DAYS IN THE WOODS 283 



certain extent taken by the cattle originally im- 

 ported from Europe. The shaggy-headed, short- 

 horned bison passes from the scene, and with it 

 the painted whooping savage, naked himself, and 

 on a naked horse pursuing his natural prey with 

 bow or spear ; and in their place come herds 

 of long-horned, savage-tempered, Spanish cattle, 

 tended and driven by men wild to look at, strange 

 of speech, and picturesque in garment, but white 

 men and very different beings from the Indian 

 hunters that came before them. Though Texas 

 may be called the home of the Spanish cattle, 

 and though vast unnumbered herds pasture on 

 its luxuriant grasses, yet States lying further to 

 the north are more suitable for cattle-breeding 

 purposes. A mountainous country, affording, as 

 it does, shelter in winter and some variety of 

 temperature, is better adapted for cattle than the 

 plains, which are either parched by the summer's 

 sun, or covered with the snows of winter. 



On the great plains extending west from Mani- 

 toba to the Rocky Mountains, the snow does not 

 lie so deep as it does in districts within the same 

 degrees of latitude, but further to the south, and 

 consequently that country is well adapted by 

 nature for stock-raising. But until means of cheap 



