204 



The Journal of Heredity 



It was necessary that man, kecijinj^ 

 his own jjurposes in mind, should add 

 certain characters to the ^cnotypic 

 composition of the breed, and modify 

 others which were prejudicial to his 

 purposes. 



DEFECTS OF NATIVE CATTLE 



The skeletal structure was too hijijhly 

 develojicd, at the expense of the muscu- 

 lar system, and the exa^j^eratcd horns 

 prevented it from <^razinjf on low herbs 

 and in hilly country. When it was 

 brought from the interior to the com- 

 mercial districts nearer the coast, the 

 breeders there immediately demanded 

 that these prejudicial characters be 

 done away with. 



The goal, then, was to improve the 

 breed from this ]joint of view, and yet 

 to conserve the high yield of milk for 

 which it was noted. It was recollected, 

 in a moment of inspiration, that the 

 Amaro Leite breed of the Goyaz plains 

 presented striking contrast to the 

 franqueiro race, and it was believed 

 that a cross might introduce a hetero- 

 zygous equilibrium of characters, pro- 

 ducing a race of grades which would be 

 well worth breeding. The attemjjt was 

 highly successful. 



From this cross resulted the Caracu. 



Such is the origin of this famous 

 Brazilian breed, as understood by us 

 here in the Triangle. 



No other origin is possible. But we 

 know very well that among those who 

 have studied the Brazilian races of 

 cattle, there is nevertheless a con- 

 troversy over the origin of this breed. 

 Some hold that it comes from the 

 province of Ceara, having as its home 

 the village of Acaracu, whose name in a 

 corrujjted form now designates the 

 breed in question; others reasoning 

 from similar premises, declare that 

 it comes from the remote and ancient 

 city of Kara-Kul in Central Asia, and 

 that the jjrogenitors of the Brazilian 

 breed were brought from there in our 

 colonial period. 



Till-: CARACU A IIVHRII) 



The ]jositive fact, however, aljout the 

 origin of this breed in our Brazilian 

 ranges is that it resulted from a cross 



* t. e., by inbreeding. — The Editor. 



between the Junqueira and the Amaro 

 Leite breed, which latter we call 

 ciirraleiras and which, like most zoo- 

 technists in Brazil, we believe to be 

 derived from the old dolichocephalous 

 animals of Aquitania. 



Thus it is that we possess in the 

 Triangle these two types of cattle, 

 which we believe to be the best in the 

 world for the particular requirements 

 of our native live-stock men. Never- 

 theless, this breed which our ranchers 

 already ])ossess, endowed with such 

 excellent economic qualities, is yet 

 susceptible of great improvement in 

 the manner demonstrated by Bakewell 

 and Colling,- since it cannot maintain 

 itself and preserve its primitive char- 

 acteristics without variation. 



In our imprudent haste to imjjrove it, 

 we have allowed it to degenerate 

 through cross-breeding with the Nile 

 cattle brought to Rio Janeiro for the 

 first time in 1826 and later spread 

 through the fazenda of Sr. Azarias de 

 Souza Dias at S. Antonio do Machado, 

 Minas, and afterwards to Lavras do 

 Funil and eventually to our own zone. 

 Carried away by enthusiasm for the 

 first generation of this cross, which 

 showed the vigor common to all Fi 

 h\'brids, our breeders thought the 

 problem was permanently solved, ceased 

 their efforts and went to sleejD hajjpy 

 over the success of their undertaking. 



In this foolish over-confidence, in 

 their house on foundations of sand, 

 whose imjiending fall they never fore- 

 saw, the fact that they were crossed 

 with a heterozygous breed of doubtful 

 origin never troubled them. 



THE CHINA CATTLE 



After the Nile, the China came to 

 ]jour its blood into the mongrels already 

 in existence. The arrival of this breed 

 dates from 1<S55. Its Brazilian origin 

 was a bull imjjorted in that year by the 

 Baron of Bom Retiro. According to a 

 tradition rej^orted by .some, who believe 

 this breed is really the zebu, it took its 

 name from the fact that it arrived 

 synchronously with a shi])ment of 

 Chinese coolies whom the same l)ar<)n 

 had imported for work on his planta- 

 tion. It is tlius, then, with the crossing 



