294 Dr. J.E. Gray on the Acclimatization of Animals. 
In some parts of this vast continent, the Oxen and the Horse, since 
their introduction from Europe, have so firmly established themselves 
in a half-wild state as to be often hunted and killed for their hides 
alone. 
Australia and the islands of the Pacific have no native domestic ani- 
mals, if we again except the Dog ; and Australia alone has any mam- 
mals sufficiently large to be hunted for their flesh. There formerly 
existed in New Zealand a large bird (the Moa) which was eaten by 
the natives; but it seems to have been exterminated, or nearly so, 
before the colonization of the islands. 
Kuropean animals have been largely and advantageously introduced 
throughout the Pacific Ocean, and in some cases have become wild 
and even dangerous. 
As in Europe, all the domestic animals of these various parts of 
the world appear to have been brought into their present condition 
for many ages, inasmuch as they were all found in a domestic state 
when the several countries were first visited by Europeans. 
And an attentive study of the list, and of the peculiarities of the 
animals composing it, induces me to believe that, in attempting to 
introduce new domestic animals into some of our colonies, it would 
be desirable not to confine ourselves to the European breeds, but to 
ascertain whether some of the domestic races of Asia or Africa might 
not be better adapted to the climate and other conditions of the 
colony, although, for reasons to which I have before adverted, it 
would neither be worth the trouble, nor consistent with good policy, 
to attempt their introduction here. 
There is evidently ample room for such experiments, which might 
be advantageously made, for instance, in the colonies of the coast 
of Africa, where our horse, ass, oxen, sheep, and goats, and even dogs 
have greatly degenerated, where the horse and the ass live only for 
a brief period, where the flesh of the ox and sheep is described as 
bad and rare, and the flesh of the goat, which is more common, is 
said to be tasteless and stringy. The pig alone, of all our domestic 
animals, seems to bear the change with equanimity ; and the produce 
of the “milch pig”’ is often sold to passengers of the mail packets and 
the ships on the stations, as the milk of the cow or even the goat is 
rarely to be obtained. Unfortunately both the white and the black 
inhabitants are merely sojourners in the land, and do not seem to 
possess sufficient energy or inclination to make the experiment them- 
selves. 
Secondly, as regards the introduction of the domestic races of one 
country into another, there can be no doubt that this is amuch more 
important object in relation to our Australian colonies, and other 
settlements planted in waste lands, than it is to the old countries, 
such as all the European states, and that it has been pursued, as far 
as they are concerned, with great success. Dr. George Bennett, in 
the third annual ‘Report of the Acclimatization Society of New 
Holland,’ has well observed, ‘‘ We have lately heard of acclimatiza- 
tion dinners in London and other places, but a dinner in New South 
Wales of food naturalized in the colony occurs every day, and a finer 
