INDIAN CATTLE. 73 



hampered and sometimes prevented by the plague which carries off 

 cattle so frequently in times of war. This is no fanciful picture, but 



;i stern reality familiar to district officers and veterinary surgeons, 

 and painfully evident to Government in its effects on the revenues 

 which are reduced to a minus quantity through the necessity of 

 supplying grain or fresh bullocks to the cultivators. 



We often hear surprise expressed that in India care is bestowed on 

 eat tic, which ought to first be given to man; but it must be remem- 

 bered that in supplying to cattle adequate medical treatment, suffi- 

 ciency of fodder, legislative protection from cruelty, and a special 

 Department to look after their welfare, the public and its Govern- 

 ment are but following the dictates of necessity, and fulfilling the 

 requirements of human existence and welfare in this countiy. The 

 Cow Protection Movement, the development of Pinjrapolcs, and the 

 retention alive throughout the country of poor brutes suffering from 

 debility, wounds, or disease are merely exaggerated expressions of a 

 deep current of religious feeling (and of the sound policy which 

 underlies it) with regard to cattle. In this land of ancient and 

 venerable faiths, various rulers have from time to time shown an 

 enlightened policy as regards cattle protection. Even the Mogul 

 Emperors found it judicious to repress any tendency of their fol- 

 lowers to wound the susceptibilities of their Hindoo subjects, and, 

 among Mussulman sovereigns, Hyder AH and his son Tippoo Sahib 

 of Mysore have rendered most excellent services lasting to the present 

 day in their fostering care of the Amrut Mahal breed of cattle, one of 

 the finest in India. History shows that the Hindoo princes, as in 

 Kathiawar, Malwar, Ncllore, and elsewhere, also have succeeded in 

 development of fine breeds of cattle, and, indeed, the Mysore dates its 

 fame and origin from the time of Hindoo rule before Hyder. 



The Governments of the Honorable Company and that of Her 

 Imperial Majesty have been not unmindful of this important matter. 

 Thus, there is at Hissar in the Punjab a large and important eat tie- 

 breeding farm, the influence of which- is widely spread through 

 northern India. In Mysore until recently the Amrut-Mahal estab- 

 lishment at Hoonsoor was under the Madras Government, but a few 

 years ago it was transferred to the Mysore State, and now attempts 

 to improve breeding operations are being carried out more less 



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