240 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



are now confined to a portion of Australia, they might well 

 be made the subject of some human care which would stop 

 short of domestication. They might be transplanted to 

 other continents and thereby given a larger field for variation 

 as well as a chance to exhibit their features in a wider field. 

 Among the pouched mammals, especially in the species of 

 kangaroo, there are forms which commend themselves as 

 very fair subjects for taming. They are of considerable 

 size, their flesh is palatable, and their hides useful for leather ; 

 they breed rapidly, live on a poor herbage, and are, for wild 

 animals of like strength, very inoffensive. Moreover, though 

 relatively invariable both in mind and body, they exhibit 

 sufficient individual peculiarities to indicate that the breeder's 

 art could, in a short time, bring about considerable changes 

 such as have been effected in other species, changes that 

 would increase the value of these animals. As far as 

 aesthetic or sympathetic relations are concerned, the pouched 

 mammals have nothing to give us ; they are, as befits their 

 lowly estate, among the least graceful of their class ; they 

 are also little interesting in their mental qualities, being 

 about the stupidest of our kindred. 



Among the ordinary .herbivorous mammals there are sev- 

 eral which should be domesticable which have not yet been 

 properly subjected to experiment looking to that end. The 

 American bison, commonly but improperly termed the buf- 

 falo, is a strong creature, one which is easily nourished. In 

 its present condition, it is about as promising a subject for 

 the breeder's care as were the ancestors of our horned cattle. 

 Although there have been sundry trials of this animal as a 

 beast of burthen, they have been of a rude as well as a brief 

 kind, no care having been taken by selection to improve 



