WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 427 



followed by the peasants and beasts that have been blessed. 

 Now-a-days the sacrifice takes the form of an auction (formerly 

 they were burnt), the auctioneer being a churchwarden standing 

 by the side of the banner of St. Cornely. This yearly custom in 

 Brittany supports me in the views I have already expressed, that 

 a study of the folk lore of this country, coupled \vith a study of 

 the ceremonials, festivals, and traditions of the church, will afibrd 

 us a satisfactory explanation why white cattle have been carefully 

 preserved, so that we yet find them preserved in parks. ^ 



Such, then, is the historical evidence I have been able to 

 gather. The white breed which we are in the habit of calling 

 *•' park cattle " and " white cattle " can only be the descendants 

 of a domesticated breed let loose, for they retain and possess all 

 the useful properties of domesticated cattle as permanently as 

 the wild horses of the savannahs of South America and the 

 steppes of Tartary now do, and we know that these horses are 

 descendants of the domesticated horse let loose. 



Modern authorities on live stock agree in stating that the 

 Scotch Highland, Welsh, Kerry, Devon, and Sussex breeds 

 represent very ancient types, and that they are without historical 



^ I trust I mclv be Dardoned if I note here what Mr. J. G. Frazer, of 

 Cambridge, the learned author of Tht Golden Bough, writes to me on 

 the subject of the theory I have advanced as to the origin of park cattle. 

 He says : — " Your theory of the descent of British white cattle from the 

 sacred white cattle of our pagan forefathers, strikes me as ingenious and 

 by no means improbable. It is quite in harmony with what we know 

 of the tenacity of religious custom and tradition under many changes of 

 outward form. But apart from this general consideration, I do not know 

 of any positive evidence (bej^ond what you mention) which supports the 

 theory. You are no doubt acquainted with Pliny's account of the use 

 made of white bulls by the Druids in cutting the mistletoe [Nat, Hid. 

 XVI., §250). 



" With regard to the distinction between white and black victims, the 

 ancients sacrificed white victims to the deities of the upper, and black 

 victims to the deities of the nether world, as also to the dead (K. F. Hermann, 

 Lehrbuch der gottesdicnstlkhen Alterthumer der Griechen, § 26). Among 

 savage and barbarous peoples black victims are sacrificed to procure rain, 

 and white ones to procure sunshine (Golden Bough, I., p. 17 scg. ; the 

 examples there given might be added to), the colour of the victim being 

 obviously selected with reference to the black rain clouds and white sunshine. 



" I am afraid that this is all that I can say as to your ingenious 

 hypothesis and in answer to your inquiries." 



