AGKICULTURE. 213 



came originally to Mexico is not precisely knoAvn, but without 

 doubt it was in the seventeenth century, soon after the con- 

 quest by Cortes, and they must have been imported from 

 Spain. They are called " Spanish cattle." In Mexico, as sub- 

 sequently in California, they were allowed to run almost wild, 

 and they took something of the appearance of wild animals. 

 They have nearly the same range of colors as the neat cattle 

 of Europe ; but mouse, dun, and brindle colors — almost infal- 

 lible signs of " scrub" blood — are more frequent ; and the deep 

 red, fine cream-color, and delicate mottling of deep red and 

 white, found only in animals of high blood, are entirely want- 

 ing. Their legs are long and thin, their noses sharp, their 

 forms graceful, their heads high, their horns long, slender, and 

 wide-spread ; and they have a duskiness about the ,eyes and 

 nostrils similar to that of the deer, between Avhich animal and 

 a young Spanish cow there are many points of resemblance. 

 The general carriage of the Spanish cow is like that of a wild 

 animal : she is quick, uneasy, restless, frequently on the look- 

 out for danger, snuffing the air, moving with a high and elastic 

 trot, and excited at the sight of a man, particularly if afoot, 

 when she will often attack him. In some counties it is, for this 

 reason, unsafe to go about on foot. The native Californians 

 are ahvays mounted, and to these the cattle are accustomed; 

 but a man afoot is considered to be a dangerous animal, de- 

 serving of the same treatment with wolves and coyotes. The 

 Spanish cow is small, does not fatten readily, produces little 

 milk, and her meat is not so tender and juicy as that of Amer- 

 ican cattle. 



The breeding of neat cattle was almost the only business of 

 the country previous to the American conquest, and they were 

 killed for their hides and tallow, which were the chief exports. 

 The meat went to enrich the land ; there was too much of it 

 to be eaten. The breeding of cattle, being the chief occupa- 

 tion of the Californians, determined their mode of life, the 

 structure of their society, and the size of their ranches. No- 

 body wanted to own less than a square league (four thousand 



