of six fur-
longs; the old T. Y. C., of somewhat less than four; and the
Craven Course, one mile and a quarter. The Great Stand,
erected in 1830, is capable of containing between seven and
eight thousand persons; and various minor stands line the
course to a distance, while innumerable temporary ones are
erected during the period of the race. The first spring
meeting, of minor interest, takes place in April; the great
meeting, at which the Derby, the Oaks, the Craven, and
other stakes are run for, commences on the Tuesday, and
continues until the end of the week preceding Whitsuntide.
The Derby is run for on Wednesday, the Oaks on Friday.
The Derby stakes, for a mile and a half, are fifty sovereigns
each, for three-year-old colts carrying 8 st. 7 lb., and for
fillies carrying 8 st. 2 lb. The Oaks offer the same condi-
tions for fillies carrying 8 st. 4 lb. These races excite intense
interest; and the winning of the Oaks or Derby is an object
of the first ambition to all connected with the English Turf.
These popular races present, it may be believed, an ap-
pearance very different from that of the quiet order and
business-like arrangements of Newmarket. Here we are in
contact with a vast city, pouring forth its countless multi-
tudes to enjoy a spectacle. The scene is unequalled in its
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542
kind in the world. All the approaches far around exhibit a
moving mass of horsemen, carriages, and pedestrians, hurry-
ing to the spot, while all the grounds which can command
the course are filled with spectators. Nothing appears to
the eye except the excitement and delight of eager crowds;
but when we mark the start, on which the fortunes of hun-
dreds hang, with half a million perhaps depending on the
result, to be decided in a few brief anxious minutes, then
we feel that there is something in the drama to be played
that must agitate many a heart. The whole spectacle is of
deep curiosity and interest, and to be in any degree appre-
ciated must be beheld.
THE HORSE.
The races of Ascot Heath, in the county of Berks, take
place in the end of May, closely following those of Epsom,
and they last for several days. These races were established
by the Duke of Cumberland. They are largely attended by
the more opulent classes of the Capital and neighbouring
country. They last for several days, and deep betting takes
place. The favour of the Court has been especially shewn to
these meetings; and, from the rank and wealth of their sup-
porters, it is usual to regard them as more the races of aris-
tocracy and fashion than any other in the kingdom.
The Goodwood races, so named from the noble mansion of
the Duke of Richmond, near Chichester in Sussex, although
amongst the most recently established, are now the most
popular in the south of England. From the fineness of the
course, the excellence of the regulations, and the value and
variety of the prizes, the best horses of Newmarket are
brought to this course. The meeting takes place in the end
of July, and lasts four days.
The races of York, instituted in the reign of Queen Anne,
and taking place in a district the most famous of any in Eng-
land for the rearing of Horses, are well supported, and the
money run for in Plates and Stakes is very large. The
course is perfectly flat: the meetings are three in the year,
namely, in April, August, and October.
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But of all the meetings in the north of England, that of
Doncaster has occupied the most prominent place, on account
of the institution of the St Leger stakes, which had their
origin in the year 1776. The commencement of this cele-
brated race was a sweepstakes of twenty-five guineas each
for three-year-old colts carrying 8 st., and for fillies carrying
7 st. 12 lb. for a two-mile heat. There were six subscribers,
and the stake was won by a bay filly by Sampson, belonging
to the Marquis of Rockingham, who beat Colonel St Leger's
bay filly and the other horses. In the following year it was
suggested by Colonel St Leger that the sweepstakes should
be continued annually on the same conditions; and the race
was accordingly named the St Leger, in compliment to the
proposer of it. The original conditions were continued until
the year 1832, when the stakes were altered to fifty sovereigns
for each subscriber, with one-half forfeit; the weights being,
for colts, 8 st. 6 lb., and for fillies 8 st. 3 lb.; and the owner
of the second horse receiving one hundred sovereigns out of
the stakes. The Doncaster race-course is round, and nearly
on a dead level. The Four-mile Course, so called, twice
round is 3 m. 7 f. 219 yds.; the Cup Course is 2 m. 5 f.; the
Two-mile Course is 2 m. 52 yds.; the St Leger, 1 m. 6 f.
132 yds; the Fitzwilliam Course, 1 m. 4 f. 10 yds. ; the Two-
year-old Course, 7 f. 189 yds.; the Red-house is 5 f. 164 yds.*
These courses are adapted to the various stakes and matches,
which are numerous at these races. The meetings are held
annually in September, a fortnight previous to the first New-
market meeting in October; on which occasion a vast con-
course of individuals interested in the turf assembles from all
parts of the kingdom, and heavy betting takes place.
In like manner, the other race-courses of the kingdom
might be referred to, all of them exciting intense interest
throughout large districts of country, collecting for a time
great crowds as to a common centre of occupation and
THE RACE-HORSE.
* Whyte's History of the Turf.
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THE HORSE.
amusement, and involving the hazard of incredible sums of
money. Those of Bath, Chester, Liverpool, Harwich, Man-
chester, Wolverhampton, are familiar by name to most per-
sons in this country. That of the Curragh of Kildare in Ire-
land is at the little town of Kildare, on the great road lead-
ing from Dublin to Limerick. The ground on which the races
are held is a noble undulating down, six miles in length by
two in breadth, which, for all the requisites of running and
training, is deemed superior to Newmarket itself. There
are five meetings within the year at the Curragh, at which
many fine horses run, where a large crowd of all kinds of
persons collects, and where much dangerous betting takes
place.
The horses, it has been seen, which are capable of en-
gaging in these contests, are a peculiar variety, whose cha-
racters have been acquired by a mixture of the blood of the
lighter horses of other countries with that of the pre-existing
race, and then by continued breeding between the individuals
of the mixed lineage. The variety thus formed has become
a caste, whose comparative freedom from intermixture is
ensured by its superiority for the purposes to which it is
destined over the races of inferior breeding. But the latter,
although they cannot engage on equal terms with the swifter
breed, may do so with one another. Hence races have been
established for horses that are not thoroughbred. To this
class of half-bred horses has been applied the absurd term
Cocktails. The races for half-bred horses have now become
very common at the different race-courses of the kingdom,
with the exception of Newmarket, where their introduction
has been always resisted. This kind of race has never been
regarded with much favour by sportsmen. Objections to it are,
the frauds to which it gives rise, and the disputes of which
it is productive. It is very difficult to prove that a horse is
thoroughbred, if the owner chooses to conceal or falsify the
pedigree. Hence thoroughbred horses may be fraudulently
introduced into this class of races. The consequence is, that
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THE RACE-HORSE.
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545
the prize is almost certainly carried away from the horses
which alone are entitled to run. The fraud is difficult to be
prevented, in consequence of the large amount of stakes of
this kind established at the provincial meetings, which hold
out a strong temptation to deception on the part of the lower
class of persons connected with the turf. Some years ago, a
horse described as half-bred, under the fictitious name of
Tom Paine, was hawked about the country, and won many
valuable stakes. On investigation, it was found that this
pretended Tom Paine was Tybalt, a thoroughbred horse by
Thunderbolt, from a mare of Lord Grosvener's, Meteora,
one of the best in England of her day; and similar, though
less impudent, frauds have in other cases taken place. Half-
bred horses, too, are suited for different and more useful
purposes than racing, and they are, for the most part, ruined
by the severe training necessary to put them into a condi-
tion for running; and, when a number of half-bred horses
contend together, it can scarcely happen that all will be put
upon an equal footing with respect to training, so that, in
this respect, a practical inequality is introduced, independent
of the merits of the horses. It may seem that stakes limited
to hunters, which have been regularly hunted for the season,
are more free from objection. It is to be observed, however,
that a hunter is destined for a particular class of services,
for which mere speed is not the most important requisite;
and it is cruel to put a hunter, after the hard services of the
season, under the severe discipline necessary to fit him for
running. Besides, many hunters are now thoroughbred,
and this is a source of inequality, independent of the real
value of the animals as adapted to the chase. For these
reasons, it appears to many that this class of stakes ought
to receive no encouragement on the regular turf; and fur-
ther, that yeomanry races, farmers' races, and the like, should
all be proscribed. No good, with respect to the improve-
ment of the breed of these kinds of horses, can result from
this class of races. A race-horse is intended to exert the
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powers of speed, and that is the best race-horse which most
excels in this quality. But is this the property sought for
in a hunter or in a road-horse? Or is a race on a level turf
the fitting mean to prove that either is a good hunter or a
good roadster? What should we think of a race of dray-
horses?
THE HORSE.
Sometimes, though very rarely, half-bred horses are brought
upon the regular course; but their inferiority is always ba-
lanced by a large discount in their favour of the weight
borne. Arabs and other Eastern horses likewise have some-
times been run, but with scarce a chance of success against
the thoroughbred horses of the country. Only one Eastern
horse, it is believed, ever acquired any moderate reputation
on the turf. A race was once established at Newmarket
expressly for Arabs; but the experiment failed, from the want
of interest excited, in consequence of the inferior speed of
the horses as compared with those of native breeding. Even
the first descendant between the native and Eastern race is
usually inferior. By the regulations for the Goodwood Cup,
the first descendants of Arabian, Turkish, or Persian horses,
are allowed a discount of 18 lb. of weight; and, when both
parents are of these countries, a discount of 36 lb. In other
cases, English race-horses have been tried against the horses
of other countries. They are frequently carried to India, and
matched against the best Arabs of the country; but the con-
tests, it is believed, are almost always, under a parity of cir-
cumstances, in favour of the English racer, although the
heat of the climate appears to be eminently unsuited to the
exertion of his powers. Sometimes accounts reach us,
through the continental journals, of the same kind of trials,
with a different result; but we do not learn in how far the
conditions of weight, training, and the like, were such as to
put the horses on a fair equality. In the year 1825, a race
was run in Russia between two English thoroughbred horses,
Sharper and Mina, and three Cossack horses, the latter se-
lected, after numerous trials, from the best that could be
547
procured in the countries of the Don. The distance to be
run exceeded forty-seven miles. On starting, the Cossacks
took the lead, the English following about three or four
lengths. They had not proceeded half a mile, before the
stirrup-leather of Sharper broke, and he ran off with his
rider, followed by Mina. Before they could be brought up,
they had run more than a mile, and up a hill. The race,
however, continued, and half the distance was run in an hour
and four minutes. At that time both the English horses
seemed fresh, and one of the Cossacks. Mina fell lame, and
was withdrawn. The remaining Cossacks began to flag, and
Sharper soon likewise shewed symptoms of distress. The
Russians and Cossacks, jealous of the honour of their coun-
try's horse, dragged him along by the bridle, threw away
the saddle, and mounted a child upon his back, nay, at length
dragged him by a rope, and even endeavoured to support
him by riding alongside of him. Sharper did the distance in
two hours and forty-eight minutes, followed by the Cossack,
who came in eight minutes later. In the accounts given of
this extraordinary race, it is stated that the English horses
carried at starting 3 st. more than their rivals; while, during
half the race, it has been seen the Cossack was ridden by a
mere child. If these accounts be correct, it is evident that
the Cossack horses were immeasurably beaten, even in that
kind of race the most favourable for the trial of their pecu-
liar powers. The accident to Sharper, and the distress oc-
casioned him by running up a hill, were sufficient to have
turned the day against him; but when to this is added the
difference of weight, it is evident that the Cossack horses
had not the remotest chance of success on equal terms. It
would be interesting, however, to repeat this kind of trial,
though for a less cruel distance, so as to determine, in a
satisfactory manner, the relative powers of two races of
horses both so excellent of their kind.
THE RACE-HORSE.
A class of Races introduced into this country has found
favour among certain persons, but with little of reason to
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THE HORSE.
defend them. The Steeple-chase, or, as our ancestors termed
it, the Wild-goose chase, is well calculated certainly to shew
the fearlessness of the rider, but scarcely his humanity and
judgment. At any time, the high leap is a severe tax on the
muscular powers of the horse; but when he is out of breath,
and sinking under the exertion of severe riding, the forcing
of him over an obstacle is injurious and cruel. The riding
across a country is the regular exercise of a hunting field;
but in the Steeple-chase, it is the wanton abuse of the powers
of a generous creature intrusted to our humanity. It is not
justified by any end of utility; any enjoyment beyond the
barren applause for risking the safety of the rider and the
life of his victim. We say, then, let those unhappy exhibi-
tions of fool-hardiness and cruelty be proscribed by public
opinion, and abandoned by the youth of the country.
The Rules and Conditions of Racing have been gradually
reduced to a system, and recognised by common consent.
The regulations of Newmarket have the highest authority,
and are adhered to in their essential details at the other
races. The race may consist of heats of one or more miles,
in which the winner of the majority of heats becomes the
victor; or of matches, consisting of a single race, by which
the contest is at once determined. The system of heats is
adopted in the case of royal and other public plates and
prizes; the single race generally in the case of private and
subscription matches or sweepstakes. But, as an addition
to the weight carried makes an amazing difference to an
animal moving at its utmost speed, the regulation of the
weight is an essential element in the conditions of a race.
When the animals are of the same sex and age, the weights
should be the same, in order to shew their relative powers;
but, when animals of different age and sex contend together,
they are put as nearly as possible in a state of equality by
the difference of weight assigned to each. A larger weight
is carried by stallions than by mares or geldings. The usual
difference between a colt and filly of the same age is 3 or 4 lb.,
:
549
and the ordinary weight carried by a colt three years old is
8 st. 6 or 7 lb. The difference allowed for difference of age
progressively diminishes as the animals become older, until
it ceases. But, besides the difference of weight determined
by age or sex, there are differences determined by conven-
tion. Thus, parties having a match together determine by
agreement, founded on their real or supposed knowledge of
the powers of the respective horses, the weight which each
shall carry. This is usually termed a handicap match. Some-
times it is stipulated that horses which have gained stakes,
as the Oaks or Derby, shall carry an additional weight;
while, on the other hand, horses whose advantages of breed-
ing or otherwise have been inferior, are allowed a discount
of weight in their favour. The differences of weight which
different classes of horses shall carry, in order that they
may be placed in a certain degree of equality, are plainly
not reducible to any fixed practical rule, much less to any
mathematical theorem founded on the relative powers of the
horses under different conditions. The whole adjustment is
one of convention, based on the practical observation of
sportsmen of the average power of horses, as exhibited in
different circumstances. When it is considered that an
ounce of additional loading to the same horse may make the
difference of a yard or more in half a mile of running, it will
be seen how greatly the weight borne may affect the issue in
the case of horses of equal powers. From mere experience,
without any application of principles, it is surprising how
well those practised in the business of the turf are able to
calculate the effects of weight on the chances of success.
In a match which took place many years ago at Newcastle-
under-Line, the horses were handicapped, having their re-
spective weights assigned to them by an umpire. Sir Thomas
Stanley's Cedric, three years old, was to carry 6 st. 13 lb. ;
Mr Mytton's Handel, four years old, 7 st. 11 lb.; Sir Wil-
liam Wynne's Taragon, four years old, 8 st.; Sir John Eger-
ton's Astbury, four years old, 8 st. 6 lb. For three succes-
sive heats Taragon and Handel came in nose to nose, reeling
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THE RACE-HORSE.
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at the last, and 'scarce able to carry their riders to the
scales. In the first heat Astbury was third, but so near
were all the horses that his place could with difficulty be
determined. Lying by, however, after the first heat, he came
forward in a final one, and won. In the first dead heat
it is apparent, the weight of a few grains might have turned
the scale.
*
THE HORSE.
·
By the former practice of the turf, the weights were heavy
and the courses long. Up to the commencement of the pre-
sent century, the weights for plate horses were from 10 st.
4 lb. to 11 st. 6 lb., and the heats were of three or four miles.
By modern practice, the length of heats is reduced to one or
two miles, and the weight to about 8 stones. The weight
does not include the shoes of the horse, which are therefore
made of the slightest construction. The saddle usually
weighs 3 or 4 lb., and sometimes it does not exceed 2 lb.
When weight is to be carried, either the saddle is loaded
with lead, or the weight is attached to the person of the
jockey, which is conceived to distress the horse less than a
stationary load. The jockey, with his appurtenances, is
weighed before he starts, and again on coming in, he must
proceed mounted to the place of weighing. If he dismounts
before, or wants weight, he is held to have been distanced,
unless he has been disabled by accident, in which case he
may be led or carried to the scales.
The balancing of the horses' powers by their weights being
a necessary element in the race and in the calculations of
success, it is important to the person who bets to have a good
knowledge of the characters of the horses, of their age, and
of their powers, as shewn by their running. But, besides
the public manifestation of the horses' powers on the course,
it is not unfrequent to make private trials of the horses which
are to run, which enables their owners to speculate more
securely on the ultimate result. It is not deemed expedient
to prevent this system, but an endeavour is made to lessen
* Mr Apperly, Quarterly Review.
551
as far as possible the hurtful effects which may result from
it. One evil, scarcely to be guarded against, is the circula-
tion of false reports of the trials, whereby horses which it is
known beforehand will lose are rendered favourites for the
great stakes. This has taken place in many cases to the de-
ception of the public, and the injury of those to whom the
reports were communicated. The watching of trials is strictly
prohibited, at least by the Newmarket regulations; but watch-
ing notwithstanding takes place, and the result is communi-
cated with the speed of a telegraph to the different clubs, and
those who have the means to pay for the intelligence. But
in this game of trick the watcher and his correspondents are
often cheated in their turn. The training-grooms may make
a horse win or lose as suits the purpose to be served; nay,
the jockeys who ride may be as ignorant of the result as the
horses themselves. The one jockey, we will suppose, has
gained the race by a single length, or by half a dozen of
lengths; but he knows not the load of shot that has been
privately stuffed into his rival's saddle; and the latter, good
man, is equally ignorant of the leaden spell that has been
laid upon the powers of his horse. But the story which of
all others has been the most frequently told upon this sub-
ject, and which best deserves to be repeated, relates to a
famous match in the reign of George I. A horse, Merlin, was
to run against another, the property of the well-known Tre-
gonwell Frampton, then styled the Father of the Turf. The
match excited intense interest among the sportsmen of the
north in favour of Merlin, and among those of the south in
favour of his rival. The horses had been for some time in
training at Newmarket, when Frampton's groom, with the
knowledge of his master, endeavoured to induce the groom
of Merlin to have a private trial with the weights and for
the distances agreed upon, which he asserted could not fail
to make both their fortunes. The groom in charge of Mer-
lin had the honesty to communicate the proposal to Sir Wil-
liam Strickland, who took the charge of the match for Mer-
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lin. The Baronet coolly desired the groom to accept the
offer, but, at the same time, privately instructed him to put
7 lb. more of weight into his saddle than were to be used at
the match. Frampton had previously given the very same
orders to his groom, and the two horses started on their
trial, each loaded with 7 lb. beyond the weight which he was
to carry. In the trial Merlin beat his antagonist by a length.
This being duly communicated by the grooms to their respec-
tive masters, each became certain of success. If my horse,
argues the Baronet, can beat the other with 7 lb. extra weight,
he is sure to win the race; if mine, says Frampton, can come
in within a length, loaded with his extra 7 lb., his success in
the race is certain. The patriarch communicated the mo-
mentous secret to his friends, and numerous bets were offered
and accepted on the result. At length the important hour
arrived, and the betting was beyond all former example.
The south country gentlemen, confident in the stratagem of
their chief, declared that they would bet their gold while they
had it, and then their land: the north country squires, equally
assured of the success of their plot, took the bets to any
amount. The horses started, the jockeys did their duty, and,
just as was to be expected, the race was gained by Merlin
by the same distance as in the secret trial. The confusion
was immense; the secret came out; and the wily father of
the Turf found, as many are said to have since done, that
his opponent was too far north for him. Numbers of gentle-
men were ruined by this event; and soon afterwards a law
was passed for preventing the recovery of gaming debts be-
yond the amount of L.10 sterling,—a foolish law, seeking in
vain to counteract the natural feelings of gentlemen, by re-
lieving them of the obligation to pay their debts. Frampton,
the party implicated in this affair, deserves notice. He was
born in the reign of Charles II., and had been keeper of the
Running horses at Newmarket to King William III., Queen
Anne, and George I., as he continued to be to George II., in
whose reign he died, at the age of eighty-six. He was a man
THE HORSE.
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of birth and fortune, esteemed by his private friends; but he
had the misfortune to be regarded by the world as the great-
est rogue of his age. One act of his is recorded, so full of
meanness, avarice, and cruelty, as to be incredible. We will
not repeat it, because we say that the evidence which has
been produced in support of it is not worth a straw; because
the victim of the tale has lain a hundred years and more in
his grave without a tongue to defend him; and because, ac-
cordingly, every man who values for himself a good name
after death is bound to pronounce a verdict of "not guilty"
in favour of the unhappy Frampton.
The means of judging of the success of rival horses on the
turf unfortunately do not depend upon events which may
be
the subject of reasonable calculation, but on mere contingen-.
cies. A horse may be run to lose as well as to win, and
other circumstances may affect the result, having as little
relation to the powers and merits of the horses as events in
the moon. But, before speaking of these things, it will be
well to turn for a moment to the classes of persons who are
engaged in this stupendous system of amusement and play.
The humblest class connected with the business of the
turf consists of the Boys of the Stables, to each of whom is
assigned the care of one horse, with the duty of riding it at
exercise of these poor youths the number is very great.
They enter on their hard duties at a period of life so early,
that the stable becomes to them a little world, which bounds.
their thoughts, and influences all their habits. One of their
number has given us a whole book, under a title eminently
characteristic of the stable, "Genius Genuine." Another,
however, has really lived to distinguish himself as a man of
letters, and has given us the singular story of a Stable-boy's
Life. This is Holcroft, known in his age as a dramatic writer
and novelist of no mean note.
THE RACE-HORSE.
The boys, he tells us, rise at half-past two in summer, and
at between four and five in the depth of winter. When they
begin to awaken one another for their morning task, the
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horses are on the watch, neigh, and express their joy. Food
being supplied, the litter is shaken, the stalls are made
comfortable, and the animals dressed. They are mounted
in the stable, and taken out to the downs and heaths for
exercise, which lasts for several hours. On their return
they are again dressed, and the boys permitted to break
their fast; and nothing, our author tells us, can exceed the
enjoyment of a stable-boy's breakfast. The duties of the
stable are then resumed, and again the horses are taken to
the training-grounds, and again subjected to their long exer-
cise. These horses, hot in blood, tender from constant cloth-
ing and rubbing, are skittish, often vicious, easily and sud-
denly alarmed, irritable, and dangerous even in their play.
The youthful horsemen acquire by degrees a firm seat, cling-
ing to their fiery steed by their knees and legs, and manag-
ing it with courage and address. Their seat has not the
graceful ease of the manège, but accords with the practice
found suitable for the Course. In the stable they acquire a
wonderful command over the hot and dangerous creatures
with which they are in contact, ordering them with authority,
roughly rubbing their irritable skins and dangerous heels, a
single stroke of which would terminate the joys and sorrows
of the tiny groom.
While often a man and a stranger durst
no more enter the stall or loose box of one of these fiery
creatures than the den of a tiger, these boys are to be seen
as much at their ease as if they were playing with a cat; so
strong is the power of reason, even in a child, over brute force
and the wildest passions of inferior natures.
THE HORSE.
In a community of such lads, far away from the vigilance
of early friends, associated with evil minds, and witnesses of
gross pursuits, an extreme severity of discipline is called for.
Woe it is to him, our author tells us, who is absent at stable
hours; but how many are the minor offences which lie be-
tween this extreme and the mere thoughtlessness of boyhood,
for which the harsh reproof, the ashen rod, the abrupt dis-
missal, are put in force! The want of sleep may seal the
THE RACE-HORSE.
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urchin's eyes even when he approaches the brushing gallop;
how much more soundly is he likely to slumber upon the truss
of straw in the warm stall! His dreams, however, may be
interrupted by the ready broom, and more effective switch..
"I remember to have been so punished once," says our
author, describing his falling asleep in the horse's stall,
"when the blow, I concluded, was given by Tom Watson,
as I thought no other boy in the stable could have made so
large a wale: it reached from the knee to the instep, and was
of a finger's breadth." Here the chastisement may have
been wholesome; but to the forlorn boy, the more cruel
dismissal may bring destitution, sorrow, and crime. Mr
Holcroft describes his own mental sufferings in a case
of this kind, the penalty of an unlucky tumble from a
dark-gray filly, by which he nearly broke his neck. But
for what further relates to our author's personal adven-
tures, reference must be made to his own amusing memoirs,
where we find detailed his first feelings of joy on partaking
of a breakfast of cold meat, Gloucester cheese, and white
bread; his exultation at finding himself, in place of driving a
shoemaker's donkey through the dirt, mounted on an animal
outstripping the wind; his fall from the dark-gray filly, and
its results; and the final ruin of all his equestrian hopes, by
his being found “idling away his time in reading;" by his
scratching ciphers on the paling of the stable-yard with a
nail; becoming actually able to spell a word of six syllables,
to the surprise of his drunken schoolmaster; by his being
found studying psalmody under the guidance of a journeyman
leather-breeches maker; and finally, by his throwing away
all his earnings, by betting, like his betters, on the stirring
events of the heath. While these things may make us smile,
they may furnish food for graver thoughts. Can nothing be
done to benefit the condition of these youthful instruments of
so many pleasures? Of all the vast sums which are squan-
dered on licentious sports, can no mite be saved to gain some
little food of the mind for these severely-tasked boys, even to
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the degree of teaching them to spell words of six syllables?
Can nothing be allotted for relief to them during the trying
hours of destitution, when the failure of employment renders
them helpless and heart-broken, even though their dismissal
should have been merited, and for offences greater than fall-
ing from a dark-gray filly, or singing psalms with a leather-
breeches maker? We do not think they would make the
worse grooms if some substitutes were provided for skittles,
cock-fighting, and halfpenny-roulette tables. The prospects
of this class, it is believed, are sufficiently melancholy. They
soon outgrow the light weight which is necessary for the ha-
bitual exercise of the Race-Horse. Their highest ambition
is to become jockeys; but, in ninety-nine cases out of a hun-
dred, Nature refuses to limit their growing forms to the Lil-
liputian standard of 8 st.; and a few only accordingly attain
the honours of jockeyship.
THE HORSE.
The Jockeys, again, form a class of higher importance and
rank; the success of the race mainly depending on the skill,
the coolness, and promptitude, with which they perform their
part. The jockey must be of small size, to suit the light
weight of the modern Turf, while he must possess the phy-
sical strength of limbs and body required for his dangerous
exercise. His seat on the saddle differs from that of the
ordinary horseman : he supports himself on his stirrups, and
by the pressure of his thighs and knees, and throws the
centre of gravity more forward than in ordinary riding,
grasping each bridle-rein, and holding his hands low upon
the withers. He rarely moves the position of his hands and
body, or if he does, it is imperceptibly, so as not to interfere
with the pace and stride of the horse. The instrument for
urging forward the horse is the spur, used according to the
emergency and the temper of the animal. The whip is held
in the right hand, only to be used when necessary at the final
set-to, or ultimate struggle, when the arms are raised, and
the position of the body changed, so as to produce a tem-
porary excitement in the horse. Not only does the jockey
(
557
consider the temper and capacity of his own horse, but the
speed and capability of his rivals; and a part of his nice
game is to avail himself of the advantages presented to him
by the deficient powers of the rival horses, or the faults of
the riders. His eye is directed to all their movements;
while to the observer he seems intent only on the part he
has himself to perform. He seeks to gain the race, but with
no more expenditure of his horse's powers than suffices for
the end. If his own horse possesses superior speed, but less
endurance, his game is not to urge his rival forward, but to
wait until he reaches the distance at which he knows his own
superior speed will bring him in. If, on the other hand, his
horse has greater endurance, but inferior speed, he reverses
the manœuvre; he presses his rival to his utmost powers,
and trusts to the property which his horse possesses to carry
him in first to the goal. But when the distance to be run is
very short, the artifices must be modified in a corresponding
degree. In this case, it is important to get the horse the
soonest possible on his utmost stretch, so that space may not
be gained by the rival. No rules, however, can be given to
suit all the cases that may arise. There are jockeys so per-
fect in their art, that nearly every thing is trusted to their
judgment; but there are numerous cases of others less skil-
ful, as when boys must ride on account of the very light
weight required, and then specific instructions are given by
the training groom, founded on his knowledge of the horse,
of the ground, and of the capacity of the rivals. There is
always on the turf a certain number of jockeys of reputation,
whose professional services are in continued request. These
persons are frequently engaged to ride various races in a
day, and are often required to make rapid and distant jour-
neys from place to place.
To adapt the jockeys to the weights required, the process
of wasting, as it is termed, is in use. The means used for
wasting are, abstinence, walking exercise, sweating, and me-
dicine; the degree in which each is used depending on the
THE RACE-HORSE.
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time allowed, and the temperament and condition of the
patient. The dress is of stout soft flannel, and generally
consists of from two to three pairs of drawers, and from four
to six waistcoats and jackets, and over all a suit of loose
common clothes. The jockey having taken some light food,
starts early in the morning on his walk. He commences at
a moderate pace, which he gradually increases; and having
gone a distance of four miles or more, he has usually a room
prepared, in which he can partake of some warm liquid.
Having somewhat rested himself, he returns homeward at
a smart pace, usually swinging his arms to increase the
muscular action. Entering the house in a state of profuse
perspiration, he takes some warm liquid, and reposes for
an hour or more covered with blankets: when the per-
spiration has subsided, he places his feet in warm water,
sponges his body, and dresses himself as usual, taking care
that his clothing is sufficiently warm, and avoiding unneces-
sary exposure to cold and moisture. He retires to rest at
an early hour, and rises betimes to renew his walk. Coin-
cidently with this exercise, he observes a strict and abste-
mious diet his common food is tea and plain toast, with a
little animal food at noon. Distilled liquors are proscribed,
and the only fermented one allowed is wine, and this in the
smallest quantity, and largely diluted. Aperient medicines
are sometimes used by those who dislike severe walking, but
never with such good effect as the simple exercise. Under this
system a man can reduce his weight a pound or more in the
day, without injury to his general health, or temporary im-
pairment of his natural vigour. On the contrary, all jockeys
admit that they receive benefit from the training process, and
that it is only when they return suddenly to a system of re-
pletion that inconvenience is experienced. When jockeys
exceeding the required weight are in practice throughout the
racing season, they must keep to this system of diet with
extreme rigour. Relaxation even for a single day will in-
crease the weight of the body many pounds. A single glass
:
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559
of brandy, by exciting the external absorbents, will undo the
effects of several days' wasting. It will appear, then, that
it requires no slight degree of self-control in the jockey to
maintain, during a period of seven months of laborious exer-
cises, a system of abstinence to which the fast of Ramaddan
is a jest; and it is not to be wondered at that, when his long
lent is over, he is too ready to welcome the season of good
cheer. It was the practice of Frank Buckle, on the last day
of the Houghton Meeting, always to order a goose for sup-
per; and where is the lover of good things who might not
have envied Frank Buckle his goose?
Of the jockeys who have been in practice, some have been
so distinguished that they are regarded as masters of their
art. Francis Buckle first appeared as a rider in 1783, when
his weight, including the saddle, was a pound short of 4 st.
He soon became the most successful rider on the turf. He
rode the winners of five Derby, seven Oaks, and two St Leger
stakes. In 1802, he took long odds that he would win both
the Derby and Oaks, on horses not considered likely to win.
His horse at the Derby was the Duke of Grafton's Tyrant,
with 7 to 1 against him. Young Eclipse, considered to be
the best horse of the year, made play, and was opposed by
Sir Charles Bunbury's Orlando, who contested every inch
for the first mile. Buckle, from his observation of the pace,
and his fine judgment, was satisfied that both horses would
flag, so following and observing them, he came up with
Tyrant, and won; Tyrant being considered the worst horse
that till then had won the Derby. Buckle had thus secured
one of the two ends proposed. The other was effected under
circumstances not less remarkable. The horse he rode,
Scotia, was beaten three times between the Tattenham
Corner and home, a distance of 4 furlongs; but, by dint of
superb riding, Buckle got her again forward, and won the
race by a head. Other instances might be given of his power
to overcome difficulties by his judgment and fine horseman-
ship. He was once beaten by a lady, Mrs Colonel Thornton,
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THE HORSE.
scarcely, perhaps, inferior as a rider to himself. This was in
a match between Colonel Thornton's Louisa and Mr Brom-
ford's Allegro. Mrs Thornton, caparisoned in purple cap
and waistcoat, with nankeen skirts, not so long as to conceal
her embroidered stockings and purple shoes, took the lead
at starting, and kept it till approaching the distance. Here
Buckle, putting forth all his jockeyship, succeeded in gain-
ing the lead; but the lady, with no less address and skill,
whipped her horse, pushed onward, and won the race by half
a neck. This was the second race to her on the same day.
In a match for four hogsheads of Côte Rôti, 2000 guineas,
and 600 guineas more betted on her account, she cantered
over the course, Mr Bromford, against whom she was to
ride, paying the forfeit. The same bold lady had once be-
fore appeared in a match on the race-course at Knavesmire.
A hundred thousand persons had assembled to witness the
spectacle, and more than L.200,000 sterling depended upon
the result. The lady, after displaying unwonted jockeyship,
spirit, and good humour, lost the day, to the regret of the
assembled multitude. Honest Buckle could scarce feel mor-
tification at being overcome by such a rival. He continued
to ride with undiminished reputation till past his sixty-fifth
year, and died lately in a state of honourable competence,
leaving behind him the character of a perfectly honest, kind-
hearted man.
•
Samuel Chifney preceded Buckle in time, but was cotem-
porary with him for a part of his career. Chifney stood in
the first rank of riders of a former age. He was principal
jockey of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Bedford, the Earl
of Grosvenor, and other sportsmen of the time. He wrote
the work called "Genius Genuine," which, notwithstanding
its absurd title, and barbarous style, is worthy of attention.
It shews the distinction between the riding of the turf and
that of the manège or hunting-field. Chifney likewise illus-
trated the difference in practice, being as timid and awkward
in the hunting-field as he was bold and skilful on the course.
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Chifney bequeathed his mantle to his son, long one of the
most eminent jockeys of his day.
Samuel Chifney the younger was distinguished by his bold-
ness, his originality, his tact, his elegance of seat, and his
judgment of what is termed pace. His maxim was to wait
until the time of decisive action arrived, which he calculated
with remarkable precision; then stealing quietly but rapidly
up to his opponents, he made the terrific rush, which decided
the race. He was averse to "making running," as it is called,
almost to a fault. Let the number of horses have been what
it might, Chifney was generally amongst the last, calmly ob-
serving the movements of his rivals, and waiting his time. In
a famous race, in which his opponent was James Robinson, a
rider not less distinguished in his style, than Chifney in that
in which he claimed pre-eminence, the peculiar character of
Chifney's riding was finely shewn. Robinson, on Lucetta,
led; Chifney, on Priam, followed close in his wake. If
Robinson attempted to look over his shoulder to see how his
opponent was running, Chifney was bent to the opposite
side, so as to be out of sight. In this manner the race was
run almost from end to end, nor could Robinson once get
sight of his wily adversary until the latter passed him to
gain the race. When this Fabian horseman used to ride,
the betting on his horse never failed to rise.
Another rider, of a different school, but perfect in his own,
is James Robinson, just mentioned, educated in the stables
of one of the chief trainers of Newmarket. The distinguish-
ing characters of this jockey are coolness, gentleness, and
thorough tact. Robinson, though the most elegant rider on
the turf, makes his superiority be felt rather than seen. The
greatest reliance is placed by every one on his steady judg-
ment; and so great is his success, that a popular saying is,
that Robinson is worth half a stone to the horse he rides. All
his fellows, Chifney excepted, have yielded the palm to this ac-
complished rider, and feared to encounter his unfailing skill.
He has won more races than any man on the turf. In 1827
THE RACE-HORSE.
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he rode the winner of the Derby and St Leger, and, it is re-
ported, received a present of L.1000 for the latter race from
a gentleman whom he had never before seen. It is said that
in 1824 he declared to his friends that he would win the
Derby on Cedric, the Oaks on Cobweb, and be married within
the week; all of which undertakings he accomplished.* Fur-
ther accounts might be given, of the Goodisons and others
of a former age; and of the Scotts, the Days, and the Flax-
mans, and others, of the present one; but these examples
will suffice to shew the class of superior jockeys employed in
the active duties of the Course.
THE HORSE.
The next class of persons connected with the turf are the
Training-grooms. Numbers of opulent sportsmen have their
own training-grounds. The public establishments of the
kind are at Newmarket; at the towns of Epsom and Ascot;
at Black Hamilton in Yorkshire, on the road from Thirsk to
Helmsley; at Langton Wolds, near the town of Malton, and
separated from the race-course by the public road; at Middle-
ham Moors, also in the county of York; at Whiteclift Moors,
near the town of Richmond; and at the Curragh of Kildare.
The Heads of those establishments are called training-
grooms. They are persons in whose fidelity, judgment, and
knowledge of the business of the turf, great confidence must
necessarily be reposed. The more immediate duties of the
training-groom are the care of the horses with respect to
health, and preparation for the turf: but with these duties are
joined others, of counsel and aid, founded on the trainer's
knowledge of the horses intrusted to him, and the general
business of the turf. It is evident that, were a training-
groom to be unfaithful, a given horse might neither be in
the condition suited for running, nor under the other cir-
cumstances favourable to his owner's success.
But what are the other classes concerned in this system
of public sports? Who are the owners of these innumerable
* Whyte's History of the Turf.
£125,
563
horses? What is the main support of this machinery? And
who are the workmen who set in motion its countless wheels?
Whence is derived that incredible capital which is put to
the hazard of chances in this deep and exciting game ?
The horses of the turf are reared or acquired by many
persons of the community, from the stabler, the training-
groom, the horse-dealer, to the farmer, the country gentle-
man, the master of fox-hounds, the opulent merchant, the
banker, the peer. None is excluded from this lottery of fair
prizes, and every one may derive reputation and advantage
from the possession of a horse qualified to take his place in
lists confined to no order of chivalry, and demanding no
heraldry but the purse. No difficulty anywhere exists in
obtaining horses of the privileged caste. Great numbers of
them break down in the preliminary trials, and many of the
purest blood, after having run the first desperate match
which disables them for ever, may be purchased for the price
of carrion. Nothing, then, is so easy as to obtain the ma-
terials for rearing the solitary Race-Horse, or, if the means
allow, the extended stud; and, accordingly, if we shall look
to our racing calenders, and inquire into the history of the
horses entered to run at the different courses, we shall find
that they are derived from every class of dealers and breeders
in the country. At the same time, there are always indi-
viduals of opulence and rank, who have made the business
of the turf an especial concern, and maintain extensive studs,
from which they can make a fitting selection.
Turning to the last century, which may be termed the
golden age of the turf, we find amongst its unwearied sup-
porters the Devonshires, the Boltons, the Rutlands, the
Portmores, of those days; but perhaps the greatest sup-
porter of the turf of the last age was William Duke of Cum-
berland. This Prince possessed the most numerous stud in
the kingdom. He was the owner of Herod, and of many fine
horses. Herod, it has been seen, was the progenitor of a
vast number of distinguished racers. In 1764, he beat the
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Duke of Doncaster's Antinous at Newmarket, with six to
four on Antinous, for 500 guineas a-side; and in the follow-
ing year he beat the same horse, giving him 9 lb., over the
same course, for 1000 guineas a-side. The match excited
greater interest than any previous one in England. It was
won by Herod by half a neck, and more than L.100,000
depended upon the issue. The Duke died in 1765. The
year before his death, Eclipse was born in his stud, and
passed into the hands of Mr O'Kelly, who became the great-
est breeder of the time, chiefly from the blood of Eclipse.
This individual was born in Ireland, of very humble parent-
age. From the lowest degree of wretchedness he rose to
extraordinary wealth. He entered deeply into all kinds of
gambling, but, on the turf, displayed shrewdness, judgment,
and caution. He bred many fine horses, and acquired the
most valuable stud of breeding mares that any individual
had before or has since possessed. Contemporary as a
breeder, for a period of his life, with the Duke of Cumber-
land and O'Kelly, was the Earl of Grosvenor, whose stud
came to surpass, in extent and magnificence, any that had
preceded it. He had many horses of great reputation, and
gained immense sums on the turf,-insufficient, however, to
cover the expenses of his breeding establishment. He died
in the year 1802, after fifty years' connexion with the turf,
his splendid stud passing into the hands of the late Marquis
of Westminster. The Marquis of Rockingham and Lord
Bolingbroke were likewise distinguished for their studs at
this period, as were the Dukes of Ancaster, Cleveland, King-
ston, Northumberland, and many more. The early part of the
reign of George III., indeed, was remarkably noted for the
great support "given to the turf by persons of distinction.
The King himself gave a judicious encouragement to the
sport; and, during the progress of his memorable reign, the.
passion for horse-racing lost none of its force. On the con-
trary, it extended with the greater opulence of the country,
and studs and race-horses increased in number, and in the
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cost of the establishments. The Earl of Derby, the founder
of the Oaks and Derby stakes, produced many fine horses on
the turf, one of which, Sir Peter Teazle, is distinguished in
the annals of racing. The Earl of Clermont, who died in
1834, at the age of eighty-three, having been nearly sixty
years connected with the turf, the Honourable Richard Ver-
non, and Sir Charles Bunbury, are noted amongst the sports-
men of this period. The latter gentleman survived until
the year 1821, at the age of eighty-two, keeping up his con-
nexion with the turf till the last. He was mainly instru-
mental in doing away with the four-mile races at Newmar-
ket, and in producing the unhappy innovation of running
two-year-old colts.
THE RACE-HORSE.
The name of the Duke of Queensberry is associated with
all the proceedings of this period. He was successful, shrewd,
and skilful in resources. Old Q., as he was afterwards
called, was never to be taken in. His famous carriage
match, about the middle of the century, is well known. The
match was for 1000 guineas. A carriage was to be con-
structed, with four wheels, to carry one person, and to run
nineteen miles within the hour. On the day of trial, a car-
riage, of the weight of an alderman, appeared on the heath
of Newmarket, with spokes of whalebone, traces of silk, and
so forth, drawn by four thoroughbred horses, ridden by boys,
dressed, we are told, in blue satin waistcoats, buckskin
breeches, and white silk stockings, followed by a postilion in
red silk stockings, and preceded by a groom in crimson vel-
vet, to clear the way. The traces were made with springs
to roll up on the relaxing of the draught, so that they might
not get beneath the horses; and cases of tin kept dropping
oil on the axletree, to prevent its taking fire. A space for
the course was corded in round the heath, and the fairy equi-
page was in motion with the speed of the wind. The horses
ran away with their riders, and did the first nine miles in
four minutes; and the match was completed in fifty-three
minutes twenty-seven seconds. Other stories are on record
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THE HORSE.
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regarding the eccentric Duke. On one occasion of a match,
a large sum of money was offered to his jockey, if he would
lose the race. The jockey honestly told the Duke, who
coolly desired him to take the money. When the horse came
to the starting-post, the Duke too was there. He said he
had a mind to ride the horse himself, so, throwing off his
greatcoat, he was seen to be equipped in racing attire, and
mounting, he won the race with ease. In 1756, he had a
successful match with the Duke of Hamilton, when both
noblemen rode their own horses, and when enormous sums
depended on the result. His horse, Dash, beat Sir Peter
Teazle over the six-mile course of Newmarket; and he gained
two others, thousand-guinea matches, three times round the
Round Course, or a distance of about twelve miles. He kept
a select, but not a numerous stud. He died in 1810, at the
age of eighty-six.
In 1784, we find the gay and accomplished Prince of Wales,
then twenty-two years of age, an eager supporter of this class
of amusements. In 1791, an event occurred, which caused
the Royal Prince to quit the turf in disgust. The story has
been often told; but, as it has not been always fairly told, it
is but just to repeat it. On the 20th October, the Prince's
best horse, Escape, ridden by Samuel Chifney the elder, was
beaten at Newmarket by Coriander and Skylark, Escape
being the favourite horse in the betting. On the following
day, the betting being 5 to 1 against Escape, this horse, ridden
by Chifney, beat Skylark and the other horses easily. At
this result, a violent outcry was raised by the losers, who
did not hesitate to say that, on the 20th, Chifney rode to
lose, and that the Prince himself was implicated. The cha-
racter and station of the youthful Prince might have saved
him from this cruel suspicion. He declared that he had no
bets on the first day's race, and but inconsiderable ones on
the second. He caused Chifney to be rigidly examined,
when the latter made affidavit that he had done everything
which his judgment suggested to him to make his horse win
THE RACE-HORSE.
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567
on the first day; and thirteen years later, in his Genius
Genuine, he gave a narrative of the proceeding, accounting
for the defeat of Escape on the first day by his being short
of work, and for his winning on the second, by the effects of
the gallop, in putting him in trim. Notwithstanding the ex-
planations given, the Jockey Club, through Sir Charles Bun-
bury, informed the Prince, that if he suffered Chifney to ride
his horses again, no gentleman would ride against him. The
proceeding seems contrary to the rules of evidence, and the
principles of fair dealing. The Prince declared his own in-
nocence; and no fact, which has ever been communicated to
the world, proved his guilt, or even rendered the surmise of
it probable. If he believed his jockey innocent, he could not
dismiss him without injustice or dishonour; and the demand
that he should do so, was in itself an insult and a wrong.
The Prince felt it to be both, and for many years retired
from all connexion with the turf. About the year 1800,
however, his Royal Highness began to restore his stud, in
which he took great delight, and resumed his accustomed
amusement. He sent his horses to Brighton, Lewis, Ascot,
Goodwood, and other meetings, even after he had ascended
the throne, and by degrees restored the Royal stud to great
magnificence; and to his latest hour, his Majesty took much
interest in the amusements of the course. The stud at
Hampton Court passed into the hands of his late Majesty
King William, who judiciously abandoned training for the
turf, but acted on the principle of encouraging the breed of
horses, by instituting annual sales of the young horses which
were bred at the establishment. Soon after the accession of
her present Majesty, the stud at Hampton Court was wholly
broken up. It is to be regretted that the horses, amongst
which were some Arabians, presented by the Imaun of Mus-
cat, believed to be of the purest of the Desert Breed, should
have been dispersed, and carried to other countries. But,
otherwise, the measure, which excited so much angry dis-
cussion at the time, appears to have been discreet and wise.
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Fitting encouragement can be given, by means of the Royal
plates and otherwise, to the rearing of horses for the turf,
without connecting with its concerns the personal acts of the
Sovereign.
THE HORSE.
Of the other great supporters of the turf, from the period
of the American war down to our own times, were Earl Fitz-
william, who succeeded to the stud of his uncle the Marquis
of Rockingham, and died in 1833 at the age of eighty-five,
having been about sixty-two years actively connected with
the turf; the Dukes of Grafton, Hamilton, Dorset, Portland,
Bedford, and many noble persons more, all keepers of large
studs. Of commoners the list is very extensive. Amongst
these it will appear strange to include the illustrious name
of Charles James Fox; yet so it was. Mr Fox's own stud
was not remarkable for its goodness, but he betted largely,
as was the fashion at the time, and it is said with success.
At a match at Newmarket in 1772, he is said to have won
about 16,000 guineas, by taking the odds on a horse that lost
by half a neck. On coming into office with Lord North, in
1783, he suddenly gave up his stud, and abandoned the racing
clubs; but this was only for a season, for, when still in office,
in the same year, we find him at the meetings of Newmarket
exhibiting all his accustomed eagerness,―his marvellous and
versatile genius appearing to vulgar observers as much in its
proper sphere at the betting-post as in the senate. Approach-
ing nearer to our own times, we find the name of Sir Henry
Vane Tempest. This gentleman was early on the turf. A
famous match of his is familiar to all sportsmen. His horse
Hambletonian, got by King Fergus, dam by Highflyer, gran-
dam by Matchem, ran a match with Mr Cookson's Diamond,
descended from Herod, over the course at Newmarket. The
match was for 3000 guineas, besides large bets between the
parties. So close was the contest, that, even within a few
strides of the winning-post, the horses were head to head,
when, by a grand effort, Hambletonian, ridden by Buckle,
came in by half a neck. Incredible sums depended upon this
I
THE RACE-HORSE.
569
contest, the north country gentlemen betting on Hamble-
tonian, who was Yorkshire born, and the Newmarket gentle-
men as freely taking the odds in favour of his rival. In this
contest the blood of Eclipse prevailed over that of Herod, and
Sir Henry Vane Tempest, with just feeling, would never per-
mit his noble horse to hazard his honours by entering the
lists again. We find also living, or lately living, in our own
times, amongst the supporters of the turf, the names of the
Dukes of Grafton, Cleveland, Richmond, Rutland, Portland;
the Marquises of Westminster, Exeter, Conyngham, and
Sligo; the Earls of Egremont, Burlington, Warwick, Veru-
lam, Chesterfield, Sefton, Jersey, Lichfield, Albemarle, Wil-
ton; the Lords Lowther, Wharncliff, Suffield; Sir Francis
Standish, Sir Mark Wood, Sir J. Shelley, Sir Gilbert Heath-
cote; Generals Grosvenor and Gower; Colonels Peel and
Wilson; Messrs Wilson, Wyndham, Rouss, and great num-
bers more, recorded in the sporting annals of the times; and
even if we could exhaust the list of those who are chiefly
found at the great courses, as Newmarket, Epsom, Ascot,
Doncaster, we should have a catalogue behind of those who
confine themselves to what may be called the provincial
courses, and then we should have those who, without keep-
ing regular racing studs, rear thoroughbred horses, and bring
them from time to time upon the turf.
-
The classes referred to are the legitimate supporters of
this system of amusement. They bet upon the result; but
the bet, generally speaking, may be regarded as secondary
and subservient to the sport. But the sport involves not
merely the contest for victory in the race, but the contest of
judgment on the merits of the rival horses, and on the chances
of success or failure. No mode except the bet has been de-
vised, or appears suitable, for this purpose, and hence it has
become an integral part of the system. The bet, however,
may degenerate into abuse, and connect with the business of
the turf persons whose sole end is gain, and who avail them-
selves of the recognised usages of betting to make the sys-
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tem an engine of mere mercenary calculation. In this class
are comprehended persons of various ranks of society, from
the lowest retainers of the course, hostlers, discarded jockeys,
and blackguards of every degree, to those who have the
means to make good their engagements. The former are
mere ruffians, known under the name of blacklegs, and fit-
ting subjects for the pillory or the whipping-post. Many of
the others are adventurers, who are not less alien to the
legitimate business of the turf, who contribute nothing to its
support, and who merely make it the subject of a calculation
of chances for the purposes of profit. Some of these adven-
turers, indeed, acquire studs, and then take their station
amongst the contributors to the actual business of the course,
the origin of their connexion with it being forgotten in their
success. It is impossible, indeed, to draw a line of demarca-
tion between such persons and those who merely bet as oc-
casion offers. Numbers of these last are of the more opulent
classes, as country gentlemen, the wealthier yeomen, and
persons of trades and professions of all kinds. And besides
these, are the ordinary frequenters of the racing grounds,
who assemble merely to enjoy the spectacle, and bet, because
it amuses them, on the favourite horses, or in such other
way as the feeling of the moment dictates. It it plain that
these classes are distinct in their relations to the turf from
the class of gambling adventurers. The bet with them is
merely part of the sport, and the test of judgment on the
chances of the winning and losing horses. But doubtless
there is a mixed class of feelings introduced, and no certain
means exist for discriminating between the regular gambler,
who speculates upon the events of the turf with the same
feelings as on the chances of the dice, and those who make
the business of betting secondary and subservient to the plea-
sure and interest they derive from the spectacle itself.
};
THE HORSE.
The institution of the Course is plainly one in accordance
with national character, and interests deeply a great part of
the population of all classes. The prevailing fondness for
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THE RACE-HORSE.
571
this gay and animating pursuit need be sought for, it is ap-
prehended, in no other principles of human nature than are
employed to explain the love of all those sports and occupa-
tions of the same kind which keep the mind in action. We
need no more inquire why a man acquires a love for the race-
course than for the chase, for travelling, or for active occu-
pation of any kind. The machinery of human thought, it
seems, must not be allowed to rust from inaction, and those
who would limit its movements in any single course, assur-
edly manifest an ignorance of human nature. What is term-
ed amusement can no more be excluded from the category of
human pursuits than the occupations of business, of philoso-
phy, or of all the graver objects which occupy the mind, and
which, as society advances, become more multiplied and va-
ried. One of the sternest of ancient moralists declares, that
the man who has no time to be idle is a slave; but the
idleness of which he speaks is merely the diversion of
thought to another class of objects. Limiting our reflec-
tions to the condition of society which exists in this coun-
try, it were as foolish as vain to seek to restrict within
too narrow a sphere the pleasures of the people. If they
are rudely restrained within one channel, they may take
another less favourable to private happiness, to public mo-
rals, and to national character. The horse-race has been a
pastime of the people of England for generations, has super-
seded many rude and cruel sports, and has attained a re-
finement in accordance with the spirit of a more cultivated
age; and it may be questioned if there is any one pursuit in
the class of what are called public amusements, which, with
so little prejudice to the character of the people, is calculated
to produce so great a degree of interest and relaxation. It
will be said that the system is tainted with the spirit of
gambling and play. Would that it were less so! but the
fact admitted does not invalidate the fair conclusions which
may be drawn.
The love of gain cannot be truly said to be
the primary end of those who delight in this gay and ani-
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mating spectacle. The bet is but the test of skill with respect
to the issue; and the nature of the pleasure derived from
success is not altered because the guerdon is a purse of gold
and not an olive crown. If the gain is acquired, the loss is
as freely hazarded. Will it be said that the whole is a game
of chances, and therefore immoral? This sour morality has
as yet found favour in no age of mankind. If the principle
were admitted, that gain is unlawful when derived from a
calculation of probable results, we must interrupt not only
the pastimes but the business of mankind. We must close
the stock exchange, proscribe assurance companies, and stay
every freighted vessel that quits our shores on a voyage of
adventure. The objection, we think, can scarcely be to the
principle of the system of betting, as connected with the
chances of the turf, but to the extent to which it is carried,
and the abuses which accompany it. The sums hazarded, in-
deed, are large; but these must be measured in some sort by
the wealth of the community and the usages of society. It
does not appear that, in any kind of games, the greatness of
the stake is a serious evil. Experience would rather lead to
the conclusion that it is the reverse, as it affects the charac-
ter and feelings of the parties concerned; and if at the race-
course large sums are won, corresponding sums are lost, and
the general balance is not greatly affected. With respect to
the abuses of the system of the course, these indeed are many,
but all of them are not necessarily inherent in the system of
the course. Persons make the business of the turf an engine
of gambling; but it must be remembered that gambling is
not confined to the turf; and that the same persons who
gamble on the chances of a horse winning or losing at a race,
will gamble on the chances of a dye, or any other contin-
gency that presents itself. The gamblers of the towns, who
scarcely know a horse from a cow, would, if horse-races
were abolished to-morrow, find subjects equally suited to
their purposes. It is not found that gambling is less ex-
tended in countries where the race-course is unknown; nor
THE HORSE.
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does it seem that morality in these countries would suffer if
the hazard were on the winning of horses, in place of on the
chances of cards, or the turning of dice.
THE RACE-HORSE.
But unhappily the abuses of the turf are of no trivial
kind, and may excuse the severest scrutiny. These abuses
have attained a magnitude which the world will find it diffi-
cult to credit, and have been combined with a system of
methodized villany and plunder, which, if not counteracted
by all the power which can be employed, must, at no distant
time, banish this noble pastime from the sports of the people
of England, and drive away from its contamination its most
honourable supporters. The system of betting, as applied
to this amusement, it is to be observed, is of great com-
plexity, involving calculations on the chances, not only of the
winning, but of the losing horses, and on a variety of con-
tingencies distinct from the chances of a horse winning or
losing by the exercise of its powers. Often when bets have
been taken on the winning or losing of a horse, contingen-
cies may arise to affect the result in a manner unseen. A
horse that has one day been a favourite, and largely backed,
may, on the following one, have his chances of winning re-
duced to nothing. The person who bets watches the turn
in the odds, as a stockbroker watches the changes in the
market, and avails himself of these by such a system of bet-
ting and counterbetting, as throws the most expert calcula-
tions of the Stock Exchange into the shade, and would do
credit to the most skilful calculator of chances. A man, for
example, begins to "make his Book," as it is termed, at the
new year, on the Derby, the Oaks, and other great stakes.
The nominations have taken place when the colts were a year
old, and consequently many of them die before the day of
running, and many of them turn out good for nothing on
trial; and of a hundred or more entered, only twenty may
start. Now, reflecting on the vast variety of contingencies
here called into play, until the horses appear at the starting-
post, we may imagine what a curious complication this Book
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574
ones.
must present, and how much of skill it must demand to place
the bets in the most favourable position to gain, or to avoid
loss. How often does it become necessary "to hedge,"
when a false or dangerous move has been made; that is, to
make a series of bets in an opposite course from the previous
A man may win, by giving odds against every horse
in the field. Thus, if five horses start, by betting 4 to 1
against each, he loses nothing, for only one can win, on
which he loses 4, and the remaining four lose, on which he
gains 4; but if he bets 3. to 1 against all, he must win, for
on the winning horse he loses 3, but on the losing horses he
gains 4. If twenty horses run, 18 to 1 may be betted against
every horse in the field; for only one can win on which 18
is lost, but nineteen must lose on which 19 is gained. This
is the simplest case that can be put; but it shews that, by a
skilful adjustment of odds, a man may gain a large sum on
a race, while he cannot lose anything. But while it is rare
for a person to be able to balance all his bets so that he must
win, and cannot lose, yet the cases are innumerable in which
he is able so to hedge or counter-bet, as to bring the chances
in his favour for winning to a maximum, and reducing those
against him to a minimum. Large fortunes have been ac-
quired by skill in betting and counter-betting; yet the sys-
tem is legitimate in itself, and nothing more than a fair
exercise of the knowledge and address of the individual.
But what shall be said if fraud is used, either to support the
system, or to counteract it when fairly pursued? What if
horses heavily backed are fraudulently withdrawn from the
course at the moment of running? What if those that
could win are made to lose? It is seen that the owner of a
horse may, by betting against his own horse, gain by his
losing the race; and, by having his horse largely backed,
and then running to lose, pocket enormous sums. Trainers
and jockeys are now in the habit of betting largely, not on
the horses intrusted to them, but on the general business of
the race. What a frightful temptation is this to people in
THE HORSE.
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THE RACE-HORSE.
575
their condition of life, and how multiplied is the temptation,
when there are confederacies of gamblers, chiefly in the great
cities, who have the means to offer bribes, too great for
ordinary virtue to resist? Deceptive trials, and lying re-
ports, may all lend their aid; and even the poisoned tank,
and debilitating ball, may be called into action, the one to
deprive the noble victim of life, the other, with scarcely less
nefarious aim, to unfit him for exercising his powers when
brought into the field. In the year 1812, a ruffian called
Dawson, was executed for administering poison to various
horses. He had been engaged in these practices for four
years. He had effected his ends by means of arsenic or cor-
rosive sublimate, sometimes introducing the poison by means
of a syringe into the locked troughs at which the horses
drank. The wretch suffered, while the heartless criminals
who had set him on remained undiscovered.
One of the practices pursued is to get up favourites for
the great stakes. This is done by means of lies, false trials,
deceptive bets, high prices paid for horses, so as to enhance
the public opinion of their value, and by devices of all sorts.
Large sums are staked on the favourite horse by the public.
But is it intended that he shall win? No: it is settled that
he shall lose. A little management of the jockeys will save
appearances, and thousands are to be duped that the owner
and his confederates may pocket the spoil. Enormous sums,
as 3000 guineas, or more, are paid for a colt, we will sup-
pose, to start for the Derby. What is the meaning of this?
Is the owner to back this colt against a hundred horses he
has never seen, twenty or thirty of which (many of them, for
any thing he knows, better than his own) are to start? No:
-The purpose is not to win the Derby. The owner and
his confederates are to gain by the loss of the race, and the
dupes are to back the favourite. One of the finest horses
that has appeared on the modern turf, Plenipotentiary, who
had never been defeated,-who had gained the Derby with-
out a struggle,—and had walked over Ascot Heath, because
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no horse had dared to contend against him,-started for the
St Leger with 5 to 2 in his favour. Did he win the race?
A horse with 50 to 1 against him came in the winner.
Another, who had not even been placed at the Derby, defeated
this unrivalled horse, who came in the last but one of eleven
that started. In the following year he reappeared at New-
market with such success, as to make it be believed, that not
a horse at Doncaster could have kept pace with him for fifty
yards together. He was then backed at great odds to run
at Ascot; but on the day before the race he was carried
away, to the consternation of the backers, no one knew
wherefore, and never again was seen on the turf. Don-
caster had already become noted for exploits of a suspicious
kind. In the year 1832, at the commencement of the meet-
ing, it had become known that the proprietor of the Athe-
næum gaming-house in London, as yet new to the public
honours of the turf, had purchased Ludlow, a horse in high
favour, for the St Leger, for 5000 guineas. Suspicion was
at once excited, and mistrust accordingly marred the sport
of the day. The gambler declared that all his intents had
been fair and honourable; that he had betted L.15,000 on the
horse; and defied all the world to prove that he had betted
one guinea against him.
1
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THE HORSE.
1.jp
The betting of jockeys and trainers, to a vast amount, has
now become a sytem extensive, open, and avowed. It is no
longer the restricted and temperate betting, which prevailed
in former times, on horses in which the masters and employ-
ers of these people had an interest, but they must have their
Books as regularly as the boldest gambler of the course.
Now, here is a system which strikes at the very root of all
confidence in the affairs of the turf. What! the horses of
sportsmen to be intrusted to a set of avowed gamblers, who
may have a direct interest in causing their defeat. What
confidence can be placed in a jockey on whose success in a
match with another horse he or his confederates may have
thousands depending? Will he win in opposition to an in-
||
577
terest so great? Those who believe so, must have a higher
confidence in the virtues of Newmarket than our knowledge
of human nature elsewhere justifies. The first admission on
record of a jockey betting on the horse opposed to that which
he himself rode, is by the elder Chifney. He lost the race;
but he justifies himself by saying, that he knew the horse he
rode was unfit to win. The argument of the jockey is not
worth the tassel of his velvet cap; and the principle con-
tended for needs only a little extension to justify every kind
of roguery. This very jockey lived to acquire a splendid
stud, to build houses, to sport his equipage, and to experience
the revolution of fortune's wheel, by dying a beggar. But
the training grooms, more trusted still, what can be said of
their concern with the gambling speculations, by which their
interest and their duty may be placed at variance? What
need of their master-key to guard their troughs from the in-
troduction of the arsenic or sublimate, or of the live fishes,
to shew that the water is as pure as their own thoughts?
A few orders of the head groom on the training-ground,
few doses out of time of Barbadoes aloes, a gentle opiate
from the apothecary's shop, all for the health of the horse,
will answer every end. Or, should these disgraces not be
perpetrated, how many are the means by which races may
be lost and won! A simple breach of confidence may answer
the end; information may be conveyed, sufficient to neutral-
ize the hopes of the confiding employer, and the one Book be
made square, although the other may become a memorandum
of ruin. It were most harsh, most unjust, to say that,
amongst the training-grooms of our great courses, there are
not, and have not been, many worthy men, as incorruptible as
the proudest that can command their services; and the more
to be honoured that they are exposed to such corruptions. It
is the system which is here in question, which places men's
interest in opposition to their duty, and leads them into a
temptation too strong for human weakness. That it is
through the inferior instruments employed, that the higher
20
THE RACE-HORSE.
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and more guilty agents are enabled to move their machinery
of fraud is beyond a question; for how should a race be lost
at will, if those who ride the horses, or prepare them for the
turf, were not implicated? These superior agents may, in-
deed, influence the jockeys; and we must pity the poorer
riders who are required to lose a race, although the scoun-
drels that corrupt them are able to reward their obedience.
It is the first lesson in deception they receive, the effect of
which is to rear up a generation of profligates, ready to sell
their services, until they shall have acquired the means to set
up for themselves. But it is apparent that the facilities for
this kind of corruption are immeasurably increased, when
the superior jockeys and trainers enter on the turf as princi-
pals, and become necessarily implicated in the same class of
proceedings. Therefore, we say, that the strictest means
ought to be adopted for preventing trainers and jockeys from
engaging in the gambling business of the turf.
Of the effects of this system of pollution, the proceedings
of the modern turf are a continued exemplification. It has
almost ceased to be the practice to bet on horses, from a
simple knowledge of their powers and qualities, as exhibited
by their public running. The bet is often founded on pri-
vate information, purchased at a high price, and by a betray-
ing of confidence; or on a knowledge of what parties bet for
or against certain horses. The trumps are marked, and the
pack is shuffled, by those who are deepest in the game, while
others are content to observe their superiors in intelligence,
and to play their own stakes accordingly. When a number
of influential bettors back a horse to lose, he will be a bold
man who will back him to win, founding on mere knowledge
of the animal's powers. One of the best authorities upon
such subjects declares, that a horse "with the best blood of
England in his veins, and the best jockey on his back, shall
have no more chance to win, when backed heavily to lose,
than a jack-ass." Another authority, himself a rider and
owner of race-horses, long ago declared, that, if Eclipse were
THE HORSE.
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THE RACE-HORSE.
579
now in the field, and heavily backed to lose by certain influ-
ential bettors, he would have no more chance to win than if
he had the use of only three of his legs. In the great Derby
stakes of 1832, in which a chestnut colt, St Giles, of no pe-
culiar promise, was the winner, it was believed that every
horse but one had been "made safe;" and other examples
could be given, in which similar suspicions, whether well
founded or not, shew the opinion of the parties best qualified
to judge of the integrity of those on whom the winning or
losing of the race depends. Such is the condition to which
the English turf is reduced by confederacies of gamblers and
swindlers, who are able to apply their ill-gotten gains to
contaminate the whole body of those whom money can render
subservient to them. It is only within a period compara-
tively short that this practice of wholesale villany has arrived
at its full maturity of system, and that persons raised from
the lowest condition of life, and pursuing gambling as a
trade, have acquired that influence on the turf, which enables
them to move the inferior puppets at their will, and elbow
from their proper place the legitimate supporters of this an-
cient sport of the people. That abuses, and grievous ones,
have always existed in the system, is too true; but these
abuses were as dust in the balance to the heavy mass of
profligacy and dishonour which now weighs down the scale.
Foreigners will hear with wonder, that, not in the city of
London only, but in many of the larger provincial towns,
there are regular establishments, where betting proceeds as
systematically and constantly as the business of the Stock
Exchange. In one great establishment alone in London,
Tattersall's, L.100,000 and more sometimes change hands
in a day. But this is the regular establishment for gentle-
men really connected with the turf. There are, however,
clubs or houses in the Capital, which are mere places of
gambling, where the parties frequently know nothing of
horses, except as things to make money of. Many of these
are a sort of low taverns, called Sporting Public-houses, fre-
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THE HORSE.
quented by broken-down hangers-on of the turf, and sharpers
of every degree, who bet small sums, and make prey of
trades-people and others, who are foolish enough to draw in
this lottery of many blanks. But the grand performers in
the play are a very different class of persons. These gentle-
men have risen far beyond the vulgar honours of the Sport-
ing-House. They "do the thing" on a princely scale, and
can exhibit “Books" enough to make a "royal merchant"
stare.
The principal of the present "extensive operators on the
betting market," as Mr Whyte gently terms them, are, or
were, it seems, Messrs Theobald, Bland, Bond, Robinson of
Of
Manchester, Holliday, Justice, Greatorex, Wakefield.*
the kinds of persons who, in the deep lottery of the turf, are
able to rise with the wheel of fortune, the following graphic
sketch, from the pen of Mr Apperley, the most useful and
happy writer on this class of subjects, will convey an idea.
"Of the public racing men at Newmarket, Messrs Crockford,
Gully, Ridsdale, Saddler, the Chifneys, &c., we need not say
much, their deeds being almost daily before us. But look-
ing at the extraordinary results of these men's deeds, who
will not admit racing to be the best trade going? Talk of
studs, talk of winnings, talk of racing establishments! Our
Graftons, Richmonds, Portlands, and Clevelands, with all
their means and appliances to boot, are but the beings of a
summer's day when compared with those illustrious person-
ages and their various transactions and doings on the turf.
Here is a small retail tradesman dealing in a very perishable
commodity, become our Modern Croesus in a few years, and
proprietor of several of the finest houses in England! Be-
hold the champion of the boxing-ring, the champion of the
turf, the proprietor of a noble domain, an honourable mem-
ber of the Reformed Parliament, all in the person of a Bris-
tol butcher! Turn to a great proprietor of coal-mines, the
* Whyte's History of the Turf.
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owner of the best stud in England, one who gives 3000 gui-
neas for a horse, in the comely form of a Yorkshire footman!
We have a quondam livery-stable keeper, with a dozen or
more race-horses in his stalls, and those of the very best
stamp, and such as few country gentlemen, or indeed any
others, have a chance to contend with. By their father's
account of them, the two Messrs Chifney were stable-boys
to Earl Grosvenor at eight guineas a-year and a stable suit.
They are now owners of nearly the best horses, and, save Mr
Crockford's, quite the best houses in their native town.
There is the son of the hostler of the Black Swan at York,
betting his thousands on the heath, his neckerchief secured
by a diamond pin. Then, to crown all, there is Squire
Beardsworth of Birmingham, with his seventeen race-horses,
and his crimson liveries, in the same loyal but dirty town in
which he once drove a hackney coach."
If the institution of the turf is to be preserved to the people
of England, it is manifest that means must be used to free
it from the taint and scandal which are now attached to it.
In a country where the civil and moral relations of men in
society are deemed worthy of regard, it is impossible that a
system, based on deception, founded on the corruption of the
humbler instruments employed, and methodized into a course
of public plunder, can be suffered to remain grafted on the
pastimes of the people. Here is no question of a wretched
gambling-house to be put down, of a petty culprit for some
miserable game of chances to be rendered amenable to penal
statutes, but of a system of wholesale fraud, carried on by
troops of plunderers in the face of day, supported by funds
of incredible amount, and spreading the poison of a danger-
ous example through the medium of public sports. Is this a
matter to be left to the conventional regulations of clubs, and
to the inconsiderable powers of stewards of race-courses?
The matter, we say, is one of public concern, involving re-
sults affecting national character, and public decency and
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THE HORSE.
morals; and if these popular sports are to be preserved at
all, it is the imperative duty, too long neglected, of the legis-
lative powers to provide for their fitting control. Can any-
thing be more monstrous than that, when harsh laws are
levelled against humble sports, a system of gambling, une-
qualled for foul dealing in any country in the world, is suf-
fered to take root in the heart of society, without a single
check to its utmost abuse? Can the continued contact of
such contamination be without its effects on the moral feel-
ings of the people? Can the youth of the country come
safely within the poisoned atmosphere of the betting-room,
and learn that men may, without reproach, rise to affluence
by the basest arts? Can the gentlemen of England main-
tain the honour of their rank while mixing in the pursuits of
felons, and sharing a dishonest spoil? Few lessons, let us
be assured, are more dangerous to the people than that of
successful fraud: And woe it is to a country, when men are
taught to look lightly on offences which touch the principles
of honest dealing. Excessive public gambling, under any
circumstances, is perhaps to be regretted; but when it is
fraudulent at the same time, it calls for all the punishment
which laws tempered with mercy can inflict on thieves and
swindlers. It may be said that it would be difficult to reach
this class of offences; and so it is to reach the crimes of
forgery and other secret acts against society; but ought the
laws therefore to sleep, and allow the plunderer to carry off
the spoil in safety? It cannot be doubted that a system of
law vigilantly executed, applicable to the concerns of the
turf, would quickly abate the existing evils, and restore this
popular sport to at least its former character. This is not
the place to enter on so wide and delicate a subject. A par-
liamentary inquiry would seem to be the most suitable course,
the effect of which would be to expose the full degree of the
evil, and suggest the fitting remedies. All men who abhor
fraud and value public decency should support such an in-
1
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quiry, and none more than the country gentlemen of Eng-
land, who take pleasure in this sport of their ancestors, and
desire to see it freed from pollution and dishonour.
One abuse connected with the sports of the turf remains
to be referred to, which does not demand the interference of
the law, but may be corrected by the good feeling and judg-
ment of the legitimate supporters of the course.
THE RACE-HORSE.
The Race-Horse, we have seen, has been cultivated for a
particular end, and the purpose of the breeders has been to
call forth in the highest degree those characters which indi-
cate the power of rapid motion. These purposes have been
fulfilled, and the form of the animal answers the conditions
required; yet this form does not wholly accord with those
ideas of symmetry which, without relation to the particular
uses of the horse, we might have formed. His length is
greater than consists with perfect beauty, the power of speed
having been sought for in a higher degree than that of strength
and endurance. His legs are longer and his trunk smaller
than the eye indicates as strictly graceful. The length and
depth of the hind-quarters, a point essential to the power of
making long strides, are extended to the degree of appearing
disproportionate. The chest is narrow, and the fore-quarters
are light, points likewise characteristic of speed. The neck
is straight rather than gracefully arched, and the pasterns
are very long and oblique. Thus may the Race-Horse not
only lose somewhat of that apparent harmony of parts which
the eye delights to trace in the animal world, but some even
of the really valuable properties of the horse may be sacri-
ficed to insure others which, with relation to mere utility, may
be of secondary importance. Thus, strength and the power
of endurance may be sacrificed for the property of speed, and
even soundness of constitution to the artificial uses to which
we destine the animal. Not only may these things be, but
there is reason to infer that this yet unrivalled breed has
already suffered deterioration.
It is difficult to institute a precise comparison between the
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horses of a former age and those of the present day; but it
is the opinion of the most careful observers, that the present
breed of Race-Horses has for a period past been tending to
become small, long limbed, delicate in constitution, and,
accordingly, inferior to the older horses of the turf. The
reasons assigned are, unfortunately, sufficient to account for
the effect, or rather the effect must necessarily result from
the causes in operation. In the former practice of the turf,
the courses were of several miles, and the horses were not
brought upon the field until of an age when their form was
developed and their strength matured. Now the practice
prevails of having very short courses, and of running the
horses at two years old or earlier. From the first of these
causes, speed alone is looked to as the end to be aimed at,
without relation to the essential properties of endurance and
strength; and from the second cause results the yet greater
evil of calling into action the powers of the animal before he
has acquired the strength and development of parts which
fit him for the services demanded from him. Now, expe-
rience shews that we are able to adapt by degrees the form
and habits of the animal to the conditions to which we sub-
ject him. We can cultivate the characters of form which
have relation to speed, rather than those which have rela-
tion to strength, and we know that the early development of
form which enables us to call his powers into premature ac-
tion, may, to a certain degree, be arrived at by the stimulus
of feeding, and by training at an early age. The latter re-
sult, however, cannot be attained without a violence done
to the natural habits of the animal, and an impairing of the
powers of the constitution; and these things affect injuri-
ously not only the individual, but the progeny to which its
properties are communicated. The system of short races is
justified on the ground that, in the case of the long course,
there is only a part of the space passed over at which the
animal is urged to his utmost speed, and that therefore the
long course is unnecessary for the essential purposes of the
THE HORSE.
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585
race.
The argument is not perfectly satisfactory.
The
race is a trial of the power of the horse, and of the skill of
the rider, and we diminish the claim of superiority in both
when we reduce the contest to a furious gallop. Is it no-
thing to take from the interest and curiosity of the spectacle,
to lessen its value as a trial of the powers of the animal, and
to reduce to the mere determination of a bet that which can
be rendered subservient to the gratification of public taste,
and to purposes yet more useful? But if an argument can
be used in favour of this innovation upon the ancient prac-
tice of the turf, with respect to the distances to be passed
over, what shadow of an argument can be produced to justify
the practice of employing horses in this severe exercise, and
in the laborious training which it demands, before they shall
have acquired their natural powers? The growth of the
Horse is indeed very rapid for so large an animal, but yet a
few years are absolutely required to allow his fine form to
acquire its full expansion and adjustment of parts, his bones
and cartilages to attain their due solidity, his muscles, liga-
ments, and tendons, to arrive at their natural toughness and
strength. The slightest knowledge of the physiology of the
animal makes us acquainted with these truths, and shews
that he undergoes from his birth to maturity of youth a
series of progressive changes, which we ought not to inter-
rupt. Why should we anticipate powers which will be so
soon at our command without reproach? What is a year,
or what are two years gained, of services from the young
and immature animal, when we consider how many more we
may deprive ourselves of when he is more fitted to render
them. Nothing is better established in the practical ma-
nagement of the Horse, whether intended for the chase, for
the carriage, or for the labour of heavy draught, than the
importance, with relation to his future services, his health,
and longevity, of never over-taxing his powers of action.
when young; and in the case of the horse designed for the
turf, the error is, if possible, yet more palpable. The powers.
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which the Race-Horse is required to exercise are those of
excessive speed, which infers the greatest tension and dis-
placement of parts of any other kind of labour. Nothing, it
is known, gives so great a tendency to founder, spavin, curbs,
sprains, hernia, and the like, as excessive exertion of the
powers of speed by a young animal; and, even when no per-
ceptible effect of this kind is produced, how often are the
seeds of disease sown in the system, to appear in an after
season in the disordered functions of the respiratory and
other organs? Nor is this all in the case of the Race-Horse
thus cruelly misused. To fit him for his future task, he
must be deprived of liberty, and subjected to artificial feed-
ing and training almost from the time he quits the side of
his dam. No time is allowed him for that exercise in the
fields which his instincts point out as the most suitable and
natural, nor for partaking of that food in the open air, which
is the best fitted of all others to preserve health, and answer
the demand of the sanguiferous system in a young animal.
He must be trained, bled, physicked, sweated, and subjected
to restraint in his natural motions, at the time when the
animal functions should have their natural play. Can any
one who has any knowledge of the animal system in general,
or of the temperament of the horse in particular, doubt that
such a system must enfeeble the powers of the body, and act
injuriously upon the progeny? Is it possible to believe that,
under a system of this kind, carried to the degree to which it
now is carried, numbers of the turf-horses of England are
not broken down and undermined in constitution long before
their natural powers have been perfected? Childers and
Eclipse did not appear on the turf until the age of five.
Had these fine creatures been run at the age of two, a very
different estimate might have been formed of their powers,
and themselves have been racked, foundered, or otherwise
injured, before their full forces could have been exhibited,
and thus the English Turf might have been deprived of all
the benefit which it has derived from the numerous progeny
THE HORSE.
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⚫ which these animals left behind them. Further, the Race-
Horses of England have become the boast of the country,
and are the means by which the property termed blood is
communicated to all the inferior races. Is it fitting that a
breed of horses which has been cultivated with so much care,
which has attained to so much excellence, and which may
be applied to purposes so useful, should undergo deteriora-
tion, in however slight a degree, in order to promote the
purposes of selfishness and gambling; and of gambling, too,
not depending upon the powers of an animal capable of ex-
erting them, but of a young creature overburdened by a cruel
task? What is this but the stealing of a miserable year
or two from the youth of the growing horse, that he may
sooner bring to his owner an unworthy gain? The scandal
should be proscribed on the English Turf. If the feelings
of those engaged in it will not lead them to abandon it, legis-
lation will not be out of place to preserve the breed of these
noble horses, and protect them from the cruelty and impro-
vidence of their masters.
THE HUNTER.
II. THE HUNTER.
To the Horses which, in the British Islands, are peculiarly
fitted for the exercise of the modern chase, it is usual to
apply the term Hunters. These form a class rather than a
breed of horses, because different varieties of horse may be
used for the purpose of hunting, as the Race-Horse itself,
or the superior class of saddle-horses of any kind. Yet, as
the methods of hunting now pursued throughout the country
are nearly similar, and as horses possessing a peculiar kind
of properties are the best suited for this exercise, a certain
similitude of characters has been established between all the
members of the class.
The modern Hunter differs greatly in his characters and
form from the horses formerly employed in the chase in this
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THE HORSE.
country, having partaken of that tendency to a lighter form,
of which all the horses used for the saddle have partaken,
and this in an increasing degree within the last half century.
The same means, although with certain modifications, have
been employed to form the Hunter as those used for the
Race-Horse. The lighter and more agile horses of the
warmer countries have been mixed in blood with the pre-
existing races, so that the form of the latter has been moulded
to a new standard. But this has not been done with the
same system in the case of the Hunter as of the Race-Horse,
nor with the same exclusive reference to the properties of
speed. No breed of distinct lineage has been formed, whose
descendants, mixing only with one another, have at length
approached to a common type. The Hunters have been
mixed not only with one another, but with every other race
which seemed fitted to give the conformation and characters
required. The Horses of Spain, Italy, and Turkey, nay, of
Barbary and Arabia, have been resorted to in the case of the
Hunter as of the Race-Horse; but the greatest and most
direct effect has been produced through the medium of the
Race-Horse itself, which has been employed ever since the
institution of the regular Course to communicate its proper-
ties to the Hunter, as to the other classes of saddle-horses of
the country. This mixture of the blood of the Race-Horse
with that of the horses designed for the chase has been con-
tinually increasing, so that the characters of the modern
Hunter have been more and more approximating to those of
the thoroughbred horse. Yet a great distinction has hitherto
existed, and ought still to be preserved, between them. The
Race-Horse is designed essentially for the exercise of the
property of speed: the Hunter is also required to possess a
degree of speed sufficient for the uses to which he is des-
tined, but with this he should be possessed of endurance,
and of the strength required for carrying the weight of his
rider over an unequal surface. We may, if we please, so
alter the character of the chase as to render it a rapid gallop
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for a short space, so that fleetness and lightness shall be
more sought for than strength and the power of endurance ;
but even in this case a distinction will exist between the
characters suited for the Course and those required for the
Hunting-field. The Hunter should possess a good fore-end,
that he may pass safely along the rough surface over which
he is urged, and over the obstacles which he encounters.
The low fore-end and elevated hind-quarters, which are suited
to the power of rapid progression over a smooth surface,
would, in the Hunter, be inconsistent with safety; and the
tendency to the ewe neck, which, in the short and violent
gallop of the Course is admissible, would, in the case of the
Hunter, be inconsistent with sensitiveness to the rein and
the ease of the rider. The neck of the Hunter should be
sufficiently muscular, and his chest just so broad as to indi-
cate strength without heaviness. The long stride of the
Racer not being required in the Hunter, he should possess
the conformation which indicates strength in the dorsal and
lumbar regions, that is, he should be well-ribbed home, and
have the back moderately short. In the length and develop-
ment of the hind-quarters, in the formation of the limbs,
muscular to the knee and hock, and below these joints tendi-
nous; and, indeed, in almost all the other characters which
indicate a well-formed horse, the two classes may be said to
agree, except that the Hunter should be shorter legged, ac-
cording to the common expression, that is, should have the
limbs bear a less proportion to the trunk than the Racer, in
whom this character may be sacrificed for speed. To de-
scribe the Hunter, indeed, is merely to describe a well-formed
horse, in which exists that harmony of parts which consists
with the best exercise of the powers of the animal. The per-
fect English Hunter is beyond a question the finest variety
of horse that exists in any country, combining in a yet hap-
pier proportion than the Race-Horse the lightness of the
horses of the warmer regions with the strength of the ancient
races of Europe. If we compare the Hunter in his confor-
THE HUNTER.
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mation with the Race-Horse, we shall find him inferior in
the characters which indicate the power of speed, but far
excelling in those which shew the adaptation of the animal
to useful services. The vast number of these beautiful horses
that are found in this country, not merely employed for the
chase but for the saddle, for military chargers, and for
chariots and the lighter carriages with which the country
abounds, excite the admiration of strangers, greatly more
even than the exciting spectacle of the race-course, and
manifest in a more obvious manner the perfection to which
the cultivation of the Horse has been carried amongst us.
It is a truth, that it is this class of horses which is princi-
pally sought for by foreign agents, and that for many years
past a great and silent drain of them has been taking place
to other countries. Foreign dealers and agents are con-
stantly looking out for superior mares and stallions of this
class. We hear of the thoroughbred horses that are carried
off, but we are unsuspicious of the vast extent to which,
under the unnoticed operations of common trade, the expor-
tation of the most useful horses of all is continually taking
place. It is certain that it is to this cause that is to be
ascribed the difficulty which is everywhere complained of, in
procuring good horses for the saddle. The mares, on which
the breed depends, being removed, the market ceases to be
supplied as before. No remedy exists for this evil but that
increase of the price which shall render the home market
more profitable than the foreign, and the exciting of public
attention to the value and importance of the class of horses
which we are suffering to escape from us. We may be
assured, that the race of true Hunters, if materially di-
minished or injured in its characters, will not without
great difficulty be restored. A simple cross between a
thoroughbred horse and a common mare may produce a good
individual; but this is very different from that progressive
change by which a class of characters can be communicated
and rendered permanent, and a true breed formed. It may
THE HORSE.
591
be believed that, while Britain preserves the opulence of a
great commercial and manufacturing country, the wealth of
the inhabitants will give encouragement to the production of
the best horses, as well as of every thing else which the
wants of such a community call for; but horses with the
properties required will not start up at the command even
of wealth, and we must take the means to preserve the pro-
perties which ages of diligent cultivation have communicated
to our horses, if we design to preserve them in the most
perfect state. While horsemanship is pursued amongst us,
as a pleasing and exhilarating exercise, and while the su-
perior saddle-horses are in request for the luxury of the
lighter equipages, it may be believed that there will always
exist a great demand for the races of horses combining
strength, action, and speed. But it is for the Hunting-field
that a large part of the supply will be required, and there-
fore it is to be desired that this elegant, manly, and popular
amusement should be so conducted, as to aid in the main-
tenance and improvement of that fine race of horses which
is rendered subservient to it.
THE HUNTER.
The practice of the modern Hunting-field differs essen-
tially from the methods of pursuing game adopted in former
times in this country, or in others where the larger beasts
of chase abound. The dogs employed in the modern chase
are a variety of a race, which will be described in the sequel,
distinguished from the most ancient times by following their
prey by the scent, hunting in concert, and employing the
voice in the manner of certain wild dogs, for the purpose of
cheering their fellows or terrifying their victims.
Of the kinds of hunting pursued in this country, that of
the Stag, Cervus Elephas, came to be regarded as the most
noble, and was eagerly practised when other kinds of game
had become scarce. During the reigns of the Norman Kings,
the preservation of this species of deer, and of the roebuck,
likewise an indigenous species, was especially aimed at in
those inhuman forest-laws which so long dishonoured the
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THE HORSE.
country. During the reigns of the Stuart Princes, the chase
of the stag still continued to be the favoured pursuit of the
privileged classes, but the numbers of the animals became
gradually thinned, so that, by the beginning of the last cen-
tury, they were scarcely to be found in the wild state. In
the Highlands of Scotland they are yet in considerable num-
bers, but in a country so wild, dangerous, and rocky, that they
cannot be pursued by horses and hounds. When stags could
no longer be found in their wild state in the woods, it became
common to rear them in enclosures, and turn them out to be
pursued: but this destroyed the very idea of hunting; and
though the sport was pursued by George III., and till our
own times, it has lost all favour amongst sportsmen of the
present day, who are in the habit of ridiculing it as "calf-
hunting." The ridicule is in no degree merited with refer-
ence to the hunting of the stag in his natural state, which is
undoubtedly the most noble and animating of all the kinds
of chase in which the hound is employed. With the decline
of the hunting of the deer, that of the Hare, which had been
a very ancient sport, gained ground. The hounds employed
in this amusement were early termed Harriers and Beagles,
the latter a race of dogs with sharp but musical voices. Con-
siderable numbers of harriers are still maintained in differ-
ent parts of the country, but a greatly swifter race of dogs
being employed, the sport has wholly changed its character.
The runs are more rapid and short, with some loss, assuredly,
of that pleasure which was derived from observing the ex-
quisite powers of the pack, and the artifices of the prey.
The substitution of the Fox for the Hare is comparatively
recent. Although foxes were followed and killed by various
means, with the same feelings as other noxious animals were
destroyed, it seems only to have been about the beginning
of last century that they began to be regularly pursued by
how-
hounds as a source of amusement. It was soon found,
ever, that this animal, after the destruction of the deer and
other game of the woods, was really the best suited of all
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THE HUNTER.
593
others for the sports of the field, possessing strength, hardi-
hood, and speed, sufficient to call forth the utmost powers of
the pack. With the increasing improvement of the country,
too, and the diminution of the larger forests, the haunts of
the animals became more known, so that they could be rea-
dily found, while the multiplication of artificial coverts of
gorse and brushwood, with the increase of the smaller game
which served them as food, afforded the means of increasing
their numbers in almost any degree required.
This new kind of sport continued to be received with in-
creasing favour during all the reign of George III., and by
degrees underwent great changes. The breed of dogs was
rendered more compact and symmetrical in their form, and
consequently more agile and fleet; and a lighter kind of
horses was employed. The general practice of the Hunting-
field, too, was insensibly changed. Under the older system,
the hounds were taken out by break of day, and the fox,
after having returned from pursuing his prey during the
night, was tracked to his cover by the scent of his returning
footsteps, or, in technical language, "the drag;" so that
there were in truth two chases, the one the tracking of the
animal to his cover, and the other after he was "unkennel-
led," corresponding with the modern fox-chase. The hounds
are now at once taken to the cover, and, in place of the tem-
perate riding of former times, the sportsmen press more
closely on the pack, which may justify the modern phraseo-
logy of riding to hounds, in place of the former more correct.
expression of riding after or following them. The chase has
now become a short and fiery gallop, and few horsemen, out
of a numerous field, can keep pace with the pack when at
speed. It has now become common to have relays of horses,
so that the sportsman may mount a fresh Hunter when his
first one is exhausted. In every part of England are to be
seen packs, brought to the utmost perfection with respect to
equipment, and the breeding and discipline of the hounds;
but Leicestershire has acquired a sort of pre-eminence, from
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the number and excellence of the packs maintained in it, the
nature of the country, consisting chiefly of meadows of old
turf, and from the great resort of opulent sportsmen. It is
here, and especially at the little town of Melton-Mowbray,
that the stranger will best learn the nature of the sport as it
is now pursued. The times and places of meeting of the
various packs having been advertised, the preparation begins
by the various horses being sent off to cover, the principal
sportsmen sending two horses, each mounted by a groom,
one of which is to serve as a relay. In an hour or more, the
sportsmen themselves are to be seen in motion, some riding to
cover on their hacks, as they are termed, but which, in truth,
are horses of the first class, whilst others are to be seen
rolling rapidly along in their gay and glittering equipages; a
singular contrast with the same sport in times when the
good squire, roused from his slumbers long before the break
of day, sped his weary way through mist, darkness, and mud,
to the place of meeting. The hour of assembling is usually
eleven, when a field of from one to two hundred sportsmen is to
be seen congregated from all the neighbouring country near
the place of throwing off. The whole has an air of business
and system, surprising to those who have been used to the
pomp and clamour of the chase of other countries. There is
assembled a concourse of persons of every rank, from the
farmer to the peer, all with the air and feeling of independ-
ence, mounted on highly-conditioned horses, and deeply in-
tent on the dangerous and exciting game to be played. The
Fox is almost certainly found in the first cover, or in one of
the neighbouring ones, so that what are called blank days
very rarely occur. When the fox breaks cover, followed by
the leading hounds, the eager crowd of horsemen is all in
motion and at speed. But it were useless to describe a scene
familiar to so many, and which must be seen to be at all un-
derstood. It suffices to observe, that the chase is a rapid gal-
lop, interrupted by the most formidable obstacles of fence,
gate, stile, and brook, which a completely enclosed country
THE HORSE.
♥
595
can present. The courage and bottom of the horses, and
the boldness and address of the riders, are deserving of great
admiration; and it may be safely said, that there is no
school of horsemanship in Europe which can at all be com-
pared with an English Hunting-field. But perfect as the
general system has been rendered, it is to be feared that re-
finement has been carried to its limits. The rapidity of the
pace has been carried to a degree that assimilates the sport
to a race, animating, certainly, in the highest degree, but dif-
fering in its character, and in the feelings which it excites,
from the legitimate exercise of the Hunting-field. The effect
begins to be perceived in the character of the horses em-
ployed, which, in the great hunting countries, are manifestly
tending to a lighter form than ought to characterize the
genuine Hunter. Nay, it is now very common for sportsmen
to use horses entirely thoroughbred; and, if such horses are
sufficiently trained for riding, it cannot be denied that they
possess properties which fit them for the short and violent
exercise which they are required to undergo. The fact, how-
ever, proves, that the increased speed and diminished length
of the chase have been carried even beyond the bounds which
a just consideration of the nature of the pursuit should as-
sign to it.
THE HUNTER.
An argument employed in justification of the excessive
speed of the modern chase is, that it has become necessary,
in order that the hounds may escape from the pressure of
the crowd of horsemen, who are now more numerous than
in former times. The reason can scarcely be held to be suf-
ficient. The present mode of riding to hounds is merely a
fashion, introduced at the end of the last century, and may,
like every fashion, yield to the influence of the taste and
judgment of those whose situation enables them to set an
example. The modern Fox-hound could easily be bred back
a little to the older standard, without any impairing of his
essential properties; while a more subdued system of riding
would probably afford a pleasure more accordant with the
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THE HORSE.
nature of the pursuit. But however this be, a relaxation of
the speed of the chase would certainly tend to preserve the
distinctive character of that unrivalled race of horses, which
is rendered subservient to this fine and animating exercise.
The generous sportsman may look to something beyond the
triumph of his own skill in excelling a field of numerous com-
rades. He may look to the Hunting-field as an arena in
which all may find delight, and which collects together indi-
viduals of every degree in a common pursuit. The sport is
truly British, and has as yet taken root in no foreign land.
It is a pursuit which is in accordance with the gay hilarity
of early life, which binds the youth of the country to the
halls of their country homes, and which provides a substitute
for those less manly amusements which, in other countries,
become necessary to fill up the intervals of more serious
occupation.
III. HORSES FOR LIGHTER CARRIAGES AND THE
SADDLE.
The RACE-HORSE may either be regarded as a Breed,
constituted by a common set of characters, or as a Class,
composed of individuals reared and educated for a particular
purpose. This variety, it has been seen, is wholly of mixed
lineage, and deviates more from the type proper to the coun-
try than any other. The basis was the ancient Horses of
England, which were modified, after the Norman Conquest,
by progressive changes, and at length by a large infusion of
the blood of the Horses of Africa and Western Asia. The
mixed progeny thus formed, being made to breed only with
one another, or with the races of the East, to which they
were already allied in blood, have assumed the common cha-
racters of a family or race. Their form is that which an
almost exclusive attention to the property of speed has
tended to produce. They have the broad forehead, the bril-
❤
597.
liant eyes, the delicate muzzle, the expanded nostrils, and
the wide throat, characteristic of their Eastern progenitors.
Their light body is comparatively long, and suited to the ex-
tended stride. Their chest is deep, so as to give due space
to the lungs, but comparatively narrow, so as not to over-
load the fore extremities, and throw the limbs too far asun-
der in the gallop. Their shoulder is oblique, to give free-
dom of motion to the humerus; and their haunch is long and
deep beyond that of any other known race of Horses, indi-
cating the length of those bones of the hinder extremities on
which the power of progression essentially depends.
-
The HUNTER, so named from the gay and exciting exer-
eise to which he is destined, is rather to be regarded as form-
ing a class than a breed, since different varieties of horses, if
they possess sufficient speed and bottom, may be used for the
chase. The modern Hunter, like the Race-Horse, is derived
from the pre-existing races of the country; but, in place of
a direct mixture with the Horses of the East, he has gene-
rally had the property of blood communicated to him through
the intervention of the Race-Horse. This variety presents a
greater diversity of characters than the Race-Horse. The
individuals are made to breed less exclusively with their fel-
lows, and a less jealous attention is paid, in the breeding of
them, to purity of descent. They do not require the power
of rapid progression in the same degree as the Race-Horse,
but they demand the possession of properties in which he
may be, and often is, greatly deficient; namely, action, and
the power of enduring fatigue. Any good saddle-horse may
be a hunter, and the Hunter therefore does not form an ex-
clusive caste like the Race-Horse, but a class into which any
kind of horse may be admitted which possesses the proper-
ties required. The true English Hunter must be regarded
as a saddle-horse of the first-class, combining, in the
tion required, the strength of the races of Northern Europe
with the spirit and fleetness of those of the South and East.
Not only are these strong and elegant horses employed in
propor-
LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
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the exercise of the hunting-field, but they are used for the
ordinary purposes of the saddle, for military chargers, for
the lighter wheel-carriages which luxury has multiplied, and
even for many of the innumerable public vehicles which the
improvement of roads has brought into operation in every
part of the kingdom.
THE HORSE.
From the Race-Horse, which occupies one extremity of the
chain, and the Hunter, which, though inferior to him in speed,
is superior in useful properties, down to the races in which
either no admixture, or a slight one, of foreign blood exists,
the varieties of horses used for the saddle, or for the lighter
carriages of all kinds, are without definable boundaries.
Each individual, indeed, may be said to form a variety,
according to the degree of crossing with those of higher
breeding. A common mare with a thoroughbred stallion, a
hunter, a coach-horse, or any male of an intermediate degree
of breeding, will give birth to a different variety in each case,
and each of these varieties again will produce another, ac-
cording to the race or breeding of the male employed. Hence
it is that we see in this country horses of such endless variety
in size, form, aspect, and properties. In other countries, the
horses of a large district usually present a certain similitude,
which connects them together as a breed or family. In Eng-
land, every kind seems to be collected, with no greater re-
semblance between the individuals than if they were brought
from different parts of the globe.
In general, the saddle and carriage horses of this country
have been tending, for a period past, to the lighter form cha-
racteristic of superior breeding, and many of the older varie-
ties have either become rare or extinct. This change has
been proceeding in an accelerated ratio since the commence-
ment of the present century. It may be ascribed to the in-
creasing taste for the lighter and more elegant forms of the
Horse; but in an important degree also, to the improvement
in the means of internal communication, and a change in the
modes of travelling. ·
I
LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
599
Within the last sixty or seventy years, a surprising revolu-
tion has taken place in the means of communication through-
out the British Islands, by the extension and improved con-
struction of roads. The increase of highways has accom-
panied the general improvement of the country; and during
the latter part of the period in question, the application of a
few simple principles has rendered the roads better fitted for
all kinds of wheel-carriages. From these two causes, the
means of internal intercourse have been prodigiously in-
creased, and the modes and rate of travelling greatly changed.
The method of conveying letters by public coaches, begun in
1784, was immediately followed by a more expeditious rate
of travelling, and by an increase in the number of public
carriages throughout the country. The rate of travelling,
from being four or five miles in the hour, increased to six,
seven, and eight, and now at length to ten, and even twelve."
The effect of this change in the rate of travelling has pro-
duced a corresponding one in the kinds of horses employed.
The coarse and heavy horses of former times were little fitted
for this increased exertion, and hence the substitution became
necessary of a lighter class with superior breeding. The de-
mand, too, for horses thus employed has been large and con-
stant, not only from the numbers employed, but from the
waste of the animals. Although a class of horses better
suited for the service than the old has been employed, and
the stages have been greatly shortened, the burdens could
not be reduced in proportion to the increase of speed; and
hence the exaction on the muscular powers of the animals
has been greatly augmented. We may please ourselves with
**
* From twenty to thirty miles a-day, at the rate of four miles an hour, was
the usual work of the few public coaches in England so late as the accession of
George III. At that period, there was but one public coach from London to
Edinburgh, which started once a-month, and occupied nearly three weeks in
the journey. The other heavy coaches which set off from London performed in
like manner slow journeys, in the manner of waggons, to distant parts of the
kingdom. Now, more than 1000 well-equipped carriages, with relays of horses
at short stages, start from the same great city every day, besides several hun-
dreds which proceed to the towns, villages, and populous places around.
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the speed and facility with which our journeys are performed,
but assuredly our convenience is served at the expense of an
unheard of degree of animal suffering. In no country does
so great waste of the lives of horses take place as in England,
and in no country, it is humiliating to own, is there so much
cruelty exercised towards these faithful servants. The mor-
tality of horses in the British Isles is, at least, as three to one,
as compared with that which exists in any other country in
Europe. Not only does the general demand for horses of
all kinds cause them to be employed at an earlier period of
life than in other countries, but the cruel service of these
public carriages being one in which our finest saddle-horses
are often doomed to end their lives, a great increase in the
general mortality is produced. When the powers of our
saddle-horses begin to fail from age, or when they have met
with accidents, or have suffered from the effects of diseases,
they are transferred, in the course of trade, to this their new
and last employment. How many fine hunters and saddle-
horses of all kinds, after having rendered their best services
to successive masters, are forced into this terrible service,
from which they are never released until they have sunk
under their tasks! How many beautiful creatures do we see,
spavined, greased, foundered, and otherwise lame, whipped
along in our heavily loaded vehicles, and forced to fulfil tasks
under which they must shortly perish! Such are the spec-
tacles that meet our eyes on every highway; such is the
price paid for our convenience in the sufferings of our help-
less servants. But in the marvellous progress of invention,
an agent, by which mechanical is substituted for animal
power, has been called into action, which, amongst other great.
changes, seems destined to lighten that mass of suffering
of which we have been so long the witnesses.
THE HORSE.
Not only did the system of public conveyance by coaches call
forth a lighter and more agile race of horses, but it has acted
in another way on the saddle-horses of the country. By
altering the mode of performing journeys, it has diminished
.
2
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601
the inducement to cultivate particular kinds of horses. Few
persons now make distant journeys on horseback, and are
willing to travel at the rate of five miles an hour when they
can be carried forward at the rate of ten or more in common
coaches, and at the rate of thirty and more by the aid of
steam. A horseman with his load of saddlebags is now
almost as rare a sight as an elephant. A class of saddle-
horses, accordingly, formerly used for journeys, has now
almost disappeared. They were termed ROAD-HORSES, and
were suited to their employment. They were strong, useful,
and safe, but had little or no breeding. Their paces were
the walk and trot; and the canter and the gallop were nearly
as much out of place with them as with the cart-horse. The
COB, too, a little squat horse fitted for drudgery, is with some
difficulty to be procured. For the shorter journeys now in
use, and for all the usual services of the horseman, animals
of lighter form and more easy paces are preferred, and few
habitual riders are satisfied with horses that have not more
or less of breeding.
The OLD ENGLISH COACH-HORSE may be said to have dis-
appeared, or rather to be used only for the heavier labours.
of draught. He was a large animal of the cart-horse form,
usually black, denoting his affinity with the horses of Flan-
ders, which long supplied England and other countries with
this kind of horse. He was round-shouldered and heavy in
his paces; but being generally trained in the manner of the
manège, he had a high and prancing action. His pace was
the slow trot, and rarely exceeded four or five miles in the
hour. Some of these horses are still to be seen in the car-
riages of the nobility and older gentry of England; but for
the most part they have given place to animals of far supe-
rior breeding and action. The modern Coach-Horse is a very
different animal from the old. He is a large Horse, having
a degree of breeding conducive to spirit and action, with the
strength and bone required for draught. He is greatly used
in private carriages, as chariots, gigs, and the innumerable
LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
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other light and elegant vehicles which are every where to be
seen. But not only is the modern Coach-Horse largely used,
but likewise others taken from the various kinds of saddle-
horses with which the country abounds, from the high-bred
hunter down through every degree of strength suited to the
weight of the equipage; and universally the tendency is to
use horses of lighter form than were thought suited to the
heavier carriages and less improved roads of former times.
This results from the practice long and extensively pursued
all over Yorkshire and Durham, of breeding horses especially
for the saddle and the lighter carriages. From this cause
horses of some breeding become employed in common labour,
and the blood of the Race-Horse is insensibly diffused through
the general mass.
Of the varieties of Coach-Horses, one in general estima-
tion for private carriages is the CLEVELAND BAY. It is
termed Bay, from the prevailing colour, derived from ap-
proximation to the superior races, and Cleveland, from the
fertile district of that name situated in the North Riding of
Yorkshire on the Tees. About the middle of last century
this district became known for the breeding of a superior
class of powerful horses, which, with the gradual disuse of
the heavy old Coach-Horse, became in request for coaches,
chariots, and similar carriages. The breed, however, is not
now confined to the district of Cleveland, but is cultivated
throughout all the great breeding district of this part of
England, although Cleveland yet preserves its pre-eminence,
and supplies with stallions the parts of the kingdom where
superior Coach-Horses are reared.
The true Cleveland Bay may be termed a Breed, from the
similitude of characters presented by the individuals of the
stock. It has been formed by the same means as the Hunter,
namely, by the progressive mixture of the blood of the Race-
Horse with the original breeds of the country. But a larger
kind of horse has been used as the basis, and a larger stand-
ard adopted by the breeder. By coupling a Race-Horse with
THE HORSE.
·
603
a Draught-mare, an animal will be produced partaking of the
properties of both parents, and which may be employed as a
Coach-Horse. But the results, as was before observed, of
such a mixture are uncertain, and the progeny will probably
be wanting in just proportion of parts. Many Carriage-
Horses are doubtless produced in this manner, but many of
them, if their history were told, have been found to be worth-
less. To rear this class of Horses, the same principles of
breeding should be applied as to the rearing of the Race-
Horse himself. A class of mares, as well as of stallions,
should be used having the properties sought for. It is in
this way only that we can form and perpetuate a true breed
in which the properties of the parents shall be reproduced in
their descendants. The district of Cleveland doubtless owed
the superiority which it continued to maintain in the produc-
tion of this beautiful race of horses to the possession of a de-
finite breed, formed not by accidental mixture, but by conti-
nued cultivation.
LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
The demand for these Horses has long been very great in
London and all the more opulent towns of the kingdom, and
the number carried abroad is large. The English purchasers
generally require the bay stock; but the foreign dealers do
not reject what are called the vulgar colours, and therefore
carry away many horses which could not be sold in England
but at a low price.
Although the Cleveland Bay appears to unite the blood of
the finer with that of the larger horses of the country, in the
degree sufficient to combine action with strength, yet modern
taste has been continually refining upon this form of Coach-
Horse by adopting a lighter standard. The Cleveland Bay,
having arrived at a certain degree of breeding, can receive,
without the violence of too extreme a mixture, a still further
infusion of the blood of horses nearer to the Race-Horse.
Many of them are accordingly crossed by Hunters and even
Thoroughbred Horses, and thus another variety of Coach-
Horse is produced of lighter form and higher breeding; and,
+
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604
in truth, many of our superior curricle and four-in-hand
horses are now nearly thoroughbred.
THE HORSE.
A variety of cream-coloured Horses is found in Germany
suited for the coach. They are valued chiefly for purposes
of parade and pomp. The cream-coloured breed of Hanover
was brought to England by George II., and is reared exclu-
sively for the Royal stud. The Horses are used only on state
occasions: they are of noble aspect, but of a soft tempera-
ment, and unfit for active exercise.
The term HACKNEY, in common use, from the French
Haquenée,' is employed to denote a kind of Horse fitted
for general services; and is, therefore, understood to ex-
clude the horses of the highest breeding, as the Thorough-
bred Horse and Hunter; and there is further associated
with the idea of a hackney, an animal of moderate size,
not exceeding fifteen hands, and possessing action, strength,
and temper. The hackneys of the present day are of lighter
form than those formerly sought for, and there is greater
difficulty in obtaining them to suit the services required,
from our present mixed varieties of half-bred horses, than
when horsemen were contented with the older class of hack-
neys of stouter form but inferior breeding. In truth, there
are few countries in which it is more difficult to obtain what
may be termed a Hackney than England. The Horses of
the Ukraine, and generally of the Cossacks of the Don, would
be invaluable in this country for the purposes for which the
hackney is valued. The PALFREY of the middle ages was a
Horse of the lighter kind, instructed in the paces of the
manège. The most esteemed of the older Palfreys were the
Spanish Jennets. At present the term Palfrey is not in
popular use. It may refer, however, to the smaller class of
Horses of high breeding, suited especially for ladies.
The CAVALRY HORSE is selected from the mixed races of
the country, and has been subjected to the changes which all
the others have undergone. He has become lighter and
higher bred, insomuch, that the horses of various regiments
،
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LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
605
approach the breeding of Hunters. There are regiments,
indeed, in which a more powerful class of horses is retained,
but yet these differ greatly from the Heavy Dragoon Horses
of former times. They have the characters of the modern
Coach-Horse, and not of the Horse of heavy draught. They
would have been the pride of the times of chivalry, and
afford now the example of the most powerful cavalry horses
that are any where to be found. The memorable field of
Waterloo shewed their importance. It is known that the
lighter mounted regiments would have been overborne by
the heavy armed cavalry of France but for the presence of
the household troops. On the other hand, the lighter horses
of our ordinary cavalry have proved themselves fitted, by
their spirit and endurance, for all the ordinary purposes of
the campaign.
Although the change so widely produced in the horses of
this country, by aiming at a lighter standard, has doubtless
given us animals more spirited, active, and graceful, it has,
at the same time, had the effect of causing great numbers to
be reared defective in form, deficient in strength and bone,
and which have lost the hardy qualities of the older races,
without having arrived at the properties which superior
breeding should communicate. The deterioration is gene-
rally admitted, and the causes are deserving of consideration,
as indicating the remedies.
A full account has been already given of the system of
the modern Course, and the effects have been pointed out of
the prevalent practice of running short races, with colts not
yet arrived at sufficient maturity of bone and muscle to fit
them for the full exercise of their powers. The consequence
of the system is, that exclusive attention has been directed
to the properties of speed, and that the important requisites
of strength and power of endurance, have come to be re-
garded as secondary in the cultivation of the animals. Their
form, suiting itself by insensible degrees to the conditions re-
quired, a race of surpassing swiftness, but inferior in strength
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606
and bone to the older horses of the turf, has been called into
existence. Now, as this is the race employed to communi-
cate its peculiar properties to the others, it is manifest that
a deterioration of its properties, from whatever cause, is
calculated to exercise an injurious influence on all the indi-
viduals with which it is mingled in blood. But yet more
injurious than the rearing of a race of swift but feeble
horses, is the constitutional injury inflicted upon the indivi-
duals of the race by that system of early forcing, with re-
spect to food and discipline, to which they must be subjected
at the earliest possible period of life. Hence the mortality
amongst these animals, the strains, the founders, the herniæ,
and other accidents consequent on over-tension of the parts,
and all the functional maladies in the respiratory and other
organs, which a premature and unnatural exertion generates
in the system, and which, not confined to the individuals,
descend to the offspring. The evil resulting from these
causes to the other breeds of the country, is in proportion to
the just estimation in which this noble race of horses has
been hitherto held, and the increasing desire to communicate
its properties to the inferior races. The remedy might be
found in determination, rigidly carried into effect, by the in-
fluential supporters of the turf, to root out the more flagrant
corruptions which fashion and cupidity have introduced, espe-
cially with respect to the age at which horses shall be per-
mitted to run; or, should the influence of individuals be in-
sufficient to effect the necessary reformation, then legislative
measures should be called for to correct abuses which are no-
wise essential to the legitimate purposes of the turf, and
which deprive the country of the benefit which it is entitled
to derive from a race of horses, brought to a high degree of
perfection, not by the modern gamblers of the turf, but by
the care of former generations.
Another cause of the deterioration of the horses of the
country is to be ascribed to errors in breeding, arising chiefly
from injudicious and extreme mixtures of blood, and in atten-
THE HORSE.
3
i
LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES.
607
tion to the soundness and qualities of the female parents.
It is shewn by experience, that the nearer the characters of
the parents approach, the more likely we are to succeed in
communicating their common properties to the progeny. By
extreme crosses good animals may, without doubt, be pro-
duced, but this will be by a kind of chance, and the greater
probability is, that the offspring will be defective in some point
or other. Nothing may seem so easy to the inexperienced
breeder as to produce a splendid coach-horse, or charger, or
hunter, by crossing a large cart-mare with a thoroughbred
horse; yet how rare are the cases in which the offspring of
such extreme mixtures is good! Either the body is too large
for the limbs, the head too large for the neck, or some other
want of harmony of parts presents itself, which renders the
animal comparatively worthless. This effect is constantly
observed in the numerous attempts which are made to pro-
cure horses of breeding from coarse ungainly mares through
the means of extreme crosses. Repeated failures are too
often required to convince the breeder that this is not the
mode by which well-proportioned animals are to be obtained.
We may readily produce a fine Ox from animals the most
dissimilar; but where everything depends, as in the horse,
upon a nice adjustment of parts, it is rare that the dissimi-
lar characters of the parents will be so harmonized in the
offspring as to produce a well-formed individual. The other
error, still more common, is to disregard the soundness and
other properties of the mare in breeding. A mare, which is
good for nothing else, is by too many thought sufficiently
good for bearing a foal, and hence numbers of worthless ani-
mals are destined to a purpose for which they are in a pecu-
liar degree unsuited. Even in such a case, chance may do
something for the ignorant and careless breeder; but the
far greater presumption is, that the offspring will inherit the
defects of the dam, and prove of little value.
• The remedy for such mistakes is increased intelligence on
the part both of those who rear horses, and those who ac-
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quire them. The breeder, by possessing adequate know-
ledge of the principles of breeding, will avoid the error of
injudicious mixtures of blood, and of employing females for
breeding which are unsuited for the purpose; and the con-
sumer will refuse to purchase animals which are wanting in
that harmony of conformation, and constitutional soundness,
without which no horse can be depended upon for perform-
ing the services required of him. The more palpable defects
of a large proportion of our mixed class of half-bred horses
are the want of depth of the chest, the flatness of the sides,
and the too great apparent length of the limbs. Such horses
are technically termed Weedy, and they form perhaps the
worst class of saddle-horses in any country in Europe. They
have, for the most part, spirit enough, but they are deficient
in strength and bottom; and, although they may be easy in
their paces, they are usually feeble in their limbs, and un-
safe. Great numbers of these very worthless creatures are
every year reared and brought to market, which the result
shews not to be worth half the food they have consumed.
THE HORSE.
IV. - HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
1. THE OLD ENGLISH BLACK HORSE.-From early re-
cords we learn that a race of Horses of a black colour has
existed in Europe from a remote age. It appears to have
been the prevailing race of the north of Gaul, and of Ger-
many from the mouth of the Rhine eastward, having in-
habited, it may be, in the wild state, the vast regions of
marsh and forest which stretched all through Europe east-
ward to the Euxine Sea. It was well known to the Romans,
who derived the most powerful horses of their cavalry from
Belgic Gaul; and when at length, in an evil hour, the Bar-
barians, as if by a common impulse, poured their swarms into
southern Europe, then the Great Black Horse of the North
became an instrument of destruction, and an object of terror;
2
t
1
1
;
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
609
living long in many a legend and tale of blood, and becoming
associated in the minds of the distracted people with ideas
of the anger of the gods and the power of demons. It was
carried into Italy, where its descendants yet exist, and into
Spain, whence it probably passed into Muritania with the
Vandals. In the middle ages these powerful Horses were
the steeds of knights and men-at-arms, and are used for
mounting the heavy cavalry of the great military govern-
ments of Europe in the present day.
The race of the European Black Horse exists unmixed in
the countries of the Lower Rhine, of the Meuse and the
Scheldt, comprehending the States of Holland and the king-
dom of Belgium. It is in these countries, as in ancient
times, that the Black Horse of Europe retains the weight
and size which were regarded as characteristic of his race.
But the same stock extends from the Low Countries east-
ward through central Germany, diverging to the north and
south from Switzerland to the Baltic, and exhibiting those
diversities of size and aspect which differences of food, cli-
mate, and elevation, tend to produce. Its typical form is
round and massy, the chest is wide, the neck strong and
muscular, the limbs are short, stout, and hairy. It possesses
physical strength and safe action, but is wanting in lightness
and speed. It presents every variation of size, from the
little sturdy German Hackney, to the larger animals suited
for the waggon and heavier carriages.
The same widely-spread race extends into England, where
it presents itself with the same general characters as in the
ancient countries of the Belgic Gauls, the Batavi, the Fri-
siandones, and others. It is found in numbers, from the
Humber to the Cam, occupying the rich fens of Lincoln and
Cambridge, and extending westward through the counties of
Huntingdon, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby,
Warwick, and Stafford, to the Severn. Although most abun-
dant in these districts of rich pastures, it has extended north-
ward, and very widely southward, into the countries of the
a
2 Q
k
1
наша неща будет корот
*_6241
--
610
Chalk, retaining the typical characters, but varied with the
climate, food, and other circumstances affecting its culture
and condition. In the commons and poorer grounds it pre-
sents the coarse pack-horse form, distinctive of the greater
part of the older horses of England. But in the fens and
richer cultivated country, it attains to the strength and
stature of the largest horses which the world produces.
But the older Black Horse of the fens and midland coun-
ties differs in several respects from the modern cultivated
race. Few now exist in their original state of rudeness
but scattered individuals are still to be met with, bordering
on the commons, or in possession of very old farmers, and
their condition shews the changes which time and cultiva-
tion have effected on the race. These older Horses possess
the bulky form which seems everywhere to characterize the
black stock in the countries where rank pastures exist. They
have coarse heads, large ears, and thick lips, largely garnished
with hairs. They have coarse shoulders, stout hairy limbs,
broad hoofs, and short upright pasterns. They are strong,
of a soft temperament, and eminently deficient in action,
spirit, and bottom. The first regular attempt which we are
informed of to improve this ungainly breed, was made by
one of the Earls of Huntingdon, who imported several
Dutch Coach Stallions, which, with great difficulty, he per-
suaded his tenants on the Trent to make trial of. Many
years afterwards Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, in the county
of Leicester, began to apply those principles of breeding to
the improvement of the Draught-Horse, which he had adopted
with unrivalled skill and success in the case of the other
domestic animals. He acted upon the conviction, that the
properties of the parents, with respect to both form and tem-
perament, can be transmitted to the progeny, and rendered
permanent by continued reproduction. He went himself to
Holland, and importing several mares, crossed them with
native stallions; and pursuing a course of careful selection, he
formed at length a stock, which he regarded as possessed of
THE HORSE.
;
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;
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611
the properties required. He does not appear to have at-
tempted any mixture of the blood of horses of high breed-
ing, but to have confined himself to the kinds suited for slow
labour. His stock was highly valued, and its descendants
were preserved with care by succeeding breeders. If the
figures of some of them do not exhibit what would now be
regarded as the form of a perfect Draught-Horse, they shew
the degree of breeding which Bakewell thought sufficient
to be communicated to horses employed in draught. His
example was beneficial; and Leicestershire, as well as the
adjoining counties of Derby and Stafford, became distinguished
for the breeding of this class of Horses.
The modern English Black Horse retains the general
characteristics of the pre-existing race, but greatly modified.
His colour is usually a sooty black, with frequently a white
lozenge-shaped mark on the forehead; and he has very gene-
rally one or more of the feet, and part of the legs, and not
unfrequently the muzzle, white. His body is massive, com-
pact, and round; his limbs are stout, his chest is enor-
mously broad, and his neck and back are short. His mane
is thick and somewhat frizzled, and his legs below the knee
and hock are hairy down to the heels. His whole aspect con-
veys the idea of great physical power without corresponding
action. The main defects of his conformation and tempera-
ment, are his too great bulk of body, and want of action and
mettle. For a pull with a heavy weight he is admirable;
but he steps out short, and is slow in all his motions.
These powerful horses are in extensive demand, not only
in the midland counties, where they are chiefly reared, but
over all the south of England, for the labours of the field,
and for waggons and heavy carriages of all kinds. They are
everywhere to be seen, moving at a slow pace, in the numer-
ous heavy waggons by which merchandise is conveyed inland,
and in great numbers in all the larger cities and sea-port
towns, where they are used for the transport of heavy goods
at wharfs, for the carriage of coals, timber, building mate-
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
-
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612
rials, and for a thousand purposes. In London, where the
largest and finest are in demand for the carts of brewers, the
waggons of coal-merchants, and other uses, the stranger
sees with admiration the vast number of enormous carriages
in endless motion through the crowded streets, drawn by
teams of the largest horses in the world: and, doubtless,
there is something noble in the aspect of these huge creatures,
yoked in lines, and obedient to the voice, amidst all the tu-
mult of a great city; but examination shews, that there is an
excessive waste of power, both in the unnecessary bulk of
the animals, and in the manner in which their services are
performed. They are usually attached in lines, which causes
them to pull by sudden jerks, and with unequal force; and,
in turning the corners of narrow streets and lanes, it is often
seen that the entire weight of the enormous carriage is
thrown, for a time, upon the shaft horse. It is contended by
many, that extreme weight and bulk of body are necessary
for these horses, to enable them to resist the jolting and sud-
den obstacles encountered on the rough pavement, which
they never leave. But, in truth, it is habit, and a species of
pride, which lead the owners of waggons to prefer the largest
and most shewy horses to those of moderate size and more
useful action; for experience cannot but shew, that it is
muscular force, and not the vis inertia of great weight of
body, which best enables a horse to overcome continued ob-
stacles. The mere gratification of taste, however, in the
employment of these splendid horses, would scarcely re-
quire a passing censure, were it not that this gratification
exercises a really hurtful influence in the breeding districts,
causing attention to be directed to size and appearance,
rather than to useful properties, and tending to perpetuate
that unnecessary bulk of body, which constitutes so great
a defect in the breed. Nor is this influence unimportant in
degree; for it is to be observed, that the demand for horses
of the largest class is not confined to the capital, but extends
to all the numerous cities and populous towns where drays
THE HORSE.
1
I
613
and waggons are in use. When animals of the largest size
are in demand, and the highest prices are paid for them, it
becomes the interest of breeders to employ large stallions,
and use every means to favour the development of size in
individuals. In the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge,
whence the great London drays are chiefly supplied, a breeder
measures his success by the stature of the individuals which
he is able to rear. At the age of two years and a half, the
colts are often seventeen hands high. They are bought at
this age by graziers near the capital, and used in the light
work of the plough until four years old, when they are fit for
the services to which they are destined, and disposed of at
high prices.
But the great English Black Horse, with all his existing
defects of temperament and form, undoubtedly affords the
basis of a valuable breed of horses, suited to the labour of
the fields, and heavy draught of every kind. But, in order
that he may be brought to the degree of improvement of .
which he is capable, sound opinions must prevail regarding
the properties required in a horse of draught, and the means
of using his powers. Strength and weight are, doubtless,
an essential requisite in this class of horses: but the strength
required is that which is produced by a just conformation of
parts, and not by mere weight of body. A Draught-Horse
should, along with the form indicative of physical strength,
possess length and depth of the posterior extremities, with
the form of shoulder which shall allow him to step out freely.
In these points the English Black Horse is eminently defec-
tive, and his pace, accordingly, is slower-than that perhaps
of any other horse of the same class in Europe. Neverthe-
less, a great improvement has recently been effected on the
breed, which, it is to be trusted, will be progressive.
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
II. BREEDS OF THE NORTH-EASTERN COUNTIES.- The
Black Horse, it has been seen, is widely spread over the
central and southern counties of England, extending from
·
The
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614
THE HORSE.
Lincolnshire westward and southward. But, on crossing the
Humber to the north, a change appears in the form and cha-
racters of the ordinary horses of the country. The black
gives place to the brown and lighter colours, and the horses
become less bulky, and of a form more indicative of activity.
This change appears throughout Yorkshire, Durham, North-
umberland, and beyond the Tweed, and distinguishes, at a
glance, the northern breeds of the larger horses from the
slow and weighty Black Horse of the southern counties.
When we compare the coasts of Britain with those of the
opposite continent, we find a striking similitude in their
geological formation, and in their animal and vegetable pro-
ductions. All along the British Channel, from Land's End
to the Straits of Dover, we have a country resembling, even
to the indentations of the coast, the countries of France from
Ushant to the Pas de Calais. Bending northward, the flat
alluvial countries of the eastern coasts of England correspond
in the closest degree with the low lands of Belgium and Hol-
land. The marshes of the Zuyder Zee seem to be repro-
duced in the fens of Lincoln, and in both localities the horses
resemble one another, even to the colour of the skin. Stretch-
ing, again, from the Humber northwards, the country in
England corresponds with the Danish dominions of Holstein,
Sleswick, and Jutland, and each locality produces horses
tall and strong, where circumstances favour the development
of their forms, of diversified colours, and differing from the
great horse of the marshes; and we might pursue the paral-
lel until we reached the granitic mountains of Norway and
the Scottish Highlands.
The country from the Tweed to the Humber, forming a
part of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumberland,
was early noted for the numbers and quality of its horses.
The Northumbrians, engaged in incessant forays and wars,
were distinguished as the most daring horsemen of the
Island; and their horses are described as stout, agile, and
hardy. Durham, although it early became the patrimony of
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
615
St Cuthbert, did not, on this account, become the less war-
like and predatory; and Yorkshire long retained the sad
distinction of being the most frequent arena of the foreign
and civil wars which desolated the kingdom. The people of
these countries have retained their ancient passion for the
Horse; and, in more peaceful times, Yorkshire became a
nursery for horses, and is now the greatest breeding district
in England.
The horses reared in this part of England are of all the
varieties suited to the saddle, the coach, the waggon, and
the plough; and present every diversity of size, colour, and
breeding. It is the peculiarity of the entire district, that
much of the blood of the superior races has been communi-
cated to the common kinds, and that comparatively few of
those employed even in the labour of heavy draught are alto-
gether unmixed. This results from the practice, long and
extensively pursued all over Yorkshire and Durham, of
breeding horses especially for the saddle and the lighter
carriages. The larger kinds, used solely for draught, are
chiefly reared in the northern part of the district, of which
the county of Durham may be regarded as the centre. These,
when unmixed with the blood of horses of high breeding, are
a tall and powerful race of animals, adapted to every labour
requiring weight and muscular force.
III. THE CLYDESDALE BREED.-The Horses of Scotland
employed in labour, pass by gradations from the smaller va-
rieties of the mountainous districts, to the larger breeds of
the plains and cultivated country. It is in the Lowlands
that those adapted for the heavier labours, and properly
termed Draught-Horses, are reared. Although varying in
size, form, and properties, in different districts, they have
been gradually approaching, with the increased means of
general intercourse, to a greater uniformity of characters.
The part of Scotland which had early become the most dis-
tinguished for the production of the larger horses for draught
Fl
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616
was the county of Lanark, otherwise termed Clydesdale. This
district, intersected in its whole extent by the river Clyde,
comprehends a large portion of that vast field of coal, to
which Scotland owes its existence as a manufacturing coun-
try; and contains within its bounds the city of Glasgow,
which, from a secondary town, has become, within the period
of less than a century, one of the most rich and populous
cities of the empire. The rapid and continuous increase of
this great manufacturing city, and the prodigious land-car-
riage in the rich mining district connected with it, created a
demand for horses of superior strength and size, for the pur-
poses of draught. The kind of carriage employed for the
transport of minerals and all kinds of goods, being the single-
horse cart, the horses required were those which should com-
bine with weight of body a considerable degree of muscular
activity. Those of the district have become, in an eminent
degree, adapted to the conditions required; and, being inter-
mixed in blood, and formed on a common model, a breed has
been produced with well-defined characters. It is termed
the Clydesdale Breed, because the individuals are mainly
derived from the district of that name.
THE HORSE.
The Clydesdale breed of horses has a manifest affinity
with the Black Horse of Holland and the Netherlands; and
universal tradition refers to an importation, at an early pe-
riod, of a number of Flanders stallions to the neighbourhood
of Hamilton, by one of the Dukes of that name. That a mix-
ture between the Black Horse of the Continent and the native
race took place at some period, cannot be doubted; and there
is good reason to believe, that the tradition is well founded,
which refers this national boon to the Noble House of Ha-
milton, whose extensive domains embrace the district the
most early noted for the production of this race of horses.
But it may likewise be believed, that horses from different
sources have been, from time to time, introduced into the
populous mining and manufacturing district of this part of
Scotland, and that thus the breed of Clydesdale is really of
►
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
617
very mixed lineage, although its distinctive characters have
been communicated to it by the blood of the Black Horse.
The Clydesdale breed of horses, as it now exists, is of the
larger class, the ordinary stature of the individuals being six-
teen hands. Their prevailing colour is black, but the brown
or bay is common, and is continually gaining upon the other,
and the gray not unfrequently manifests itself although the
parents should have been dark. They are longer in the body
than the English Black Horse, and less weighty, compact,
and muscular; but they step out more freely, and have a
more useful action for ordinary labour. They draw steadily,
and are usually free from vice. The long stride character-
istic of the breed is partly the result of conformation, and
partly of habit and training; but, however produced, it adds
greatly to the usefulness of the horses, both on the road and
in the fields. No such loads are known to be drawn at the
same pace by any horses in the kingdom as in the single-
horse carts of carriers and others in the west of Scotland;
and in the labour of the field these horses are found to com-
bine activity with the physical strength required for draught.
The horses of this breed are now reared over all the coun-
ties of Renfrew, Ayr, and Dumfries, but they are still pro-
duced in the greatest numbers in Lanarkshire. They have
fair justice rendered to them when young, by their being
allowed their natural exercise over a large range of pastur-
age until the age at which they are taken up for work. Al-
though not pampered, the mares, when in foal, are kept in
good order by means of turnips, potatoes, and similar food.
The only kind of horses, too, reared by the farmers being
those of the native stock, there is no mixture of breeds, and
little employment of those half-bred mares which are com-
mon in other breeding districts. On the other hand, the
rearing of draught-horses being more a part of the regular
routine of the farm than elsewhere, the farmers are usually
satisfied to obtain a fair average stock without seeking to
produce horses of superior figure and higher price. Fewer
G
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618
THE HORSE.
examples of very fine horses may be presented here than in
other breeding districts, but fewer fall below the standard
aimed at.
These horses are disposed of in great numbers at the fairs
of Glasgow, Rutherglen, and others in the district, and nume-
rous dealers resort thither from different parts of the king-
dom to procure them. They are carried largely to Lanca-
shire, and even to the southern counties of England. They
are taken in considerable number to the north of Ireland,
where they are used by carriers and others. They have
spread over the whole Lowlands of Scotland from Caithness
to the Solway Firth, and have been mixed in blood with all
the other varieties. They are now reared in the eastern as
well as in the western counties, with more or less of inter-
mixture with the pre-existing breeds.
The Clydesdale Horses, although inferior in weight and
physical strength to the Black Horse, and in figure and
showy action to the better class of the Draught-Horses of
Northumberland and Durham, yet possess properties which
render them exceedingly valuable for all ordinary uses. On
the roads the individuals perform tasks which can scarcely
be surpassed, and in the fields they are found to be steady,
docile, and safe. It is important not only to the district
which produces them, but to all the others to which they are
carried, that a due attention be given to a development of
the useful properties distinctive of the breed. In Clydesdale,
some breeders apply themselves to the rearing of Stallions,
and exhibit in their practice the skill and liberality which
can be desired; but in the case of the mass of breeders in
the district, no peculiar energy or skill is exhibited. They
are often too easily contented with cheap and inferior mares,
and not always sufficiently aware of the importance of em-
ploying stallions of the first class.
IV. THE SUFFOLK PUNCH BREED.-Besides the heavy
Black Horse, and the other larger horses of the country em-
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
619
-
ployed in draught, a variety exists possessed of such peculia-
rities of form and colour, that it is properly regarded as a
family or breed. It is termed the Suffolk Punch Breed, from
the county of Suffolk, where it has been long reared, and from
the stout or punchy form distinctive of the individuals. It ex-
tends from Suffolk throughout the neighbouring counties of
Norfolk and Essex, where it is held in estimation for the pur-
poses of common labour. It is distinguished by its colour,
which is of a light dun or sorrel, sometimes deepening into
chestnut, with lighter coloured mane and tail. It was held to
be a useful kind of horse, naturally of moderate stature, and
though slow, possessed of good endurance. But for a long
period the breed has been largely crossed with other varieties,
so that it is now somewhat difficult to obtain the Suffolk Punch
in a state of purity. The older breed was especially valued
for the steadiness of the individuals in draught, and the true-
ness with which they performed their work of all kinds. No
horses exerted themselves better at a dead pull. A true
Suffolk Punch would draw almost till he dropped down. A
team, àt a signal given, would, without a whip, bend in a
moment to their knees, and drag everything along. * This
property was so remarkable in the old Suffolk Punches, that
cruel wagers used to be laid on their powers of draught, and
many fine horses, it is said, were ruined by their indomitable
spirit. They were, besides, a hardy race of horses, capable
of subsisting on ordinary food. Their form, however, was
peculiarly plain. The heads were large, the necks short, the
muzzles coarse, the shoulders low and cloddy; but the limbs
were short, the backs straight, the loins wide, and the haunches
well developed. The colour distinctive of this variety con-
nects it with the race widely diffused throughout the north
of Europe and Asia, from the Scandinavian Alps to the
plains of Tartary, in which the dun colour prevails. It is
believed to have been carried to the eastern counties of Eng-
* Library of Useful Knowledge.
1
620
land from Normandy, which yet possesses many fine horses
of this variety, introduced, it may be believed, by the Scan-
dinavian invaders.
THE HORSE.
The Suffolk Punch breed of England, it has been said, has
been crossed with other varieties. These are chiefly the
larger horses of Yorkshire and Durham. By this mixture
individuals have been improved in figure and action, but that
uniformity of the breed, which enabled the breeder to repro-
duce with certainty the characters of the parents in the pro-
geny;
has been to a certain degree taken away, with some-
thing, too, of the hardiness and peculiar temperament of the
older family. Fashion and taste have had more to do with
this change than considerations of utility. The dun colour
is in less request than the darker brown or bay, although the
former is characteristic of the hardiest breeds of horses in
Europe. Of recent years a considerable demand has arisen
for Suffolk Punches, for the purposes of the dray and wag-
gon. Many fine teams of this variety are to be seen in Lon-
don, where, amid the tumult of the crowded streets, the
massy forms and bright manes and tails of the horses pre-
sent a striking appearance. The modern Suffolk Punch is
certainly superior to the Black Horse in activity and endur-
ance, and is at least equally well suited to the continued ser-
vices of the dray; but the demand for large horses has the
effect, as in the case of the Black Horse, of inducing atten-
tion to size rather than the useful properties. Sometimes
the Suffolk Punch has been crossed with horses of high
breeding. In this way good horses may occasionally be pro-
duced adapted to the chariot and coach; but unless a breed
were formed, as in Cleveland, by progressive intermixture,
no permanent supply of superior horses could be calculated
upon from this source.
Other varieties of the larger horses suited for labour exist
in different parts of England, but, for the most part, they are
either of too mixed and varying characters to be regarded as
**
HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT.
621
breeds, or too few in numbers to be of economical interest
beyond the districts which produce them. When unmixed
they are often merely the older pack-horses, somewhat en-
larged in size, and presenting the varieties in colour and
form which these native horses have possessed for an unknown
period. In Cornwall and the higher parts of Devonshire,
Wiltshire, and elsewhere, low sturdy horses are in common
use, which are active and useful beyond what their external
appearance would indicate. The lower parts of Wales, in
like manner, produce horses of moderate stature and ordinary
form, but which are hardy and true to their work; and the
same remark will apply to a great part of the horses of the
districts bordering on Wales. Northward through Lanca-
shire, we find horses of a mixed breed, generally inferior in
figure to those of the eastern counties, but stout and well
adapted for common labour. In Cumberland, many good
horses are produced, which may be regarded as related in
part to the Durham breed, and in part to the Clydesdale
breed of Scotland.
·
+
1

SCOTTISH DEER-HOUND,
VI. THE DOG.
THOMPSON
The DOG, reduced to servitude from the earliest civiliza-
tion of our race, forms, nevertheless, a member of a group of
beasts of prey, whose common characters unite them into a
family or tribe. The Canidæ are spread over every region
of the habitable earth; and are all fitted to live on flesh, al-
though they may subsist on vegetable food, and, in the do-
mesticated state, are sometimes fed entirely upon it. They
are mostly swift of foot, and endowed with a delicate sense
of animal odours, which enables them to pursue the traces of
their prey. They are either gregarious, living in packs and
#
623
combining their forces to captivate their victims, or else
they are more or less solitary, remaining in pairs during the
season of sexual desire, or while they have their young to
defend. They have not generally the same thirst of blood as
the feline tribes, although, when urged by their wants, they
are bold, voracious, and dangerous. They do not possess
the agility and suppleness of body for which the feline tribes
are distinguished; but they are more enduring of fatigue,
more wary, sagacious, and patient, and many of them are
furnished with temperaments which cause them to resign
readily their natural habits, and live under new conditions
of life. Judging from organic remains, the Canidæ do not
seem to have been called into existence on this planet at the
very earliest periods, but to have succeeded, in the order of
time, most of the more sanguinary carnivora. They are the
instinctive and most powerful enemies of the feline tribes,
killing not only their cubs in great numbers, but being fre-
quently enabled, by their union, sagacity, and power of smell,
to hunt them down.
HISTORY.
Connected by certain relations with the Dog is the vora-
cious family of Hyenas, which earlier naturalists compre-
hended in the same genus. But the Hyænas, although some
of them approach very near to the conformation of the Dog,
possess habitudes and characters different from the true Ca-
nidæ, and are regarded as forming a distinct group. While
at one point they pass into the Dogs, at another they are
connected with the Civet tribe.
Of the Hyænas, the most numerous are the Spotted and
the Striped; the former inhabiting Southern Africa, and the
latter the countries north of the great Sahara, extending
through Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, and other warm parts
of Asia, to the forests beyond the Ganges. In a former age
of the world, the family, although of species now extinct,
extended even to the higher latitudes of Europe, and
have left their remains in rocky caverns and mineral de-
posites.
I
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624
THE DOG.
The Hyæna is of savage aspect, and ungainly form. Like
the Wolf, his eyes glare in the dark. Many of the ancient
nations regarded him with a kind of terror. They held him
to be possessed of magical powers, so as to be capable of
imitating the human voice, of changing his own sex, of
charming the senses, and riveting the beholders to the spot
where they stood. The head of the Hyæna is large; his neck
is rigid, which gave rise to the ancient fable that it was of one
bone; and his jaws being moved by powerful muscles, the ani-
mal is enabled to bite with tremendous force, and crush the
bones of his victims in an instant. The Hyænas live in holes
and caverns, and issue forth under the cloud of night, prowling
in troops, and uttering frightful and mournful cries. With
the exception of one species, the Cape Hunting Hyæna, they
are little fitted for pursuit, but steal upon the largest ani-
mals, as the bullock, the ass, the horse, and the camel, and,
entering the sheep-folds, commit frightful havoc upon the
unresisting flock. They feed largely on garbage, and the
putrifying flesh of animals, which they seem to prefer to
other food. They skulk into towns and villages in the dark,
and, with the vultures and outcast dogs, assist in clearing
away the filth and offal which the habits of Africans and
Asiatics allow to accumulate around their dwellings; and
entering the churchyards, they dig up the bodies of the dead.
They abound in the warmer regions of the Old Continent,
but are most numerous in Africa. They are so abundant in
Abyssinia, according to Bruce, that they are regarded as a
general scourge in every situation, both in the city and in
the field; " and I think," continues the traveller, "surpassed
the sheep in number. Gondar was full of them from even-
ing till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of
slaughtered carcasses which this cruel and unclean people
expose in the streets without burial." Although bold and
savage in claiming the food which their appetites require,
yet they are rarely dangerous to man. The Moors of Bar-
bary are in the habit of entering the cavern in which a
2
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Hyæna has concealed himself with a burning torch, throw-
ing a blanket over his head, and tying his feet, as if he were
a calf; and the people in the Moorish towns, when they
meet hyænas in the streets, will frequently, we are told, pull
them by the ears in sport, without their offering any other
resistance than to pull back. Fierce and ravenous as these
animals are when prowling for their prey, they are yet ca-
pable of domestication, and become as submissive as a dog.
But they pine and fret under a deprivation of liberty, and
when chained or confined in a cell like wild beasts, preserve
the fierceness and indocility distinctive of their rudest condi-
tion. The Hyænas certainly approach very near, in certain
characters, to the Dog; and it is just possible, that the blood of
this rude and ravenous creature may have been mingled with
that of certain domesticated breeds. It is said that the Dogs
of some of the African tribes have much of the aspect of this
animal; and even in our own country, we sometimes see, in
the case of the larger dogs fed on the garbage of shambles,
something like an approach to the marking of the fur, the ex-
pression of the eyes, and general appearance, of these animals.
But the true Canidæ are certain species of Dogs which exist
in the Old and New Continents, including, 1st, the Wolves, the
Jackals, and Foxes, so called; 2dly, various species of Wild
Dogs, which approach more or less to the typical forms of
the Wolf, the Jackal, and the Fox, and which might, doubt-
less, were our knowledge of them sufficiently precise, be in-
cluded in one or other of these generic forms; and, 3dly, the
Fennecs, or Zerdas, little animals of the Dog kind, inhabit-
ing the African Continent.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Of these animals, the Wolf is that which, from his num-
bers, and the terrible ravages which his sanguinary appetites,
his hardihood, and surpassing sagacity, have enabled him
to inflict on other animals, has excited the greatest interest,
and, in every age, been placed in a painful relation with the
ruder as well as the more civilized inhabitants of countries.
His howlings in the dead of night, or when the moon shines
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forth, the glaring of his eye, his mysterious crossing of the
path of the lonely traveller, the pertinacity with which he
tracks the steps of his human victim, and even enters his
dwelling, have in all ages tended to excite ideas of a myste-
rious power, and notions which yet find a place in the super-
stition of the vulgar of different countries. Even the terror
which this creature has inspired, has rendered him the object
of preposterous adoration. He was held sacred to Apollo,
whom a she-wolf suckled, and to other fabled divinities of the
first ages. Under the gloomy superstition of the Scandina-
vian nations, he was regarded as a type of the destroying
demon, who was to appear at that terrible epoch when even
the Gods should perish. More often he was held to be typical
of noble daring, ever the first of virtues amongst barbarians.
He was an attendant upon Odin, in the gloomy Shades of the
northern nations, as on Mars, in the fairer Heaven of the
Olympic Gods. He suckled the founders of the Roman
state, and gave cognominations to the noblest families of
Greece and Rome. But it is chiefly amongst the Teutonic
nations that we find the Wolf associated with the memory
of great actions; and giving names to nations, tribes, and
warlike leaders.
THE DOG.
The Common Wolf, Lupus vulgaris, the most numerous of
the species, inhabits all Europe, from the Icy Cape to the
shores of the Mediterranean. He is found, too, in all North-
ern and Central Asia, extending through the wilds of Siberia
to the shores of Kamtschatka. He is found in the countries
of the Caucasus, and all along the Himàlayas; and, by ana-
logy, he may be believed to occupy all the higher ranges in
contact with that mighty mass of mountains. Stretching
along the secondary chains, he appears in the plains of In-
dia, and beyond the Brahmapootra. His limits in the African
Continent are unknown; but it is believed that he exists
from Morocco eastward to the Libyan deserts, and even that
he extends to the high land of Abyssinia, and the mountains
stretching inland. In the New World, he is found from
14
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627
Behring's Straits, by Baffin's Bay, to the desolate shores of
Greenland; and he extends through all the wilds of North
America, to the narrow isthmus which separates the Pacific
from the Caribbean Sea.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Within these vast limits, it may well be inferred that the
Wolf has assumed characters which fit him for the varied
conditions in which he must exist, with respect to place, cli-
mate, and the nature and abundance of his prey. According-
ly, he is often found so changed in colour, form, and gene-
ral aspect, that naturalists remain in doubt whether certain
wolves are to be regarded as distinct from one another, or
varieties of the same specific form. Of these there are two,
which naturalists generally regard as distinct species,—the
Black Wolf, and the Dusky Wolf.
The Black Wolf, Lupus Lycaon, is sometimes termed the
Pyrenean Wolf, from his being the prevailing kind of that
lofty chain; but he inhabits other mountainous parts of
Southern Europe, and appears to extend to the countries
of the Arctic Ocean. He re-appears, likewise, of the same
or nearly allied species, in the New World, stretching from
the Arctic Circle into Florida. He has muscular limbs, and
a shaggy coat, and is more like a dog than even the Com-
mon Wolf; and, indeed, so much resembles the Dogs of some
countries of Europe, that, to the eye, he appears to be the
same. The Dark or Dusky Wolf (Lupus nubilus, Willd.) in-
habits likewise the high latitudes of both continents, but has
scarcely the same claim to be regarded as a distinct species
as the Black Pyrenean Wolf; and, in truth, neither differs
so much from the Common Wolf as others which are regarded
as varieties.
The Common Wolf, which may be regarded as the type of
the group, is about the size of the larger class of the domes-
ticated dogs. But he is longer in the body than they: his
limbs are stouter, the ball of the foot is more hairy, and the
claws are larger. The incisor teeth are
and his canines more trenchant and strong.
more projecting,
His eyes, which
His
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}
in the dark glisten like globes of fire, are smaller, and, being
placed more obliquely, give to the animal that cunning and
sinister aspect which has been so often commented upon.
His face is broader above the eyes than in the domesticated
Dogs; and his ears are shorter and more erect. His
muzzle, which he uses in place of his feet for making holes
in the ground for hiding his prey, is narrow, and the edges
of his lips are black. His tail is bushy and pendent, and is
rarely curled upwards, in the manner of the common dogs,
except for a moment when he is at play. His skin emits
a strong odour, his hair is coarse, and he is furnished with
a bristly mane, which he erects when in anger. His voice
is a dismal howl, although, when tamed, he readily learns
to imitate the barking of the common dog. In the higher
latitudes, his fur is usually a fulvous-gray; and in the Arc-
tic regions, it often becomes as white as that of the Polar
Bear. In the very highest latitudes, too, his body is stouter
than elsewhere, his feet are more webbed, and his habits
more aquatic, so that he can cross from land to land, and
pursue seals and other prey even in the water. Towards
the temperate latitudes, his fur becomes more fulvous, and
in the warmer, it deepens even to a russet-brown; and in
countries of great cold, it is more shaggy than in those which
are temperate. In elevated countries, destitute of trees, he
has longer limbs, and is more swift of foot, than in woody
plains where his prey is abundant; and, in short, there is
no animal which presents, in the state of nature, greater va-
riations than the Wolf. Hunters are aware of these differ-
ences, and distinguish the wolves of different parts of the
same country. Even in the same litter, individuals are pro-
duced, so different in form and colour, that naturalists some-
times suppose them to be of distinct species.
The season of heat of the female is in autumn, and she
goes with young about sixty-three days, which is the medium
period of gestation of the Dog; but far otherwise than in
the case of dogs, the male and female wolf retire apart to
•
THE DOG.
里
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SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
*
629
some secret covert, and when the time of parturition arrives,
select some fitting place, as a hole in the earth, a crevice of
a rock, or even a hollow tree, and prepare a bed with soft
moss, which the female lines with the fur of her own body,
which at that season is easily detached. The cubs, like all
other dogs, are born blind, and remain so for ten or twelve
days. During this period, ere light has dawned on the eyes
of the young, the male, it is said, seeks to destroy them. The
fact is questionable; but if it were true, it would not be with-
out parallel, as in the case of the Wild Hog, the Rabbit, and
other animals, to whom this remarkable instinct is given.
But whatever the truth be with respect to the Wolf, the pa-
rents, it is well known, combine their cares to rear their
young. The male pursues the chase, and brings food to his
mate when suckling her whelps. When the young can eat
of solid food, both parents busy themselves in obtaining it,
the one keeping watch while the other is absent, and ready
to die rather than abandon the charge. It is said that they
bring to their hole little animals alive, as leverets, moles, and
even mice, which they teach the young to kill. After a time
the whelps are led forth, and taught by the parents to worry,
to run, to follow the smaller animals, and even, it is said, to
bear pain without flinching. The lessons being concluded,
the male assumes the independent habits proper to him; but
the female retains the whelps near her for a considerable time
to defend them, until at length, in obedience to the instincts
which are given her, she quits her long-cherished offspring,
that they may perform the functions proper to them.
The habits of the Wolf have been again and again de-
scribed. His appetite for food seems to be insatiable, and
his craving for it incessant. The tiger, when he has devoured
the flesh, and lapped the blood, of his victim, lays himself
down to repose in his lonely lair: the wolf seems to know no
pause in his work of havoc; except that, like every carnivor-
ous quadruped, he demands a long period of sleep to repair
the wants of the system. This sleep he takes during the day
呀
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from dawn to sunset, but may be roused at once from his per-
turbed and sullen slumber by the calls of hunger, and then
he is as fierce and insatiable as during the night. When
prey is abundant, he contents himself with devouring the
most savoury parts, but when it is scarce, he buries the
flesh under ground, and returns again and again, in silence
and alone, to feed. When prowling in the dark, he suf-
fers no creature which comes within his grasp to escape
with life; for instinct, it appears, instructs him to kill even
though he should be unable to devour. The Wolf is thus
the terror of the weaker animals; and even the strongest
and fleetest do not escape him. Yet he is rather ferocious
and cunning than truly daring, except when urged by hun-
ger, and then no danger seems to appal him. But he gene-
rally seeks to circumvent rather than make a direct attack on
animals able to resist him. He crouches on the ground, and
avails himself of every cover, or sinuosity of the surface, to
take his victim unprepared. When the sentinels of armies
are placed in woods where wolves abound, they are often de-
stroyed ere the alarm can be given, or help afforded. The
wolves, lurking and concealed around, watch in silence every
motion of the man, and in an instant, when he turns his
back, or is off his guard, spring upon him and tear him to
pieces. In India the young villagers, when employed in
ploughing or other labours of the field, are not unfrequently
carried off by the wolves of the neighbouring jungles. The
animals, skulking in the hollows of the ground, and availing
themselves of every bush, approach unseen, and, when the
back of the victim is for a moment turned, spring upon
him. In this manner, a few years ago, near a particular
village in India, more than a dozen of poor boys were carried
off in quick succession during the period of the active labours
of the season. The pertinacity with which a wolf will watch
and pursue his solitary victim is wonderful. He will follow
him for mile after mile, crouching and concealing himself.
During the long continued snow in 1845, the French Jour-
THE DOG.
1
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
631
nals inform us, that, as a public diligence was passing along
the road, the conductor heard the loud cries of a man for
assistance. The man stated that he had been for some time
followed by a wolf, which he had had the utmost difficulty in
keeping off. The man was taken into the diligence, and car-
ried on for ten or twelve miles. He then got out to pursue
the rest of his journey on foot, but he had scarcely left the
vehicle when the passengers were again alarmed by his cries
for assistance. The insatiable wolf, it appears, was once
more by his side. But generally, when wolves have enemies
capable of resisting their attack, they assemble in bands.
When the Spanish shepherds, aided by innumerable dogs,
are conveying their great flocks of sheep from the southern
to the northern provinces, the wolves prowl in the distance
all around, prepared to take every opportunity to seize upon
the stragglers. The muleteers of the same country, when
crossing the defiles of the Pyrenees, as night approaches,
have sometimes difficulty in saving the mules from the fero-
city of these enemies. The wolves are to be seen in the dusk,
stealing from bush to bush as the cavalcade moves on, ready
to spring upon the first unguarded mule. In the progress of
armies through wild countries, wolves are often seen to fol-
low their march in bands, ready to seize the straggling horses
and other animals, and to feast, it must be believed, on the
bodies of the wounded and dying. In the memorable re-
treat of the French from Moscow, the northern wolves
continually hung in the rear of the two armies. Many of
them, of a more shaggy and ferocious aspect than had before
been seen in the same parts, reached the banks of the Rhine,
and were killed by the country people. When wolves are
pressed by long famine, they not unfrequently combine in
large numbers to enter the neighbouring hamlets-and vil-
lages. The pack rushing suddenly in, tear to pieces the do-
mestic dogs, and, entering the outhouses, kill every animal
they meet. Sometimes even they force themselves into dwell-
ing-houses, and spring upon the people.
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THE DOG.
When wolves have by any means learned to feed on human
flesh, they ever afterwards make increased efforts to obtain
it. In India, where the heat of the climate causes the na-
tives to sleep much in the open air, they are often the vic-
tims of these midnight prowlers. But the animals rather
attack children than those who can offer resistance. They
have been known to spring upon women when suckling their
children, and carry away the babes, amid the cries, the mis-
siles, and unavailing pursuit of the throng; and yet the
wolves of India are nothing like so powerful as those of the
higher latitudes, but being in a populous country, they have
learned to attack men, whom in other localities they would
not have dared to face.
Wolves are less gregarious than many others of the canine
family. They rather assemble together than live in commu-
nities. They are enduring, and pertinacious in pursuit, fol-
lowing their game by the scent as well as by the eye. A
single wolf has been known to run down a stag or elk. They
are sometimes seen hunting in little packs, which, when the
quarry is in view, divide into sets, some following behind, and
others keeping in flank to intercept the bewildered victim,
as he vainly strives to save himself by turning to one or
other side.
It
When the Wolf invades the cultivated country, he becomes
the scourge of the inhabitants. For the most part he easily
subdues the domesticated dogs, whom he maims by snapping
at their limbs, which he frequently breaks, so that few even
of the largest and fiercest dogs willingly encounter him.
is said that he has the art of luring house-dogs from their
stations, in order that he may turn upon them. When he
attacks a sheep, he either devours it on the spot, or, throw-
ing it over his shoulder that he may the more easily support
its weight, drags it away. But, generally, he does not limit
himself to a single victim in the case of such animals as the
sheep, but endeavours to destroy as many as he can; and it is
remarkable that this is the very practice of the domesticated
*
633
dog when he has by any chance acquired the habit of run-
ning down sheep. When the wolf enters a sheep-fold, which
he does by leaping over the walls, or digging underneath
them, the havoc he commits is excessive. If time be allowed
before the alarm is given, he frequently does not depart while
a single animal is alive, but flies from one to another, as if
his appetite for slaughter increased with the means of grati-
fying it. Sometimes, indeed, in mountainous countries, the
rams, placing the females in the rear, present a front to the
wolf, and endeavour to rush upon him with their powerful
foreheads, and stun him by the shock. But the hazard is, that
the marshalled ranks will be thrown into instant confusion,
when nothing but the appearance of the shepherd with fire-
arms, or his faithful but terrified dogs, can save the remnant
of the flock. When a wolf advances to a herd of oxen, they
assemble in a mass, and endeavour to trample him with their
feet, an instinct which even the helpless oxen of our fields
retain, as we may see when a strange dog intrudes into their
pasture grounds. But the Wolf never assails a whole herd
of these animals. He seeks to surprise the scattered mem-
bers, and then he runs at them from behind, and hamstrings
them by his powerful bite; and it is curious that the larger
drover's dogs in this country imitate, without inflicting
wounds, the same mode of attack. When the Wolf assails a
horse, he adopts a different practice: he avoids both the pos-
terior limbs and fore-feet of the animal, and endeavours to
spring upon his back, or seize him high up by the buttocks.
The Wolf, wary by nature, has all his habits of caution
increased when brought into contact with man. When he
sets forth from his covert, when the shades of evening have
fallen, he snuffs the gale to windward, that he may know
whether an enemy is in the distance. When he steals into the
neighbouring country in search of food, he sometimes effaces
the marks of his footsteps by his bushy tail, that the retreat
from which he has issued may not be discovered; and when
several wolves go forth in company, they frequently follow
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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634
one another, step by step, so that not more than one mark may
be made, and this to be effaced by the last of the file. When
a wolf, alone or along with others, approaches an outhouse
or other place where he looks for prey, and finds that it can-
not be entered with safety, he abandons for the present his
design. When the practice is adopted of laying poisoned
carrion in the woods, he suspects the food of dead animals
which he meets with in the same situations, and, though
famishing, will abstain from the dangerous lure. He knows
the effect of fire-arms, and takes the means to keep without
their range.
THE DOG.
He is often hunted by hounds trained to the chase; but
no other animal is with such difficulty run down. When
forced from his covert in the forest, he boldly strikes off for
the next place of safety, though often at a vast distance, en-
deavouring to gain time, and put the hounds at fault by
bounding from the direct path, by entering pools of water,
nay, by crossing the widest rivers, as the Rhine, and swim-
ming down to a distance with the current. But should he
be unable to reach a place of safety, so that the hounds gain
upon him, he turns back for an instant, snaps at the limbs
of the foremost dogs, so that he may maim them, and then
continues his retreat.
When Europe was almost one continued forest, the wolves
were the subject of continued dread to the inhabitants. Every
one is aware of the many allusions in the pages of the classic
poets to the ravages of the wolf on the flocks and herds of the
southern shepherds. But the northern nations were more
subjected to the depredations of this animal, from the greater
extent of their forests. With the progress of settlement and
cultivation, the wolves of Europe progressively diminished
in numbers, but this only by the use of fire-arms, and by in-
cessant persecution carried on from age to age. But even
yet, wolves are in many parts of Europe so numerous as to be
troublesome and dangerous, as in the Pyrenees, and yet more
in the countries where large forests exist, as in Poland and
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
635
Russia, where the depredations committed are often exceed-
ingly great. By an official report made to the Russian Go-
vernment in 1822, it appears that in one year there were
killed in the province of Livonia, 1841 horses, 1807 oxen,
733 calves, 15,182 sheep, 726 lambs, 2545 goats, 183 kids,
4190 swine, 312 young pigs, 703 dogs, 673 geese, and 1243
other fowls. In England, wolves so abounded at one period as
to make it dangerous to pass through the woods after sunset
even for the shortest distance. In the ancient forests of
Kent, and in those surrounding London, they so swarmed
that no animal kept about human dwellings was safe; and
one of the early cares of the Anglo-Saxon princes was to
adopt public measures for their destruction, to which end
many remarkable laws and edicts are recorded. They con-
tinued, however, numerous during the reign of the Tudor
Princes, and were only exterminated at length- by the gene-
ral use of fire-arms, and by the destruction of nearly all the
noble forests which once covered the country. The last wolf
of Scotland, we are informed, was killed in the wilds of Loch-
aber, by Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel, in the year 1680;
and the last for which the statutory recompense was claimed
in Ireland, was in 1710.
From the terrible ravages committed by this creature, and
the indomitable ferocity which he manifests, he has been in
every age loaded, as it were, with malediction and reproach.
His treachery, malignity, and unsparing cruelty, have been
the subject of popular outcry, as well as the theme of learned
writings. His skulking gait, the odour which exudes from his
skin, the very expression of his countenance, have been com-
mented upon as something to make him loathed; nay, he has
been held to be typical of the worst passions which we can
fancy to exist in our own species. But do we forget that this
animal is a member of that marvellous system of organized
forms of which we ourselves are but a part, and that faculties
have been assigned to him, which consist with the purposes
he has to fulfil? Destruction keeps pace with existence,
"M
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636
else so many living forms could not enjoy the brief period
allotted to them for sensation and thought; and even our own
species is ordained to be an instrument for depriving ani-
mals of life. The Wolf, indeed, is one of the most destruc-
tive beasts of prey which the northern hemisphere of the
world produces. No animal is gifted with such powers of
destruction as he. Even the victims of the tiger are trifling
in number when compared with those which are continually
sacrificed to that craving for food, which, in the Wolf, no-
thing seems to satiate. But we must remember that but
for these wild and sanguinary dogs, other species would
multiply not less noxious, as the lynxes and other tribes of
felidæ, which once occupied the same regions: and no other
creature seems to have been so well fitted as the Wolf, by
his combined powers of scent and speed, his strength, his
hardihood, and his matchless sagacity, to restrain within the
fitting limits his fellow carnivora.
Fierce and indomitable as we esteem the Wolf to be, yet
even in his rudest condition, we may discern the germ of
faculties and affections, which should save him from the ob-
loquy with which he is loaded. We have seen the fidelity
with which he assists his mate in rearing their common
young, the tenderness with which both parents provide for
the safety of their offspring amidst the mass of dangers
which surround them, and the courage with which they pro-
tect them. Even when the adult wolf is taken in a trap or
pitfall, and imprisoned in a cell, deprived of all the freedom
of action which he had till then enjoyed, and reduced to a
miserable captivity, in the midst of animals the most hate-
ful to him, we yet find him submitting himself like a spaniel
to his keepers, and manifesting an enduring attachment to
those who treat him with kindness. And not only is this
docility of temper shewn towards persons who tend and feed
him, and who thus acquire that kind of ascendancy which
the fiercest animals submit to, but it is manifested in the
case even of strangers only casually known to him. A she-
THE DOG.
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♫
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
637
wolf, we are informed, in one of the London Menageries,
was in use to manifest unbounded joy whenever a young
lady, who sometimes visited the collection, made her appear-
ance within.*
What chords of feeling had been touched we
know not: probably the mere expression of kindness, as evin-
ced by looks and gentle words, had sufficed to win the gra-
titude of the captive. And such examples are the more to
be noted, as they occur when the animal is subjected to
conditions of life far foreign to his habits, and fretted by
hopeless captivity. It is known that even the gentlest dog
may be rendered vicious by being deprived of liberty; and
that the mastiff, continually chained, becomes too furious
to be approached. In those menageries, where the young
wolves are reared with some care, and accustomed to be ap-
proached like common dogs, they seem to receive the utmost
delight from being touched and patted. They will rub them-
selves on the legs of the person who notices them, lie down,
and, looking fondly in his face, implore him, as it were, to
continue his caresses. M. Frederick Cuvier mentions the
case of a she-wolf in the Parisian Menagerie, which evinced
more of sensibility than the most faithful dog would have
done. At the least word expressed with kindness, at the
least sign of encouragement, she would press against you,
turn in all manner of ways as if to touch you better, and
send forth a soft and plaintive cry expressive of the pleasure
she felt.
Should the Wolf, instead of being enslaved and imprisoned,
be reared up from infancy like the dogs of the household, he
becomes as tame and familiar as they do. He attaches him-
self to his more immediate master, as if he knew to whom
his gratitude was most due, and manifests towards him that
affectionate regard which has been held to be the characteris-
tic virtue of the Dog. M. Cuvier mentions a case, which has
again and again been cited, but which will scarcely tire by
* Naturalist's Library.
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638
THE DOG.
repetition. A male wolf, brought up by a gentleman in the
manner of a young dog, became familiar with every one
whom he was in the habit of seeing. He followed his mas-
ter wherever he went, was as obedient to his voice as the
most docile dog, and differed, in truth, in nothing with re-
spect to manners and habits from the dogs with which he
associated. His master being obliged to travel, made a pre-
sent of him to the Royal Menagerie of Paris. Here, shut up
in his narrow compartment, the animal remained for many
weeks listless and sad, and almost without tasting food. By
degrees he recovered his spirits, attached himself to his
keepers, and to all appearance lived as if he had forgotten
his early friend, when, after an absence of eighteen months,
the gentleman returned. At the very first word he uttered,
the Wolf, who did not yet see him in the crowd, recognised
in an instant the well-known voice, and testified his joy by
loud cries. Being set at liberty, he flew to his friend, and
overwhelmed him with caresses. Unfortunately his mas-
ter was a second time obliged to quit him, and again the
poor wolf relapsed into his former condition. Time, how-
ever, slowly allayed his grief, and he gradually attached
himself, as before, to the persons who tended him. Three
years rolled on, a young dog had been given to him as his
companion, and he seemed to pass his hours of confinement
in tranquillity, when the gentleman once more returned. It
was evening when he came, and the door of the prison-cell
was shut, so that not a ray of light could pass through. But
the poor wolf had heard the voice so familiar to him. He
uttered loud cries, which redoubled when the bars which
confined him were removed. He rushed forward, placed his
fore-feet on the shoulders of his long-remembered friend,
licked his face all over, and threatened with his teeth the
keepers who might remove him. But separation, it is pain-
ful to state, once more became necessary. From that instant
the poor wolf became sad and immoveable. He refused all
food, he pined away, his hairs became dry and bristling, as
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SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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639
in the case of animals that are sick, and his death was daily
looked for. Once more, however, his health returned, his
glossy fur was restored to him, and his keepers could again
approach him. But his former gaiety never returned: he
submitted to the soothing of his keepers, but he answered
the advances of strangers only with menaces.
Let us be just, then, to the loathed and persecuted Wolf,
with respect to those attributes with which Nature has sup-
plied him. In the state of nature, he possesses the habits
and attributes which adapt him to his condition. But let
him be withdrawn from the wild and savage state in which
he must subsist, be relieved from the pressure of his natural
wants, be aided by human intelligence, and soothed by the
sympathy for which he is formed to be grateful, and we pro-
duce a change, which may well be deemed the triumph of
reason over the wildest propensities of inferior natures. The
Wolf, in truth, becomes a Dog,-a member of that commu-
nity of creatures which have become humanized, as it were, by
intercourse with us, which yield up their powers to our service,
which will remain attached to us when all the world may for-
sake us, and will lay down their lives for our safety. But al-
though the Wolf be beyond any reasonable question a Dog, yet
it is not to be maintained that all dogs are derived from the
Wolf. The Canidæ of many species are spread over all the
world, are probably all endowed with the same faculty of
submitting themselves to human power, and, so far as is yet.
known, or a fair analogy will lead us to infer, are capable of
breeding with one another, and producing a common race, in
the domesticated state. But when the people of distant re-
gions met and became mixed together, as was the case with the
inhabitants of Europe and Western Asia, it may reasonably
be believed that dogs of the different kinds which had been
domesticated would be brought together, forming a race,
like the human inhabitants, of mixed descent. But then it
may be asked, is not the Dog, the Canis familiaris of Lin-
næus, a species? The answer, as has again and again been
7
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640
THE DOG.
observed, depends upon the meaning which we assign to the
terms we use. If by species we mean, with many natural-
ists, animals descended from a common stock, as a pair of
individuals, 'then we have little reason to suppose that the do-
mestic dog is a species. Neither is he a species, if we do
not extend to the species we call Dog all the essential charac-
ters possessed by all the individuals, the long muzzle of the
greyhound, as well as the short one of the bull-dog,—the long
ears of the spaniel, as well as the short ones of the terrier:
but if we shall comprehend all these and the other characters
common to all the varied kinds of dogs in our category, then,
at least, in so far as characters of conformation connect ani-
mals into a species, the Dog may be a species; and if we
find that the members of this group have the power of pro-
creating with one another, and producing a fruitful progeny,
then we have all the tests by which we discriminate species
applicable to the Common Dog.
The Count de Buffon, after various failures, succeeded in
rearing a mixed progeny of wolves and dogs, which he found
to procreate freely with one another. Experiments, indeed,
much more numerous and important, we have reason to be-
lieve, have been made again and again. The Esquimaux,
who use dogs for sledges, are in the habit of uniting their
dogs with the wolves proper to these latitudes; and the
same thing, it is believed, is done in certain parts of the
south of Europe, in the case of the Black, and perhaps also
the Gray, Wolves of these countries. The shepherds tame
the young wolves, when they can procure them; and the
whelps, being brought up with the sheep-dogs, are mixed
with them in blood. But these being experiments of which
no records are kept, we do not know to what degree, and
in what manner, the subsequent progeny have been mingled
in blood; and we are, therefore, obliged to refer to experi-
ments conducted on the animals, with an express relation to
the results to be observed. M. Frederick Cuvier gives a
record of certain experiments made in the Royal Menagerie
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SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
641
of Paris, in which dogs and wolves were united together,
and their progeny made to breed with one another; but he
draws the singular conclusion, that the progeny were hybrids,
and not the offspring of the same species, because the mixed
breed became deteriorated from generation to generation.
But the fact proves nothing with respect to the argument of
M. Cuvier, and is but one of innumerable examples of effects
long known in the practice of the breeders of domesticated
animals. Not only is the dog not exempt from the injury to
the constitution which results from continually reuniting
animals of the same family in blood, but he is peculiarly sus-
ceptible of deterioration from this cause. The experiment is
easily and quickly made. If we shall breed a pair of dogs from
a male and female of the same litter, and unite again the off-
spring of this pair, we shall produce at once a feeble race of
creatures; and the process being repeated for one or two
generations more, the family will die out, or be incapable of
propagating their race. A gentleman of Scotland made the
experiment on a large scale with certain fox-hounds, and he
found that the race actually became monstrous, and perished
utterly. We do not know the precise details of M. Cuvier's
experiment, but if it at all approached to that referred to
with respect to the nearness of blood of the animals united,
the result is no other than what might have been inferred
from old experience. Nay, the want of due exercise and
suitable treatment, would account for a decay of physical
strength in the animals subjected to the experiment. At
Moscow, we are informed, on the authority of Pallas, a mixed
breed was produced between the Black Wolf and the Dog,
the descendants of which were fruitful with one another ;
and no notice is taken of subsequent degeneracy. In truth,
there is not the least reason to believe, that a mixture of the
blood of the Wolf with that of the Dog would produce de-
scendants whose progeny would degenerate. Analogy rather
leads us to infer, that a mixture of the blood of the wilder
and stronger animal would add strength and vigour to the
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642
THE DOG.
domesticated race; and it is believed, that, when shepherds
have crossed their dogs with wolves, one of their purposes
has been to give vigour and courage to their sheep-dogs.
But a fact even more conclusive, if possible, than the union of
wolves and dogs in the domesticated state, is, that they unite
together in the state. of freedom. In the expedition of Cap-
tain Parry to the circumpolar seas, a she-wolf, at the period
of heat in these latitudes, paid almost daily visits to the
neighbourhood of the ships, and continued to do so until she
was joined by a setter dog belonging to one of the officers.
"They were usually together," says Captain Sabine, "from
two to three hours; and, as they did not go far away, unless
an endeavour was made to approach them, repeated and de-
cided evidence was obtained of the purpose for which they
were thus associated.'
""*
The difference between the aspect and form of the Wolf
and of the Dog, is the greater strength of shoulder of the
unreclaimed animal, his stouter limbs, his longer claws, his
stronger teeth, the greater obliquity of his eye, and his coarser
fur,—differences not greater in degree than have been pro-
duced in various other animals by domestication, as between
the Wild Hog and the reclaimed, the Wild Horse of Tartary
and the Hackney of England, the Wild Turkey and tame.
But, further, it is not with dogs of mixed race, as those of
Southern Europe and Western Asia, that we ought to com-
pare the Wolf, for the purpose of determining the differences
between him and the domesticated animals, but with those
dogs, if they can be obtained, in which no mixture of races
may be supposed to have taken place. Now this compari-
son we have the power of making, in the case of the dogs of
the Laplanders of Europe, of the Greenlanders, and of the
Esquimaux of America. These dogs approach in so great a
degree, in their external characters, to the wolves of the
same latitudes, that often the eye alone cannot distinguish
* Supplement to the Appendix to Captain Parry's First Voyage.
643
them ;
and the dogs of the Kamtschatkans do not seem to be
more different from the Siberian wolves, than the latter are
from the wolves of France and Spain.
The proposition that Wolves, by domestication, may be-
come Dogs, it is to be observed, is very different from the
proposition that all Dogs are descended from Wolves; and
yet the arguments directed against even the latter hypothe-
sis, have nothing of the force which has been ascribed to
them. It has been again and again contended, that the won-
derful divergence of dogs from the normal characters of the
Wolf, proves the animals to be distinct; and that what we
term domestication of the wolf is nothing more than a kind
of taming, such as may take place in the case of the tiger, or
any other animal. But it is manifest, that the divergence of
dogs from the typical characters of the wolf presents pre-
cisely the same difficulty as the divergence of the characters
of dogs from some common species, some Canis Primordialis,
either existing or extinct. If we can suppose this assumed
species to have given rise to animals so different as the grey-
hound and the terrier, surely we can suppose that the Wolf,
or any other known Canis, can have given rise to the same
animals. And again, with respect to the assertion that
the wolf is tamed, but not domesticated, we ask, Is not the
Wolf domesticated who acquires all the habitudes, even to
the modulation of his voice, of the domesticated dog, who de-
votes himself in the like manner to our service, and who
relinquishes the appetites proper to him in the state of na-
ture? If this be not domestication, some new definition
must be given of the term. It has been said that the tamed
wolf cannot be depended upon, may prove treacherous, may
return to his ancient propensities of killing poultry, and eat-
ing animals, not excepting his own master; and, lastly, that
the instinctive antipathy between the wolf and the dog
proves that they cannot be the same. But do not dogs
sometimes prove treacherous; and would they not devour
our geese, if they were not subjected to the wholesome terror
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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644
with which we contrive to inspire them? The tamed wolf,
doubtless, manifests a taste for poultry, as well as his mas-
ter; but even a single generation is not always required to
banish a propensity which seems almost instinctive. M.
Frederick Cuvier mentions the case of a she-wolf who had
been taken in a trap when an adult, but who became so
gentle, that she could be left in a poultry-yard, without
her offering the least violence. That tamed wolves may
attack other animals and devour them, is what the ruder
dogs will do, if not subjected to due discipline. Is it not
marvellous, then, that the Wolf, even before a few genera-
tions have passed between that of his wild state and his pre-
sent condition, should be taught to abandon such a propen-
sity? With regard to the Wolf's attacking his master and
devouring him, no instance of the kind, it is believed, is on
record. Colonel Hamilton Smith, indeed, mentions a story
told him by a butcher of New York regarding a tamed wolf,
which the man asserted had attacked him when he entered
at night the shambles in which the animal was confined.
But, giving all credit to the story as it was told by the man,
what does it prove? The wolf, it seems, had been chained
for two years in a slaughter-house, and lived, we are assured,
"in a complete superabundance of blood and offal,” that is,
he was kept in a situation in which he was the constant wit-
ness of all that was calculated to excite and keep alive his
fiercest appetites. It would have been a marvel if, under
such circumstances, the animal had not remained wild and
savage. Besides, we know nothing of the manner in which
this wolf was treated by his master, except that he was
chained in a slaughter-house. But wolves, we may believe,
are, like dogs, resentful of injuries, as well as grateful for
benefits. It is known that the larger dogs of this country will
fly upon their master, as upon any one else, if they are mal-
treated by him. Even fox-hounds, though trained up under the
terror of continued discipline from the litter, will fall upon
their keeper, if he suddenly enters their kennel under night
THE DOG.
6
645
Need we wonder that a wolf, fed on blood and garbage, should
have attacked any person, whether his master, so called, or'
another, who had the hardihood to enter his prison under the
cloud of night. With respect, again, to the antipathy ad-
mitted to exist between the Wolf and the Dog, what reason-
able inference can be drawn from the fact with respect to
the identity or non-identity of the animals? Dogs them-
selves, we know, even of the same litter, will fight with and
destroy one another. Is it wonderful that wolves, placed
in a state of habitual enmity with animals so different in
habits and aspect from themselves, should treat them in
the same manner as they would any other prey; or that the
protected dogs should manifest antipathy to so cruel an ene-
my? But when wolves are truly domesticated, so far are
they from manifesting antipathy to the common dogs, that
they attach themselves to them in a remarkable manner, and
become their fondest associates.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The largest and fiercest of the Canidæ are commonly
termed Wolves; and there is no other essential distinction
between them and the smaller Canidæ, into which they pass
by gradations. Of the Wolves of Asia, greatly the most
diffused seem to be the Common and Black Wolves, and
their varieties; although others, equally entitled to be re-
garded as species, may be believed to exist in the vast re-
gions of the centre and east, as well as in the numerous
Islands of the Eastern Seas. One from these Islands, in-
deed, has been for some time known to European naturalists.
It is the Canis Javanicus of French naturalists, and is of the
size and proportions of the Common Wolf. Of the Wolves
of Africa, our knowledge is yet more confined. It is ge
nerally believed, indeed, that the common Wolves of Eu-
rope inhabit the mountains of Northern Africa, and even
extend to the high lands of Abyssinia on the east. But of
the immeasurable deserts of the interior, we know little re-
garding the living inhabitants. Travellers, indeed, speak of
dangerous wolves found in Senegal and elsewhere; but they
646
do not communicate the information necessary to enable the
naturalist to recognize the species.
The term Wolf, it has been said, is merely employed to
designate the larger and fiercer Canidæ, though it appears to
have been employed in a more extensive sense by the ancients,
and to have included various species which we should now
rather term Wild Dogs. The less fierce and powerful mem-
bers of the group are yet more numerous in species than the
wolves, so called. They are the inhabitants especially of the
warmer or temperate countries; are generally more limited
with respect to range of place than the larger wolves, and
less ferocious and sanguinary, though not always more ready
to resign themselves to domestication. Yet they all appear
to be possessed of this same faculty, and some of them to have
been domesticated from early times, contributing to give us
those smaller and gentler varieties of the domestic dogs with
which we are familiar, and, being mingled in blood with the
other members of the family, to produce, under the various
agencies affecting them in the subjugated state, that end-
less variety which characterizes the community of domes-
tic dogs, and which no other hypothesis but that of a differ-
ent descent can explain.
THE DOG.
Of the Wild Dogs of a former age, and yet existing in the
state of liberty, one is the Canis anthus of Frederick Cuvier,
the Deeb of the Arabs. This dog was regarded by the an-
cients as a wolf, and still inhabits the deserts bordering on
the Nile. He is about 16 inches high at the shoulder, and
measures from the nose to the tail about 24 feet. He greatly
resembles many of the dogs or wolves sculptured on the an-
cient monuments of Egypt; and may be reasonably supposed
to have been one of the species from which this early people
derived their domesticated races. A head, taken from the
catacombs of Lycopolis, the City of Wolves, is supposed, by
the traveller Rüppel, to be of this species; and with respect
to the Egyptian dogs, as they are generally represented on
•16
647
the monuments, it is to be observed, that they have a far
nearer resemblance to the lighter forms distinctive of the
African dogs, than to the more massive forms of those of
northern countries.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The whole of Africa, it may be said, abounds in Canidæ,
many of them very elegant and variously coloured. Some
of them have very long ears, a character which connects
them with the Fennecs or Zerdas, a curious tribe of dogs,
which are more fitted to live on fruit, honey, the eggs of
birds, and insects, than the other Canidæ, but which likewise
pursue the smaller game. They burrow in the sandy de-
serts, frequently under the roots of the palm and other trees,
in the manner of foxes. Their large external ears are fitted
to endow them with an exquisite sense of hearing, which
may be supposed to be a mean of avoiding their enemies, or
of being conducted by the sound to their proper prey. They
are furnished, too, with fur on the soles of their feet, appa-
rently to enable them to tread softly on the ground, and ap-
proach their prey in silence. Wild Dogs of different species,
some of them very fierce, fleet, and wild, have been found in
almost all the countries of Africa that have been visited,
from the Libyan deserts to the countries of the Bushmen
and Hottentots, who, although amongst the rudest of men,
have yet learned to turn to use those animals of their coun-
try; and, indeed, it may be said, no people have yet been
discovered so rude as not to have domesticated the dogs pro-
per to the countries they inhabit.
J
The ancients frequently refer to Wild Dogs, as inhabiting
their own or the neighbouring countries. They were found,
and are yet found, in Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor. They
appear to extend all eastward through Persia, to the coun-
tries connected with the great Himàlaya range and its tribu-
tary chains. They live in bands, and pursue their prey in
the manner of all the Canidæ, namely, by scent, by speed,
and generally by uniting into packs; and are of different
species, often confounded under the name of Chacals, or
:
13 97
M
648
some corresponding term, proper to the dialects of the Tur-
comans and other Asiatics.
THE DOG.
The Dog of Beloochistan is a wild ferocious dog, shy, and
keeping aloof from human habitations. These dogs hunt in
packs, during the day, of twenty or thirty together, and tire
out their prey by the pertinacity of their pursuit, following it
hour after hour, league after league, from twilight to dawn.
They will attack the buffalo, or the largest animals of the
country, and pull them down by their united force. They
are like stout hounds, of a rufous colour, and somewhat short
in the legs. It is not known how far this species extends
into the wild countries adjoining, or what relations it has
with the next mentioned species, with which it may be even
identical.
The Buansa of Nepaul, Canis primævus of Hodgson, ap-
pears to be a species very widely extended. It is in size be-
tween a wolf and jackall, and may be compared to a stout
fox-hound. It hunts by day as well as by night, in troops of
from six to ten individuals, following its game rather by
scent than by sight, and wearing it out by persevering pur-
suit. It barks, though with a tone of voice somewhat pecu-
liar to itself. It is very untameable, unless when taken
young, but the puppies which are reared amongst domestic
dogs seem to exhibit equal sagacity. The species seems to
belong to the woody and rocky mountain ranges between the
Sutledj and Brahmapootra, but it appears, with some varia-
tions of character, to extend greatly to the south, as to the
Ghauts, the Nielgherries, and the coast of Coromandel; at
least, Dogs so nearly resembling it have been found in these
different localities, that they have been generally assumed
to be the same. Mr Hodgson, who was long a resident
in Nepaul, was the first to give us distinct accounts of this
species. He supposed it to be the original of all the domes-
tic dogs in the world, and hence termed it Canis primævus.
This kind of dog, indeed, having all the habits of the Hound,
may well be supposed, amongst nations of hunters, to have
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649
been early reclaimed and trained to the chase, for which he is
so admirably fitted, and, perhaps, to have given origin to the
hunting dogs of very distant countries; but there is nothing
in the characters of this, more than in those of any other
given species, that can enable us to conclude that it can have
produced all the dogs of the world. There is no more re-
semblance between the mountain hound of Nepaul, and the
sledge-dog of Greenland, than between the greyhound of Per-
sia and the terrier of England.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Another class of Wild Dogs, which have received the name
of Dholes, are found in various parts of India, and, doubtless,
in other countries of the East. They seem to be of different
species, but have the general habits of the other Canidæ.
Some of these are described as approaching to the conforma-
tion of the Persian Greyhound, and as being very fleet. Some
of them have been domesticated, and employed in the chase.
Captain Williamson refers to their fleetness, but states that
they are not to be depended upon for coursing, being apt
suddenly to give up the chase when it is severe, and often to
prefer the chase of the goat or sheep to that of the hare.
He says that they are valuable in hog-hunting.
The Dog appears with different characters in China and
the islands of the Eastern Seas. We have been rendered
familiar with this class of dogs by means of the Dingo of
New Holland, so called, it is believed, from a name given to
certain wild dogs found near the Gulf of Guinea. This ani-
mal has probably been carried from the adjoining countries
to this vast insular continent, because it differs from all the
other animals distinctive of it. Be this as it may, it has mul-
tiplied in an astonishing degree, and has become the pest of
the settled inhabitants. It is a wild and agile dog, very fleet
and fierce. It pursues the Kangaroo, and the flocks of sheep
which have now multiplied in the country, destroying them
in the manner of the Wolf. The Dingo has the habit of
burrowing, and does not bark in the wild state; but by do-
mestication it learns to imitate the barking of domestic dogs,
1
650
though imperfectly. It has been partially reclaimed by the
savage inhabitants of New Holland, and taught to assist
them in the chase. It breeds with more difficulty with the
common dogs than these dogs do with the wolf or even the
fox; yet occasionally a union takes place. The mixed race
partakes of the characters of both parents; and, for the first
generation at least, retains much of the wild habits of the
Dingo.* Many of the domesticated dogs of China and Japan
have a distinct relation to this type. They hardly bark, and
though very playful, have less docility than the domesticated
dogs of Western Asia and Europe. The Chinese dogs of
this race have the tongue and palate black, and they are
used for food by this singular people.
Of the various groups of Canidæ, the most extensive, with
respect to the number of individuals, is that which compre-
hends the species included under the term Jackal or Chacal,
a name derived from several languages of Asia. But the
Jackal receives numerous names in the dialects of the coun-
tries he inhabits, usually indicative of his peculiar cry, which
is that of howling, so that he is termed the Howling Dog, the
Chief of the Howlers, and so forth.
THE DOG.
The Jackal, of his proper species and varieties, has a vastly
extended geographical range. He is found all over Africa,
from Barbary to the countries of the Caffres and Hottentots.
He exists in Arabia and the neighbouring deserts, and has
even been carried, though at a period comparatively recent,
westward into Greece, and northward into the Steppes of
Southern Russia. But his appropriate range is from Arabia
through the warmer and temperate parts of Southern and
Central Asia all eastward. Thus he is found in Asia Minor,
in the countries of the Euphrates, eastward through Persia
to the Indus, and even spreading northwards into the coun-
* A female Dingo, which I had for several years, produced a litter to a
common Dog. They were handsome and playful, but not very docile. They
retained the disposition of their mother to dig holes in the ground, as if
desirous to burrow. They began to attack poultry when merely puppies, and
could never be cured of the habit.
651
tries of the Turcomans.
Crossing the Indus, he is found
over all Hindostan to the regions beyond the Ganges. He
appears in China Proper, and stretches northward into the
countries of the Kalmuks; and he is found in Borneo and
other great islands of the Eastern Seas. Thus the Jackal,
of whatever species or varieties, occupies a great part of
the habitable world. His temperament, indeed, seems best
suited to the warmer and less humid countries, where he
multiplies in the greatest degree; although, extending north-
wards into the deserts of the Turcomans and Kalmuks, it
seems that he is fitted to endure a considerable degree of cold.
This curious dog approaches in certain of his characters
and habits to the fox, and may be regarded as intermediate
between foxes and the diurnal dogs. But he is longer in
the limbs than the fox, has a shorter fur and less bushy
tail, and has the pupil of the eye circular, whereas in the fox
it is elongated. He burrows like the fox, but is nothing like
so solitary and nocturnal in his habits. On the contrary, he
is eminently gregarious and social; and although, as in the
case of other wild animals of prey, the night is the time
which he takes to seek his food, he does not fear to issue
from his retreat at any time. He is of all the wild Canidæ
the most familiar with man, congregating around his dwel-
lings, that he may share or purloin his food. Like all the
Feræ in a state of nature, he is voracious, hunting during all
the night, entering the hamlets and villages, and, like the
hyænas, carrying off the garbage and offal which he finds 8;
nay, it is said, digging into the sepulchres, and violating the
remains of the dead. He has the cunning habits of the fox,
with far greater audacity. He examines the fastenings of
doors and windows, that he may enter into yards, outhouses,
and unguarded dwellings, stealing whatever he can reach,
as skins, and any edible substance; and, entering the hen-
roosts, he kills every animal. Like the fox, too, he feeds on
certain ripe fruits, and, lurking in the vineyards, fattens upon
the grapes. The cry of the Jackal is peculiar and distinguish-
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
652
able from that of all other dogs. It is a shrill yell, no sooner
uttered by one than responded to by all within hearing, in
every conceivable variety of tone. The chorus begun, is
heard far and wide through the neighbouring wilds and
jungles, intermitted only to be raised again and again, louder
and louder, and almost banishing sleep from those who are
unused to it. The slightest note of one of their number suf-
fices to raise the wild cry all round, nay, even a note of music,
or a sound of the human voice. At the cantonments of Euro-
pean troops in the woody parts of India, where a great deal
of animal food, which the natives will not touch, is cast
about, the Jackals, after the sun is set, draw silently near,
and nothing betrays their presence. But should an alarm
be given, or one of their number, from any cause, be in-
cited to utter the signal cry, in an instant the sympathetic
chorus is raised, and responded to from the distant jungles.
At the charming period of the tropical day, when, the sun
being just sunk, a brief twilight ensues, scarcely giving warn-
ing of the coming darkness, an English gentleman with a very
young lady was walking in the gardens of his mansion. The
young lady, who knew that the gentleman sang, asked him
to give her some old-remembered tune. The first notes were
hardly uttered, when hundreds of Jackals, couched all around
unseen, answered with an appalling cry, which rung through
the neighbouring woods, as if thousands of wild beasts were
ready to fall upon the musician. But there is another cry
of the Jackal which is not thus responded to. This is uttered
by the solitary Jackal, who is watching the stealthy march
of the lion or the tiger. He follows the murderer at the
fitting distance, and utters from time to time his warning
cry. It is understood by those for whose safety it is uttered;
and now, in place of the wild chorus, a silence like that of
the dead prevails around. These animals, it has been said,
are eminently social. They form their burrows near to one
another, and, congregating together, pursue their prey in
concert, hunting in packs like well-trained beagles. When
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one of their number is assailed, and utters a cry of distress,
all who are within hearing hasten to the rescue, and, if they
are able to master the enemy, fall upon him. They combine
to protect themselves from attack, and join in the pursuit of
the domestic dogs which they may wish to chase away. These
creatures are unmolested by the Mahommedans, who, al-
though they hold the dog to be unclean, will not take away
his life; but sometimes they are hunted by English sports-
men after the manner of their country, either by common
dogs or fox-hounds. They are easily run down by the former
when at a distance from their burrows, and, in the case of
hounds, do not afford the same sport as the hardy fox of
Europe. They make, however, desperate resistance, biting
very fiercely the dogs that come up to them; and when at
length they are overpowered, it is said they will pretend to be
slain, and allow themselves to be pulled about as if dead, as
is the case with the polecat and some other animals in this
country.
The Jackal is eminently susceptible of domestication. The
offensive odour proper to him in the natural state goes away,
and he speedily acquires the manners of other dogs. But he
is taught to bark with difficulty, and so is little suited for
watching. He is further very timid, so that jackals are not
fitted to form a useful class of dogs, though some of the Tur-
coman tribes, according to Pallas, have no other kind for
watching their flocks. From the wide diffusion of this ani-
mal, his familiarity, and near resemblance to the common
dogs, it was long an opinion of many naturalists, that he was
the parent stock of the domestic races. This opinion is now
generally abandoned; but yet it is probable that the blood of
the Jackal has, in numerous cases, been mingled with that of
the domestic races of the countries which he inhabits.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
-
From the Jackals, and other diurnal Canidæ, there is a
gradation to the true Foxes, forming an intermediate group.
In India they are usually regarded as small jackals; but in
the countries where jackals do not exist, they are naturally
654
THE DOG.
arranged with the foxes, which, indeed, they more nearly
resemble. In this group are usually comprehended the Cor-
sac, inhabiting the great deserts of Tartary toward the
sources of the Irtish, and the same species, or others nearly
resembling it, found in the warmer countries of the East,
including the little Indian dog of Malabar, the Pale Dog-
fox, an inhabitant of Darfur and Kordofan, burrowing in the
sand, and hunting only at night, the Turkish Dog-fox, and
others.
The true Foxes inhabit every part of the world, from the
Arctic Regions and the gloomy shores of Terra del Fuego,
to the most burning regions of either continent. They are
distinguished from the wolves and dogs, so called, by their
having the pupil of the eye elongated, so that, by expanding
or contracting it, they can admit a greater or smaller quan-
tity of light; by their living apart in deep holes, which they
form for themselves; by their pursuing their prey alone and
at night; and by their never uniting, accordingly, to capture
it by the chase. Like most nocturnal burrowing animals,
they emit a fetid odour from the skin; their feet are covered
with hair, so that they may steal softly upon their game;
they are clothed with a thick fur, partly of hair, and partly
of wool, which grows underneath the hair, and is covered by
it. They have the tails long and bushy, and the fur is of
various colours, generally tending to black or brown. When
fine and woolly, as in the colder countries, it is greatly sought
after, and thousands of the animals are killed every year for
supplying this production.
Of the many species of Fox, that which is the most fami-
liar to us is the Common Fox, Canis Vulpes, which has a
wider range of place than any other. Like all other ani-
mals having an extensive range, his characters vary greatly
according to climate, locality, and the nature and abundance
of his prey. Even within narrow geographical limits, the
Common Fox presents himself with considerable differences
of external characters. Thus, in the British Islands, sports-
655
men recognize the long-legged fox of the mountains, which
has to travel to great distances to obtain his prey, and which
they call the Greyhound Fox; the fox of certain woody dis-
tricts, called, from his larger size, the Mastiff-Fox; and the
common Cur Fox, which is the least of all, and approaches
nearest to our dwellings.
The Fox is characterised by the wary habits which his
condition requires. His prey is the smaller game, rabbits,
hares, birds which build their nests on the ground, and the
eggs and young of such birds. He steals upon his prey, and
does not, like the wolf and the wild hounds, seek to capture
it by pursuit. He lies in wait, or, cautiously approaching,
springs upon the game. Although a strong animal in pro-
portion to his bulk of body, he never courts a combat with any
animal that can oppose him by physical strength. It is in the
night only that he quits his hole or covert, although he sees
perfectly during the day, contracting the pupils of his eyes
to the degree required to allow of perfect vision. In pro-
portion to his intercourse with his greatest enemy, man, his
caution and sense of danger increase. In wild and distant
places, as the fur-countries of America, he readily enough
falls into the snares prepared for him in the woods. But, in
settled countries, he is suspicious, in the highest degree, of
means employed to entrap him. He will sometimes enter
into out-houses, where fowls and other small animals are
kept, but never until he has examined the place again and
again, and provided for safety and escape. If he sees a trap,
or even a string suspended, his suspicions are excited, and
he turns back until frequent visits have assured him that no
danger exists. When at length he is resolved to make his
way into a hen-roost or poultry-yard, he makes the utmost
of his opportunities. Killing the animals with the least pos-
sible noise, he removes them one by one, and conveys them
to his hole, or buries them in the ground where he may find
them again, and never, like the wolf or dingo, destroys from
the mere instinct of destruction.
SPECIES. AND VARIETIES.
7
656
THE DOG.
The female goes with young sixty days or more, and the
season of heat is in winter, so that she may bring forth
when young game is plentiful, and easy to be obtained. The
puppies are born blind, and remain so for ten or twelve days.
The mother is the most tender of nurses, and she keeps the
whelps carefully concealed until they are able to venture
forth. When she fancies that their retreat has been dis-
covered, she carries them away, one by one, in her mouth,
and takes them to a place of safety; nay, she has been known,
after she had heard the noise of the hounds, and knew that
her life was at stake, to carry away her little whelps, before
she quitted the cover, to which she might never return.
The Fox shews that he knows full well the purpose for
which he is sought by the numerous dogs, which, for our sport
and his destruction, we bring to the place of his retreat.
The wiles he employs to save himself are too familiar to need
to be mentioned. They are calculated to excite our admira-
tion and pity, even when they contribute to our pastime. He
makes every effort to save himself which his wonderful sa-
gacity enables him to employ, and when at length, after the
fruitless exercise of his strength and powers, he is overtaken
by the pack, he sells his life bravely, though he knows that
it cannot be saved, and dies without a groan.
The Fox, when taken young, is playful and familiar like
other dogs, and manifests his attachment to those who treat
him with kindness; but even in captivity, he retains the in-
stincts of his race, of stealing upon the animals which are
his natural prey, as poultry of all kinds, and hence it is
necessary to keep him in confinement, so that it may be
doubted if a single instance has occurred in which a breed
of foxes has been subjected to true domestication. The
wolf, wild and fierce as he is, submits himself to the power
of superior reason: the fox seems to abandon tardily the
instincts proper to him. But the fox breeds with the do-
mesticated dog; although, in the state of captivity, he does
so with reluctance, as if he feared to propagate a race of
657
slaves. In the state of liberty, however, the union is not
unfrequent. The fact, though questioned by naturalists,
has been long known to shepherds. By tying the female
sheep-dogs, when they are in heat, at a distance from houses,
they have been again and again impregnated by the wild
foxes which are attracted to them. The result of the union
is a race partaking of the characters of both parents. They
are less fitted for being sheep-dogs than the cultivated breeds,
but they are sagacious and bold, and manifest a peculiar ap-
titude for attacking weasels, rats, badgers, and other ani-
mals termed vermin; and are, in truth, a kind of terriers.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Certain Canidæ, it has been seen, of the Old World have
found their way to the New, and multiplied in the boundless
regions where they have acquired a habitation. The Com-
mon and the Black Wolves, it is easy to conceive, may still
find their way thither when the Arctic Regions are covered
with ice; but being placed under new conditions with re-
spect to climate and the nature and abundance of their food,
the animals undergo modifications, from the extent of which
some naturalists have conceived that the common wolves of
North America are specifically distinct from those of Asia
and Europe. But the differences are in external aspect and
trivial characters, and are less in degree than those which
present themselves between the wolves of one part of Europe
and another. But whatever the conclusion arrived at with
respect to the identity or non-identity of certain groups shall
be, it is perfectly certain, that wolves of the higher latitudes
of North America have been reclaimed, and become the dogs
of the rude inhabitants. The wild and the tame of the
species present no greater differences than we see in the case
of other animals in the state of nature and of domestication.
The intrepid Arctic travellers, who have recently added so
wonderfully to our knowledge of these desolate regions, have
assured us, that the sledge-dogs of the natives, and the
wolves of the country, are the same. They inform us that
they have more than once mistaken the bands of wild wolves
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which they encountered for the domestic dogs of an Indian
party. The animals howl in the same manner, and exhibit
the same habits; and that they breed with one another, is
indisputable. Captain Back informs us, that the mixed pro-
geny of wolves and dogs are perfectly known to the natives,
and are valued by them as being stronger, as beasts of draught,
than the ordinary dogs. No doubt, then, exists, that the
large dogs of these people are true wolves, and wolves not
less fierce and strong than those which have been reclaimed
by the Laplanders and northern inhabitants of Europe. The
American wolves, indeed, are not so ready to attack human
beings as those of Europe and the more populous parts of
Asia, but this is not because they are less fierce and strong,
but because they have fewer opportunities of trying their
powers on man. In the spring of 1826, a large gray wolf
was driven by hunger to prowl amongst the huts erected in
the vicinity of Port Franklin; but he did not venture upon
an attack, and being foiled in his endeavours to procure food,
was found a few days afterwards dead upon the snow. Yet
Dr Richardson was informed that a poor Indian woman had
been some time before strangled by a wolf, before the husband,
who saw the attack, could hurry to the rescue. Of the bold-
ness of these animals, numerous examples might be given.
Captain Lyon, speaking of the wolves of Melville Island, says,
"The wolves had now grown so bold as to come alongside,
and on this night they broke into a snow-hut, in which a couple
of newly purchased Esquimaux dogs were confined, and car-
ried them off, but not without some difficulty, for in the day-
light we found even the ceiling of the hut sprinkled with
blood and hair. When the alarm was given, and the wolves
were fired at, one of them was observed carrying a dead dog
in his mouth, clear of the ground, at a canter, notwithstand-
ing the animal was of his own weight. Before morning they
tore a quantity of canvass off the observatory, and devoured
it." At Cumberland House, a wolf, which was seen prowling
about the fort, was fired at, struck by a musket-ball, and
THE DOG.
·
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
659
severely wounded. He returned again in the dark, stream-
ing with blood, and carried off a dog from amongst fifty
others. Although the wild and the tame animals are assu-
redly identical, yet such has been the effect of slavery on the
one, and of liberty and the continued exercise of their
powers on the other, that the subjugated dogs have the ut-
most dread of their savage congeners, and can scarcely mus-
ter courage to face them, even in self-defence.
All the tribes of North American Indians have dogs, but
differing much in size and other characters from the large
sledge-dogs of the northern natives. It may be believed,
therefore, that different canine species have been domesti-
cated in different parts of these vast countries. Of these
there is one which seems, by its temperament, to be pecu-
liarly fitted for domestication, the Prairie Wolf or Prairie
Dog.
The Prairie Dogs are found in great numbers towards the
sources of the Missouri and elsewhere, from about the 55°
of north latitude southward. Their fur is mostly of an ashy-
gray colour, with the cheeks, chin, throat, belly, and inside of
the thighs, white, and the tail is bushy, and clothed with
long hair and wool. They are smaller than the gray wolves,
and not unlike the shepherd's dogs of some countries of
Europe. They burrow like foxes, and are very swift of foot,
and, assembling in numbers together, hunt in packs, pur-
suing the deers, the bisons, and other animals. They have
a barking voice, and assemble round the hunter at the first
report of his gun, as if conscious of his purpose, and hoping
to share the spoils of the chase. They are easily tamed, and
form, either pure or mixed with other races, the dogs of
Indian tribes.
Of the domesticated Dogs of the North American Indians,
one is the Hare Indian Dog, cultivated by the tribes fre-
quenting the borders of the Great Bear Lake, and the banks of
the river Mackenzie. It is minutely described by Dr Richard-
son, who informs us that it is used by the Indians solely for
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the chase, being too small for a beast of burthen or draught.
It has a certain degree of independence, and dislikes con-
finement, but is exceedingly playful, is of an affectionate
temper, and is readily gained by acts of kindness. Dr Rich-
ardson had himself one, which, when only seven months old,
ran on the snow by the side of his sledge for 900 miles. It
was at length killed and eaten by an Indian, who pretended
that he had mistaken it for a fox. Dr Richardson states,
that it is inferior to the Prairie Wolf in size, but that its
resemblance to it in other respects is so great, that he could
discover no difference of form except in the smaller size of
the cranium. The length and fineness of the fur, and the
very arrangement of the spots of colour, he says, are the
same in both; and in fact, adds he, it bears the same rela-
tion to the Prairie Wolf that the Esquimaux Dog bears to
the Great Gray Wolf. It is remarkable that the learned
and observing naturalist should seem desirous to escape the
necessary conclusion, namely, that the Hare Indian Dog is
merely the Prairie Wolf in the state of domestication.
Dr Richardson likewise describes the domesticated dogs of
the native tribes of parts of Canada and the countries of Hud-
son's Bay. They appear to be intermediate in size and form
between the larger Dog of the Esquimaux, and the smaller one
of the Hare Indians. They will be best described in the
words of the bold traveller himself. "This breed wants the
strength of the Esquimaux dog, and does not possess the
affectionate and playful disposition of the Hare Indian va-
riety. It is used at certain seasons in the chase, and by some
tribes as a beast of burthen or draught; but it has all the
sneaking habits of the wolf, without his courage, and without
the intelligence of that animal. It unites with its compa-
nions to assail a stranger on his approach to the hut of its
master; retreats on the least shew of resistance, or endea-
vours to get behind him, and silently snap at his legs. A
little Scotch terrier that accompanied us on the last expedi-
tion, disconcerted the largest of them by the smartness of
THE DOG.
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661
his attack, and used to send an animal more than four times
his own size howling away, although the density of its woolly
covering prevented his short teeth from wounding the skin,
When they fight among themselves, the dog that is van-
quished is not unfrequently torn in pieces by the rest of the
pack. They hunt the larger domestic animals in packs, snap-
ping at their heels, and harassing them until worn out, but
scarcely ever venture to seize them by the throat." The
Dogs of Labrador, however, are of larger size, and are dis-
tinctly to be referred to the type of the great Gray Wolf of
the same country.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Proceeding southward, other species of Canidæ present
themselves, of which one is the Mexican Wolf, Lupus Mexica-
nus of Smith. The range of this species is unknown, but
individuals have been found as far to the north and east as
Virginia. This animal is equal in stature to the Common
Wolf, but has the head broader, with a thick neck, and he
has a fur of varied colours. It is not known whether it has
been domesticated.
Southward of the mountains of Mexico, various species of
Canidæ are found, distinct from those of the north. One of
the largest of them is the Maned Aguara, which is found only
to the south of the line, inhabiting chiefly the swampy and
more open countries. It is a large animal, with stout limbs,
and is furnished with a remarkable mane; but it is greatly
inferior in strength to the true wolves, and manifests nothing
like the courage and ferocity of these animals. Its prin-
cipal prey seems to be the smaller game, and, in a peculiar
degree, aquatic animals, on which account it is formed to
swim with facility. It pursues its prey during the night,
and does not hunt in packs like the Prairie Dog, or the
Wild Hounds of Asia. It is solitary and timid when reduced
to captivity. The other Canide of South America, usually
termed Aguaras by the natives, are of different species, and
in external aspect somewhat resemble the curs and jackals
with which we are familiar in Asia and Europe.
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THE DOG.
When the rich and smiling shores of the New World were
first visited by European plunderers, the natives were every-
where found in possession of innumerable dogs, manifestly
derived from the wild of species proper to the countries
which they inhabited. They all differed from the dogs of
Europe. They are yet possessed in considerable numbers
by the ruder tribes, and are used for the chase of land-ani-
mals, and in some cases for fishing. They are generally re-
linquished by the Indians, when they can obtain those of
European lineage, which are far superior in sagacity, courage,
and power of endurance, to the native dogs of South America.
Thus, in regions the most remote, and by people the most
dissimilar, the Canidæ proper to different countries have been
subjected to the uses of the human inhabitants. The Com-
mon Wolf, under the modifications of character which he has
tended to assume in the state of nature, is proper to the
northern division of both hemispheres, and has been domesti-
cated, accordingly, by the inhabitants of both. Southward of
the glacial regions on either continent, other dogs have been
subdued,—in America those proper to the New World, and
-in Asia and Europe those pertaining to the Old. Africa,
too, has produced its dogs for the uses of its inhabitants.
The Common Wolf, though with those characters which pe-
culiar agencies seem to produce on all the animal inhabit-
ants of this continent, has doubtless yielded his services to
the natives of Africa, as well as to those of Asia and Europe.
But there are other Canidæ proper to the same vast conti-
nent, which we may believe to have been likewise subdued,
as the Egyptian Wolf or Deeb, and the Canidæ of Senegal
and the interior, and perhaps the Hunting Hyæna, and even
the beautiful little Zerdas with their soft hair, their long ears,
and gentle habits. The dogs of Africa, indeed, seem to be
extremely varied; and it is reasonable to believe, that it is to
this source that we owe some of those gentler and smaller
dogs with which we are familiar, and which have always
been derived in the greatest numbers, or rather all origi-
}
663
nally, from the countries of the Mediterranean. When the
Canaries were discovered, numerous dogs, of a large size,
were found in the possession of the inhabitants. In the heart
of Africa, dogs have been found having much of the charac-
ters of the older Blood-hounds of England. Two of these were
brought home by Major Denham, who states that he had
seen them hunt the Gazelle by the scent with exquisite pre-
cision, taking short cuts when the animal made a turn, so as
to come again upon the track. Africa, then, abounds in Dogs
of various kinds, and which we have as much reason to be-
lieve indigenous to the regions they inhabit, as those of the
Asiatics are to the continent where they are found. During
the intercourse carried on beyond all memorial of tradition
and history between the people of Africa and Europe, it is
not possible that the dogs of the one people should not have
been communicated to the other; and thus we may believe
that, with the mixed varieties of dogs with which we are con-
versant in Europe, the blood of the African as well as the
Asiatic races has been mingled.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The ever ingenious and eloquent Buffon eagerly maintain-
ed that the Shepherd's Dog, which, from its habits, he sup-
posed to be the nearest to the native type of the species, was
the original of all the dogs known to us. But the Shepherd's
Dog differs in different countries as much as the other dogs
of the same countries. The Shepherd's Dog referred to by
the French naturalist is that of France, which is merely a
variety of the dogs of shepherds, although agreeing in many
characters with those of other parts of Europe. But this
variety resembles the Wolf much more nearly than it re-
sembles such dogs as the Spaniel, the Mastiff, and Grey-
hound; and it is surely more reasonable to believe that it is
derived from the Wolf, which it resembles, than that it is
the parent stock of Dogs which it does not resemble. Were
the theory good, we must suppose that this species assumes
in Siberia characters so like a Wolf that it cannot be dis-
tinguished from one, in Thibet the characters of a Mastiff,
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664
in England of a Bull-dog, in Malta of a dog little larger
than a rabbit, in another country of a Hound, in another of
a Greyhound, and so forth; and that even in the very same
country which itself inhabits, all these different forms of the
Dog may exist from age to age, with as little tendency to
change as in the case of the Shepherd's Dog itself. The
theory of the French naturalist is unsupported by a single
fact known in natural science, and would scarcely merit
notice, were it not that it has been followed by many subse-
quent writers, and that even yet there are naturalists who
give it a tacit support. Much, indeed, must be ascribed to
the effects of climate, food, and domestication, in modifying
the characters of the Dog; but it is plain that we ascribe to
these agencies far more than the case requires, when we as-
sume that such a dog as the Shepherd's Dog of France, liv-
ing no more in the state of nature than many others, can
have been the root of them all; that in England it may be a
Bull-dog, in the Pyrenees an animal so like a wolf as not to
be distinguishable from one, and in the country which itself
inhabits, a Mâtin or a Poodle.
THE DOG.
The latest theory regarding the origin of the Dog, is that
which derives all Dogs from the Buansa of Nepaul, thence
termed Canis primavus. But the Hound of Nepaul merits
still less the distinction of being the progenitor of all dogs
than the Shepherd's Dog of France. For we must suppose
that this hound has given origin to an animal so unlike itself
as this very Shepherd's Dog, that in Siberia it has become a
Sledge-dog, and in Malta a Shock-dog; nay, that in the very
region which itself inhabits, it may become a Mastiff and a
Terrier, both of which inhabit the mountainous country of
Nepaul, apparently as constant in their proper characters as
the Wild Hound of the same country.
- Another hypothesis, greatly more reasonable, indeed, but
yet very far from answering the conditions of the problem to
be resolved, is, that all dogs are derived from the Common
Wolf. That certain dogs, perhaps the most useful of any,
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are derived from the Common Wolf, must be admitted, un-
less we are to reject evidence which, in every branch of
natural science, would be received. But there is more than
one species of Wolf, and there are other wild canide which
we may term Wolves, which are equally fitted to submit
themselves to the influence of domestication. The Prairie
Dog, or the Prairie Wolf, has been domesticated, as well as
the Aguaras of America; the Dingo of New Holland has
been tamed by the rudest savages, and is one of the dogs of
China and Japan; the Dholes of India have been domesti-
cated, and, we can scarcely doubt, the Hounds of Nepaul;
and the dogs of Africa are very numerous, and must be be-
lieved to have been derived from the Canidæ proper to that
continent. If we assume, then, the Common Wolf to have
been the origin of all dogs, we must equally assume it to be
the parent stock of all the wild species of canide which have
been subdued,―of the Prairie and Aguara dogs of America,
of the Dingo of the Eastern Islands, of the Dholes of India,
and of the numerous species which have yielded dogs to the
inhabitants of Africa. The Common Wolf is certainly the
parent stock of numerous dogs of the northern hemisphere;
but, 'unless we are to assert that it is the parent stock like-
wise of many canide which we hold to be specifically dis-
tinct from one another, and from the Wolf, we cannot ad-
mit it to be the parent stock of all domesticated dogs.
Another theory is, that the primal type of the Dog is lost,
and that it is from some one species now extinct that all
the varieties of the existing races have sprung. But this
hypothesis involves us in suppositions which we are unable
to support by any truths known, or which can ever be known
to us, in natural history. For, admitting this hypothesis,
we must believe that the primal type of the Dog, whatever it
be, is likewise the type of the Wolf, and that thus the Wolf
is
sprung from an animal which we suppose to have resem-
bled the domestic dogs. It is true that there may have been,
although we never can have a knowledge of the fact, some
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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THE DOG.
animal, in a previous distribution of living forms, from which
all existing Canidæ have been derived, the Wolf, the Jackal,
the Fox, and others, with all their varieties; but this, it
is manifest, is a theory founded upon no basis of known
truths. We cannot say how species were formed, and must
wander in the regions of absolute conjecture, when we ven-
ture to assume that some one species, in a former distribu-
tion of living beings, gave origin to animals now distinct
from one another, as the Wolf, the Jackal, and the Fox.
This may have been, nay, probably was; but when we at-
tempt to investigate the origin of the Dog and such animals,
it is useless for us to go farther than animal forms, as they
are exhibited to us in living species or remains. All that
we can hope to determine regarding the origin of Dogs is,
from what species, one or more, now existing, or whose re-
mains exist, they have been derived. If we assume that
some primal species of dog existed, we must assume that
this species gave origin to the Wolf, as well as to every spe-
cies of Canis which has been domesticated.
There are, then, insuperable difficulties in the supposition
of the origin of all the various races of Dogs from any one
species. But knowing, as we do, that many species of Canis
exist in the wild state, and have been domesticated, and that
all the domesticated Canidæ, so far as is known, breed with
one another; that tribes and nations of men have been
mingled together by migration, conquest, or otherwise, from
the remotest ages of the world; it is reasonable to believe
that different kinds of dogs, the inhabitants of different coun-
tries, have been mingled together in blood. It is in this
way, and in this way alone, that we can satisfactorily ac-
count for those endless varieties which the races of dogs of
long-peopled countries present, and the constancy with which
certain races preserve the characters proper to them, dis-
tinct from others produced, under the same conditions, from
age to age.
The subjugation of the various races of Dogs, may well be
667
regarded as one of the most useful triumphs which reason
has been permitted to gain over the instincts and habits
of the lower tribes of animals. We may believe, too, that
it was effected during the earliest periods of society, since
we can hardly conceive communities to have existed at all
in wild countries without such assistants, and since we
scarcely know a tribe, from the Esquimaux of the Arctic
wilderness to the savages of New Holland, so rude as not
to have appropriated the dogs of the countries they in-
habit. We may say that there is no period in the past
history of our species, of which we have any knowledge
at all, in which the Dog did not exist in the subjugated
state. We find him represented to us as a sign in the
heavens along with the Bull, the Ram, and the Goat, his
early fellows in the service of our race, nay, distinguished
from these by being placed in both hemispheres of the fir-
mament, first beneath the feet of Orion in the southern hemi-
sphere, and again in the northern, where he indicates the
place of Sirius, the brightest of the fixed stars of the firma-
ment, from the heliacal rising of which, corresponding with
the extreme rise of the Nile, the Ethiopians and Egyptians
dated the commencement of their year. He is sculptured on
the earliest monuments of human arts, from the sacred caves
of the East, to the proud structures of Persepolis and the
Nile. By the Egyptians he was consecrated to their god
Anubis, whom they represented with the figure of a man
and the head of a dog; and he enters into a mass of symbo-
lical representations, whose meaning cannot now be disco-
vered. Nor was the adoration of the Dog confined to this
singular people, so prone, like most of the African nations,
to pay a blind worship to the objects of the senses, but it
extended to almost all the members of the family termed
Caucasian. He was everywhere sacrificed to the gods; and
traces of the same rites have been found in people so remote
as the worshippers of Brahma, the Phoenician Canaanites,
and the Teutons of Northern Europe, the latter, up to a pe-
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
X-R
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668
riod which may be called historical, making use of the Dog,
as of other victims, in their bloody worship. He entered
into the mythological systems of Greece and Rome; and even
in the superstition of the vulgar of Europe to the present
day, usages connected with the worship of the Dog may be
traced. One exception, and that a remarkable one, occurred
in early times, and has exercised a singular action on the
condition of the Dog over a great part of the world. The
worship of the Dog was interdicted to the Jews, with dread-
ful denunciations. He was proclaimed to be unclean; and
even the price which might be received for him was placed
on a level with the wages of a harlot, and was not to pollute
the temple of the Living God. The people of this family, ad-
hering to the letter of their stern law amidst all the fortunes
of their unhappy race, even now retain much of their ancient
feelings towards this gift of Providence. Nay more, the
Arabs, taught by an Impostor, who derived much of what he
taught from Jewish usages, have conceived something of the
same feelings towards this creature. But the Arabs cannot
dispense with the services of the Dog amid their own wild
deserts of sand, and much less when they have passed be-
yond them; and all the restraints of superstition have been
unable to prevent the freest use of the dog in the countries
to which the Arabian faith has extended. Yet everywhere,
in countries of Mohammedans, the Dog is regarded as some-
thing unhallowed and unclean. The True Believer, indeed,
will not shed the blood of the Dog, but he will not afford him
the shelter of his dwelling, nor admit him to that companion-
ship for which Nature has fashioned him. Hence, in Moham-
medan countries, the Dog rarely assumes that docility which
he elsewhere possesses; and hence much of that multiplica-
tion of unowned dogs in Eastern towns which live on garbage,
and share with the hyenas and vultures the task of remov-
ing impurities. This, indeed, is due only in part to Moham-
medan feeling; for we know that something of the same
kind existed from the earliest times in the countries of the
THE DOG.
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669
East, even in Egypt, where the Dog was venerated, and in
Greece during the ages termed Heroic. It is generally be-
lieved that the Hindoos have acquired the feelings of their
Mohammedan tyrants towards the Dog: but this is an error.
The Hindoos, like other people of the East, have nume-
rous unowned dogs in their towns, but the Hindoos, though
restrained by feelings connected with their ideas of the
sanctity of food, from admitting the dog to that familiarity
which is customary with us, have a great fondness for the
Dog, in which respect they resemble all the other members
of the Caucasian family not Mohammedan. It is the Jews
and Mohammedans alone who regard this animal as some-
thing unhallowed; but it is not they alone who vilify their
enemies as dogs and the sons of dogs. For, the people of
all countries, even those who profit the most by the services
of the animal, employ expressions of hatred and contempt,
founded on what they conceive to be the most vile and hate-
ful in his attributes. His greediness, his uncleanness, his
impudence, his quarrelsome temper, nay, his submission and
fawning, have furnished us with epithets wherewith to insult
one another. The cause, perhaps, lies no deeper than this,
that the Dog living in our society, we are able to observe his
habits and actions, and perhaps to find in them too faithful a
similitude of some of our own. Were monkeys to live
amongst us, we should doubtless be able to find in them
some traits of character which we might apply to our neigh-
bours, and so be as ready to speak of the son of a Monkey
as the son of a Dog.
To the Domestic Dog, we have innumerable references in
almost every kind of writings, from the songs of the people
to the disquisitions of the naturalist and metaphysician, and
even treatises have been devoted to the subject, of ancient
date, of which some, in whole or in part, have come down
to us.
Of these the most remarkable are the Cynegetica
of Xenophon, who lived 445 years before Christ, and Ar-
rian, who flourished in the reigns of Hadrian and the An-
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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670
THE DOG.
tonini. But the ancients give us little information with re-
spect to what may be called the Natural History of the Dog,
and almost all their notices refer to his properties and ser-
vices chiefly as an instrument of the chase. They had their
swift-footed Dogs, Canes Celeres, which they employed in cour-
sing; their Canes Sagaces, comprehending the dogs employed
to track the game by the scent; their Canes Bellicosi, or dogs
employed in the destruction of the larger animals, and in
war. Their methods of chase appear to have been the same
as prevailed in a later age, up to the general use of fire-
arms. They pursued the practice of tracking the game in
the woods, and rousing it from its retreats, by hounds which
followed the scent, and of running it down by the swifter
dogs; and, in fowling, they employed dogs, such as the
modern spaniels, to drive the feathered game into nets or
other snares. They employed powerful dogs to defend their
herds and flocks; and the "Cave Canem" on the portals of the
Roman houses, shews that the same means were employed to
protect goods from plunder as in the present day. The Dog
was used by the Romans for food, as it still is, but far more
extensively, by the Chinese and other Eastern Asiatics, by the
inhabitants of the Polynesian Islands, and by the Negroes.
Dogs, we are informed, were largely employed by the Cel-
tic Gauls and other barbarians in war, and even up to a later
age, the same cruel instrument of destruction was not dis-
used. The Spaniards made use of dogs against the helpless
natives of South America, and even the Tudor Princes of
England, we are informed, employed them in their Irish
wars; and the traces of the practice long existed in the Bor-
der districts of England and Scotland, in the use of blood-
hounds, trained to the chase of human victims. The use
of fire-arms put an end to these as to many barbarous usages,
and dogs at length were only employed in war, in a man-
ner in which they may be lawfully used, that is lawfully, so
long as the destruction of our fellow-creatures is regarded
as lawful, namely, as sentinels to give warning of danger.
1
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
671
For this purpose they were kept in all the ancient fortresses,
as they still are in the countries of the East. The Romans,
every year, with characteristic brutality, whipped a dog to
death, in memory of an event, which probably never hap-
pened,—the saving of their Capitol by the cackling of geese,
while the dogs slept at their posts.
The names applied to the Dog differ so much in the various
languages of Asia and Europe, that no relation can be traced
between most of the designations; and yet there are cases.
of widely-spread languages, in which we can trace a com-
mon root in names applied to the animal. He is the Ci and
Cu, pronounced Ki and Ku, of the Celtic Britons, the Kubb
of the Arabs, the xuw of the Greeks, the Canis of the Latins;
terms, again, which are found in innumerable derivatives ap-
plied to countries, tribes, nations, and divinities. The Eng-
lish term Dog is derived from the German Dogge; but the
Dog is properly the Hund of the Germans, whence the Anglo-
Saxon Hounde, and the English Hound.
The female of the dog goes with young sixty-three days,
but with a slight variation within this period, dependent
upon temperament and race. She sometimes receives, when
in heat, more than one male, and it has been supposed that
puppies resembling the different males have been produced
in the same litter; which may perhaps be ascribed to the
tendency observed in the female of the Dog as well as of
some other animals, even the Mare, to reproduce in their
subsequent offspring animals resembling the previous ones.
The female of the Dog, when she is not under restraint,
makes selection of her mate, the mastiff selecting the mastiff,
the terrier the terrier, and so on. The puppies are born
with the eyelids closed by a membrane, which divides about
the tenth day. The mother nourishes her young with un-
ceasing fondness, and, when they have acquired sufficient
strength, leads them forth, and teaches them to chase, to
worry, and usually the habits proper to her peculiar race.
She gradually weans them by refusing to yield them milk,
".
672
and when they have left her, no other tie than between any
other dogs seems to exist between the members of the
family. It is common to destroy the young puppies which
are not to be brought up, by drowning them. The mother
has been seen to search the neighbouring pools, and, hav-
ing found her little ones, to bring them to her couch, and
fondle them with anxious moanings. When the déstruction
of the entire litter has been more than once repeated, the
anxious mother has been known to carry off her whelps as
soon as born and conceal them, stealing to them from time
to time to suckle them. A mother deprived of her own cubs
has been known to steal one or more of the young of another
and suckle them, nay, to nurse the young of other animals,
as the fox, the rabbit, the cat, and treat them with the same
tenderness as her natural offspring.
The form and habits of Dogs vary in every degree with
race, and the habitudes to which the parent stock has been
long inured. A race of dogs accustomed to follow a parti-
cular kind of game communicates the like propensities to
the offspring. The Pointer, inured from generation to gene-
ration to steal on birds, and stand when he approaches them,
communicates the same propensity to his progeny, who
scarcely require even discipline to teach them the arts of the
parents. The Wolf-hound communicates to his young an
instinctive antipathy to the Wolf, which reappears even after
several generations. The Terrier who has been used to the
chase of the polecat or any other of the weasel tribe, com-
municates to his descendants his own fierce hatred to the
same animals, which the whelp will manifest the moment he
comes upon the track, although he may never before have
seen one of the species; while the young of the Cocker
manifests no antipathy to the same kinds of animals, though
it will pursue with ardour the scent of the woodcock or phea-
sant. A puppy of the breed of the Great Dog of St Bernard's
will follow the track of human footsteps on the snow, al-
though it may have been brought to a distant country from
THE DOG.
:
2
673
its mother's breast. A Shepherd's Dog, of a race inured to
the care of flocks of sheep, communicates to its young its
own habits, so that the latter only require a little educa-
tion to teach them their duties. But if the parents have been
taken to another employment, as the driving of herds of
cattle, their young have no such aptitude to learn, and fre-
quently require long and painful discipline to bring back the
pristine habits of the breed. Hence a rule, universally appli-
cable to the breeding of dogs for any specific purpose, is to
breed from those of a pure race, whose habits have been im-
printed upon it from generation to generation.
Although discipline will do much to impress peculiar ha-
bitudes on dogs, yet Race has a still greater influence. The
Mastiff, of a peculiar breed having great muscular strength,
has remarkable habits of watchfulness, which his young exer-
cise instinctively, and without any instruction.
We can
teach the mastiff many things, even to diving in water, and
the pursuing of human beings, but we cannot teach him to fol-
low the hare like a greyhound by the eye, to hunt in concert,
using the voice, like the hound, or to adopt the habits of the
terrier in discovering the retreat of the polecat and the badger.
The Barbet or Water-Dog will hunt the margins of the lake
or river for water-fowl, and swim and dive to bring the
quarry which has been wounded or killed, but he will not,
like the terrier, attack an animal of five times his own
strength, or encounter the bite of the badger and fox in their
subterranean dwellings. We can teach him a multitude of
feats for our gratification, just as we can teach a monkey to
walk on two legs, and imitate human actions; but there are
limits to our efforts, in the physical powers and tempera-
ment of the animal himself, which we cannot pass. There
are thus races of dogs which are endowed with peculiar
faculties and powers, which we can cultivate to a surprising
extent, and which we can even cause to react, by continual
use, on the conformation of the animals, who, nevertheless,
will still retain the essential characters of their race.
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SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
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674
ther, we have an increase of power over the services of the
Dog, by the races being endowed with the power of breed-
ing with one another, so that we can form a breed, or produce
individuals, partaking of the attributes of both the parents.
Thus, by uniting a mastiff with a greyhound, we can pro-
cure individuals combining in a certain degree the speed of
the one with a portion of the physical strength of the other,
forming a Wolf-Dog, or dog suited to the chase of the wolf;
by uniting a terrier with a hound or barbet, we shall form
an Otter-Hound, or dog fitted for the chase of the otter, and
so on. In this manner, numerous mixed races have been
produced fitted for particular services.
The Dog appears to have the faculty, beyond any known
animal, of becoming adapted, even in the conformation of his
body, to the services and actions to which he is inured. A
race of dogs employed from generation to generation in the
dragging of loads, has the size and muscular strength in-
creased; while another, employed in no service which requires
enlargement of the muscles, becomes smaller and smaller,
until it is suited to its permanent condition. A race of Grey-
hounds, employed in the chase of the Stag, acquires the
strength and energy suited to this service; while another, em-
ployed in the chase of the Hare, acquires a form by which the
individuals can turn more quickly, and reach with their teeth
the victim on the ground; and further, if the same race be
withdrawn altogether from the pursuits natural to it, and
be reared up as a plaything in our dwellings, it becomes a
lap-dog, as in the case of the little Italian Greyhound. The
Spaniel is a dog of some size in the countries proper to it:
in the houses of the opulent, brought up as a lap-dog, it be-
comes a dwarf. The Great Wolf-Dog of Ireland has now
nearly disappeared, in a great degree, because the wolves,
his appropriate prey, having been extirpated, there is little
inducement to cultivate the breed; but partly, and we may
believe mainly, because, being no longer employed in his for-
mer pursuits, he ceases to be adapted to them, and his mus-
THE DOG.
675
cular development approaches to that of common dogs. The
utmost care, it is known, has been used by opulent indivi-
duals to keep up this magnificent breed; but in spite of
every attention, the animals, from generation to generation,
have diminished in strength and stature, so that they can
now be scarcely recognised as being of the ancient race: and
there is not a breed of dogs, from the Wolf-Dog to the Spa-
niel, in which we do not find varieties of size, for which we
can assign no other cause than the difference in the purposes
to which the physical strength and faculties of the animals
are applied.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The Dog has his habits affected in a wonderful degree by
those of the people amongst whom he lives. It was an old
remark, that one might judge of the civilization of a people
by their dogs. Amongst savages, the Dog is rude, treacher-
ous, and vindictive. He will snatch at the food in his mas-
ter's hand, and purloin it from his stores; he will steal be-
hind the unwary stranger, and bite him; and he will remem-
ber an injury, and avenge it. The dogs of the Esquimaux
will often, in revenge for the treatment they receive, endea-
vour to overturn the sledge of their master, or break it to
pieces by running down a precipice, or drag it into a pool.
Amongst mere barbarians, as the nomadic tribes of Asia, the
dog is fierce and inexorable like his human instructors. The
large dogs employed to guard the tents of the Arabs and
Turcomans, will rush upon the helpless traveller and drag
him to the ground. Still more rude and savage are those
dogs of the Turkish towns which are left without protection,
disowned and shunned by every one, and compelled to share
with hyænas and vultures their miserable food. These dogs
are the pest of the Mohammedan towns. In Constantinople
a stranger cannot pass through the foul and narrow streets,
even at noon, without the hazard of being wounded. At
night he cannot do so without the risk of being torn to
pieces. These creatures stand in some awe of the club of
the Believer; but the "Christian Dog" who should venture
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676
THE DOG.
amongst them after sunset without a light and guards, might
as well pass through a crowd of wolves. These animals, ac-
customed to prey on human bodies left in the streets, will
devour the stranger whom they may happen to master, as
readily as they would a kid or a lamb. If a strange dog
ventures amongst them, they will, in an instant, surround
him and tear him to pieces; or, should one of their number
fall down from wounds or fatigue, his fellows will set upon
him on the instant and devour him. Yet these rude dogs,
in the absence of human protection, have devised something
like laws of their own. Each community has its own quar-
ter of the city; and should a straggler from another quarter
enter it, he will in a few minutes be surrounded and torn by
a hundred mouths. But should he be happy enough to escape
over his own frontier, he turns fiercely round upon his assail-
ants, knowing that he will be immediately supported. It is
in the Mohammedan towns that the worst of these hateful
dogs are now found; but the nuisance seems to have existed
in every age in the same countries. How many are the allu-
sions in ancient writers to the fate of enemies to be thrown
to the dogs to be devoured! Even Hector promises his Tro-
jans that the body of their bravest enemy shall be given to
the dogs of Troy; and who does not remember the pleading
of the noble Hector himself, when, pierced by the fatal spear
of Achilles, he finds words to deprecate the same cruel fate!
"C
By thine own life, by theirs who gave thee birth,
And by thy knees, oh! let not Grecian Dogs
Rend and devour me
;
and the inexorable reply,
"Dog! neither knees nor parents name to me,
so true it is and sure
That none shall save thy carcass from the Dogs."
In the cities and villages of India, are likewise numerous
outcast dogs; but, living amongst a mild race of people,
they have nothing of the savage temperament of those of the
677
Turkish towns. They are termed Pariahs by Europeans, sup-
posed to be from misapprehension of the Hindoo word Paraeea
or strange, as if an Englishman, on asking a native what
dog this was, the answer should be Paraeea, it is a strange
dog: but this term must not be confounded with the Hindoo
term Paharee, which is applied to dogs or anything proper
to mountains, as the Wild Hounds of Nepaul. These Pa-
riah dogs are of all races, though, breeding together, they
acquire something like a community of characters. They
are, in truth, nothing else but the domesticated dogs of the
country suffered to live and multiply in the streets. Although
they have no individual masters, they will fawn upon the
stranger who looks kindly upon them, and attach themselves
to his service. An English gentleman, Colonel Smith in-
forms us, travelling in a palanquin, a pariah dog, fainting with
thirst and hunger, looked him wistfully in the face, as if im-
ploring succour. The dog strove to follow the palanquin ; but,
the bearers passing rapidly on, his strength failed him, and
he laid himself down to die.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The Dog has the senses of hearing and smell acute in a
surpassing degree. He hears the distant footstep, and dis-
tinguishes the tread of his master and friend. But of his
senses, that of smell appears to be the most perfect. The mem
brane which lines the nasal organ, and on which the olfac-
tory nerve is spread, is of surprising extent. If spread out it
would envelop a great part of the body of the animal, whereas,
in the human subject, it would not cover the head. Endowed
with this sense in a surpassing degree, the Dog can follow
the evanescent traces of his prey by the odour left on the
ground. He can distinguish the smell of different animals,
and pursue those which he is instructed to chase, and neglect
those which he is not permitted to follow. The older Stag-
hounds of England, which were employed to rouse the game
in woods, could distinguish, by the scent alone, the full-
grown hart from the fawns too young to be hunted, or from
the female when out of the season of the chase. A dog has
I
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678
been known to follow the footsteps of his master through a
city where he had never before been. The ancient Blood-
hound, when put upon the track of his human victim, would
pursue it whatever steps might have crossed the path. The
Dog, when he meets any person from whom he has been long
separated, begins to smell him so as to assist the eye by his
recollection of odour, indicating alike the delicacy of his sense
of smell and his power of memory. When dogs meet they
smell one another, the glands with which they are furnished
giving off an odour, which probably conveys some intimation
of temper or other feeling from one to the other.
THE DOG.
The Dog is endowed with the faculty of remembering
places, times, and events. He knows the path which he has
once travelled, and can retrace it after an interval of years;
nay, he possesses the faculty of being able to find his way
to a known place by a route different from that which he had
before travelled. A little Spaniel, reared on the banks of
the Tweed, was shipped to London at a sea-port town more
than twenty miles distant from his home. After an absence
of twenty days, he arrived at his former residence. He had
found his way through the enormous city, and over a tract of
country of more than 300 miles in which he had never once
been. A dog can count intervals of time with surprising ac-
curacy. If he is used to perform any act which gives him
pleasure, or which from habit becomes a duty, on a certain
day of the week, and at a certain hour of that day, he knows
the hour as it comes round to a minute. How he calculates
the intervening time is unknown, but the instances are in-
numerable in which dogs of every race will perform this kind
of reckonir g with the exactness of a clock.*
* It was an old practice of the shepherds of the south of Scotland to be ac-
companied by their dogs on Sabbath morn to the parish church. The dogs
knew the day and the hour of setting forth as well as their masters. During
the time of the service they usually conducted themselves with great decorum,
but when, at the conclusion of it, the congregation rose from their seats, accord-
ing to the practice of the Scottish Church, to receive the parting benediction of
the pastor, the dogs likewise started on their feet, and, more audibly than con-
679
Dogs, having the senses in great perfection, probably en-
joy the mere feeling of existence in a degree which we can-
not estimate. They manifest the utmost pleasure when they
are permitted to exercise their natural powers. Dogs of
chase exhibit intense delight when brought to the hunting-
field, and pursue the sport to the last with an ardour which
even stripes and the harshest words cannot abate. The
Terrier delights to be exposed to the attacks of the fierce
animals with which he is made to contend, and, though
cruelly maimed, returns again and again to the charge. The
Setter bounds with joy when he sees the fowling-piece in the
hands of his master, and is conducted by him to the fields,
although he shares no part of the spoil, and is frequently
subjected to the severest discipline, to restrain his natural
ardour, and prevent his running upon the game. Yet he
will run upon it again and again, although knowing well
that he will be subjected to punishment. He will run at
the forbidden hare, and when he has fruitlessly pursued it
for a little space, return, and crouch at the feet of his mas-
ter, that he may receive the castigation which he knows
awaits him. We cannot ascribe this to anything else but
the excessive feeling of enjoyment to the animal which the
exercise of his natural powers affords him. Even when the
dog is put to tasks of severe labour, he sensibly manifests
the pleasure he receives. A blacksmith taught his dog to
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
sisted with the sanctity of the place, expressed their satisfaction at the approach-
ing release, so that the concluding words of the clergyman were generally lost
in the hubbub. The device was thought of, of allowing the congregation to
sit quietly in their seats while the blessing was pronounced. But the dogs
were rarely to be thus taken in. Somehow or other they contrived to find
out that the service was at an end, and, by a sympathetic whimpering,
announced that they were not sorry to be set at liberty. Later clergymen
endeavoured to put a stop to the ancient practice, and the dogs were ordered
to be left at home. To this end, however, it was necessary that they should
be confined by a suitable halter when the day came round. They knew this
full well, and even to this day the dogs in some of the pastoral districts of
Scotland contrive to keep out of reach betimes, taking their place at some con-
venient distance on the road, so as to join the family circle in its progress.
I
680
work the bellows, which he did with zeal, watching with im-
patience for the signal to begin. The little dogs taught
to turn spits, before the modern refinement of jacks, used
to attend at the minute when the cook was ready, and set
themselves to work the wheel without a murmur. The dogs
of waggoners, fastened to the carriage, will be seen, pulling
with all their force, from morning to night. Many of us
have seen the dogs which are harnessed to little trucks and
carriages, dragging their load along through mud and clouds
of dust, with unceasing ardour and seeming enjoyment. In
the towns of Holland these curious little teams may be seen
in almost every street, the dogs sleek, fat, and seemingly con-
tented. It may be suggested to politicians of our own coun-
try, who are ready to put down these harmless vehicles by
Act of Parliament, that if they are to legislate for the pro-
tection of dogs, it should be for those which they themselves
cause to be deprived of freedom of motion, chained to posts
at the doors of their mansions, and compelled to linger out
a miserable life in captivity, rather than for those which are
permitted to exercise their natural powers for our service.
THE DOG.
The Dog has the sense of sight in a degree sufficient to
see objects well in the dark. He can discriminate colours,
although we do not know what feelings the impression of the
different colours excites. If a set of little light balls be
each coloured, as black, red, blue, green, a dog, taught to
carry, will bring the black, the red, the blue, or the green,
as he may be directed by the voice, so that he not only dis-
tinguishes colours, but associates them with sounds. It is
even said that the dog has been taught to carry coloured
letters to specified houses or places according to the colour
of each. If this be so, it renders conceivable the singular
accounts that have been given of dogs having been taught to
distinguish certain cards in a pack, and even to play certain
simple mechanical games. The tricks that dogs can be
taught by jugglers are very remarkable, after making every
allowance for the deception practised by the juggler himself,
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as by his directing the dog by signs not observed by the spec-
tators. Dogs have again and again been taught to perform
little pantomimes. They have been made to attack and de-
fend a mimic fortress, to pretend to be wounded or killed,
to limp, and allow themselves to be dragged about by their
fellows as if dead. This will not appear incredible when it
is known that even horses have been taught feats of the
same kind. Several years ago, at Astley's, a horse might be
seen to imitate to the life the actions of a bull, and go through
all the representation of a bull-fight. Covered with skins,
and supplied with horns, he imitated the very gait of the
animal. When assailed by mimic darts, he affected rage,
rushed upon the combatants, pursuing them round the ring,
and finally fell down as if mortally wounded. Yet the Dog
immeasurably exceeds the Horse in the readiness with which
he receives instruction of any kind. Many have seen little
dogs, especially of the barbet or poodle kind, performing a
number of curious actions, as begging for food, ringing a
bell, carrying their master's slippers and other parts of dress
to him in the morning, and so on; and these things are not
unworthy of note, as shewing the power of the animal to
connect certain actions with the words addressed to him.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Dogs learn to answer to their names, nay, know the names
of their fellows, for if any one will carefully observe a num-
ber of dogs kept together, he will see that when any one of
their companions is called, the others know which of them is
expected to answer. It is but a further exercise of the same
faculty, that dogs comprehend the meaning of short sentences
addressed to them, as the various orders of the hunting-
field. But few are perhaps aware how extensive this class
of phrases really is. The shepherd almost seems to hold a
continued converse with his dogs as he directs them in their
various duties. In communicating with the familiar dogs
within our houses, we shall be surprised at the number of
verbal directions we give them almost without our being con-
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THE DOG.
scious of doing so. It is difficult to believe that a dog can
comprehend what is said, unless the sentences are very short,
especially addressed to him, and frequently repeated in con-
nexion with the actions which he is expected to perform.
Yet there are cases in which the dog seems to gather some-
thing of the purport even of connected sentences. Mr Hogg,
well known as the Ettrick Shepherd, mentions a curious case
of this kind. He had resolved to go, on the following day,
to the house of a friend, many miles distant. He mentioned
his intention to the old dame, his mother, adding, "But I
will not take Hector with me, for he is constantly quarrelling
with the rest of the dogs, singing music, or breeding some
uproar." These were all the words, he says, that passed on
his part; but Hector had comprehended enough to know
that he was to be made a prisoner in the morning; and
when the time for securing him came, he was nowhere to be
found. "The Yarrow," says Mr Hogg, was so large as
to be quite impassable, so that I had to go up by St Mary's
Loch, and go across by the boat; and on drawing near to
Bowerhope, I soon perceived that matters had gone precisely
as I expected. Large as the Yarrow was, and it appeared
impassable by any living creature, Hector had made his
escape early in the morning, had swum the river, and was
sitting, like a drookit hen, on a knoll at the east end of
the house, awaiting my arrival with much impatience.
The older shepherds of Scotland, it is to be observed, uni-
versally believe that their dogs have the power of compre-
..
""*
* Shepherds' Calendar by James Hogg. The "singing music," referred to
by our author, as one of Hector's offences, was a propensity not uncommon in
Dogs of his class, of joining in the psalm tunes, or other music which they
heard. Mr Hogg being obliged sometimes to supply his father's place as clerk
or precentor in the parish church, used to be thrown into a fever, whenever
Hector made his appearance at church; for Hector never failed to join his
master with all his might when the tune was struck up, and the two together
so overpowered the lungs of the rest of the congregation, "that he and I,”
says Mr Hogg, "seldom got any one to join in the music but ourselves.”—
"I was, time after time," says he, "so completely put out of all countenance
by the brute, that I was obliged to give up my office in disgust."
;
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
683
hending what is said, even when the words are not specially
addressed to them. We must chiefly, however, ascribe their
power of doing so in any case to their faculty of minute ob-
servation, by which they are enabled to gather something of
the purport of what is said from the looks and motions of
the speaker. This faculty of nice observation is in itself
very remarkable, but yet more is the process of reasoning, if
we may so term it, by which the animal is able to draw cor-
rect inferences from what he observes.
The story recorded by the illustrious Leibnitz of the dog
of the Saxon peasant who had been taught by his master, a
boy, to pronounce certain words, has been long familiar to
the learned of Europe. From the account given, however,
it does not appear whether the dog associated any ideas with
the words which he had been thus painfully taught to articu-
late; but it is not improbable that he did, since it cannot be
more difficult for a dog to associate ideas with his own words,
than with those of another. Something of this power has
been observed in the case of other animals far inferior in
intelligence to the dog. A parrot can readily be taught to
call for certain things, as a nut, a piece of bread, or a lump
of sugar; and manifestly connects the sound with the sub-
stance and the act of bringing it to him. One of these birds,
long kept at the door of an inn, was in the habit, when a
stranger arrived, of calling out, waiter, hostler, and so forth,
as the case might require. A gentleman in Norfolk, now liv-
ing, kept a pack of fox-hounds, and had a tame Raven, which
had been taught to pronounce words, as that animal can be
readily taught to do even more perfectly than the parrot.
The raven, from being used to hear the huntsman call the
different hounds by name, as Jupiter, Juno, Ranger, and so
on, learned to imitate the same sounds; and persons who ob-
served him closely, were of opinion that he knew the individual
dogs to which the names were applied. Be this as it may, the
raven contrived for himself a singular pastime. He used to
place himself by the side of a little hole in the door of the ken-
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nel, and then call the name of any particular hound. The dog,
answering the call, thrust his nose through the hole, and the
raven was as prompt to peck it with his sharp beak, so as
often to draw blood, and send the dog howling away; and he
always seemed vastly delighted when he succeeded in the
trick.
THE DOG.
The Dog is affected by certain notes of music, and espe-
cially of wind instruments, as the organ and trumpet. He
will sometimes howl loudly till the music ceases, or the note
is changed; and he is sometimes affected in the same man-
ner by causes which are unknown to us, as when the moon
shines bright. Dogs have been observed to howl before an
earthquake, aware, probably, of the movements underneath,
before the sounds could impress the human ear. Supersti-
tion, it is well known, has connected the howling of the dog
with the presage of events, and, above all, with the death of
friends. In the latter case, the effect seems due to the dog's
nice observation of what he sees, as when he misses any one
of the household with whom he was familiar, and sees the
sad countenances of friends. A dog has been known to lay
himself upon the grave of his master, and continue his me-
lancholy howling until forced from the place. In like man-
ner, if the master of a dog has met with some dreadful acci-
dent, as the being rendered insensible by falling from his
horse, his dog has been known to utter loud howlings, indi-
cative of grief or alarm.
The Dog, like other quadrupeds, has sounds of the voice,
expressive of his proper wants and emotions. The cry of
grief, of joy, of recognition, of defiance, can all be distin-
guished; and it is wonderful, when we attend to the modu-
lations of the animal's voice, how varied they become, accord-
ing to the exciting cause. The Canidæ, in the state of na-
ture, rarely bark, though it is not correct to say that they
never do so. Even the fox has been heard to bark; and the
peculiar cry of the hound when in chase is heard in certain
685
wild Canidæ, as the Jackal, the Dog of Beloochistân, and the
Prairie Wolf.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
The Dog, by whatever means, has the power of communi-
cating his wishes and purposes to his fellows. A terrier,
having discovered a hare in its form, found its way to a neigh-
bouring house where a greyhound was kept, and brought it
to the place where the hare was couched. A little dog, re-
peatedly assailed by another more powerful than himself,
set forth in quest of a neighbouring watch-dog to punish the
aggressor. A dog, whose companion had been caught in a
gin, has gone in search of others to assist in the release of
his companion. The following story is told by M. Blaze,
in his Histoire du Chien. "Three dogs belonging, two of
them to M. G., and one of them to M. P., of Saint Bonnet
sur Galanne, in the department of Drôme, went out to hunt
by themselves. One of the dogs followed a rabbit so far
into a deep burrow, that his escape became impossible.
The two other dogs strove ineffectually to scrape away the
earth, so as to relieve their imprisoned companion. They
returned to their respective masters, worn out and sad, and
on the following day found means to rejoin one another, and
again in the evening returned to their respective homes, ha-
rassed with fatigue, refusing all food, their paws bloody, and
their bodies covered with dust. For several days this was
repeated, when one morning, at dawn of day, M. G. was
awakened by the scratching of dogs at his door. Descend-
ing, he found the dog which he had given up for lost, weak,
languishing, and like a skeleton, escorted by his two deliver-
ers.' But innumerable instances might be cited, in which
dogs unite for specific ends, in such a manner that no one
can doubt that the means are possessed by them of communi-
cating their purposes to one another.
The power of observation possessed by these creatures is
often remarkably evinced. A dog, observing a theft secretly
committed, has been known to seize the culprit, when no one
else observed the act. Dogs, it is said, have surmised in-
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THE DOG.
tended crimes, when, to human eye, nothing indicated an
evil design. When Henry III. of France fell by the dagger
of a monk, history records that a dog of the household mani-
fested extraordinary fury towards the assassin as he ap-
proached his victim, the animal, doubtless, observing some-
thing in the demeanour of the villain which indicated his
purpose. The ancients record instances of this kind, which
they ascribe to supernatural power, and which the moderns
sometimes endeavour to explain by assuming the existence
of some senses in the lower tribes unknown to us; but the
more natural hypothesis, in the case of the Dog, is, that his
acute senses, and surpassing faculty of observation, enable
him to discover what escapes our cognizance.
The promptitude and precision with which dogs adapt
means to an end, are worthy of our admiration. A child,
falling into a river, was hurried down the stream with fright-
ful rapidity, and in a few moments would have been out of
reach. A little dog standing near the bank flew to the rescue,
but instead of swimming to the child in the water, in which
case his utmost powers would have been unavailing to over-
take it, he ran farther down, plunged into the stream, and
intercepted it.
When persons are engaged in endeavouring to effect some
given purpose, it is surprising how quickly dogs divine their
intentions, and with what sagacity they lend their aid. A dog,
seeing the ineffectual attempts made to communicate with a
stranded vessel, has seized the rope, and swum with it so
that the crew might catch it. In one of the mountainous parts
of Scotland, the only child of a poor peasant had wandered
from home, lost its way, and strayed farther and farther from
the path. Night came on, and the anxious parents, assisted
by their neighbours, searched every corner round and round
in vain. The search was continued throughout the night,
and as the miserable parents were about to abandon it in
despair, they heard the barking of a dog in the distance,
who, unknown to them, had likewise set out in the search.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
687
They hurried forward, and, with feelings not to be expressed,
beheld the sleeping child, the dog couched beside it, so as to
protect it from the snow which was then fast falling.
But volumes might be filled with anecdotes of the sagacity
which these animals evince, under the different conditions in
which their faculties are exercised. In the chase, but espe-
cially when the animals hunt alone, and are thus permitted
to exercise their powers uncontrolled, it is seen how admi-
rably they meet the varying arts of their victims, and adapt
their own actions, singly or in combination with their fel-
lows, to the cases that arise. The old Lurcher, a crafty
dog, intermediate between the shepherd's cur and the grey-
hound, was the favourite dog of the poachers of the last
generation. When employed in his unlawful trade, he was
aware of the necessity of concealment, and used all his arts
to escape detection for himself and his master. The latter
concealing himself in some convenient place, the dog entered
the preserve to be plundered, pursuing the game in dead
silence, and bringing the booty, as it was secured, faithfully
to the rendezvous. The Tumbler was a little dog employed
to plunder rabbit-warrens. He affected indifference to the
game, and rolling himself about as in play, pounced suddenly
upon his victims, when thrown off their guard. When two
were employed, one resorted to the usual arts, while the
other kept watch at the burrows, to intercept the prey which
escaped his companion. When dogs of different kinds hunt
together, they combine their efforts to assist one another;
so that, while one is pursuing the game, the others are keep-
ing watch at the places by which it is likely to pass. The
Esquimaux dogs are in use to scatter pieces of carrion about,
so as to lure their game.
The dog of the Blind Beggar is one whose actions we have
sometimes the means of observing in this country, but much
more in those parts of Europe where mendicity is the habit
of the poorer classes. The dog either conducts his blind
master to the place where he takes his stand to solicit the
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pity of the passing crowd, or conducts him from door to door.
The animal will be seen to stop at the particular houses where
alms are wont to be bestowed, sometimes uttering a low
whine, as if supplicating the attention of the inmates. Where
there are churches, he makes his way to them at the times
of the day when they are most frequented. He knows every
pathway through which he has occasion to pass; and it is
interesting to observe with what caution he leads his help-
less master along, avoiding every obstruction, and keeping
him out of the reach of carriages and other dangerous ob-
structions. When passing along a river or canal, he keeps
between the blind man and the bank; and when a path is
rugged and narrow, he directs his companion along the
smoother and broader part, himself taking the rougher and
narrower. When a piece of money is thrown down, he has
been taught to pick it up; nay, there have been cases in
which he has been known to carry money to a neighbouring
shop, and exchange it for a loaf, or such article of food as
the mendicant had been in use to obtain at the same place.
THE DOG.
The Dog can be taught arts of deception; and although it
is painful to contemplate this creature made subservient to
unlawful acts, our admiration of the animal is not the less,
since it is manifest that the turpitude is not in the dog but
in his human guide. Dogs have been taught to steal, and
it is wonderful to what arts they will resort to accomplish
their purpose and escape detection. In London, a dog was
lately taught to pilfer little articles of provision from shops
and stalls, which he managed to do with consummate address.
He never stood for a moment to gaze at the articles to be
plundered, but kept moving about until, the owner being off his
guard, the opportunity presented itself of escaping with the
prize. Another was disciplined to snatch reticules from the
hands of ladies when walking, another to seize hats hung up for
display at the doors of shops, and so on. The employment
of dogs, in certain parts of the Continent, for smuggling
prohibited goods across the frontiers, as tobacco, muslin, and
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
689
and small wares of all sorts, has been often described. These
dogs become aware of the nature of their employment, and
the arts by which it must be carried on. They watch the
motions of their enemy the revenue-officer, steal past him
when the opportunity offers, or conceal themselves until he
is out of sight. They make their way to the receivers of the
goods, and when they arrive at the door of the hut or cot-
tage where they are expected, announce their arrival to the
inmates. But should the customhouse-officer be on the watch,
they hide themselves in the neighbouring bushes or hedges
until they may come forth. Although thousands of these
dogs are every year destroyed, the trade continues. The
quantity of goods smuggled in this way across the Rhine
exceeds belief. It has been necessary for the revenue-offi-
cers to procure dogs to detect and circumvent those of the
smugglers, so that the system has become a war of dogs,
each class perfect in its own tactics, and zealous in the dis-
charge of its own duties. But not less remarkable than these
smuggling-dogs, were the sheep-stealing dogs of Scotland.
The offence of sheep-stealing, it is to be observed, prevailed
to an enormous extent in the south of Scotland during a
great part of the last century. In all cases the sheep-stealers
depended upon the sagacity of their dogs. When the stolen
sheep were intrusted to these animals, they conducted them
through unfrequented paths, in silence and alone, to the
places of rendezvous. Very late in the century, a sheep-
stealer who was tried on various charges for this offence, was
in almost every case able to prove an alibi. It was proved,
however, that his dog conducted the stolen sheep to his con-
federates. So perfect was the animal in his lesson, that when
his master examined a lot of sheep under pretence of pur-
chasing them, it sufficed that he pointed out to the dog, by
secret signs, the particular sheep which he wished to appro-
priate. The dog, returning in the dead of night, selected them
from the flock, and brought them to the place appointed. The
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THE DOG.
sheep-stealer was condemned to die, and, proh pudor! the
matchless dog, whose only crime was his fidelity.
The Dog knows when he has committed an offence, and
not unfrequently seeks to conceal it. Some dogs acquire the
habit of destroying sheep, in the manner of the wolf. Con-
scious that they are committing an offence, they employ ex-
treme precautions to prevent detection, using the dead of
night to steal upon the flock, avoiding those in their imme-
diate vicinity, and taking a wide circuit in returning home,
so that the place where they live may not be discovered.
They have been known to wash themselves in a pool or river,
that the marks of the blood might be effaced; and in all cases
they clean themselves carefully of dust and blood before
morning. Sir Thomas Wilde was cognizant of a case in
which a dog addicted to this offence used to slip his head
from his collar when he went away, and slip it back again
when he returned.*
*
The Dog, beyond any animal known to us, is grateful for
benefits received. Should any one chance to save the life of
a dog, or rescue him from some cruel persecution, the animal
ever afterwards manifests gratitude. Rude and savage as
are the unowned dogs of the Turkish towns, should the pass-
ing traveller bestow upon one of them, when in distress, a
morsel of food, and speak kindly to him, the dog will wag
his tail, and manifest, by the expression of his counte-
nance, his gratitude to the stranger for the unwonted boon.
Should a dog be wounded, as by a thorn running into his
foot, it is wonderful how perfectly he understands the pur-
pose for which he is put to pain in the attempts to relieve
him. A dog will submit to the surgeon's knife, and lick the
hand of the operator, and ever afterwards fawn upon his
preserver when he meets him. Again and again have dogs
been known to submit to the reduction of painful fractures,
lying almost motionless for weeks until the cure was effected.
* Quarterly Review, 1844.
*
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
691
As the dog is grateful for benefits, so he sometimes shews
that he can remember wrongs. To a stranger who may have
cruelly used a dog that may come into his power, the animal
will frequently manifest, even to the close of life, an antipa-
thy or indifference which subsequent favours cannot over-
come. The devotedness of the dog to his immediate master
is generally so great, that he will submit to much harsh and
injurious treatment. He will seek to disarm resentment by
increased obedience, and, at the first kind word or mark of
confidence, seem to forget all that he has endured. Yet this
is not always the case, and often resentment lurks secretly
in the feelings of the animal, to be revealed when least ex-
pected. A fine Newfoundland dog, that had long been the
favourite of his master, and accompanied him in his walks,
was ordered by him to be tied by a collar and chain, in order
that he might watch an outhouse. The master, after an in-
terval, visited the captive, and was about to renew his ca-
resses, when the dog fiercely repulsed him. It may be be-
lieved that the animal knew or suspected the author of his
captivity. A dog ordered by his master to be put to death
for some trivial fault, looked upon him ever afterwards with
suspicion. Dogs, it is said, recognise habitual dog-stealers
in towns; but however this be, it is certain that they know
the persons appointed to kill dogs found wandering in the
streets without masters, and manifest the kind of dislike to
them which a thrush or a jay exhibits towards a kite or a
sparrow-hawk. Dogs have been sometimes observed to ex-
tend their feelings of dislike of a dog that has injured them
to the owner of the dog, thus associating the acts of the mas-
ter with those of the servant.
Dogs frequently manifest extreme jealousy of other ani-
mals, even of a different kind, when they see them receiving
the caresses to which they themselves have been used. This
is especially observed in the case of the little pampered lap-
dogs of ladies. If another lap-dog is brought amongst them,
they will snarl at him, persecute him, and even refuse their
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own food for days together; and they will exhibit the same
feelings towards a kitten, or even a child, that is fondled by
their mistress. A beautiful little dog that had lost its mas-
ter, and was wandering about perplexed and forlorn, made up
to another dog, a pampered favourite, reposing at the por-
ter's gate of a mansion. The little dog used all his arts to
win the favour of the happier stranger, laid himself down
beside him, and gambolled about him. But the favourite
was inexorable. He thought, perhaps, that the beauty and
winning ways of the little wanderer might gain him favour
within; and, on the latter attempting to follow him beyond
the gate, shewed his teeth, raised his bristles, and threat-
ened to oppose the entrance. The little dog flew at the churl,
bit him severely, put him to flight, and then departed indig-
nantly, like a hero of romance denied the rites of hospitality.
As Dogs may be jealous of their fellows, so they may be
forgiving and generous. Dogs, from their habits, and their
intimate connexion with man, are naturally repulsive and
suspicious towards strangers of their own species. But,
should two dogs be brought up together, it is wonderful how
attached they become, the one frequently pining, and re-
fusing his food, when his companion is taken away. The
powerful dog rarely attacks one much weaker than himself,
and never a puppy, however he may growl at it and frighten
it. When one dog, from any cause, attacks another, he
rarely, unless urged on, carries his resentment beyond a
moderate chastisement, and is almost always mollified by sub-
mission. A dog, who has seen another in want of food, has
been known to carry him daily a portion of his own allowance.
A Barbet, or Newfoundland Dog, that will save the life of a
man, will plunge into the water after a drowning fellow, and
bring him on shore. A Newfoundland dog, once teased be-
yond endurance by a cur, took the aggressor in his mouth,
dropped him quietly over the bank of a neighbouring canal,
and having suffered him to flounder about for a while, leaped
into the water and brought him on shore.
THE DOG.
693
But of all the attributes of the Dog, those which seem the
most to have claimed attention are his attachment to man in
general, and his fidelity to individuals in particular. The
Dog very rarely, and never but under peculiar circumstances,
seeks to gain his natural liberty. He prefers, to the state
of freedom, the protection of man, and lingers near our
dwellings, even when he is shunned and disowned by us.
When he attaches himself to any one, all his actions indicate
that the relation is one which has a foundation in the affec-
tions of the animal, and does not vary with the degree of
benefits conferred. The dog that shares the lot of the miser-
able and poor, is no less faithful than another that enjoys
all that can gratify the senses. The peasant boy, who rears
up
his little favourite in his cabin of mud, and shares with it
his scanty crust, has a friend as true as he who has ease and
abundance to bestow. Release, from the cord of the blind
beggar, the dog that leads him from door to door, and will
he follow you a step for all with which you can tempt his
senses? Confine him in your mansion, and feed him with
the waste of plenteous repasts, and let his forlorn companion
approach your door to crave a scrap of food, and the dog
will fly to him with fidelity unshaken, and bound with joy to
be allowed once more to share his miserable lot. Again
and again has the dog of the humblest and poorest remained
faithful to the last, and laid himself down to die on the
grave
of his earliest friend. Recently, a poor boy in a manu-
facturing town had contrived, from his hard earnings, to
rear up a little dog. The boy, as he was passing along to
his daily work, was struck down, and dreadfully maimed, by
the fall of some scaffolding. He was carried on a shutter,
mangled and bleeding, to an hospital near, attended by the
dog. When he was brought to the door, the dog endeavoured
to enter along with him; but being shut out, he laid himself
down. Being driven beyond the outer gate, he went round
and round the walls, searching for any opening by which he
could enter. He then lay down at the gate, watching every
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one who entered with wistful eyes, as if imploring admit-
tance. Though continually repulsed, he never left the pre-
cincts night or day, and even before the wounded boy had
breathed his last, the faithful dog, struck with total paraly-
sis, had ceased to live. It is well known that the soldiers of
the French levies were often mere boys, brought from their
country homes, to undergo at once all the rigours of the ser-
vice. They were often accompanied by their little dogs, who
followed them as best they could. Often, after the carnage
of a desperate field, these dogs have been found stretched on
the mangled bodies of their youthful friends. A French officer
mortally wounded in the field, was found with his dog by his
side. An attempt having been made to seize a military decora-
tion on the breast of the fallen officer, the dog, as if conscious
how much his master had valued it, sprung fiercely at the
assailants. An unfortunate soldier, condemned for some of-
fence to die, stood bandaged before his comrades appointed
to give the fatal volley, when his dog, a beautiful spaniel,
rushed wildly forward, flew into his arms to lick his face,
and for a moment interrupted the sad solemnity. The
comrades, with tears in their eyes, gave the volley, and the
two friends fell together. A youthful conscript, severely
wounded in the terrible field of Eylau, was carried to the
hospital amongst hundreds of his fellows. Many days after-
wards, a little dog had found its way, no one knew how,
into the place, and amongst the wounded, the dying and
the dead, had searched out his early friend. The faint-
ing boy was found by the attendants with the dog beside
him, licking his hands. The youth soon breathed his last,
and a kind comrade took charge of the dog: but the animal
would take no food, pined away, and shortly died. And a
thousand other examples might be given of an affection in
this creature unaltered by changes of fortune, and enduring
to the last.
THE DOG.
·
The Dog, if we can judge by his motions in sleep, possesses
the faculty of imagination. His eyelids move, his lips quiver,
1
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695
his limbs are alternately stretched out and contracted, as
if he felt himself engaged in some contest with a fellow,
or rushing upon his victim in the chase; and sometimes
he utters cries, and starts from his dream bewildered and
amazed.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
But far beyond a passing excitation of the nerves, is that
terrible malady to which this faithful creature is subject,
and which has excited in every age so painful an interest.
The Rabies, or Madness of the Dog, is unlike anything else
in the same class of diseases, inasmuch as it not only affects
the individual, but impels him, by an irresistible impulse, to
communicate to other creatures the venom with which his
own system is tainted. The miserable dog will not spare
the friend for whom he would have laid down his life; but
more frequently he communicates the poison when licking the
hand that caresses him, for it is remarkable, that the affection
of the animal for his master increases after the taint has
been received, as if he knew that they must soon part for
ever. But even when the disease has reached the crisis, the
dog does not seek for human victims, but rather shuns the
path of man. It is upon the lower animals, and, above all,
those of his own species, that he is urged as if by the in-
fluence of some malignant power. Stealing upon his victim,
he inflicts in an instant the fatal wound, and then pursues
his haggard flight, snapping at any creature that crosses his
path, or which his bewildered senses permit him to reach.
He runs along with reeling gait, his eyes inflamed, his tongue
hanging out, his lips tumid and black, until exhausted he
falls down, biting the ground. Sometimes he sinks into a
deep slumber, which lasts for many hours, and then start-
ing from his trance, pursues his way as before, until, faint
and blind, he sinks down and dies.
Ta nên
When a dog has received the venom by the bite of another,
the first symptoms observed are an agitated look, and rest-
less change of place, an insatiable thirst, and a perverted
appetite, which causes the animal to devour the most revolt-
节
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!
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696
ing substances. His eyes shine with an unusual brightness,
and he seems to follow certain images in the air, at which he
frequently darts as if to clutch them. Whenever this latter
symptom appears, the animal must be chained or destroyed,
for then no doubt remains regarding the nature of the malady.
While the afflicted creature pursues with his eye the spec-
tral visions around, it is marvellous, that should a familiar
voice, as of his master or some remembered friend, fall upon
his ear, he is suddenly recalled to sense: he crouches down,
draws near to receive the wonted caresses, and looks implor-
ingly around as if to inquire what it can be that thus afflicts
him. But soon the countenance changes again, and the eyes
as before follow the phantoms of the brain. The voice as-
THE DOG.
sumes a tone unlike to that of any known animal sound: it is
a hoarse convulsive bark, terminating in a low shrill howl,
which once heard can never be forgotten. Sometimes the
animal is nearly mute, and the disease passes through its
At other
several stages without his exhibiting violence.
times, and this much more commonly, his muscular power
increases, and his agitation is beyond control. He gnaws
his chain, tears the boards about him to pieces, and grinds
them to powder, and from time to time darts at the imagi-
nary beings which he fancies to float before him. The period
of excessive fury, however, is generally brief, and death re-
lieves him from his sufferings.
Mr Youatt, who has well treated of this subject in his
history of the Dog, thus describes the early stages of the
malady in a Newfoundland dog put under his charge. "He
was brought to me this evening, his eyes were wild, the con-
junctiva considerably inflamed, and he panted quickly and vio-
lently. The eyes were wandering, and evidently following
some imaginary object, but he was quickly recalled from his
delirium by my voice or that of his master. He had pre-
viously been under my care, and immediately recognised me,
and offered me his paw."
11*
* "The Dog," by William Youatt, Esq.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
697
When the disease is communicated to the human species,
the symptoms may be described, but no description can paint
the agonies of the sufferer. The disease generally appears
before the sixtieth day; but often the virus remains dormant
in the system for a longer period, sometimes for several
months, and some say, but happily it is believed erroneously,
for several years. The human sufferer has not, like the dog,
an unnatural thirst, but, on the contrary, is terrified at the
sight of liquids, so that it is in the human subject only that
the disease can be called Hydrophobia. The human sufferer,
like the dog, fancies himself surrounded by spectral images ;
and, strange to say, may be recalled from the dreadful visions
by the voice of a friend, and for a short interval be restored
to all his faculties. Often he acquires an amazing strength,
so that several men may be required to hold a stripling. The
following is a case of a human patient, cited by Mr Youatt,
from Dr Bardsley :-" I observed that he frequently fixed his
eyes with horror and affright on some ideal object, and then,
with a sudden and violent exertion, buried his head beneath the
bed-clothes. The next time I saw him repeat this action, I
was induced to inquire into the cause of his terror. He asked
whether I had not heard howlings and scratchings. On being
answered in the negative, he suddenly threw himself on his
knees, extending his arm in a defensive posture, and forcibly
threw back his head and body. The muscles of the face
were agitated by various spasmodic contractions; his eye-
balls glazed, and seemed ready to start from their sockets;
and, at that moment, when crying out in an agonizing tone,
'Do you not see that black dog,' his countenance and atti-
tude exhibited the most dreadful picture of complicated hor-
ror, distress, and rage, that words can describe or imagina-
tion paint."
The same frightful malady may be conveyed to different
animals,—the Ox, the Sheep, the Horse, the Cat,-affecting
each in a different manner. It is not unfrequently commu-
nicated to horses by the little dogs kept in stables. These
:
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698
dogs, when in the streets, and following a carriage, are apt
to be bitten unobserved by rabid dogs, and when they return
to the stable, and fondle the horses by licking their lips,
which they are apt to do, they communicate the poison.
This terrible malady, it would appear, is found in one of
the Canidae in the state of nature. The Common Wolf has
been repeatedly seen in the state of madness, not shunning,
like the domestic dogs, the path of man, but rather seeking
him out as a victim. It is not known whether it appears in
any of the other wild canidæ, but it is certain that it prevails
most in the countries where the dogs are allied to the wolf.
Whether it may be excited in the system of the dog inde-
pendently of communication of the poison from animal to
animal, has not been determined; but it is probable that it
may be so engendered, and there is even reason to believe,
that we owe much of the extension of this malady to those
brutal fighting-matches of dogs which are still pursued to an
incredible extent in our towns, and, above all, in those of our
mining and manufacturing districts.
Frightful as this malady is, its existence should not make
us hate the Dog. There is doubtless an end or purpose,
although we may not discover it, in this as in other bodily
sufferings. It affords us at least a lesson of humility. It
teaches us, that the same agent that destroys the faculties
of the dog may take away the higher attributes of mind in
man, may place the same phantoms before the eyes of the
human victim and the brute, and reduce both for the time to
a common level of wretchedness.
THE DOG.
Whether the distinctive characters of dogs are the result
of pristine organization, or of changes produced in the natural
state, or of forms and habitudes acquired by domestication,
there is a remarkable distinction, we have seen, between the
different Races. From the intermixture of these races con-
tinued from age to age, and from the endless varieties pro-
duced in individuals by place, temperature, and the habitudes
to which they are inured, it has become impossible to refer
699
the various groups to the types to which they may have be-
longed in the state of nature. We find, indeed, in the natu-
ral state, the Wolves, so called, the Hounds of Central Asia,
the Dingo of the East, the Dholes of India, and others; but
the descendants of these having been mixed in every degree
together, it is only in a few cases that we can trace the re-
lation between the subjugated dogs and their prototypes.
And further, there are dogs whose types, in the state of
nature, we have not yet been able to discover, as the mas-
tiff, the barbet, the spaniel. Any classification, therefore,
that we can make of the races of dogs, founded on their
assumed origin, must be imperfect; and all that can be done
is to refer them, as far as the cases will allow, to certain
types which may be held as the most characteristic of the
different groups. Adopting this principle, we may arrange
the principal European races in four general groups.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
I. The LYCISCAN GROUP, comprehending dogs approach-
ing more or less to the conformation of the Common
Wolf.
II. The VERTRAGAL GROUP, comprehending the swift-
footed dogs, of which the Greyhound is typical.
III. The MOLOSSIAN GROUP, of which the great Mastiff
of Central Asia may be regarded as a type.
IV. The INDAGATOR GROUP, comprising dogs which pur-
sue their prey chiefly by the scent, and which, again,
may be divided into five sections:-
1. The True Hound, which hunts with his fellows,
and employs the voice in concert.
2. The Mute Hound, which hunts with others or
singly, but without using the voice in concert.
3. The Spaniel.
4. The Barbet.
5. The Terrier.
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THE DOG.
I. THE LYCISCAN GROUP.*
Of the Lyciscan group of Dogs, those which inhabit the
Northern Glacial Regions may be generally regarded as the
least removed from the natural state. Within the limits of
the vast countries where these dogs are found, extending many
degrees on either side of the Arctic Circle, nearly all round the
globe, from the shores of Greenland westward, by Behring's
Straits, to Nova Zembla, and the western extremity of Lap-
land, are tribes of men having a wonderful similarity in ha-
bitudes and aspect. Those of the Western Hemisphere are
termed Esquimaux, though tribes of Copper-coloured In-
dians inhabit the same region; those of the wilds of Siberia
are Samoïedes, Kamtschatkans, and others; those of the
extreme north of Europe are Laplanders, who, living in a less
rigorous climate, have made greater advances towards a set-
tled state of life than the others. Within the limits of the
gloomy region inhabited by these tribes, the sun for a pe-
riod of the year never sets, and for another period is below
the horizon. At about the noon, as it may be called, of their
long day, and into the brief space of eight weeks are crowd-
ed spring, summer, and autumn, during which a scorching
sun melts the snow, and calls forth a rapid vegetation, while
innumerable animals of the land and water rear their off-
spring; and myriads of insects fill the air, tormenting to
the inhabitants, but yet a bountiful provision to them, since
the larvæ of the insects, hatched in their lakes and rivers,
furnish food to innumerable fishes. The winter begins with
tempests and snow, and, for ten months of the year, the rigour
of the cold is intense. In certain parts, the inhabitants con-
struct their winter habitations of blocks of frozen snow, with
windows of ice, which admit the light of their winter twi-
So named from Lycisca, a term applied by the ancients to dogs supposed
to be derived from the union of the wolf and common dogs. The term Lycisca
was likewise applied to Shepherd's Dogs.
*
},
701
light and their brilliant aurora; and, when the snow covers
all the frozen huts to the top, the red glimmer of their light
of whale-oil alone testifies to those above that human beings
breathe below. Into these holes are crowded men, women,
and children, like pigs beneath their straw, with all their
store of blubber and flesh, producing an odour more fetid
than the caves of wild beasts, and habits more disgusting
than civilized men can imagine. But do the victims of so
many horrors murmur at their lot? They would not ex-
change it for all the pomp of cities; and Nature has been
no more neglectful here of her living offspring than in her
happiest climes. In these regions of winter, the human
body becomes adapted to the conditions affecting it as per-
fectly as in the intertropical plains. By a marvellous pro-
vision, the people become fitted to breathe an atmosphere in
which the vital air would seem to be almost exhausted, and
enjoy cheerfulness of mind, and health of body, which those
might envy who are doomed to suffer bodily afflictions worse
than death on beds of down. They issue forth from their steam-
ing holes to an atmosphere without, where mercury freezes in
a few minutes, and infants at the breast endure a cold which
would destroy a giant of the lower latitudes. The women,
clad like the men in skins, pursue their daily toils without a
murmur; and the men follow the chase, their darling pur-
suit, over wastes of frozen snow, and in pools, morasses, and
seas filled with moving ice. Nor are the subjects of the
chase wanting to them in their frozen deserts. The seas
abound in seals, walruses, and whales; the reindeers, in
herds, find food in plants elsewhere innutritious; bears are
everywhere; the waters are alive with fishes; and innumer-
able waterfowls cover the rocky shores and inland rivers.
These men, savages as we deem them to be, have been able to
form weapons for all their uses, canoes of skin, and garments
of hide, nay, to subject the animals of their icy wilderness
to their service. Some of them have subjected the Rein-
deer to a domesticity as perfect as that of the Sheep in other
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
*M
702
THE DOG.
countries; and all of them have subdued the Wolf, and pro-
duced a race of Dogs, adapted to the chase, and to every
service required.
The Dogs of these people have been often described by
travellers, and by none so well as by our own daring naviga-
tors in the Arctic Seas. They are muscular, and adapted to
speed as well as the dragging of loads. They have the body
covered with coarse shaggy hair, underneath which grows a
coat of delicate wool, which falls off in the season of heat,
to be renewed when the sun, about to sink beneath the hori-
zon, gives warning of the coming night of winter. The co-
lour of the fur is usually a tawny gray, but sometimes it is
as white as that of the Greenland Wolves. The dogs are
begun to be trained almost as soon as they can walk, and
when about two months old, are disciplined to the sledge.
They are each attached by a single trace without reins; and
in the front, at a little distance from the others, is the leader,
who is chosen for his superior docility and experience. The
man sits on the fore part of the sledge, using his foot on
either side to steady it amongst blocks of ice, and ready to
spring off and vault again into his seat when any impediment
occurs. He holds in his hand a whip, with a short handle a
foot long, having a thong of hide from 18 to 24 feet. In
some cases he merely uses a crooked stick, which he throws
at an offending dog, recovering it again from the surface
with matchless dexterity. But, for the most part, the voice
alone suffices to direct the wild but willing team. Each dog
has his name, which, when uttered with a certain tone of
voice, calls his attention to the orders given. The animals
turn to one or other side, and hasten or slacken their pace,
as directed. When they meet a sledge coming in the oppo-
site direction, they give it the right hand, as readily as the
waggoners of England do in the case of carriages, under the
penalties of Acts of Parliament. When the sledge is stop-
ped, and the whip laid gently over the backs of the dogs,
they lie down, and remain on the snow for hours, until the
7
703
master returns to them. The leader, to whose guidance the
general conduct of the team is trusted, manifests surprising
docility, as if conscious of the trust reposed in him. He fol-
lows the course indicated to him, avoiding the places of dan-
ger, although every trace of the path is buried under fathoms
of ice; and although vapour and falling snow darken the air,
so that he cannot see a foot before his eyes. When game
is started, the whole team set off at speed, that they may
bring the hunter within its reach, and themselves assist in
destroying it. It is then that the man loses his command
over his wild pack, so that the vehicle is dragged along with
frightful violence. The game pursued is of every kind, from
the Elk, the Reindeer, the Fox, the Otter, to the Polar Bear,
which last the dogs attack, or keep at bay, while the hunter
uses his spear.
These dogs have an astonishing power of endurance. They
will travel with a loaded sledge sixty or seventy miles with-
out food. "A walrus," says Captain Lyon, "is frequently
drawn by three or four of these dogs, and seals are some-
times carried home in the same manner, though I have in
some instances seen a dog bring home the greater part of
a seal in panniers placed across his back. The latter mode
of conveyance is often used in summer, and the dogs also
carry skins or furniture overland to the sledges, when their
masters are going on any expedition." . . . "Cold has very
little effect on them, for, although the dogs at the huts
slept within the snow passages, mine at the huts had no
shelter, but lay alongside with the thermometer at 42°
and -44°, and with as little concern as if the weather had
been mild. I found, by several experiments, that three of
my dogs could draw me on a sledge weighing 100 lb. at
the rate of one mile in six minutes; and, as a proof of the
strength of a well-grown dog, my leader drew 196 lb. singly,
and to the same distance, in eight minutes. At another time,
seven of my dogs ran a mile in four minutes, drawing a heavy
sledge full of men. Afterwards, in carrying stores to the
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
A
704
Fury, one mile distant, nine dogs drew 1611 lb., in the space
of nine minutes." At another place, he observes of one of
two sledges in which his party was conveyed, "the leader
was instant in obeying the voice of the driver, who never
beat, but repeatedly called to him by name. When the dogs
slackened their pace, the sight of a seal or bird was sufficient
to put them instantly to their full speed; and even though
none of these might be seen on the ice, the cry of a seal,'
THE DOG.
6
a bear,' ' a bird,' &c., was enough to give play to the legs
and voices of the whole pack. It was a beautiful sight to
observe the two sledges racing at full speed to the same
object, the dogs and men at full cry, and the vehicles splash-
ing through the holes of water with the velocity and spirit
of rival stage-coaches. There is something of the spirit of
professed whips in these wild races; for the young men de-
light in passing each other's sledge, and jockeying the hinder
one by crossing the path."... "The voice and long whip an-
swer all the purposes of reins, and the dogs can be made to
turn a corner as dexterously as horses, though not in such
an orderly manner, since they are constantly fighting; and
I do not recollect to have seen one receive a flogging, with-
out instantly wreaking his passion on the ears of his neigh-
bours. The cries of the men are not more melodious than
those of the animals, and their wild looks and gestures,
when animated, gave them an appearance of devils driving
wolves before them. Our dogs had eaten nothing for forty-
eight hours, and could not have gone over less than seventy
miles of ground, yet they returned, to all appearance, as
fresh and active as when they first set out."
These dogs, when the snow melts, and they are no longer
needed for the sledges, are frequently turned adrift to find
their own food as best they may, on the river-banks, the sea-
shore, or wherever they choose to roam; and it is remark-
able that, notwithstanding the rigorous treatment they have
to endure, they faithfully return to their respective owners,
or are easily collected by them, at the fitting season ; though
•
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705
they must necessarily stray to great distances in pursuit of
their game, and could easily make their escape from the
bondage in which they have lived.
Of the Northern Sledge-Dogs, those of Greenland are bet-
ter known to us in England than any of the others, indi-
viduals being sometimes brought by our whaling ships. They
are generally of a white colour, like the wolves of the same
country. The old dogs are sufficiently fierce and rude, but
their progeny, reared in the domestic state, become as gentle,
social, and attached, as any other dogs. They have been
reared in different parts of Europe, and retain their likeness
to the primitive stock, even to the colour of the fur. They
are prized for their docility, fidelity, and social habits. They
are favourite companions of the conducteurs of diligences in
France. They lie at the feet of their masters, and are the
trusty guardians of the property intrusted to them, and will
hold the reins of the carriage in the absence of the coachman.
On the Asiatic side of Behring's Strait, the dogs employed
for dragging sledges and bearing loads are more numerous
than on the American. They are also taller and handsomer
than the American race, but they have all the same essen-
tial characters, and are manifestly no other than the Wolves
of the country they inhabit. They are employed in Siberia
by the Russian Government, and relays of them are kept for
travelling, as horses are in other countries. Frightful ac-
counts are given by travellers of the sufferings of these
creatures in long journeys, from the failure of food. They
will, in this case, tear their harness to pieces, and eat it,
and, when one of their fellows falls down, set upon him and
devour him, as in the case of wolves when any of their com-
panions are maimed or killed.
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
Southward of the Arctic Regions, the Dogs become of
more varied kinds, so that we can then observe the effects
of that mixture of races which, in all the more temperate
countries, the domesticated dogs exhibit. Yet generally, in
the highest latitudes of the temperate zones, the prevailing
2 Y
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706
THE DOG..
form of the more common dogs is that of the Wolf. In the
northern parts of Norway and Sweden, the dogs have so
much of the external characters of wolves, that the portrait
of a peasant's dog might serve for that of a wolf of the
neighbouring woods. Dr Clark refers again and again to
this resemblance; and every traveller who has visited the
north of Europe must have been rendered sensible of the
close affinity, or rather the absolute identity, of the wolves
and common dogs of the country.
The kinds of dogs termed, in different parts of Europe,
Wolf-Dogs, from their being especially employed in the chase
of the wolf, are only in part to be referred to the present
group. Some of those of Spain, indeed, have so close an ana-
logy with the Pyrenean Wolf, that they must be regarded as
the same; but for the most part, the dogs termed Wolf-Dogs
are of mixed descent, and have a relation to the Vertragal
and Molossian types rather than to the Lyciscan, as the
old Irish Wolf-Dog, the Spanish Mastin, the French Mâtin,
and others.
#
But more distinctly to be referred to the Lyciscan type,
are the common dogs of shepherds, to which the term Shep-
herd's Dog is, with us, more especially applied. Various
kinds of dogs, however, are employed in different countries
for the tending of flocks and herds. In some they approach
to the Mastiff type, as in the countries of the East, where
they are employed to protect the flocks, not only from wolves,
but from human enemies. In others they approach to the
characters of the common wolf, and are of sufficient strength
to encounter these enemies. Such are the Shepherd's Dogs
of the Pyrenees, which so much resemble the Black Wolves
of the same country, that they may be mistaken for them.
In Hungary, the common Shepherd's Dogs so much resemble
wolves, that a recent traveller tells us, that the owner of
large estates in that country informed him, that he could not
distinguish the dogs of his own shepherds from the wolves of
the same locality; and in other countries of the Danube the
!
707
same resemblance is observed. In the Celtic parts of Scot-
land, previous to the extensive introduction of sheep, the
Shepherd's Dogs were a kind of Terriers. For the most part,
however, the common Shepherd's Dog with which we are
familiar in this part of Europe, has deviated in certain cha-
racters, especially in size, from the pristine type of the wolf,
though still the affinity may be sufficiently traced in indi-
viduals to indicate their origin. Thus, if we shall place the
older Shepherd's Dog of the south of Scotland, termed a
Colley, beside an Esquimaux Dog, we shall discover little
difference between them in their essential characters, and
still less between the Esquimaux Dog and the Shepherd's
Dog of Iceland. The dogs of this class have a certain like-
ness to one another, which may be ascribed, independently
of a common origin, to their being employed in the same
pursuits, and treated nearly in the same manner. They are
of small or medium size, have the muzzle narrow, the ears
sub-erect, the hair long and coarse, and the tail bushy. When
these dogs are inured from generation to generation to the
tendence of flocks, they acquire the habitudes proper to this
service: they become devoted, as it were, to the shepherd
and his flock, and exhibit, in the discharge of their peculiar
functions, a high degree of sagacity, patience, and fidelity.
It is common for naturalists to exalt the Shepherd's Dog,
with respect to his natural endowments, beyond all the other
races of dogs. But the Shepherd's Dog, though wonderfully
sagacious in every thing that relates to his peculiar services,
does not appear to merit, with respect to intelligence, the
highest place amongst dogs. He is inferior to the barbet
and its varieties, in his aptitude to receive instruction; and
in particular qualities he falls short of others. Thus, in vigi-
lance, he is not equal to the mastiff; in docility, he is inferior
to the spaniel; and in courage, he cannot be compared to the
little terrier of the same countries. His habits vary with
the education he receives. Where his province is to supply
the absence of enclosures, and protect the vineyards and cul-
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
}
I
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708
tivated crops, he becomes vigilant, keeping his eye upon the
flock, so that they may not stray into the forbidden grounds,
and gently turning them back when they pass beyond their
allotted limits. This is the peculiar duty of the Shepherd's
Dog in most parts of France, which has given rise to those
charming descriptions of the habits of this animal which the
poets and naturalists of the country have given us. It is in-
teresting to observe these docile creatures watching their
little flock, obeying every sign of the shepherd, and slowly
pacing round the little patches of pasture on which the animals
are confined. In countries, again, where the flocks are large,
and suffered to spread over great tracts of ground, as in the
mountainous parts of England and Scotland, the same delicacy
of management is not necessary or practicable. The dogs in
this case are taught to run swiftly to distant parts, to head the
flock, to turn it to either hand, or bring it back to the shepherd.
In the British Islands, the Shepherd's Dogs present consider-
able diversities of form and habits. Those of the southern
counties of downs are mostly a peculiar breed, with shaggy
furs, pricked ears, and generally with short or rudimental
tails. They are rude, noisy, and generally less tender to-
wards their charge than the dogs of the cultivated parts of
France and Germany. In the countries of enclosures, the
English Sheep-Dogs are of every sort, and have rarely the
characters distinctive of a true breed. In the mountainous
parts of the north of England and south of Scotland, the
dogs of this class have acquired a more uniform set of cha-
racters, and so have become a breed or race, the individuals
resembling one another; and they excel all the others in the
faculties and habits proper to their condition. They are
termed Colleys, probably from the Celtic Coillean or Cuillean,
signifying a little dog or whelp. This kind of dog is placed
more in habitual communication with his master than most
others. He inhabits the same cabin, and becomes, as it
were, a member of the household. He contracts much of
the simplicity of habits and manners distinctive of those
THE DOG.
t
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
709
with whom he associates. He is homely in his demeanour,
indifferent to the caresses of strangers, whom he rather re-
pulses than courts, and seemingly sedulous only in the dis-
charge of his proper duties. He attaches himself to his im-
mediate master; and frequently, when transferred to a stran-
ger, pines, and yields an unwilling service. The race is
frequently crossed with other breeds; but, for the most part,
those are the most useful and trusty which retain the con-
formation of the older colleys. They are faithful, and never
reluctant to exert their powers. When directed by the voice
and gestures of the shepherd, they collect the straggling
sheep, and bring them in a body to the places appointed.
They run in silence; but, when driving the sheep into pens
and houses, or forcing them to cross rivulets or narrow
passes, they use the voice, barking with a sharp and peculiar
tone. They have been known to follow a strayed sheep to a
distant farm, separate it from the flock with which it had
mixed, and bring it back again to its own pastures. Won-
derful instances are on record of their sagacity and perse-
verance, when left to their own resources. A curious case
is mentioned by the Etterick Shepherd. A flock of newly
weaned lambs under his charge, 700 in number, from some
unknown cause, took sudden fright. In the endeavours of
himself and an assistant to collect them, they separated, and
fled in three divisions to the neighbouring hills, south, west,
and east. Apostrophising his dog, the Shepherd exclaimed,
“Sirrah, my man, they're a' away!" Sirrah comprehended
the import, and without a word of direction, and although it
was now midnight, set off alone in the pursuit. The night
passed on, while the anxious Shepherd and his fellow-labourer
traversed separately every neighbouring hill for miles. Nei-
ther the sheep nor the dog were to be anywhere seen; and the
Shepherd and his friend, after the sun had been up, were
returning to their master with the ungrateful intelligence
that every one of his flock of lambs had been lost. On their
way homeward, they discovered a number of sheep at the
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bottom of a ravine, the faithful Sirrah watching them, and
looking round for relief. They thought at first that this
was one of the three divisions, which the dog, in this parti-
cular situation, had been able to master. "But what was
our astonishment," says the Shepherd, "when we discovered
by degrees that not one lamb of the whole flock was want-
ing! How he had got all the divisions collected in the dark,
is beyond my comprehension. The charge was left entirely
to himself from midnight until the rising of the sun; and if all
the shepherds in the Forest had been there to assist him, they
could not have effected it with greater propriety. All that I
can further say is, that I never felt so grateful to any crea-
ture below the sun as I did to Sirrah that morning." Anec-
dotes of a like kind might be multiplied without number.
The older shepherds of Tweeddale and the Cheviots delight
to tell of the fidelity and services of these their humble compa-
nions; and any one who would spend a day with a shepherd of
Etterick, amongst his flocks on the hills, would receive more
remarkable information regarding the habits of dogs than
he could derive from all the cynegetica of Greece and Rome.
Beside the true Shepherd's Dog, there is a class employed
in the duty of conducting those innumerable flocks and herds
which are continually in the course of being conveyed along
the highways to the towns and markets. The dogs em-
ployed in this service are of a very mixed kind, and gene-
rally more muscular than the true sheep-dogs. They acquire
a great aptitude for their peculiar service. When conduct-
ing their charge, often through crowded highways and the
streets of towns, they keep the animals together, head them
or follow them as the case may require, and make circuits,
that they may take their stations at the lanes and bye-ways
into which the animals are likely to turn. They may be seen
lying for hours together on our public roads, watching their
charge, and preventing the animals from straying away, or
being mixed with other passing herds, while all the time
heir careless masters may be indulging themselves in the
THE DOG.
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711
neighbouring alehouse. Some of them have been known,
by themselves, to conduct a flock of sheep, or herd of cattle,
through a crowded city to the pen or yard to which they had
been in use to go. But they are much more rude and harsh
towards their charge than the genuine sheep-dogs. They
do not hesitate to inflict wounds, when necessary to urge on-
ward the terrified and exhausted flock. This difference be-
tween their habits and those of the shepherd's dog is the
result of the peculiar employment of each. The shepherd's
dog is the guardian of the flocks, and fulfils the duties as-
signed to him; the drover's dog is a jailor, conducting an
unwilling charge to the slaughter-house.
Allied to the Lyciscan group, are likewise numerous other
dogs, more or less mixed in blood. Such are the dogs termed
Curs, which are frequently the offspring of the shepherd's
dog and terrier; the Lurcher, which is the product of a shep-
herd's dog or barbet and the greyhound; the Ban-dog, in
which the blood of the bull-dog is to be recognised; and such
are many more which do not admit of classification.
THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
But there is a race of dogs of mixed descent, yet so allied
in blood to the Wolf, that he may be referred to the Lycis-
can type. This is the Great Dog of Newfoundland, whose
parent stock appears to be the Wolf-dog of Labrador, but
which itself, there is reason to believe, has been formed by
a mixture of this race, and some of the larger dogs of Europe.
The Island of Newfoundland stretches from the icy shores
of Labrador, from which it is separated by a narrow strait
about twelve miles broad, across the Gulf of St Lawrence for
nearly 400 miles, having to the south-east the vast submarine
bed of rock and sand termed the Bank of Newfoundland. The
Island towards the coast is rocky, and indented on every side
by arms of the sea extending inland. In the interior it is
wild and rugged, mostly covered with forests of dwarf pine
and firs, and filled with innumerable marshes, pools, and
lakes, whence streamlets and rivers, swarming with fishes,
take their rise. It was discovered by John Cabot on the
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24th of June 1497, and, after several unsuccessful attempts
at settlement, received a small English colony in 1623, and
after fierce contentions, long carried on between the French
and English for the possession, was finally ceded to the latter
power by the Treaty of Utrecht. The settlements upon it are
very numerous, but are all confined to the coasts and bays.
They consist, exclusive of the capital St John's, of little villages
for the curing of the fish caught on the great Bank, and for
carrying on a trade in the salt and other commodities which
the fishery requires. The country, when discovered, was
possessed by Esquimaux and a few tribes of Red Indians,
long since almost exterminated by their mutual wars, and
intercourse with lawless Europeans. It was probably from
the Esquimaux that the early settlers obtained their first dogs,
and learned the uses to which they might be applied for
draught; but it is evident that European dogs, probably of
the Mastiff breed, were early introduced. The dogs are em-
ployed for dragging logs from the neighbouring woods for fuel
and the uses of the fish-curers. They feed on the waste fish
and garbage, which is everywhere found, and become so fond
of this kind of food, that they will readily devour live fishes
as they are brought out by the nets. They are made to un-
dergo incredible labour, and great numbers of them perish
every season from the cruel tasks imposed upon them. They
have acquired the conformation and habits which suit them
to the services to which they are inured, and transmit their
acquired characters to their offspring. Their limbs are more
muscular, and their bodies more bulky, than in the native
sledge-dogs, while they want the power of speed which the lat-
ter possess, and the faculty of following the deer and swifter
animals in the chase. They are wonderfully patient, and
never seek to escape from their taskmasters, whose com-
mands they readily comprehend. Yoked to their trucks or
sledges, they go, without a guide, to the woods where they
are to be loaded, and bring back their burden, and, when
unloaded, return again and again. Being continually on the
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THE LYCISCAN GROUP.
713
sea-shore and the banks of rivers amongst the fishing-craft,
they have become eminently aquatic in their habits, swim-.
ming and diving with ease, and picking up and bringing on
shore any thing which may fall into the water.
These dogs have been largely introduced into Europe,
where they are admired for their massive forms, their docile
habits, and the fidelity with which they attach themselves
to our service. But it is to be observed that the dogs of the
country itself, employed in the labours of draught, differ
greatly from those which we bring up in a state of ease,
and whose faculties we cultivate for our gratification. The
dogs of the Island approach much more nearly to the sledge-
dogs of Labrador than those which are reared up at our
towns and country houses in Europe. They have the same
wolf-like aspect as the dogs of Labrador, resembling them
in the obliquity of the eye and red colour of the iris; and
they have the odour of the wolf so strong as to be scarcely fit
to enter a human dwelling.
The Newfoundland Dog, as he is known to us in Europe,
manifests a degree of sagacity rarely surpassed in any other
race. He has not, indeed, the watchful habitudes, nor sur-
passing instincts of the Mastiff, in guarding our persons and
property; but when he is intrusted with any charge, he
manifests no indifference towards the performance of it. He
will rarely attack human beings unless rendered vicious by
confinement; but when a thief enters the guarded precincts,
the dog will follow him from place to place until he has
departed. He is fond of carrying any thing for the grati-
fication of his master, and can be readily taught to go
to
markets and other places to bring the comnfodities with
which he is intrusted. He delights to dash into the waves,
and bring what is cast into them. But of all his endowments,
that which has excited the greatest interest, is the instinctive
desire which he manifests to save the lives of drowning per-
The efforts which he makes for this purpose, too, are
combined with such adoption of the fitting means as are cal-
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culated to excite our admiration. When he seizes a drown-
ing person, he endeavours to keep his head above the water,
and makes use of his own body for the purpose of buoy-
ing up the load. In the case of stranded vessels, he has
been again and again employed to carry a rope from the
shore to the vessel, or, if himself on board the sinking
ship, to convey a rope to the persons on the shore, evincing
by all his actions that he knows full well the service required
of him. Many years ago, a vessel was wrecked on the coast
of Norfolk, and all the crew perished. A Newfoundland dog
had been on board belonging to the captain. He had made
his way through the terrible breakers, and was observed to
have something in his mouth. This was a pocket-book, con-
taining the ship's papers and other documents. It is sup-
posed that the captain, faithful to his duty to the last, had
intrusted these documents to the fidelity of his dog. When
the dog reached the shore, he surrendered the pocket-book
to one of the people on the beach. Mr Bewick, who re-
lates the story, says that he afterwards assisted in bringing
parts of the wreck on shore; others say that, on deposit-
ing his pocket-book, he fled, and was no more seen. Seve-
ral years ago, a steam-ship, crowded with passengers, was
run down in the Firth of Clyde by another vessel of the
same class coming in the opposite direction. Many of the
passengers were in the cabin, and were there drowned;
others were on deck, of whom the greater number perished.
A Newfoundland dog, whose owner was never discovered,
but who was one of the sufferers, was observed to bring a
lady, who was struggling in the waves, to the shore. The
lady was carried insensible to a neighbouring house, followed
by the dog, and the usual means were resorted to for restor-
ing her. The dog was observed earnestly to watch the pro-
ceedings: the lady recovered, but some harsh words having
been used by the people of the house to the noble dog, he
fled, and was no more seen; and the lady endured the cruel
mortification of never beholding her preserver. A long time
THE DOG.
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THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.
715
ago, a gentleman in Virginia had occasion to cross a rapid
river when in flood in a light boat rowed by a friend. He
had with him a dog of this race. The party had left the
shore but a little way when the boat was swamped. The
friend of the gentleman perished, and he himself, deprived of
consciousness, was hurried down the stream. More than a
mile from the place of the accident, a person on the bank
saw something dark in the flood, which an eddy brought suf-
ficiently near to enable him to reach with a pole which he
had in his hand. It was a man supported by a dog, the lat-
ter nearly exhausted. The person laid the gentleman on the
bank, and by rubbing him, endeavoured to restore heat to his
body. The gentlemen awoke as from a frightful dream; and
became at once conscious of what had taken place, when he
saw the red torrent sweeping past, the stranger endeavour-
ing to restore him to animation, and his faithful dog licking
his hands.
II.—THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.*
The nearest allied, in conformation and habits, to the
Lyciscan Group of Dogs, is the Vertragal, of which the com-
mon Greyhound is typical. The Greyhound appears to have
preserved his distinctive form, and to have been used for
the services in which he is now employed, from early times.
We can distinguish the characteristic form of the race in the
representations of the Dog in Egyptian sculptures, where he
is sometimes depicted as held in pairs by the leash, ready to
be slipped at the game, as in modern times; and on nume-
rous medals which have been recovered from ancient ruins,
and especially on those representing the Dea Venatrix, whose
worship appears to have extended from the Indus to West-
ern Europe, we find the Dog represented of a form which
So named from Vertraha (Grat. Cyneg.), a Dog used for the chase of the
Deer and Hare.
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we cannot refer to any other type but this. In many coun-
tries of the East, Greyhounds are very numerous. They
abound, and have abounded, in every known age in Persia;
and they extend into the countries beyond the Indus. They
are in the possession of all the nomadic tribes of Western
Tartars, who use them largely in the chase; and they extend
northward into Siberia, westward into Asia Minor, Syria,
Arabia, and Northern Africa, and all over the temperate
countries of Europe. They were known to the Greeks, as
their medals and sculptures evince. But it is remarkable
that Xenophon, in his enumeration of the dogs of chase of
his country, does not enable us to recognise the Greyhound
as a distinct breed, though he speaks of the breeds noted
for their swiftness. This can only arise from imperfect
description: yet Arrian, in a long subsequent age, drew,
from the apparent silence of Xenophon, the conclusion, that
the Greeks of that age were unacquainted with the true
Greyhound, which, he asserts, the Romans only obtained a
knowledge of from the Celtic Gauls, whence the Greyhound
was termed Canis Gallicus or Celticus. But the Gauls and
other Celtæ derived the knowledge of their principal arts
from the East, where the existence of the Greyhound is at-
tested by monuments of an antiquity far beyond the age
of Xenophon. Against the testimony of these ancient re-
cords, the opinion of the noble Arrian avails nothing; and is
contradicted, besides, by relics derived from Greece itself,
which exhibit to us the figure of the Greyhound, that is, of
an animal which we should now term a greyhound, though
of ruder characters than by cultivation it can be made to
acquire.
THE DOG.
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Further, there is reason to believe that, from early
times, the Teutonic as well as the Celtic nations were in
possession of this race of dogs. The Greyhound is the
Windhund of the Germans, as he was the Gaothar, so
named from Gaoth, the wind, of the Celtic Britons. He
was the Grew-hunde, or Grig-hunde, of the Anglo-Saxons,
717
whence the English term Greyhound. During the middle
ages, we have innumerable notices of the Greyhound, and
of the services in which he was employed. We find him
depicted on heraldric escutcheons, and sculptured on the
tombs of persons of illustrious rank. The Welsh Princes,
by many curious laws on the subject of the chase, evinced
the estimation in which the Greyhound was held beyond
all other dogs. The Norman Princes of England carried
their passion for this animal to that excess which they
manifested in every matter in which the chase was con-
cerned. They founded prodigal hunting establishments,
in which the care of their troops of greyhounds occu-
pied a primary place. They levied taxes of greyhounds,
and, in return for gifts of these animals, commuted heavy
imposts, and granted tenures of land and posts of dignity.
They even sought to restrain the use of this kind of dogs to
the privileged classes, so that it became a saying, that a
gentleman was to be known by his greyhound and his falcon.
They enacted, in their forest-laws, that no greyhound, unless
deprived of some of its claws, should come within a certain
distance of the Royal Forests, shewing, by these and other
barbarous enactments, that the Greyhound was then held to
be the first in rank and importance of the Dogs of Chase.
With respect to the origin of this swift and elegant class
of dogs, the same obscurity exists as in the case of others
whose prototypes we have been unable to discover in the
state of nature. We might reasonably suppose that dogs of
the Lyciscan group, habituated from generation to genera-
tion to the chase of the swifter animals, assumed by degrees
the conformation proper to this group. But it is more pro-
bable, that it is not to the Common Wolf, but to some of the
swifter Canide of warmer countries, that we owe the true
Greyhound. Some of the Dholes of India, it is known, are
exceedingly fleet, and so much resemble, in their form and
modes of chase, the Persian Greyhound, that travellers de-
scribe them by their resemblance to that animal. But the
THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.
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}
718
Persian Greyhound is of the same race with those of other
countries of the East; and it is a reasonable supposition,
that the Celta, as well as the Teutons of Europe, derived
their greyhounds from this source, or, at least, that the
greyhounds of the East were mixed in blood with the dogs
of different countries, giving their distinctive characters to
the breeds we term Greyhounds. But whatever be the pris-
tine stock, one or more, of the Greyhound, the conformation
of these animals, wherever they are found, shews us that
they possess a certain common class of characters, and are
fitted to pursue their prey by speed of foot rather than by
the powers of scent. The form of the true Greyhound is
peculiar, and distinguishable from that of any other class of
dogs. His jaws are elongated, so that he may seize his prey
when at speed; his neck is long, and his back extended and
flexible; and, the caudal vertebræ corresponding with the ex-
tension of the dorsal, his tail is long. His shoulder is oblique,
so as to give freedom of motion to the fore-extremities. His
limbs are long, tendinous and slender below the knee and
hock, and bent and elastic from the fetlock-joint. His
breast is deep, so as to give space for the lungs, but nar-
rowed before, so that the limbs may not be thrown too far
asunder in the stride. His abdomen is contracted, his loins
are strong, and his posterior limbs are long and muscular to
the hocks. His ears are delicate and slightly pendulous,
and his sense of hearing is acute his eyes are large and
brilliant, and his integuments thin. But the external cha-
racters of the Greyhound vary with the agencies affecting
the animal. In the colder countries, his hair is long and
wiry; in the more temperate, it is short and smooth. When
he is habituated from generation to generation to the chase
of the larger animals, as the stag, he acquires a more mus-
cular form than when he is employed in the chase of the roe,
the fox, and the hare; and when he is withdrawn altogether
from the pursuits natural to him, and reared up continually
in an artificial state in our dwellings, he acquires the charac-
THE DOG.
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719
ters of a lap-dog. Further, by calling forth, by breeding and
selection of parents, the conformation required for speed,
we modify in a corresponding degree his faculties, as his
strength, his courage, and his sense of animal odours. The
greyhounds of different countries, therefore, though conform-
ing to the type of the group, vary, in their physical and
psychical characters, with place, climate, the habitudes to
which they are inured, and the degree of culture bestowed
upon them.
In the British Islands, the Greyhounds were formerly of
greater size and muscular power than they have now be-
come. Although employed in the pursuit of the hare, the
fox, and the roe, their appropriate occupation was the chase
of the stag, the fallow-deer, and even the boar and the wolf,
until the latter were extirpated. They were employed along
with hounds, the proper function of the hounds being to find
the game and pursue it by the track, while that of the grey-
hounds was to run it down. The coursing of the larger deer
by greyhounds continued to be a favourite pastime until the
reigns of Elizabeth and James I., when the progress of popu-
lation, the destruction of the forests, and, above all, the use
of fire-arms, changed the current of this class of sports. The
hounds were now employed alone and in large packs, and the
greyhounds were used only in the chase of the hare and the
fox; and ever since this period the coursing of the hare has
been eagerly followed as a popular sport, and a race of
grey-
hounds has been formed fitted beyond any other for this kind
of chase. But in Scotland, the coursing of the stag and the
employment of the larger greyhounds continued for a much
longer time. These larger greyhounds were numerous in
all the Highlands of Scotland until after the middle of last
century, but rapidly diminished in numbers with the multi-
plication of sheep, the use of fire-arms, and the change in the
habits of the Celtic gentry. They are now to be found only
in small numbers, sometimes crossed with other races, as the
Pyrenean and German wolf-dogs, or, when pure, preserved
THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.
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THE DOG.
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720
with difficulty, from the smallness of their numbers, and the
consequent necessity of breeding from members of the same
family. They are generally termed Deer-hounds, but do not
differ, except in superior strength and stature, from the com-
mon greyhounds of the country. They were a powerful and
agile race of dogs, with stout loins, muscular limbs, and a
rough wiry fur. They were of surpassing courage, could use
the scent as well as the eye, and were capable of making
amazing bounds amongst the rocky mountains where the
stag pursued its flight. The same race of greyhounds ex-
isted in Ireland before the ancient forests were destroyed.
But their remains only are now to be recognised in the
smaller race of shaggy greyhounds, which are yet preserved
in some parts of the country.
With the reigns of Elizabeth and James, it has been said,
the ancient modes of employing the Greyhound began to be
disused, and the coursing of the hare gained favour. In the
time of Elizabeth coursing matches were established, which
have exercised a great influence on the British Greyhound.
For the regulation of these matches a set of rules, by com-
mand of the Queen, was drawn up by the Duke of Norfolk;
and these rules were so perfect in themselves, that they have
continued to be the model, in the case of this class of sports,
up to our own times. The principle of them is, that the
comparative merit of the dogs shall be tested solely by their
power of speed; to which end every kind of artifice on the
part of the dogs, as the lying in wait, or other unfair advan-
tage over the game, is discouraged. Two dogs only are per-
mitted to run at a time. The finder of the game goes in
front, and a person follows with the dogs in leash, who
slips them when the game has reached a sufficient dis-
tance, and on the word being given; and it is remarkable
that the same practice was followed by the Celtic Gauls,
and afterwards adopted by the Roman sportsmen. The
merits of the rival dogs are determined by an umpire, accord-
ing to the rules, but always on the principle of giving the
THE VERTRAGAL GROUP.
721
award to the dog that manifests the power of speed in the
highest degree. Hence, the heading of the hare, and turn-
ing it, is reckoned so much in the game, a wrench or half-
turn so much, and so on. These courses, since their institu-
tion, have ever been in great favour, and numerous clubs are
established in different parts of the country, which have their
stated meetings, where the prizes are cups, collars, and the
like, heavy betting, besides, taking place on the rival matches.
It is to this system of matches in an especial degree, and to
the general practice of coursing by the gentry of the country,
since the destruction of the larger game, that the English
Greyhound has attained the high perfection at which it has
arrived. The principles of breeding applied to its improve-
ment are the same as in the case of the Race-Horse and
other animals, and the pedigrees of greyhounds are recorded,
and large sums given for those of superior blood. The names
of Snowball, Major, and others, are as familiar to the fol-
lowers of this class of sports, as those of Matchem, Herod,
and Eclipse, are to the breeders of the horses of the Turf.
By the system of breeding so assiduously pursued in the
case of these animals, the British Greyhound has acquired,
in an eminent degree, the conformation which suits him for
the kind of chase to which he is appropriated, and become
the most beautiful and swift of all this class of dogs. But,
exclusive attention having been devoted to the property of
speed, other faculties have become impaired. He has lost
the hardihood and boldness of the older greyhound; his
muzzle having been narrowed, the space for the extension of
the nasal membrane has been lessened, and his sense of
smell impaired, and, with the diminution of the cranial
cavity, his general intelligence and aptitude to receive in-
struction. Yet the greyhound, even thus changed, is not the
stupid and insensible creature which he is generally repre-
sented to be. When bred up in the kennel, indeed, and used
solely as an instrument of the chase, his finer faculties are
not developed. But when reared up in companionship with
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his master, the greyhound manifests neither indocility nor
want of sagacity. He is affectionate, faithful, and delighted
with the caresses and favour of his protector. With respect
to the older greyhounds, they were remarkable, not only for
their affection and fidelity, but for their sagacity and courage.
The fine euloguim of Arrian on the virtues of his greyhound
is familiar to every classical scholar; and the minstrels of
the middle ages have left us many charming descriptions of
the fidelity, courage, and intelligence, of these animals.
THE DOG.
The blood of the older greyhound can be traced, in innu-
merable varieties of dogs, found in all countries. It was a
common practice of the ancients to unite different races of
dogs together, so as to communicate to the one more or less.
of the properties of the other; and the same practice has
been continued up to our own times. The union with the
greyhound is calculated to give speed to the slower dogs.
In this manner were produced the Lurcher, and, apparently,
the old Gaze-hound, which seems to have been the offspring
of the talbot and deer-hound. This dog was employed in
the pursuit of the stag or fallow-deer. When one of a herd
was wounded, or otherwise pointed out to him, he selected it
from the rest, and pursued it, using the scent and eye, with
indomitable perseverance. In like manner, by uniting the
greyhound with dogs of the Molossian Group, were produced
many of those varieties which are termed Wolf-dogs and
Boar-hounds, from their special adaptation to the chase of
the wolf and boar. The great Irish Wolf-Dog was a dog of
this class. He was one of the tallest of the dogs of Europe,
measuring from three to four feet high at the shoulder. He
approached to the general conformation of the ancient deer-
hound, but his muzzle was broader, his neck relatively thicker,
his breast proportionally wider, and his limbs were more mus-
cular. He followed the game chiefly by the eye, grasping
it in the manner of the greyhound with his long and power-
ful jaws. He was a dog of amazing courage, and could de-
stroy unaided the fiercest wolf; and he communicated to his
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
723
young his instinctive antipathy to that animal. This fine
variety is now scarcely anywhere to be found. With the
disuse of his appropriate services, he seems to have gra-
dually diminished to the size of other dogs, so that the few
that have been preserved pure cannot be compared in strength
and stature to the ancient model. It has been usual for
naturalists to class with the Irish Wolf-dog the great Dog
of Denmark. But the Danish Dog is characterised by the
clouded colour of his fur, which is probably the result of
some intermixture with the races of warmer countries; for
the peculiarity is not uncommon in the dogs of the South
and East. It was known to the ancients, who absurdly
ascribed it to an intermixture with the blood of the tiger.
In England we are familiar with this peculiar colour in the
case of a beautiful race of dogs which we call Dalmatian,
from their being found in some numbers in the ancient pro-
vince of that name lying on the shores of the Adriatic. They
are common attendants on the carriages of the opulent in
this country, and, being kept in stables, they manifest an ex-
traordinary love of horses, which, like other acquired pro-
pensities, they transmit to their offspring.
¿
III.—THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
The Molossian group of dogs comprehends the larger and
fiercer kinds, which approach more or less to the type of the
Mastiff. The most typical of this extensive group is the
noble Mastiff of Central Asia, which, from the high lands of
Thibet, seems to have extended to the western limits of
Europe. This is the most massive in his form of known
dogs. His limbs are muscular, his breast is wide, his
head large, and his muzzle broad. His upper lips hang
over the lower jaw, giving him a sullen and austere aspect.
The colour of his fur in his native region is a deep brown,
nearly black; and over each eye is a light tawny mark, which
7
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724
THE DOG.
generally remains even when the colour of the rest of the
body has become changed. His voice is hoarse and deep,
striking when heard in the silence of the night. His sense
of smell is acute, but he is little fitted for the exercise
of speed, and does not join other dogs to hunt in concert.
The powers with which he has been endowed for his own
defence are strength, vigilance, and courage. Were we to
suppose such a dog to exist in the state of nature, his prey,
we should infer, would be the larger animals, as the wild
bull, the buffalo, and the boar. But we do not know of any
species of Canis yet existing in the natural state which may
be regarded as the parent stock of the Mastiff, though that
such may exist, or have existed, is rendered probable by the
characters of the race, which have remained constant from
age to age, and distinguish the true Mastiff from any other
race of dogs. Neither do we know whether Africa, in which
some very large and fierce dogs are found, has not likewise
produced its Mastiffs.
The Asiatic Mastiff appears to have been known from the
earliest periods in which we have any records of the Dog. He
was familiar to the Greeks, who derived their finest breed from
Molossis, a district of Epirus, opposite to the Island of Corfu ;
and hence the Romans employed the term Molossus as a ge-
neric term for this class of dogs. From the high lands of
Middle Asia, where the typical form of the race seems to be
the most developed, the Mastiff may be supposed to have
been carried northward by the Scythi, and all westward to
the extremities of Europe. It was particularly cherished by
the Celta, to whom a dog so powerful and vigilant must have
been of inestimable price, in countries of dense forest, pos-
sessed by the larger wild animals, and by human enemies
yet more dangerous. The Roman writers, accordingly, speak
of the Molossi of the Barbarians, and especially of those of
the Gauls, which they describe as being savage and power-
ful, and as being employed by the natives in war. They
speak, likewise, of the Molossi of the Britons, which were so
-
725
greatly valued, that functionaries were employed to collect
them, that they might be transmitted to Rome, and employed
in the cruel combats of the amphitheatre.
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
The Mastiff, although he retains with considerable con-
stancy the form and habitudes distinctive of his race, yet,
like all the Canidæ, varies greatly under the influences to
which he is exposed. Hence we find the mastiffs of different
countries diverging so much from the normal type, that their
affinity with it can with difficulty be traced; and further,
the Mastiff has been, in a remarkable degree, subjected
to mixture with other races, either that his properties of
strength, daring, and vigilance, might be communicated to
them, or else that the properties of these races, such as their
powers of speed, might be communicated to the Mastiff. In
England, where mastiffs were once very numerous, they are
now scarcely to be found, the larger dogs, generally termed
Watch-dogs, being almost in all cases of mixed blood.
The true Mastiff is wonderfully fitted to be impressed with
the temper and habitudes which we seek to communicate to
him. Although a fierce dog, he possesses docility and saga-
city in a high degree; and, although solitary in his habits
with relation to his own species, he is fond of the companion-
ship of man. When chained to a post as a sentinel to our
dwellings, from day to day, and from night to night, he
knows, indeed, and fulfils the duties imposed upon him. He
maintains unwearied vigilance, giving warning of danger by
his loud and threatening voice, and manifesting the fierceness
of a tiger to the stranger who approaches the limits of his
chain. But, under such circumstances, he has no scope af-
forded him for the exercise of his faculties and powers, and
becomes sullen, fretful, and savage, with the cruel captivity
to which he is doomed. But let the same animal be brought
up
in the state of liberty, and treated with kindness by those
to whom he owes obedience, and he will fulfil all his duties
without sullenness or rage. When the shades of night be-
gin to fall, he will walk around the premises he has to de-
L
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726
fend; and, on seeing that all is secure, will either betake
himself to the couch prepared for him, ready to awake on
the slightest alarm, or, if danger be imminent, will move like
a sentinel in his allotted bounds from midnight to dawn. He
will not, unless trained to murder, take away human life.
He is tender of those who may have come with no evil
intent within the guarded precincts; but his sagacity enables
him to detect the stealthy pace and suspicious demeanour of
the midnight thief. He will rush upon the caitiff and hold
him fast, or, if he offers to resist, throw him down, and stand
over him, until assistance arrives. At a mansion, surrounded
with its park by a high wall, a gentleman, on a visit to the
owner, strolled out after sunset amongst the shrubberies and
pleasure grounds. A large mastiff employed to guard the pre-
mises was in use to be turned loose at a certain hour. The
gentleman, pursuing his solitary saunter, was alarmed by a
rustling among the bushes behind him, and, suddenly turning
round, beheld the dangerous mastiff close upon him. The
gentleman offering no resistance, the mastiff quietly caught
him by the skirt of his coat, and brought him a prisoner to
his master. When the mastiff saw the recognition of the
two friends, he seemed entirely satisfied, and used afterwards
to follow the gentleman in his solitary walks like a spaniel.
There are too many cases, indeed, in which the fierce pas-
sions of the man may be made to react upon the instrument,
and adapt him to the most terrible deeds. Who has not
heard of the frightful butchery perpetrated on the unoffend-
ing inhabitants of the Antilles by sanguinary plunderers, who,
not contented with common weapons, brought dogs from
Europe to run down their victims. These dogs were mastiffs
of the race common in Spain termed Mastins. They were
speedily trained to the dreadful chase; but the thirst of blood
was not in the dog, but in the merciless men who abused
their power over the instincts of the brute. In other cases
in which the mastiff is trained to shed human blood, we may
find a justification, perhaps, in the necessity of self-defence,
THE DOG.
"
:
727
In those wild countries of Asia, where no law exists to pro-
tect the weak, where robbery and murder are but common
events, and where every stranger is presumed to be an enemy,
the dogs manifest inexorable severity. Families, in order to
protect themselves, rear numerous dogs of this race, which,
when the men are absent, are the only guardians of the
children and women. These dogs will not spare the stranger,
who, however incautiously, enters the forbidden precincts.
Even in Greece, and all over Turkey in Europe, the large
dogs kept for protecting dwellings and herds, and which are
a kind of mastiffs, are often very troublesome and dangerous.
They will set upon the traveller and stranger the instant he
appears; and who, if not well armed, will do well to sit
down upon the ground, throwing away his stick, or whatever
may appear to be a weapon. The dogs will place themselves
around, keeping stern watch over the slightest motion of the
captive, until the owners arrive. Such was the device which,
we are informed, was practised by Ulysses, when, in the
garb of a beggar, he was assailed by the dogs of his faithful
Eumæus.
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
Although the Mastiff may be trained to the destruction
even of man, yet, in his natural temperament, he is nothing
like the fierce and savage creature which he is supposed to
be. He is more slowly moved to anger than other dogs far
inferior to him in strength of body. No dog submits so
patiently as he to the teasing petulance of curs, even when
they purloin his food. Conscious of his strength, he seems
to despise what would rouse other dogs to rage. He has
been known to take a little dog which tormented him in his
mouth, shake it roughly, and then drop it in any collection
of mud or water within reach. He is remarkably docile
towards children, who frequently pull him by the ears and
tail, mount on his back, and perform other dangerous freaks.
He has been known, when children have strayed from home,
to take them gently by the clothes, and lead them to their
No dog exhibits more steady attachment to any one
nurse.
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728
THE DOG.
with whom he is connected by special service. He will watch
over the safety of his master, and brave death in defending
him. In his proper province of watching, he often exhibits
surprising instincts. At the seat of the Earl of Lichfield,
three miles from Blenheim, is a portrait in the dining-hall of
a former owner of the manor, Sir Henry Lee, with the figure
of a noble mastiff, who had saved the owner's life, executed
by Johnston, a painter of the time. A servant, it appears,
had formed the design of assassinating his master and rob-
bing the house. On the night of the intended murder, the
dog, who had never before been much noticed by his master,
followed him for the first time up stairs, and resisted every
effort to drive him away. In the dead of night, the servant
entered the apartment to execute his bloody design, when he
was in an instant seized by the dog, and, being secured, con-
fessed his purpose. The dog, it may be supposed, had sur-
mised the design of the villain from the preparations he had
made, either by himself, or in conjunction with others. A
somewhat similar incident occurred about the middle of last
century, in the case of a nobleman of the Scottish Border,
who, when travelling in Italy, was compelled to lodge at an
obscure inn, where, it was afterwards discovered, many mur-
ders had been committed. The dog, obstinately resisted his
master's intention to go to the bed prepared for him, and the
nobleman happily confided in the sagacity of the animal.
The bed set apart for the travellers to be sacrificed was, it
seems, so contrived, that it could be lowered into a cellar un-
derneath. At midnight, the nobleman, from the chair on
which he had placed himself, witnessed the silent descent of
the empty bed, and, keeping to his arms, and guarded by his
noble dog, escaped destruction.
Conforming to the Molossian type, but yet differing greatly
in temperament from the Asiatic Mastiff, is a race of dogs
which has existed in the British Islands beyond any record.
This is the Bull-dog, which, though it must be referred to
the present type, yet presents a set of characters which dis-
2
729
His muzzle is very
tinguish him from the true Mastiff.
short and truncated, the jaws are large and powerful, the
lower projecting beyond the upper; and, corresponding with
the strength of these organs, is the expansion of the tempo-
ral and other muscles employed in moving them. The fore-
head is short, and the cranium is extended in breadth pos-
teriorly, producing an excessive expansion behind the ears,
shall we say, of the region of the brain, indicative of the in-
stinct to destroy, which many believe the same conformation
to indicate, even in the human species? His loins and pos-
terior extremities are relatively small, but his neck is very
thick, and the muscles of the breast and shoulder are largely
developed. His fore-limbs are bent outwards above, so as
to afford a sufficient basis of support to his broad and mas-
sive chest.
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
1
•
All the habits of this fierce and dangerous dog indicate the
predominance of the purely animal propensities over those
faculties which, in the lower animals as well as in man, we
may term intellectual. He is less apt to receive the impres-
sions we seek to convey to him than any of the larger dogs.
He defends, indeed, our persons and property with deter-
mined resolution, but this is rather by the exercise of brute
force than by the manifestation of those powers which cha-
racterise the services of our superior dogs. He follows si-
lently at the heels of his master, runs fiercely at other ani-
mals, and bites without giving that warning by the voice
which other dogs are in use to give. He sullenly repulses
the advances of strangers, and shews none of that forbear-
ance towards the weak of his own kind which the nobler
mastiff displays; and he is almost the only dog that does
not seem to respect the weakness of the child. He feels his
own strength, but seems to be incapable of measuring that
which is opposed to him. Thus, he will fly at the throat of
the lion or the tiger as freely as at a calf, when a single
stroke of the paw of one of these terrible creatures would
lay him dead in an instant. When he seizes an animal he
730
holds fast, and will endure mutilation rather than quit his
hold. He has little power of speed, and does not join other
dogs, in the manner of the hound, in pursuit of game.
From the singular temperament of this dog, some natu-
ralists have conceived it probable that he has been produced
by a mixture of the blood of the Hyæna with that of the
common dogs. This may have been, although the hypothesis
appears to be a violent one; and we may more naturally
seek for the origin of the Bull-dog in the adaptation of his
form and habits to the services required of him. Dogs of
the Mastiff kind, we know from our early writers, were em-
ployed in these Islands, in remote times, for the destruction
of the Boars, which were then numerous, and of the Wild
Oxen, which abounded in the woods of the country until the
fourteenth century. If any kind of dogs were devoted espe-
cially to the destruction of the Wild Cattle, it would be
merely in accordance with what we know to take place in
analogous cases, that the animal would become suited to the
employment, in habits, temperament, and form. Now the
Bull-dog is fitted, beyond any other dog, for the attack of
the Bull. While all the dogs of the Lyciscan group imitate
the wolf in attacking this animal behind, the Bull-dog at
once assaults him in front, and endeavours to seize him by
the muzzle, which is the most tender part, and, held by
which, the bull becomes almost helpless. So perfectly is
this method of attack the habit of this race of dogs, that even
a whelp of a few months old adopts it, and manifests the ut-
most antipathy to a bull, though he may never before have
seen one. Further, the bull himself, when he attacks an
animal, lowers his head that he may use his horns with
effect. The Bull-dog, that he may meet this method of at-
tack, runs close to the ground, and his fore-limbs are bent
outwards, which brings his body nearer to the earth than in
the case of any other of the larger dogs. Were a tall dog to
attack a bull in front, he could scarcely escape being gored,
Further, the lower jaw of the Bull-dog projects beyond the
THE DOG.
THE MOLOSSIAN GROur.
731
upper,
which gives him the very advantage which he requires,
in running directly from the front to grasp the muzzle of his
antagonist. Thus the Bull-dog exhibits that adaptation to
the uses to which he is rendered subservient which we see
in every race of dogs; and we have only to suppose the pe-
culiar characters of the animal called forth from generation
to generation by selection and breeding, to be assured that
a true breed would be formed. This has been so in a re-
markable degree in the case of the Bull-dog. After the Wild
Oxen of the woods were destroyed, the practice was intro-
duced, so early, we learn, as the reign of King John, of bait-
ing the domesticated bull and other animals; and thus the
breed of dogs suited to this end was preserved, nay, culti-
vated with increased care up to our own times. The extent
can scarcely be imagined to which this savage practice was
carried in England, even till late in the last century. On
the accession of George III., there was scarcely a consider-
able town in England in which there was not a bear-garden,
or some place set apart for these frightful exhibitions; and
even after they had ceased to be common, great numbers of
bull-dogs were kept for fighting with one another, and for
exportation to Germany and other countries.
But the Bull-dog, as he has received a peculiar class of
characters, so he may lose them under new conditions of life.
The jaws may diminish in size, and, with this change, the short-
ness of the frontal bones, and lateral expansion of the pos-
terior part of the skull, to which we may reasonably ascribe
that conformation of the cranial cavity to which the peculiar
propensities of the animal are due. The number of these dogs
has been greatly diminished, and of those that remain, few
retain the strength and ferocious temper of the older race;
and we may hope to see this variety of dog disappear with
the disuse of the cruel occupations to which it has been ren-
dered subservient. Fierce and indomitable as this kind of
dog seems to be, it is certain that there are cases in which
he has manifested affection and fidelity. More than one in-
1
!
732
stance, it is believed, is on record, in which a Bull-dog has
leaped into water to save a drowning person.
The Asiatic Mastiff seems to have been widely spread over
the temperate countries of Western Asia and Europe, and
his characteristic form and habit may be traced in numerous
dogs in all these countries, as in most of those employed in
the chase of wolves and boars, such as the great Irish Wolf-
dog, and most of the German Boar-hounds, but still more in
the larger dogs used for protecting our persons and property,
as the Albanian Sheep-dog, the English Ban-dog, the Spanish
Mastin, the French Mâtin. Of these mixed races it is un-
necessary to treat in this place; but there are two races con-
forming to the Molossian type, which merit a passing notice,
-the Great Dog of St Bernard, and the Old British Blood-
hound.
THE DOG.
The Great Dog of St Bernard is found in the mountains
of Switzerland; but is better known as the breed reared at
the Hospice, as it is called, situated at the pass of the Great
St Bernard, one of the defiles connecting the high lands of
Switzerland with Italy. This Hospice is an ancient Monas-
tery, placed amidst a wilderness of rocks at the summit of the
pass, more than 8000 feet above the level of the sea.
It is
inhabited by a small number of monks of the order of St
Augustin, who, at the early age of eighteen, devote themselves
to the purpose of affording succour to persons in distress,
and way-worn travellers, of whom great numbers traverse
the dreadful pass even in winter. The period of the vow of
the brethren is fifteen years, the term of which few of them
reach, on account of the maladies to which they become sub-
ject, from the rarity of the air, and the rigour of the cold, in a
region of clouds and storms. Scarcely four months in the
year include spring, summer, and autumn, during which the
water in the pools and tanks freezes every night, and clouds
of snow frequently cover the mountains. The remaining
eight months of the year are the proper winter, during which
snow falls almost daily, covering all the rocky mountains to
?
733
their summit, and accumulating in vast heaps, which fill up
the hollows and ravines. The snow, as it falls in this high
region, does not descend in the form of flakes as in the lower
country; but, as it passes through the rarefied air, it freezes,
and comes down in the form of a fine powder, which, when
the wind blows strong, is raised again from the surface
in clouds. When a sudden tempest arises, the whole air
is filled in an instant with this powder, through which the
light of the sun can hardly penetrate. When the lonely
traveller is overtaken by one of these Tourmentes, as they
are called, his life is in the utmost peril. Every moun-
tain top, or object that can guide him, is hidden. Bewil-
dered, he loses all knowledge of place, and strays from the
course he should pursue, until, lost in the darkness, and
struggling vainly amidst the soft snow under foot, he perishes
miserably. The kind monks and their assistants are con-
tinually on the watch, aided by their matchless dogs, which
have acquired, in a surprising degree, the faculty of discover-
ing the path of the traveller, or indicating the place where
he lies buried, perhaps under fathoms of snow. The dogs
are sent out alone by day or by night. They have frequently
attached to their neck a light hamper, in which is contained
a little food and cordial. When they reach the wanderer,
they conduct him to the Hospice, or if they find him, as too
often happens, stretched on the snow, and unable to move,
they bay aloud to give notice that some one has been found,
and often stretch themselves over him, that they may defend
him from the drifting snow, or warm him with the heat of
their own bodies, or, hurrying back to the monastery, bring
the assistance required. In this manner, great numbers of
human beings have been saved. Often, however, the dogs
find but the grave of the hapless traveller, already buried
underneath the drifting snow. In this case they utter a loud
and mournful howling, which, heard amid the darkness and
roaring of the storm, announces to the anxious fathers, that
they can now but render the last rites due to the dead. The
•
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
734
body is dug up, and preserved for the recognition of friends;
and such is the effect of the sudden congelation, that the
frozen corpses will often remain for years unaltered. The
dogs endowed with these amazing faculties, transmit them
to their offspring, so that a breed is formed scarcely requir-
ing human instruction to fit the young for their duties. The
number kept at the Hospice itself is very small, but the race
extends to the neighbouring country, and individuals can be
easily obtained.
THE DOG.
The Old British Blood-hound was a powerful dog, memor-
able for the cruel uses to which his faculties were applied.
He had the form, and the colour of the fur, even to the tan-
coloured mark above the eyes, distinctive of the Asiatic Mas-
tiff. But he had the ears longer and more pendulous, resem-
bling in this respect the older hounds of England, so that
we may believe him to have been intermediate in blood be-
tween the Mastiff and the Hound. In early times, he seems
to have been employed for the rousing of the fiercer game,
coming under the class of hounds termed Lyme-hounds. His
especial employment afterwards became the following of
the track of wounded deer. He was termed Blood-hound,
from the erroneous opinion that he followed the wounded
prey by the scent of blood. In Scotland he received the
name of Sleuth-hound, which, however, was an appellation
common to dogs that followed game by the sleuth or track.
We are ignorant of the time when he began to be em-
ployed in the pursuit of human beings, though it was pro-
bably very early, and a relic, perhaps, of the ancient use of
the Canes bellicosi. However this be, it is certain that the
Blood-hound was for many ages, and especially in the border
districts of England and Scotland, extensively used for this
cruel purpose. He was made to hunt felons, nay, persons of
distinction who might have escaped from the field of battle.
His last illustrious victim in the British Islands was the un-
fortunate Duke of Monmouth, who was found concealed in a
ditch. When put upon the track of his human prey, he fol-
3
735
lowed it with indomitable perseverance, hour after hour, nay,
it is said, day after day. When once upon the scent, nothing
could divert him from his purpose. Unravelling every maze
of the hunted wretch, he uttered, from time to time, the deep
and solemn bay which announced to those who followed that
he was upon the fatal scent. It is said, that when he came
up to his victim he did not seek to shed his blood, but held
him fast until the pursuers arrived. It is amazing to what
extent the use of this dangerous instrument was carried in a
former age in these Islands. By a law of the Scottish Par-
liament, it was declared that no one should "perturbe or
slay" the Sleuth-hound, or those who were with him, when
in pursuit of malefactors; and by the Border laws, an impost
was levied for the keeping of blood-hounds, of which any one
was entitled to claim the use for the discovery of stolen goods.
With the employment of fire-arms, and the establishment
of settled government, the use of the Blood-hound passed
away, and the race almost ceased to be anywhere reared. A
few of them are still kept, for the discovery, it is said, of
deer-stealers, but they are rarely so pure as to present the
uniform characters distinctive of a true breed. But what is
worthy of note, they still retain the acquired instincts of their
race, and can be taught, with the utmost facility, to follow
the footsteps of human beings.
It can scarcely be desired that a race of dogs that may be
applied to purposes so dangerous should be preserved; and
yet the faculties of which it is possessed are worthy of our
admiration. The Blood-hound that has been instructed to
make prey of man follows, we may be assured, no instinct of
nature, but merely yields to the power which is exercised
over him. The same faculties which enable him to pursue
the footsteps of the midnight felon, could be employed, as in
the case of the noble dogs of St Bernard, to trace the path
of the lonely traveller, and rescue him from destruction.
THE MOLOSSIAN GROUP.
1
+
736
THE DOG.
¿
IV. THE INDAGATOR GROUP.*
I. THE TRUE HOUND.-There are Canidæ, it has been
seen, in the state of nature, which pursue their prey in packs,
and use the voice in concert, as the Wild Hound of Nepaul,
the Dog of Beloochistân, the Jackal, and the Hunting Canidæ
proper to Africa. It is from this class that we must sup-
pose the various races possessing the same faculty in the
domesticated state to have been directly or indirectly de-
rived. But the hunting dogs of different countries have been
so mixed in blood with one another and with other races,
that it is now impossible to refer any given race to its source;
and all that we can safely infer, in the state of our know-
ledge, is, that the domesticated dogs, having the property of
hunting their prey by the scent and in concert, must have
derived this property from canida endowed with the same
faculty in the natural state. Of the wild of the species, the
Dogs of Nepaul and Beloochistan the nearest resemble the
Hounds, so called. But we cannot with any assurance
assert that they are the sole progenitors of all hunting dogs,
any more than we can maintain that all dogs are derived
from the common wolf.
The ancients, in their different Cynegetica, give us an
ample enumeration of the various kinds of hounds employed
by them in the chase, sometimes distinguishing them by
their qualities, and sometimes by the places or countries
in which the most eminent breeds were produced. Thus,
they speak of the Spartan, the Cretan, the Locrian, and many
more, which probably resembled the Stag-hounds of another
age, the Metagon, or Mute-hound,-the Petronius, which
* So named from indagare, to search in the manner of a hound. It cor-
responds with the Canes nare sagaces of the Roman writers, according to their
threefold division;
<<
-illæ gravioribus aptæ
Morsibus; hæ pedibus celeres; hæ nare sagaces."
{
2
737
appears to have resembled the modern harriers and fox-
hounds, the Agassæus or Beagle, and so on.
During the middle ages, all the nations of Europe were in
possession of Hounds; but it was only by degrees, and in
certain countries, that they were employed in the manner
distinctive of the modern chase. They were used to find
and start the game, and drive it into nets or palisades, or
to bring it within reach of the swifter dogs, or of the wea-
pons of the hunters, rather than to follow the track of a
single victim, and pursue it, unaided, till the end of the chase.
Up to the close of the Anglo-Saxon dominion in England,
and amongst the Celtic Britons of Wales and North Britain
till a late period, this mixed method of chase, in which the
only end was the destruction of the game, appears to have
been the prevailing one, just as it was amongst the Greeks
of the age of Xenophon. When the fiercer game was de-
stroyed, and the deer only remained of the larger beasts
of chase, and when the deer themselves became scarce, then
a more refined method of chase was by degrees introduced.
Single victims were selected, and pursued by packs of
hounds; but still the mixed method of hunting was the
more common. In England, until the reign of Elizabeth,
we can scarcely recognise any other in the accounts we
possess of the hunting-matches of the times. Greyhounds
were almost always taken out along with the hunting-dogs,
and either mixed with them in running, or kept in relays
to be slipped when the game came in sight; and every ad-
vantage was held to be allowable for the destruction of the
quarry.
The animals chiefly hunted were the native deer, of which
the swiftest, boldest, and most powerful, was the Stag or
Red Deer, Cervus Elephas, of which the male of a certain age
is termed Hart, and the female Hind. When this creature
is pursued, he stretches boldly across the neighbouring
country, stops from time to time to listen to the baying of
the pack, and then pursues his flight. But the hounds,
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
"
3 B
738
THE DOG.
threading every maze of his track, continually gain upon
him, while he vainly calls forth all his remaining powers to
escape; and when at length the dogs reach him, he makes
a last sad effort for the preservation of his life. He turns
round, striking on every side with his formidable antlers,
and betakes himself, when the case allows, to a pool or river,
where the dogs are at a disadvantage. But in the end, sur-
rounded on every side, he is torn down, or pierced by the knife
of the hunter, if he be not, as is now practised, saved, in order
that he may undergo another day of agony and terror. This
fine species scarcely now exists in the wild state in England
and Ireland, a few scattered pairs only being found in the high
lands of Devonshire, and in the West of Ireland; and it only
exists in considerable herds in the most mountainous parts of
Scotland, where the nature of the country does not admit
of its being pursued by hounds.-The Fallow-deer, Cervus
Dama, of which the male is termed Buck, and the female
Doe, is now very rare in the state of liberty, being almost
exclusively confined to parks and preserves. The fallow-
deer is greatly smaller, and less wild and powerful, than
the stag. But when chased by hounds, he runs with amaz-
ing swiftness, stopping, in the manner of the stag, to listen,
from time to time, to the baying of the hounds in the dis-
tance. Like the stag, he stands at bay as a last resource,
while tears seem to stream from his eyes, and avails himself
of neighbouring water, that he may the better defend him-
self. The Roe, Cervus capreolus, is the smallest, most gentle,
and elegant, of the native deer. But the roe is now exceed-
ingly rare in the wild state, being confined to a few woods
and mountain copses in the ruder parts of Scotland. It has
surpassing fleetness, but has nothing like the strength and
boldness of the stag and fallow-deer, and used to be run
down by greyhounds in the manner of the hare. When
chased by hounds, the gentle creature employs innumerable
wiles to save itself, seeking to baffle the dogs by doubling
and crossing its own path, and by leaping to a side, and
739
couching down until the hounds have passed; and when over-
taken, conscious of its want of power, it offers no resistance.
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
It was chiefly for the preservation of these deer, but, above
all, of the stag, that the spirit of the ancient forest-laws of
England was maintained, while almost a herd of deer was
to be found in the woods. But, with the interrupted reign
of the Stuart family, the civil wars, and the freer use of fire-
arms by the people, the numbers of the native deer con-
tinually diminished, until, with the exception of those found
in the wilds of Scotland, they were almost confined to the
parks and preserves of the opulent.
The hounds employed in England for the chase of the wild
deer were generally termed Raches. They likewise received
the name of Talbots, a word of uncertain origin, perhaps
merely the proper name of some person, or of some place
where a good breed was reared. They were a race of large
dogs, nearly of the size of mastiffs, and with something of the
same aspect. They had the muzzle broad, the upper lip hang-
ing over the lower, the ears long and pendulous, the chest wide,
with a kind of dewlap, and the limbs muscular and crooked.
Their voice was deep and sonorous, and they were endowed
with an exquisite sense of smell. They were far inferior in
speed to the modern hunting dogs, but excelled them in their
adherence to the track of the game, and their pertinacity in
pursuing it. At first a few only of the more experienced
hounds were let into the covert, in order to find the game,
when they manifested unrivalled sagacity and power of scent.
Disregarding all inferior quarry, they could discriminate, by
the smell alone, what was called the warrantable game from
the fawns which were not to be hunted, and the hinds when
out of season for the chase. The instant a dog caught the
scent, he opened, and was joined in chorus by his fellows.
But a few lines, often quoted, of our great dramatic poet,
describe to the life the ancient Stag-hounds of England.
66
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung
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THE DOG.
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit; but matched in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly."
The Stag is still hunted in England, the animals, however,
being merely taken from the preserves and parks, and turned
out before the hounds. A few packs of stag-hounds are
kept for this species of chase, which differs entirely in
its character from the chase in any country where deer
are found in the wild state. The great supporter of this
sport, long after it had declined in public favour, was His
Majesty George III., who was a bold rider, and who main-
tained a pack of stag-hounds with royal magnificence. The
dogs were nearly the same as the ancient Talbots; but
his Majesty having received a present from the Duke of
Richmond of a well-equipped pack, better suited for pursuit,
the older race was discarded, for a smaller kind more swift
of foot.
With the progressive destruction of the wild deer, the
practice was introduced of hunting the Fox by hounds in-
stead of greyhounds; and it was soon found that this animal
was better suited than any other for the chase, such as could
be practised in a cultivated country cleared of natural fo-
rests. This new kind of chase gained continually in public
favour; and, in the reign of George the First, various packs
of hounds, employed exclusively in the chase of the Fox,
were established in different parts of the country. The dogs
employed were a variety of the ancient stag-hound, but of
smaller size, and which, being confined to one kind of game,
acquired in a high degree the characters and discipline suited
to their employment. These older fox-hounds, however, still
differed materially from the modern breed. They had the
broad muzzle, the wide chest, the short limbs, the hanging
dewlap, and long pendent ears, of the ancient race, and dif-
fered from it chiefly in bulk of body. They were admirable
741
for the delicacy of their scent, the pertinacity with which
they unravelled every maze of their prey, and the fine chorus
of their united voices, so delightful to the ear of the older
sportsmen of England. Time, however, and mixture of races,
continually modified the form and characters of these dogs.
They were rendered more swift, but with a loss of much of
the power of scent and patient habits of the older race. A
new method of hunting was introduced, and at length finally
established as the practice of the English hunting-field. In
place of tracking the game to its retreat by the trail, at an
early hour, and while yet the scent lay on the ground, the
dogs were at once taken to the cover, and the fox being un-
kennelled, he was run down by the combined power of scent
and speed. Instead of the chase being continued hour after
hour, often from sunrise to noon, the modern chase is a short
and fiery gallop, rarely lasting, at its utmost speed, for more
than thirty or forty minutes. To this kind of chase, entirely
unlike that of any other country, the dogs have become
adapted in an eminent degree, and differ as much from the
former hounds of England as the modern greyhound from
the ancient deer-hound.
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
The Fox-hound is not a peculiarly handsome dog, although,
knowing him to be suited to his uses, the eye of the sports-
man associates his form with symmetry and beauty. He is,
on a medium, from 22 to 24 inches high at the shoulder.
His muzzle is only moderately broad; his ears are pendu-
lous without being very long; his fur is smooth, and gene-
rally spotted with brown upon a white ground. He has great
power of speed, and we should say that he had also great
power of scent, did we not compare him with the race he has
supplanted. He requires the restraint of careful discipline;
and hence it is that English fox-hounds have never succeeded
in the hands of foreign masters.
The term Harrier has been long employed in England to
designate the hunting dogs chiefly employed in the chase of
the Hare. It used to include different kinds of dogs, but
}
#
742
THE DOG.
-
came at length to be exclusively applied to a race of hounds
differing chiefly from the ancient fox-hounds in size. They
were patient in the chase, and had admirable powers of scent,
but were slow in their motions as compared with modern
dogs of the same class. They were frequently followed by
the country people on foot, who carried long poles in their
hands by which they were enabled to make surprising leaps
over brooks, ditches, and hedges. This species of sport was
long a great source of enjoyment to the country people of
England. The hare, it is to be observed, when pursued by
the fleeter dogs, uses all its powers to reach a covert, avail-
ing itself of hedges, ravines, and any inequalities of the
ground, to elude the sight of its pursuers, so that it may gain
upon them. When chased by hounds, however, the hare en-
deavours to baffle the scent by doubling and a thousand ar-
tifices, generally running in a circuit, so that she does not go
far from the place where she has started; hence, with the
older harriers, the hare afforded a chase with which any one,
however ill mounted, might keep up, and which even persons
on foot could enjoy. With refinement in the mode of hunt-
ing, however, a swifter kind of dog was employed, and the
chase changed its characters. It is now pursued in the same
manner as the fox-chase; and the hare being started is soon
run down, having little time to pursue those wiles which
used to put to proof the powers of scent of the dogs, and
really constituted the spirit of the chase. Many packs of
harriers are kept in the country; but this kind of sport is
not in the same favour as formerly, and is usually discouraged
by the masters of fox-hounds, as interfering with what is re-
garded as the regular chase.
The smallest of the races of hounds is the Bigle, or Beagle,
apparently the Ayaddeus of the Greek and Agassæus of the
Roman Cynegetica. This diminutive hound may be reason-
ably supposed to be derived in part from some of the smaller
Canidæ of the warmer countries. It was known in the Bri-
tish Islands from the earliest period at which we have any
743
records of the chase, and was probably introduced by the
Romans. It was employed in the pursuit of rabbits and
hares. It has a large head, long ears, and a shrill voice,
which it uses in concert with its fellows. When in packs,
these little dogs are wild, active, and pertinacious in pursuit,
threading every maze of the game, and running with their
muzzles close to the ground. They are now very rarely to
be seen, the habits of sportsmen leading them to prefer
the more decisive practice of the modern chase. But it may
be questioned whether much of the real enjoyment of the
hunting-field is not lost to the people of the country by this
change of tastes and habits. Every one cannot maintain a
pack of harriers, and few are equal to the desperate riding
which the modern fox-chase requires. But the squire of
another age could enjoy the chase of his little pack of har-
riers or beagles without too great a sacrifice.
His own
saddle-horse was sufficient for the slow and temperate chase,
which afforded him a cheerful recreation; and John the
butler, or Tom the groom, enacted sufficiently the parts of
huntsman or whipper-in.
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
II. THE MUTE HOUND, comprehending the Merayovres of
the Greeks, the Canes taciti and ductores of the Latins, in-
cluded races of dogs differing from one another, yet agree-
ing in the common property of running silently upon their
game. Of this class of dogs was the Lyemmer, Lymer or
Lyme-hound of the English, so named, it is supposed, from
Lyam, a leash, by which the dogs were conducted to the
field. It included the dogs more especially employed by the
fowler for capturing birds by means of nets and other de-
vices, and it comprehends, accordingly, the modern Pointer
and its congeners.
The Pointer does not differ essentially in his characters
from common hounds; and it may be supposed that almost any
race of the Indagator group, trained especially for scenting
the game in silence, and stopping on approaching it, would
# !
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744
become in time a true fowler's breed. In England we early
possessed dogs suited for fowling; and the pointer appears to
have been derived from Spain, which is still noted for pro-
ducing this class of dogs. The pointer was accordingly
termed Spainyeart or Spaniel, though the true Spaniel is
distinct from the Spanish Lyme-hound or Pointer, and ought
not to be confounded with it.
THE DOG.
From whatever mixture of blood the Pointer may have
been derived, yet being descended from animals habituated to
a particular pursuit, the habit acquired by him has become, as
it were, an instinct of the breed, so that the whelp of the true
pointer scarcely needs even instruction to teach him to steal
upon his game in silence, and stand when he approaches it.
Education, indeed, is required to instruct him in the particu-
lar practices which the nature of the sport requires, but the
general habit may be said to be as natural to him as that of
pursuing game by the eye is to the greyhound, or by the
scent to the beagle.
The term Setter is in England applied to different kinds
of dogs employed in the chase of feathered game; and most
of them have a relation more or less defined with the pointer.
The Old English Setter, now rare, is a highly esteemed dog
of this class, and has given birth to numerous varieties more
or less approaching to it in characters. The setters are by
many sportsmen preferred to the pointers, as being more agile
and enduring, and so better fitted for following game in a
mountainous country; but they require a longer course of dis-
cipline than the pointers, and do not in the same degree trans-
mit the habitudes impressed upon them to their offspring.
III. THE SPANIEL is a general name for certain races of
beautiful dogs which we owe to the countries of the Mediter-
ranean, and in which, it is probable, the blood of the African
Canidæ has been mixed with that of the dogs of Western Asia
and Europe. From the great variety which this class of dogs
presents, it is reasonable to believe that they are of mixed blood.
745
But the Spaniel, which may be regarded as typical of the breed,
appears to be proper to the African rather than the European
side of the Mediterranean. It is known to us in this country
by a diminutive variety, usually termed Charles the Second's
Breed. It has the body gracefully formed, the forehead rela-
tively broad, the ears long, the eyes large and brilliant, the
tail bushy, and the hair soft, curling, and silky. The feet
are remarkably large, broad, and webbed, rendering it pro-
bable that it was originally derived from a country of sands. It
is found in numbers all along the Barbary coasts, and extends
to Spain, Italy, and the islands of the Mediterranean, whence
the finest spaniels have always been derived. Varieties of
it are known to British sportsmen, as Springers and Cockers,
characterized by their active habits, the delicacy of their
smell, and their generally giving tongue when they come upon
the game.
Of all known dogs, the Spaniel is the most remarkable for
its docile habits and affectionate temper. It will never turn
against its master, but will lick his hand when he chastises
it. It will watch the expression of his countenance, and at-
tend him in his sick-room like a nurse. Even the Arabs find
an excuse for fondling the Spaniel, by asserting that it is
not a dog. It is not to be wondered at that the Spaniel
has, of all our dogs, been admitted to the closest companion-
ship with us; but it is strange that the very qualities which
attach him to us have been made matter of reproach. To
fawn like a spaniel, is an expression common not to one lan-
guage, but to many. But the fawning of the spaniel is the
result of the gentle temperament with which he is endowed,
and of his fidelity to his human protector.
The Spaniel has been largely mixed in blood with other
races; and many dogs are termed Spaniels which are only
remotely related, or not related at all, to the true Spaniel.
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
IV. The BARBET, or WATER-DOG, Canis aviarius aquaticus
of Linnæus, has been spread from time immemorial over a
5
1
!
746
great part of Europe. All the characters of this dog indi-
cate that he is the creature of an aquatic situation, suited to
find his prey in marshes, pools, and rivers, where water-fowls
abound. His feet are webbed, and he swims and dives with
rapidity and ease. His fur is shaggy and curling, his ears
are pendent, and his tail is short or rudimental. He is not
a fierce dog, and avoids the combats to which other dogs are
prone. He delights to fetch and carry, and is well adapted
to the hunting of wild ducks and other aquatic birds, whose
nests he ferrets out among the reeds in which they are con-
cealed. He is used in this country as a retriever, in districts
of sedgy rivers and marshes, and on the coasts where the
shooting of sea-fowls is practised. He is a favourite with
sailors, on account of his readiness to leap into the sea, and
recover what has fallen overboard.
THE DOG.
The purest of this race are derived from the marshy coun-
tries of Northern Europe and Asia. But the Barbet as-
sumes a great variety of aspect, according to situation, and
the uses to which he is habituated. He is large or small,
according to the degree in which his muscular powers are
called forth by exercise, and more or less covered with hair,
according to the climate. When reared up as a household
dog in our dwellings, the race progressively diminishes in
size, and loses the rude and shaggy aspect distinctive of it
in a state of greater liberty. The little Barbet of the French,
termed by us a Poodle, is one of the most curious varieties
of the race. It is wonderfully fitted to receive instruction of
any kind, and even imitates the actions of persons about it.
It is likewise a faithful dog, and manifests great attachment
to its immediate master.
A fine variety of the Barbet group is the English Water-
Spaniel, popularly so called. The fur of this dog is short,
curly, and usually of a deep brown colour, and his general
aspect is mild and graceful. He is docile and sagacious, valued
by the sportsman as a retriever, and capable of receiving any
kind of instruction. The race has now become rare.
It was
2
747
probably produced by a mixture of the blood of the Barbet
with that of the Old English Setter.
THE INDAGATOR GROUP.
V. THE TERRIER forms a class rather than a breed of
dogs. It is more nearly related to the Lyciscan than to any
of the other groups, and can only be included in the class of
hounds on account of its performing some services in the
chase in common with these animals. Its habits seem to
connect it with the burrowing Canidae; and the most probable
supposition as to its origin is that it has been produced by a
mixture of blood of some of those species, as the Jackal,
or even Common-fox, with the domesticated dogs of different
countries. But however produced, dogs which we call terriers,
though differing greatly from one another, are widely diffused,
being found from the high lands of Central Asia to the western
limits of Europe. They have the common property of prey-
ing on such animals as form their dwellings under ground,
as the rabbit, the polecat, the weasel, the otter, the badger,
the fox, and will pursue these animals to their subterranean
retreats, which no other dog will do. To the weasel tribes,
in particular, the terrier manifests the fiercest antipathy; and
he is the only known kind of dog that seems especially des-
tined to prey on these animals, which he pursues for the
mere purpose of destroying, since he shews no disposition to
devour them. This singular temperament of the terrier has
rendered him a useful servant in wild countries; and, even
in those which are populous and improved, his hatred to
rats, and other animals termed vermin, is often turned to
account.
In the British Islands, the Terrier has been cultivated
from times of unknown antiquity, yet we cannot say that the
terriers of this country form a true breed, since they differ
from one another almost as much as races which we hold to
be distinct. The terriers of the Western Islands of Scotland
have long lank hair, almost trailing to the ground. Those of
the Central Highlands, which formed the ancient shepherd's
ļ
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748
dogs of the country, are rough, shaggy, and not unlike the
older Deer-hounds in general form. The terriers of England
have a smooth fur, sub-erect ears, a thick skin, a stout body,
and short limbs.
THE DOG.
A favourite sport of the common people of England was
the chase of polecats, badgers, foxes, and other burrow-
ing animals which formerly abounded. After the greater
part of these animals were destroyed, the terrier was
reared in considerable numbers, for the disgusting sport
of baiting animals, especially the badger and polecat, and
even for worrying the wild and common cats. There was
scarcely a village in which some unfortunate victim of this
kind was not nightly sacrificed; and such was the grossness
of manners, until within little less than a century past,
that persons of every rank took delight in these barbarous
spectacles. When the regular fox-chase was established,
terriers were employed for unearthing the fox; but, in the
modern chase, this practice is nearly abandoned, and few
of our present packs are accompanied by terriers. The ter-
rier is now chiefly cultivated as a household dog. He has
nothing of the winning habits, the gentleness, and docility
S
of the spaniel; but he has a certain rough fidelity, which,
with his courage, renders him a general favourite. The
blood of the terrier has been largely mixed with other races,
forming a numerous class of curs.
Such are the divisions under which we may conveniently
arrange the varied races of domesticated dogs. But it must
be held sufficient, for the present, to have pointed out such a
classification as may exhibit the general distinctions and re-
lations of the more important groups. To have described
the subordinate varieties, with the detail which a complete
history of the Dog would require, would have greatly ex-
ceeded the limits which could be assigned to the subject in
the present work. It is trusted, however, that the history
749
of this animal has been pursued to the degree of shewing
that it involves many subjects of curiosity and interest. Of
all the animals that have been subjected to our power, the
Dog is that whose condition and faculties we have the best
means of observing. No creature more distinctly shews the
power of external agents to affect the form of the body, and
react upon the attributes which, even in the lower animals,
we may term mental. The Dog, we have seen, when inured
to the exercise of certain muscular powers, acquires, within
given limits, the conformation of parts which adapts him to
the services to which he is habituated. The Sledge-dog of
the Laplander becomes fitted for tasks under which other
dogs would perish; while a dog of the same descent, used
only for the care of flocks, becomes the common Shepherd's
Dog. The Bull-dog acquires the powerful jaws, and short
limbs, which fit him for subduing the animal to which he is
opposed, and with this conformation, he assumes the fierce-
ness and resolution which such a service demands. The
Greyhound, inured to the chase of the mountain stag, ac-
quires and maintains a robuster form than the dog of the
same race, used to the chase of the feebler game. The Dog
habituated to the destruction of the wolf, when withdrawn
from this pursuit, loses by degrees the strength and courage
which formerly characterised his race; and dogs of every
sort, which are not required to exercise their muscular
powers, but are reared up as playthings in an artificial state,
become so diminutive and feeble, that they could not exist
were they not continually protected by us. We cannot ima-
gine that a creature so helpless as a pug-dog could exist in
the state of nature; nor can we assign any other cause for
its having become what it is, than the progressive adapta-
tion of its race to the artificial condition in which it has
been reared. Such effects, indeed, are not proper to the dog,
but have been observed in the case of all the animals which
we have subjected to domestication. They are seen even in
some of the lower orders. Thus, certain little fishes of the
CONCLUSION.
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750
minnow tribe, having been put when young into a small jar
of water, never increased in size, but remained suited, in
their dimensions, to the little space allotted to them. After
the lapse of nine years, they were transferred to a larger
jar, and immediately began to increase in bulk of body, until
they attained their natural size. The progressive adapta-
tion of the Dog, then, to new conditions of life, presents no
anomaly, but illustrates a law common in the animal king-
dom, though, as the changes produced in his physical con-
formation exert a sensible action on his temperament, habits,
and faculties, they are calculated to excite peculiar interest.
Whether we assume that all dogs have been derived from
some common stock, and have acquired their distinctive cha-
racters under the effects of domestication, or whether we
assume that they have acquired the characters which we
term specific in the state of nature, we equally reason upon
the assumption that the animals have, in a certain degree,
become adapted, with respect to form and attributes, to the
conditions affecting them.
As the natural history of the Dog may supply us with
subjects for physiological inquiry, so it may afford us matter
for reflection regarding the mental attributes of the Dog in
particular, and of the lower orders of animals in general.
Eager disputes, it is known, have arisen, in every period of
metaphysical inquiry, regarding the precincts of Instinct and
Reason. By not a few philosophers it has been contended,
that the actions of all the animals inferior to man are the
result solely of what is termed instinct, and that these crea-
tures have not the power to compare, to reflect, to will, or to
draw conclusions of any sort, but are impelled by the train
of their ideas, or by some unknown influence, to act precisely
as they do. But does our observation of the Dog afford the
least support to such a hypothesis, or rather, does it not
refute it at every point? Not only do we recognise in this
creature senses like our own, and, in certain cases, more
perfect than ours, but we see these senses adapted by
THE DOG.
751
the animal itself to every varying contingency. We see,
by a thousand actions, that he has the sense of pleasure
and pain, and can express his emotions by signs and sounds
of the voice intelligible to his fellows and often to us. We see
that he is resentful for wrongs, and may take revenge; and
that he is grateful for benefits, and manifests his sense of
them by the services he renders us. We know that he com-
prehends our commands, and employs the fitting means
to perform them; and that he has a memory of times and
events, and draws conclusions from what he remembers, as
well as from what passes before his eyes. He can thus
will, compare, draw conclusions, and adapt means to the
ends which he seeks to attain. If these powers be not at-
tributes of the reasoning faculty, in what category are they
to be placed? They cannot surely be instinctive, for then
we should be forced to hold, that similar faculties were, in
man himself, instinctive. Can it be said, as has again and
again been done, that brutes do not form abstract ideas,
and therefore cannot reason? But how do we know that
brutes do not form abstract ideas, as they are called, to the
degree which their own powers of reasoning require? They
act precisely as if they did. A dog can avail himself of ex-
perience; but, to apply the results of experience to any kind
of actions, necessarily implies the exercise of memory, and
a certain degree of generalization or abstraction. If the Dog
reasoned only from particulars, and never from generals, how
should he apply his knowledge of height, distance, time, and
place, to the actions which we see him continually perform.
He could not know that a wall was too high for him to leap
over unless he tried to leap over this particular wall. But he
knows, by the height of a wall, though he may never have
seen it, that it is too high for him to scale; and if this be not
abstraction or generalization, we ask what it is? Whether
the Dog can form the abstract conception of right and wrong,
our limited means of communication with him do not enable
us to determine; but he knows when he has committed an
:
CONCLUSION.
A
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752
THE DOG.
offence, though no human eye may have seen him commit it.
Some metaphysicians, indeed, affirm, that we can only reason
from generals by means of words or signs; but is a person
born deaf and dumb incapable of reasoning from generals?
Has not such a person an idea of time, place, and distance,
though he has no sound of the voice with which to associate his
ideas? The Dog has probably no sound of the voice to express
his conception of distance, time, and place, but he has corres-
ponding ideas to the degree necessary to compare one distance
with another, one period of time with another, and to know
and distinguish places. He knows the period required to pass
over a given space to a minute, can count recurring intervals
of time with precision, and knows, of place, that which enables
hini to act as if he had a term to express his conception of it.
The power, indeed, of abstraction or generalization, is
probably very limited in the inferior animals; but yet it
must be believed to exist to the degree of enabling them to
compare, to reflect, and to draw conclusions, to the extent
to which they exercise these faculties. But even if we were
to admit the position that dogs and other animals cannot
form abstract conceptions, notions, or ideas, that would not
shew that they did not reason, but merely that their power
of reasoning did not extend to the degree of forming such
conceptions, notions, or ideas.
The singular tendency, distinctive of the metaphysical re-
searches of certain philosophers, to reduce the numberless
creatures which a gracious Providence has been pleased to
call into being, into mere machines, destitute of the power of
thought and reflection, seems to have its origin in the mis-
taken notion that we can exalt the human species by degrad-
ing all the others. But surely the chasm between the mental
attributes of man and those of all other animated creatures is
too wide to give us cause to fear that they can be confounded.
The inferior animals may compare, may reflect, may will,
may adapt means to ends, nay, may possess the faculty of
abstraction to the degree of allowing them to exercise the
2
07
753
reasoning powers with which they are furnished, and yet be
placed so far beneath the human species in all the attributes
which we term mental, as to indicate that a far different des-
tiny has been ordained for Man and for them in the scheme
of Universal Providence. The faculties which we term
Instinct in the lower animals, are perfect with relation to
the ends to be served, but do not admit of continued improve-
ment; and all the knowledge which these animals can ac-
quire by means of experience and instruction, is as nothing,
when compared to that at which improvable reason can ar-
rive. Even in what relates to the mere supply of animal
wants, scarcely a parallel can be drawn between the endow-
ments of man and the inferior animals. Not one of them
can construct a wheel, a screw, or the simplest machine, or
form the rudest weapon for capturing its prey: not one of
them has acquired the art of clothing itself, or ministering
to its wants by other means than the Instincts with which
Nature has already supplied it: not one of them has learned
the means of warming its body by fire, or procuring for itself
an artificial day, when the light of the sun is withdrawn.
Man alone has the power of associating every idea which
arises in his mind with signs and sounds, and thus he alone
can connect proposition with proposition to the remoter con-
sequences. He alone can cultivate science and improve the
arts, and communicate to another age the results of his rea-
soning and experience. He alone, of all living creatures,
can distinguish right from wrong, and truth from falsehood,
in the degree which can render him an accountable being:
And he alone, we must believe, can trace, in the works of
Nature, the harmony of universal design, and so be conduct-
ed to the conclusion that there is a First Cause, and an Om-
nipotent Providence.
CONCLUSION.
}
•
3 c
INDEX.
Aberdeenshire Breed of Cattle, Polled,
315-general characters of the Cattle
of Aberdeenshire, 316-recent for-
mation of the Polled breed, and the
improvement of which it is suscep-
tible, ib. 317 — introduction of the
Short-horned breed into the county,
317-character of the Cattle occupy-
ing the district extending northward
from Aberdeenshire to the Pentland
Frith, ib.
Ægagrus, description of the, 9—its affi-
nity with the domestic Goats, ib.
Aguara, Maned, 661.
Alderney Breed of Cattle, 333-its na-
turalization in the Norman Islands
of the British Channel, ib.-impor-
tation of the Cows into England for
the purposes of the Dairy, ib.-exter-
nal characters of the breed, and its
excellent milking properties, 334-
account of the Islands of the Chan-
nel; the minute division of property
in land, and the effects on the prac-
tices of rural industry; the value
attached to the Cow by the inhabi-
tants; and the law of the insular
legislature for preserving the purity
of the race, 334-9.
Alpine Ibex, natural history of the, 5
its susceptibility of domestication,
7.
American Family of Mankind, xliv.
Anglesea Breed of Cattle, 306-its affi-
nity with the Pembroke breed; its
larger size and coarser form, ib.
Breed of Sheep, 69 — its affi-
nity with the Soft-woolled Sheep of
Wales, ib.
Angus Breed of Cattle, Polled, 312-
its cultivation in the plains and less
elevated parts of the counties of For-
far and Kincardine, ib.-the large
exportation of the cattle to the graz-
ing counties of England, ib.-compa-
rison of their characters with those
of the Galloway breed, ib.-the im-
provement of the breed, and its
recent extension to other districts,
313-notice of a prevalent error re-
garding the comparative value of
different breeds of Cattle, ib.—the in-
troduction of the Short-horned breed
into the district, and the propriety
of keeping it distinct from the native
breed, 315.
XXXV
Animal Kingdom, divisions of the:
the Radiata, xxiv- the Articulata,
xxv.-the Mollusca, xxvi-the Ver-
tebrata, comprehending Fishes, Rep-
tiles, Birds, and Mammalia, xxvii-
division of the Mammalia into the fol-
lowing tribes: Cetacea, xxxii-Ru-
minantia, ib.-Pachydermata, xxxiii
-Solidungula, ib. - Edentata, ib.—
Rodentia, xxxiv-Marsupialia, ib.—
Carnivora or Feræ, ib.-Insectivora,
ib. Cheiroptera, ib.-Quadrumana,
Bimana, ib. the different
races of Mankind: the Caucasian Fa-
mily, xxxviii-the Mongolian Family,
xl-the Malay or Polynesian Family,
xli-the Negro Family, ib.-the Ame-
rican Family, xliv-inquiry into the
origin of these different races, xlv-
examples of the effect of climate in
modifying the animal form, and
adapting it to new conditions of life,
li-the effect of increased supplies of
food in changing the form, and with
that the instincts and habits, of ani-
mals; and examples of this in the case
of the Dog, lii-of the Wild Hog. ib.-
of the Ox and Sheep, liii-of the Wild
―――
Valg
S
!
756
Goose, ib.-of the Wild Duck, liv-
of the Gallinaceous Fowls, lv-exam-
ples of the effect of temperature, hu-
midity, altitude, and peculiar habi-
tudes, in modifying the animal form,
lv-lix-examples of the faculty pos-
sessed by animals of transmitting ac-
quired properties to their progeny,
lix the permanence of the cha-
racters acquired by varieties; and
examples of this in the case of the
human species, and the domesticated
quadrupeds, lxi-examples of the ef-
fect of continued reproduction be-
tween animals closely allied in blood,
in producing a similarity of charac-
ters, and, likewise, in impairing the
constitution of the animals, lxiii-the
natural provision for obviating the
effects of unsuitable alliances of ani-
mals in the state of liberty, lxiv—ex-
amples of the power of animals to
transmit their instincts and habits
to their descendants, ib. exam-
ples of the faculty possessed by ani-
mals of communicating peculiarities
of conformation, occasioned by muti-
lation, to their descendants, lxvii—
inquiry into the distinction between
a Species and a Variety, ib.
Antelope, Wool-bearing, 10,
Argali, Asiatic, 23.
Bearded, 24.
-
INDEX.
M
Arnee of India, 218.
Ass, Wild, natural history of the, 436—
his early subjugation, and the effects
of domestication on his temperament
and habits, 439-his special adaptation
to the temperate and warmer cli-
mates, and notices of the breeds of
Eastern and Southern countries, 441
- his naturalization in the New
World, 443-his abundance in the
British Islands, and the importance
of directing attention to his proper
cultivation, ib.
Ayrshire Breed of Cattle, 339-former
rudeness of the agriculture of Ayr-
shire, 340-characters of the older
breed of the country; and inquiry
into the origin of the existing Dairy
breed, 342-its external characters,
and superior milking properties, 343
-its extension to other districts of
Scotland, 344 result of crossing it
with the Short-horned breed; and
the propriety of maintaining the
purity of the native breed, ib.
Babiroussa of the Indian Islands, na-
tural history of the, 396-its capabi-
lity of domestication, 397.
Barbet or Water-Dog, 745.
Beagle, 742.
Beloochistân, Dog of, 647.
Berkshire Breed of Swine, 431-its size,
colour, and aptitude to fatten, ib.-ef-
fect of crossing with the Chinese
breeds in lessening its size, and in-
creasing the delicacy of the pork, 432
-the limits to the profitable diminu-
tion of the size of the Old Swine of
England, and the facility with which
their defective characters might be
removed by careful selection of the
breeding parents, ib.-inexpediency
of the practice of crossing them with
the Wild Hog, 433.
Bison, American, natural history of the,
211-its fitness for domestication, 213.
European, natural history of
the, 208-its incapability of submit-
ting to domestication, 210.
Black-faced Heath Breed of Sheep, 84
-description of the heathy moun-
tains from which it is derived, ib.-
its diffusion over all the mountains of
Scotland, 85-its external characters
and fattening properties, and the ex-
cellence of its mutton, 86-its pecu-
liar adaptation to a country of heaths,
87-the coarseness of its wool, ib.-
variety of size and aspect presented
by these sheep in different districts,
ib.-method of rearing and treating
them in the mountainous countries
which they inhabit, 88-results of
crossing them with the Cheviot, Lei-
cester, and South Down breeds, 91—
economical importance of the breed,
and the means of improving it, 92.
Black Horse, Old English, 608—its re-
semblance to the race of the same co-
lour existing in the countries of the
Lower Rhine, the Meuse, and the
Scheldt, 609-its naturalization in
England from the Humber to the Cam,
and its extension westward through
the midland counties to the Severn,
and southward into the countries of
the Chalk, ib.-external characters of
the older race, and the improvement
L
INDEX.
effected on it by the introduction of
the same race from Holland, 610-
description of the modern Black
Horse; its great physical power, but
deficiency in speed and action, 611-
its extensive employment in the cen-
tral and southern counties for the
labours of the field, and for waggons
and heavy carriages, ib.-the Dray-
horses of London, 612-improve-
ments of which the breed is suscep-
tible, 613.
Blood-hound, Old British, 734.
Boar, Masked African, 397—its capabi-
lity of domestication, ib.
Buansa of Nepaul, 648.
Buffalo, Cape, natural history of the,
223 on the possibility of domesticat-
ing it, 229.
Buffalo, Common, natural history of
the, 218-its economical value in the
state of servitude, 219-its diffusion
over the warmer countries of Asia
and Europe, 220-inquiry as to the
period of its introduction into Eu-
rope, 221-its extensive domestica-
tion in Italy, and its great value to
the inhabitants, ib.-inexpediency of
attempting to naturalize it in the
colder countries, 222.
Bull-dog, 728.
Butter. See Dairy and Milk.
Carding, description of the process of,
for preparing wool for being spun
into woollen yarn, 45.
Caucasian Family of Mankind, xxxviii.
Ibex, 8-its probable iden-
tity with the Ibex of the Alps of
Europe,
757
viding winter supplies of food for
them by the formation of watered
meadows and otherwise, 102-the
importance of draining and enclo-
sures in improving their mountain
pastures, ib.—the danger incurred by
them from tempests and falls of
snow, and the means of providing
shelter by the forming of planta-
tions or the erection of stells, 103→
great economical importance of the
breed, and the attention of breeders
to its improvement, 113-the results
of crossing it with the Leicester and
South Down breeds, ib.
Cleveland Bay Breed of Horses, 602-
its adaptation to coaches, chariots, &c.,
ib.-formation of the breed by the
progressive mixture of the blood of
the Race-horse with the larger horses
of the country, ib.-the great demand.
which exists for it in London and
other opulent towns, and the large
exportation of it to other countries, ib.
-the crossing of it by Hunters and
Thorough-bred Horses, and the pro-
duction of Coach-horses of a yet
lighter standard, ib.
Clydesdale Breed of Horses, 615—its
affinity with the Black Horse of Hol-
land and the Netherlands, 616-its
size, colour, form, and superior pow-
ers of draught, 617—extensive diffu-
sion of the breed, and its great eco-
nomical value, ib., 618.
Coach-horse, the Old English, 601-tho
modern, ib.
Cavalry Horse, 604.
Cheese. See Dairy and Milk.
Cheviot Breed of Sheep, 93-its deri-
vation from a range of mountains
in the north of England, ib. -- its
external characters and fattening
properties, and the goodness of its
mutton, 94-its hardiness, adapta-
tion to a country of mountains where
the grasses are produced, and its wide
diffusion, ib., 95—the weight and qua-
lity of its fleece, 96—the method of
rearing and treating the sheep in
the mountainous countries which
they inhabit, ib.-the means of pro-
Combing, description of the process of,
for preparing wool for being spun
into worsted yarn, 44.
Connamara Breed of Horses, 523-its
Spanish origin; the neglect of the
breed, and the means of improving it,
ib.
Cotswold Breed of Sheep, 186-account
of the district of the Cotswold Hills,
and notices of their former occupa-
tion by a race of fine-woolled Sheep,
ib. the modern breed of the Cots-
wold Hills distinct from the former
race, and opinion as to the time and
mode of its introduction, 187-the
changes which it has undergone by
admixture with the New Leicester
breed, its size, the weight and quality
ป
3
758
of its fleece, and the prolificness of the
females, 189.
INDEX.
Dairy, the various destinations of the,
279-its management when designed
for the supply of Milk, 280—for the
production of Butter, 281—and for
the manufacture of Cheese, 285–
the cheeses of different districts: of
Gloucestershire, 290― of Somerset-
shire and North Wiltshire, 291-of
Cheshire, Shropshire, and Lancashire,
292-of the counties of York, Dur-
ham, Northumberland, and Derby, ib.
-of Stilton, Cottenham, and South-
am, 293—of Ayrshire, Renfrewshire,
and Lanarkshire, ib.—great import-
ance of the Dairy as supplying a large
part of the food of the people, 295.
Dartmoor Forest Breed of Sheep, 82—
its small size and long soft wool, its
wild and restless habits, and the ex-
cellence of its mutton, ib.-rapid di-
minution in the number of the pure
breed, from crossing with the Leices,
ter and South Down breeds, ib.
Deeb, Egyptian, 646.
Denmark, Great Dog of, 723.
Devon Breed of Cattle, 315-resem-
blance of the older breeds of the coun-
ties of Devon and Cornwall to the
cattle of the Welsh Mountains, ib.-
naturalization of the Devon breed in
the high lands of Devonshire on the
southern side of the Bristol Channel,
ib.-its external characters and affi-
nity to the ancient White Forest
breed, 346-smallness of the females,
and their deficiency in the power of
yielding milk, ib.-the admirable
adaptation of the cattle to the pur-
poses of active labour, 347-the de-
fects of their form, and the gradual
removal of them through the increas-
ed attention of the breeders, ib., 318-
the adherence of the breeders to the
red colour of the hair, and its effect
in ensuring the purity of the breed,
349-the South Devon variety of this
Breed; its larger size and coarser
form, 350.
Dholes of India, 648.
Dingo of New Holland, 649.
Dog, early subjugation and history of
the, 667-the great diversity in his
form and habits, according to the ser-
vices for which he is employed, and
his peculiar race, 672 — his habits
as affected by those of the people
amongst whom he lives, 675-the
acuteness of his senses of hearing and
smell, 677—his memory of places,
times, and events, 678—his delight in
the exercise of his natural powers,
679-his faculty of distinguishing
colours, 680-his aptitude to receive
instruction, 681-his faculty of com-
prehending the meaning of short sen-
tences, ib.-his power of communicat-
ing his wishes and purposes to his
fellows, 685-his remarkable power
of observation, ib.-anecdotes of the
sagacity displayed by him under dif-
ferent circumstances, 686-his ca-
pability of learning arts of deception,
688-his gratitude for benefits, and
resentment of injuries, 690—his at-
tachment to man, and fidelity to his
immediate master, 693-the Rabies,
or Madness of the Dog; and the symp-
toms attending the communication
of the disease to the human spe-
cies, ib.
Dogs, wild races of: the Egyptian Deeb.
646-the Fennecs or Zerdas of Africa,
ib.-the Dog of Beloochistân, 647
-the Buansa of Nepaul, 648—the
Dholes of India, ib.-the Dingo of
New Holland, 649-the Wild Canidæ
of America, 659-examination of the
different theories advanced respect-
ing the origin of all the domesticated
races. 663-classification of the domes-
ticated races, 699.
Dorset Breed of Sheep, 122—its exter-
nal characters, the quality of its
wool, and the goodness of its mutton,
ib.—the faculty of the females of re-
ceiving the male at different seasons,
and their employment on this account
for the rearing of house-lambs, 123—
resemblance in the form of this breed
to the Spanish Merino, ib.-diminu-
tion of its numbers in consequence
of the introduction of the Leicester
and South Down breeds, or of cross-
ing with them, 124.
Drover's Dog, 710.
Dziggithai, natural history of the, 452
-his capability of domestication, ib.
•
1
INDEX.
Exmoor Forest Breed of Sheep, 83-
its small size and wild habits, the
character of its wool, and excellence
of its mutton, ib.-gradual diminu-
tion in the numbers of the pure
breed from the effects of crossing,
and the introduction of the Cheviot
breed, ib.-notice of other races allied
to it, ib.
Falkland Breed of Cattle, 328-the
mixed descent and characters of the
cattle of Fifeshire, ib.-early estab-
lishment of the Falkland Breed at
the ancient royal manor of Falkland,
and its resemblance to the Black
Dairy Breed of Holland, 330-its near
extinction in consequence of inter-
mixture with the common races of
the district, 331-means of improving
the mixed cattle of Fifeshire, 332-
character of the cattle occupying the
district extending westward from
Fifeshire to the Ochil Hills, 333.
Fennecs or Zerdas of Africa, 646.
Forest Sheep of England, 80-the
ancient Forests of England, and the
general characters of the races of
Sheep inhabiting them, ib., 81-the
Sheep of Cannock Chase and of Dela-
mere Forest, 81-the Sheep of Dart-
moor Forest, 82-the Sheep of Ex-
moor Forest, and other races allied
to them, 83.
Fox, Common, natural history of the,
654-his power of procreating with
the domesticated Dogs, 656.
Fox-hound, 740.
Galloway Breed of Cattle, 317-its
naturalization in the south-western
parts of Scotland, 318-its external
characters, and adaptation to the
countries in which it is reared, ib.—
excellence of its flesh, and its inferior
milking properties, ib.-the absence
of horns in this breed, and origin of
the peculiarity, 319-extensive ex-
portation of the cattle for the supply
of the English markets, ib.-general
management of the breed in its native
district, 321-failure of the attempts
to improve it by crossing with other
breeds, and the importance of attend-
ing to the careful cultivation of the
breed in the pure state, ib.
759
Gaur of British India, 208.
Gayal or Jungle Ox, natural history of
the, 230-its domestication in the
countries of the East, 231.
Gaze-hound, Old, 722.
Glamorgan Breed of Cattle, 356-na-
ture of the country in which it is na-
turalized, ib.-its affinity with the
Pembroke and its allied breeds, 357
-difference in the size and figure of
the cattle as they are the natives of
the hilly country or of the lower and
maritime, 358-excellent milking pro-
perties of the Cows, 359-remarks
on the supposed deterioration of the
breed in consequence of intermixture
with other races, ib.-attention of the
present breeders to the improvement
of the native race, and the propriety
of keeping it distinct from the Short-
horned and Ayrshire breeds which
have been introduced into the dis-
trict, 360.
Goat, its natural relations with the An-
telope tribes and the Sheep, 2-chief-
ly distinguished from the Sheep by
general aspect and habitudes, 3—its
early subjugation and diffusion in the
countries of Asia and Europe, ib.-
the Wild species: the Alpine Ibex, 5
-the Caucasian and Siberian Ibices,
8-the Nubian or Abyssinian Ibex, ib.
-the Ægagrus, 9-the Jemlah Goat,
ib.—the Jahral Goat, 10--question of
the origin of the domesticated races,
11-influence of climate in modifying
its characters, 12-its habits in the
domesticated state, 16-prolificness of
the female, 18-its milk, hair, skin,
and flesh, 19-causes of its diminished
cultivation in Britain, 20-economi-
cal uses to which it may be rendered
subservient, ib.
Goats of Thibet, 12-of China and Hin-
dostan, 14—of Angora, ib.—of Syria
and Nepaul, 15- of Africa, ib.—of
the countries of the Mediterranean,
of Greece and the Islands of the Ar-
chipelago, of Italy, of Spain and Por-
tugal, of France, and of the northern
countries of Europe, 16-of the High-
lands of Scotland, Wales, and Ire-
land, 20.
Greyhound, early history and origin of
the, 715-7-his peculiar conformation,
718-the ancient races of the British
W
760
INDEX.
Islands, and the purposes for which
they were employed, 719-early esta-
blishment of coursing-matches, and
their influence in perfecting the cha-
racters of the British Greyhound, 720.
Hackney, 604.
Hanover, cream-coloured Horses of,
604.
Hare Indian Dog, 660.
Harrier, 741.
Herefordshire Breed of Cattle, 362-
notice of the older cattle of the county
of Hereford, and their general affinity
with the races of Pembroke, Devon,
Sussex, and Glamorgan, ib.-forma-
tion of the modern breed by Mr Ben-
jamin Tomkins, and the principles
of breeding adopted by him, 363-the
high reputation of the breed, and its
progressive diffusion, 365-its exter-
nal characters; its adaptation to the
purposes of grazing, but indifferent
milking properties, 366-the progress
of the Short-horned Breed into the
county; and the comparative merits
of the two breeds, 367.
Hog, form of the, and the characters
indicative of the fattening property,
cxi-his early history, and the singu-
lar diversities of feeling with regard
to the use of his flesh, 411-his uni-
versal extension over the Old Conti-
nent, and his multiplication in the
New; his amazing powers of in-
crease, 414-5-the erroneous opinions
entertained regarding his conforma-
tion and habits, 416—his vast import-
ance as a means of subsistence to the
human race, 421-the modes of rear-
ing and fattening him with relation
to his economical uses, 422.
C
Wild, natural history of the, 401
-his former abundance in the woods
of Britain, and his existence at pre-
sent in the forests of various coun-
tries of Europe, 404-accounts of the
hunting of this animal in the coun-
tries of the East, 405-the remark-
able changes effected on his form and
habits under the influence of domes-
tication, 408.
Hogs, Siamese Breed of, 425 the
Breeds of the Island of Papua or
New Guinea, and the South Sea
Islands, 428-the Breeds of Holland,
#
Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden,
and Russia, ib.-the Breeds of the
Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
429-the Breeds of Yorkshire, Lin-
colnshire, and Norfolk, 430-of Suf-
folk and Essex, ib.-of Northampton,
Shropshire, and Rudgwick, 431—of
Berkshire, ib. the Maltese and Nea-
politan Breeds, 433.
Horse, description of the bones and ex-
ternal muscles of the, lxxi-lxxxii
My
his suitable conformation, whether
designed for the exercise of the powers
of speed or of draught, lxxxiii-in-
quiry into the origin and early his-
tory of the domesticated, 456- his
form, habitudes, and instincts, 463-
influence of climate and food on his
form and temperament, 468-the va-
riety in the colour of his hair, 469.
Horses of Africa, 470-of Barbary, 472
of the countries of the Euxine and
Caspian, 473-of Arabia, 474-of Per-
sia and Caubul, 481-of India and
Thibet, 482-4 - of China, Indo-
China, and the Eastern Islands,
484 of Chinese and Independent
Tartary, 486- of Siberia, 488 - of
the Ukraine, ib. — of ancient and
modern Greece, 489-of ancient and
modern Italy, 490-of Spain, 491-of
France, 492-of Germany, Denmark,
Holland, and Flanders, 493—of Scan-
dinavia, 494-naturalization of the
Horse in America; his escape from
human control, and multiplication
in the state of liberty; the habits
of the emancipated herds, and the
modes of capturing them, 494—ac-
quisition of the Horse by the In-
dians, and the remarkable conse-
quences, 499-Horses of South Ame-
rica, 501-of Mexico, of Canada, of
the United States, and of the West
India Islands, 501-3-Horses of the
British Islands, 503-their employ-
ment in war-chariots by the ancient
Celtæ, in the manner of the nations of
the East, ib. - the colonization of
Western Europe by the Celtæ and
Teutones; and the occupation of
the British Islands by the former
people at the time of the Roman Inva-
sion, 504-account of the Roman In-
vasion and the Saxon Colonization,
and the small influence of these
-
J
4
events in altering the characters of
the ancient Horses, 506-9-the im-
portant changes effected on the Horses
of England after the Norman Con-
quest, by the importation of the
Horses of foreign countries, 509—
the institution of the Course, and
its effect in forming a race of
Horses destined exclusively for run-
ning, and employed to communi-
cate their properties to the inferior
races, 512-Horses of the Zetland
Islands; their resemblance to the
Horses of Norway, and mixed line-
age; their diminutive size and va-
rious colours; their sagacity and
docility, 514-Horses of the Orkney
Islands; their small size and various
colours, 516-Horses of the Outer and
Inner Hebrides, 517-of the High-
lands of Scotland, 519-of Wales, ib.
of Dartmoor, Exmoor, Hampshire,
and the older Forests of England,
520 the Pack-horses of England,
521-the Galloways of the Border
counties, 522-the Horses of Conna-
mara, in the west of Ireland; their
Spanish origin; the neglect of the
breed, and the means of improving
it, 523.
P
INDEX.
Hunter, the progressive steps in the
formation of the characters of the
modern, 588-distinction between the
characters and form of the Race-
horse and of the Hunter, ib.—the high
estimation in which the English
Hunter is held, and the great drain
of the breeding mares to foreign
countries, 590-difference between
the older system of hunting and that
now pursued, and the effect of the
increased speed of the modern chase
upon the characters of the Horses
employed, 591–5.
Hyæna, natural history of the, 624.
Ibex, Alpine, 5.
Caucasian, 8.
Nubian, 8.
Siberian, 8.
Irish Breed of Cattle, Polled, 327—its
external characters, probable origin, |
and the rapid diminution of its num-
bers from crossing with the Short-
horned breed, ib.
Jackal, natural history of the, 650-his
761
eminent susceptibility of domestica-
tion, 635.
Jahral Goat, 10.
Jemlah Goat, 9.
C
Kerry Breed of Cattle, 309-its exter-
nal characters, excellence of its beef,
and its power of subsisting on scanty
food, ib.-peculiar adaptation of the
Cows to the domestic dairy, and their
great value, on this account, to the
tenantry of Ireland, 310- inatten-
tion of the breeders to the preserva-
tion of the purity of the stock, ib.—
origin of the Dexter variety of this
breed, ib. result of crossing the
breed with the larger races, and the
importance of maintaining its purity,
311.
Kerry Breed of Sheep, 75-its external
characters, the quality of its wool, its
slow fattening properties, and the ex-
cellence of its mutton, 76-notices of
the ancient forests of Ireland, and the
change which the country has under-
gone by their destruction, 77-rude-
ness of the sheep-husbandry of the
bogs and mountains, 78-remarks on
the defective relations between land-
lord and tenant, 79.
Leicester, New, Breed of Sheep, 190-
its formation by Robert Bakewell of
Dishley; the principles and practice
of breeding adopted by him, and the
eminent success of his experiments,
ib.-question as to the original of this
breed, 193—its size, form, wool, and
property of arriving at early matu-
rity of muscle and fatness, 195–
Bakewell's system of letting rams on
hire, and its effect in extending the
influence and preserving the purity
of the breed, 196-examination of his
principles of breeding, 198-general
diffusion of the New Leicester Breed,
and its influence in improving the
other Sheep of the country, 199—
remarks on the objections urged
against the extension of the breed,
200.
Lincoln, Old, Breed of Sheep, 169—
distinction between the Short and
Long woolled Sheep of England, and
the arrangement of the latter into
those inhabiting the inland plains,
and those inhabiting the fens and al-
762
luvial country, ib.-derivation of the
Old Lincoln breed from the fens and
marshes of Lincolnshire and the ad-
joining districts, 170—the coarseness
of its form, the weight and quality
of its fleece, its slow fattening pro-
perties, and the changes which it un-
derwent by crossing with the New
Leicester breed, 171-the Modern
Lincoln Breed, and its properties, 174.
Long-horned Breed of Cattle, 367-its
naturalization for an unknown pe-
riod in Ireland and the western
counties of England; and the dis-
tinction between it and the other
races of the country, 368-external
characters of the older breed, its
slow fattening properties, and the
adaptation of the females to the dairy,
369-improvement of the breed by
Mr Webster of Canley, and after-
wards by Robert Bakewell of Dish-
ley, 371-the principles of breeding
adopted by Bakewell in the forma-
tion of his improved breed; its high
reputation, and extensive diffusion,
372-6-description of the Dishley
breed its size, form, colour, and fa-
culty of fattening, 376-defects of the
breed: inferior quality of the beef;
tendency to the accumulation of fat
on particular parts of the body; and
deficiency of the females in the power
of yielding milk, ib.-decline of the
reputation of the breed in conse-
quence of its inferiority for the pur-
pose of grazing, 377.
Long-woolled, Older, Breeds of Sheep,
180-the Old Teeswater breed, the
Old Warwickshire breed, the breeds
of the Western counties, and of De-
vonshire and Somersetshire; and the
important changes effected on them
by admixture with the New Leices-
ter breed, 180-3-the Long-woolled
Sheep of Ireland; their ancient cha-
racters, progressive improvement,and
present condition, 183.
✰
"
INDEX.
Malay or Polynesian Family of Man-
kind, xli.
Maltese breed of Swine, 433.
Mastiff, 723.
Merino Breed of Sheep, 126-the cli-
mate of Spain, and the great diver-
sity of its surface and natural pro-
ductions, ib.—the foreign invasions
and civil convulsions of the country:
its conquest by the Carthagenians,
127 by the Romans, 128-by the
Goths, 129-by the Moors, 130—its
ultimate restoration to the Christians,
the final expulsion of the Moors, and
the progressive decline of arts and
industry, 131-3-inquiry into the
origin of the Merino breed of Sheep,
133-its external characters, and the
peculiar properties of its wool, 136—
its slow fattening powers, and the
inferiority of the ewes as nurses, ib.
the stationary and migratory Sheep
of Spain; and the injurious system
of management adopted with regard
to the latter, 138-history of the na-
turalization of the Merino breed in
different countries: in Sweden, 141-
in France, 142-in Saxony, 143-in
Prussia, ib.-in Austria, Germany,
and other countries of Europe, 144—
in England; unfavourable results of
the experiments; and objections to
the cultivation of the breed, 145-
extension of the breed to New Hol-
land; its prodigious multiplication,
the delicacy and softness of the fleece,
and the great importance of its pro-
duction in these colonies to the manu-
facturing interests of Great Britain,
150.
Mexican Wolf, 661.
Milk, chemical composition of, 267-
use of it as food by the earliest people,
together with its products, butter and
cheese, 268-the milk of different
species of animals: of the Domestic
Cow, the Buffalo, and the Yak, 271—
of the Camel, ib.—of the Goat, 272–
of the Ewe, 273—of the Rein-deer, ib.
-of the Mare, 274 of the Ass, 275–
methods of separating it into its seve-
ral products, viz., Skimmilk, 275—
Butter and Buttermilk, 276-Cheese,
ib.-Whey, 277.
Mongolian Family of Mankind, xl.
Mouflon d'Afrique, 25.
Mule, his value as a beast of burden in
rocky countries, 444-his employment
from the earliest times in rural la-
bours and otherwise, 445-the breeds
of Spain, ib.-expediency of extend-
ing his cultivation in the British Is-
lands, 446.
INDEX.
Musk Ox of North America, natural his-
tory of the, 214.
Musmon of the Caucasus, 25-of Nepaul,
26.
Neapolitan Breed of Swine, 433—re-
sult of crossing it with the Swine of
England, ib.
Negro Family of Mankind, xli.
Newfoundland Dog, 711.
Norfolk, Old, Breed of Sheep, 114-its
derivation from the high lands of
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, ib.
-its external characters, the quality |
of its wool, and its affinity with the
Black-faced Heath breed, ib., 115 —
the excellence of its mutton, 116-the
system of crossing with the Leicester
and South Down breeds for the pur-
pose of obtaining lambs superior to
the native stock, and the effect of this
system in diminishing the number of
the pure breed, ib.-its useful proper-
ties and defects, 117.
Nubian or Abyssinian Ibex, 8.
Orkney Islands, Cattle of the, 299
their intermixture in blood with the
Cattle of the Northern Highlands, ib.
Ox, form of the, xcix-the characters
indicative of the fattening proper-
ty, cii-early domestication and his-
tory of the, 242-its habitudes and
instincts, 45-9-its multiplication in
the state of liberty in the plains of
South America, and the characters
and habits of the emancipated herds,
251-its size and form, as influenced
by climate, the supplies of food, and
domestication, 264-diversity of the
races naturalized in the British
Islands, 265.
763
ters to the Pembroke, but of larger
size and coarser form, 306-the mixed
descent of the other cattle of Wales,
307-the means of improving the cat-
tle-husbandry of the country, ib.
Penistone Breed of Sheep, 118-its ex-
ternal characters, quality of its wool,
and excellence of its mutton, ib.-its
affinity with the Black-faced Heath
Breed, ib.—the general inferiority of
the breed, and the adaptation of the
Cheviot Breed to the district occupied
by it, 119.
Pointer, 743.
Portland, Isle of, Sheep of the, 125—
their small size, the quality of their
wool, and their delicate mutton, ib.
Prairie Dogs of North America, 659.
Quagga, Common, 449-Striped, 450.
/
Race-courses of the British Islands, 538
-Newmarket, ib.-Epsom, 540-As-
cot, Goodwood, and York, 542-Don-
caster, &c., 543-—the Curragh of Kil-
dare, 544-the practice of racing with
half-bred horses, and objections to it,
ib.-inferiority of the Arabs and
other Oriental Horses for the Turf,
546-regulations relative to the ba-
lancing of the powers of the Horses
by weights; and the former and pre-
sent practice of the Turf regarding
the weights to be carried, 548-private
trials of the speed of Horses and the
results of the practice, 550-the classes
of persons connected with the Course:
the Stable-boys; their duties, ha-
bits, and the means of bettering their
condition, 553-the Jockeys; their
qualifications, modes of riding, and
the system of wasting or training to
which they are subjected, 556-exam-
ples of this class in the case of Buckle,
Chifney the elder and younger, Ro-
binson and others, 559-the Training-
grooms, and public establishments
for training, 562-the Owners of
Horses, and influential supporters of
the Turf: the Duke of Cumberland,
Mr O'Kelly, the Earls of Grosvenor
and Derby, &c., 563—the Duke of
Queensberry, 565-the Prince of
Wales, 566-Earl Fitzwilliam, Charles
James Fox, Sir Henry Vane Tem-
pest, &c., 568-the other classes of
Papuan or New Guinea Hog, 428.
Peccaries of America, Collared and
White-lipped, 399.
Pembroke Breed of Cattle, 304-iden-
tity of its characters with those of
the White Forest Breed; its colour,
size, and form; the excellence of its
flesh, and adaptation of the females
to the dairy, ib.-error of intermixing
it with other breeds, 305-affinity
of the other Mountain Breeds of
Wales with it, ib.-the Anglesea
Breed; allied in its essential charac-
L
764
INDEX.
persons who support the Turf for the
purposes of amusement and gambling,
569-remarks on the institution of
the Course as a system of Public
Games, 570-and on the fraudulent
practices which have been introduced
into it, as the withdrawing of horses,
the running to lose, deceptive trials,
the getting up of favourites, the
betting by jockeys and trainers, 573
-continued exemplification of these
abuses in the proceedings of the
modern Turf, and the propriety of
legislative interference in order to
curb them, 578-remarks on the in-
jurious effects of the present system
of Short races, and running the Colts
before they have acquired the neces-
sary maturity of bone and muscle,
584.
Race-horse, the progressive steps in the
formation of the characters of the
modern, 512—notices of the principal
Horses which have contributed to
that end, and their distinction on the
Turf: the White and Byerly Turks,
Herod, the Darley Arabian, the Fly-
ing Childers, Eclipse, the Godolphin
Barb, Lath, and Matchem, 527-re-
cording of the pedigrees of the Horses
of the Turf, and its importance in
preserving the purity of descent, 531
-the conformation and colour of the
Race-horse, 533—his rearing, educa-
tion, and training, 535.
Radnor Breed of Sheep, 66-its affinity
with the Breed of the Higher Welsh
Mountains, ib.
Rocky-Mountain Sheep, 24.
Romney Marsh Breed of Sheep, 174–
description of the alluvial district of
the Romney Marsh, 175-characters
of the ancient race of Sheep reared
upon it, 176-the changes effected on
them by intermixture with the New
Leicester Breed, 177-examination
of the arguments used against the
introduction of the New Leicester
Breed, 178.
Ryeland Breed of Sheep, 155-account
of the district of the Ryelands, and
origin of the breed, ib.-fineness of
its wool, and the system formerly
practised in order to preserve and
increase it, 156-its small size, good
form, and the excellence of its mut-
ton, 157-failure of the experiments
in crossing it with the Spanish Meri-
nos, 158—progressive diminution in
its numbers, in consequence of the
introduction of more valuable breeds,
159-notices of the minor varieties of
this breed, 159.
Scotland, ancient Soft-woolled Sheep
of, 63 their external characters,
wild habits, and hardy properties, ib.
Setter, 744.
Sheep, form of the, cvii-the characters
indicative of the property of fatten-
ing readily, and of the faculty of pro-
ducing wool, cix-its external cha-
racters, as distinguished from those
of the Goat, 22-the Wild species:
the Argali of Asia, 23—the Rocky-
Mountain Sheep, 24-the Bearded
Argali, ib.—the Musmon of the Cau-
casus, 25—the Mouflon d'Afrique, ib.
the Musmon of Nepaul, 26-question
of the origin of the domesticated
races, 27-their ancient subjugation;
and early acquaintance of the people
of the East with the arts of weaving
and dyeing their wool, 28-influence
of domestication upon its characters
and habits, 30-variety in the proper-
ties and colour of its wool, 32-diver-
sities of the domesticated races, 33—
the flat-tailed sheep of Asia, the short-
tailed Sheep of Northern Asia,and the
large-tailed Syrian or Turkish Sheep,
ib. the fat-rumped Sheep of the
countries of the Caspian, 34 — the
Sheep of Persia, Tartary, China, and
the Eastern Islands, 35-the Sheep of
Hindostan, 36-the Sheep of North-
ern Africa, of the countries of the Red
Sea, and of Western and Southern
Africa, ib.-the Sheep of ancient
Europe, and inquiry as to the time
and mode of their introduction into it,
37-the short-tailed Sheep of North-
ern Europe, and the polycerate Sheep
of Iceland, 38-the Sheep of Euro-
pean Turkey, Greece, and the Islands
of the Archipelago, 39-of the coun-
tries of the Danube, ib.- of ancient
and modern Italy, and of Sicily, ib.
-of Spain, 40 of the British
Islands, 41.
Madag
Shepherd's Dog, 706.
Short-horned Breed of Cattle, 379–
1
difference between the characters of
the Long-horned Cattle of Ireland and
the western counties of England, and
those of the eastern and drier coun-
ties towards the German Ocean, ib.
-resemblance of the latter to the
Cattle of Holland, Holstein, and Jut-
land, ib.-importation of Cattle from
Holland and the countries of the
Elbe, and their intermixture with the
native races, 380-the Cattle of the
district of the Tees; their former
characters, and progressive changes,
and their ultimate improvement by
Charles and Robert Colling, in the
county of Durham, ib.-principles of
breeding adopted by Charles Colling;
the information possessed regarding
his early practice; the means by
which he perfected his stock, and the
reputation which it acquired, 381-4
-sale and dispersion of his stock in
1810, and of Robert Colling's stock
in 1818, 384 description of the
modern Teeswater or Durham Breed:
its size, colour, and form; its faculty
of arriving at early maturity and at
a greater weight than any other race
of cattle of the same age, 387—its
extensive diffusion, and great econo-
mical importance, 388-principles to
be observed in the further cultiva-
tion of the breed, 389.
Siamese Breed of Swine, 425-its wide
diffusion in the countries of Eastern
Asia, ib.-its form and properties, ib.
the Chinese variety of this breed,
its introduction into England, and
the beneficial results of intermixing
it with the native races, 426.
Siberian Ibex, 8.
Sledge-Dogs of the Arctic Regions, 700.
Somersetshire Sheeted Breed of Cattle,
M
INDEX.
350-its adaptation to the dairy; ex-
cellence of its beef; diminution of its
numbers, ib.
South Down Breed of Sheep, 160
notices of the Short-woolled Sheep of
England, and the diversities produced
by food, climate, and place, ib.—ac-
count of the South Down Hills of Sus-
sex, their adaptation to the rearing
of a race of fine Sheep, and the cha-
racters of the original breed occupy-
ing them, 162 — description of the
modern South Down breed: its ex-
paddy
765
ternal form, excellent mutton, and
power of arriving at early maturity,
163-progressive improvement of the
breed by Mr Ellman and others,
164-its wide diffusion, chiefly in the
dry and calcareous parts of England,
166-weight and quality of its wool,
167.
A
South Sea Islands, Hog of the, 428.
Spaniel, 744.
Stag-Hound, 739.
St Bernard, Great Dog of, 732.
Suffolk Breed of Cattle, Polled, 322-
its size, form, and colour, ib.—its cul-
tivation from an early period in the
county of Suffolk, 323-its admirable
adaptation to the dairy, but defec-
tive fattening properties, 324-the
attempts to improve it for the pur-
pose of rendering it suited to grazing
as well as the dairy, 326.
Suffolk Punch Breed of Horses, 618–
its colour, form, and powers of
draught, 619-system of crossing pur-
sued with the larger Horses of York-
shire and Durham, 620-its supe-
riority to the English Black Horse
for activity and endurance, and the
demand which has arisen for it for
the purposes of the dray and waggon,
ib.
Sussex Breed of Cattle, 351-account of
the Wealden of Sussex, ib.—affinity
of this breed to the North Devon ;
its larger size and coarser form, 353
-itsexternal characters, and deficient
milking properties, ib.-its employ-
ment for draught, and adaptation to
that service, ib.-comparison between
the Horse and Ox for the purposes of
farm-labour, 354.
Terrier, 747.
Uri or Wild Oxen of the ancient Fo-
rests of Europe, 232-their former
abundance in the forests surrounding
London, and in the great central fo-
rests of Scotland, 234-their preser-
vation in the parks of individuals in
Great Britain; and their characters
and habits in the unreclaimed state,
235-9-ancient notices of those ex-
isting in Wales, and their preserva-
tion in the county of Pembroke in
the state of domestication, 239—their
4
766
INDEX.
existence in Italy, Sweden, and the
Pyrenees, 240-examination of the
objections urged against their iden-
tity with the Mountain Cattle of Scot-
land and Wales, 241.
Wales, Soft-woolled Sheep of, 67—their
external characters, wild habits, and
the excellence of their mutton, 68-
economical value of their wool, 69–
affinity of the Anglesea and Old Rad-
nor breeds with them, ib,-the bad
treatment of the Sheep, and the
means of improving them, 70.
Wart-bearing Hogs of Africa, 398.
Water-Spaniel, English, 746.
Welsh Mountains, Higher, Sheep of the,
64- their external characters, the
nature of their fleece, and their wild
habits, 65-reason why they remain
distinct from the other Sheep of
Wales, ib.-the change produced in
their characters when naturalized in
a lower range of pastures, 66-affinity
of the Radnor and other Sheep of
Wales with them, ib.-the means of
improving them, 67.
West Highland Breed of Cattle, 300-
general characters of the Cattle oc-
cupying the Highlands of Scotland;
and their identity with the Uri of
the ancient forests, ib.-the charac-
ters indicative of the faculty of ar-
riving at early maturity, and, at the
same time, of adaptation to a country
of mountains; and the existence of
these characters in the West High-
land Breed, 302-deficiency of the
Cows in the power of yielding milk,
303-importance of maintaining the
purity of the breed, 304.
Wicklow Mountains, Sheep of the, 71
-adaptation of the soil and climate
of Ireland to the rearing of Sheep,
ib.-the breeds of the country di-
vided into those of the mountains
and those of the plains, 72-descrip-
tion of the Breed of the Wicklow
Mountains: its affinity with the Soft-
woolled Sheep of Wales; its exter-
nal characters, the excellence of its
mutton, and its wild habits, 73-
adaptation of the ewes to the rearing
of lambs for winter consumption, 74
-continual diminution in the num-
ber of the pure breed in consequence
of crossing, ib.
Wild or White Forest Breed of Cattle,
296-its identity with the Urus of the
ancient Forests, ib.-its existence in
the county of Pembroke, and in dif-
parts of England, ib.
Wiltshire, Old, Breed of Sheep, 120-
its external characters, the fineness
of its wool, and the quality of its mut-
ton ib.-near extinction of the breed
in consequence of the preference
given to the South Downs, ib.—no-
tice of extinct breeds allied to it,
122.
Wolf, Common,
Common, 626-Black, 627-
Dusky, ib.-natural history of the,
627-his former abundance in the
forests of Europe, and the gradual
diminution of his numbers with the
progress of settlement and cultiva-
tion, 634-his susceptibility of do-
mestication, 636-his power of pro-
creating with the common Dogs, and
producing a fruitful progeny, 640
examination of the arguments urged
against his identity with certain of
the domesticated Dogs, 642-the Wolf
of the Eastern Islands, 645-the
Mexican Wolf, 661.
Wolf-dog, Irish, 722.
Wool, variety in the properties and
colour of, 32-how chiefly distin-
guished from hair, 41-influence of
domestication in developing the wool
of the Sheep, 42-remarks on the
shearing of it, ib.-method of sepa-
rating the fine from the coarse wool
in a fleece, 43-its eminent adapta-
tion to the reception of colours by
dyeing, ¿b.—its distinction into the
Long and Short kinds, ib.-descrip-
tion of the process of Combing, 44-
of Carding, 45-of Felting, ib.-of
Fulling, 46.
K
Woollen Manufacture of Great Britain,
injurious effects of the law of 1819
upon the, 48-history and progres-
sive increase of the, 50-its great im-
portance as a branch of national in-
dustry, 57.
Yak of Tartary, natural history of the,
215-its economical value in the
countries which it inhabits, 217.
1
:
INDEX.
York, Durham, and Northumberland,
Horses of the counties of, 614.
767
their wool, 60-rudeness of their
general treatment, ib.—the means of
improving them, 62.
Zetland Islands, Cattle of the, 296-
their Norwegian origin, external cha-
racters, and the precocity and milk-
ing properties of the females, ib.—
their rude condition and careless
treatment, 298-means to be employ-
ed for improving them, 299.
Zebra, natural history of the, 448.
Zebu, African, 260-its domestication
all over Africa, 262.
Indian, 255-its domestication
in the countries of the East, 256,
Zetland and Orkney Islands, Sheep of
the, 58—their external characters, and
wild habits, ib.—economical value of
THE END.
FRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH.
#-----
5
+
{
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