PEMBROKESHIRE OR CASTLEMARTIN CATTLE. 205 



that of my father, the late Mr. John Evans, of Mabus, Pem- 

 brokeshire, to a portion of which I succeeded. I have no delicacy 

 at this date in mentioning the fact, for he was the greatest 

 prize-winner of his day, and his cow Euth, that took eight 

 prizes in the shows of Pembroke and Carmarthen, is remem- 

 bered to this day. Some of her blood has impregnated, with 

 improving and characteristic features, the best of the existing 

 herds of Pembrokeshire black cattle. Fiat justitia mat coelum. 



The Pembrokeshire black cattle are the principal stock of 

 the counties of Pembroke, Cardigan, and Carmarthen. The 

 county of Pembroke is divided into two sections, the English 

 and the Welsh speaking population occupying separate districts. 

 The hundred of (^astlemartin, the south-western part of Pem- 

 brokeshire, is, along with the hundred of Eoose, entirely English. 

 The black cattle of Castlemartin were fifty years ago pre-eminent 

 in the county. From their geographical position, and from the 

 greater enterprise of Castlemartin farmers, the Castlemartin 

 cattle had become famous before the other stock of the country. 

 The farmers of North Pembrokeshire, living in the hundreds of 

 Dewsland and Kemes, until recently always resorted to Castle- 

 martin for their bulls, and advertisements of sales of black 

 stock invariably held out as an inducement to purchasers that 

 certain bulls and cows were of the pure Castlemartin breed. 

 At the present time these cattle are characterised as of the 

 ** Pembrokeshire breed" in all such documents, and also in 

 the catalogues of local shows. Careful breeding commenced 

 with the farmers of Castlemartin, and the stock of the country 

 has been much influenced by the use of Castlemartin bulls. 

 The cattle in the hundred of Dewsland are, however, larger 

 than those of Castlemartin, and at the present time are of 

 equal if not of greater merit than the strain so long considered 

 representative of the Pembrokeshire cattle, and which gave them 

 the distinctive name of Castlemartins. 



