WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN. ETC. 263 



From ancient records we learn that, in the earlv davs of English 

 history, white cattle were valued higher than coloured ones. 

 We are told that 100 white oxen were equal to 150 black oxen. 

 They were utilised as money, and in demand when fines had to be 

 paid. For this reason white cattle were selected, placed in charge 

 of herds, and kept together in enclosures in order to have a supply 

 ready when required. They were domesticated cattle. Many 

 proofs can be adduced in support of this statement. Professor 

 Low pointed out in his " Domestic Animals,"' published in 

 the early part of the century, that in the area in which the Black 

 Pembrokes were reared practically wild, that is, uncontrolled, there 

 was also reared a domesticated breed known as the white forest 

 breed. The story of Twm Sion Catte, who was born in 1590, 

 quoted by Professor Hughes (ojo. cit, p. 24), also illustrates this 

 point — "a pair of oxen were ploughing together, one was black 

 and the other was white. Twm wanted to steal the white ox, so 

 he drew the boy away from his charge by letting out a wired 

 hare in front of his corsji, and. as the dog was gaining on the 

 hare, the boy could not resist the temptation and followed, look- 

 ing back from time to time to see that the white ox, at any rate, 

 was safe. Twm, watching his opportunity, threw a white sheet 

 over the black ox and drove the white ox away.'" The points 

 this story illustrates are, I think, that the white ox was as 

 domesticated as the black ox, but that it w^as regarded as much 

 more valuable we learn from Twm's desire to steal it, and the 

 ploughboy keeping his eye on it. The suggestion made by Mr. 

 Housman is, I think, very probable, namely, that the white cattle 

 were large animals when compared with the native black breeds, 

 and were valued for their size. Compare a Hungarian ox wdth a 

 Kerrv, or even a Kvloe, and some idea of the difference in size, 

 which must have appealed to the eyes of our ancestors, will be 

 apparent. Another illustration that white cattle w^ere domesti- 

 cated can be given from an Irish zoological and topographical 

 poem as old as the ninth century, published in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Ii'ish Academy. The poem begins : — 



" I then went forth to search the lands, 

 To see if I could redeem my chief, 

 And soon returned to noble Tara 

 With the ransom that Cormac required." 



