THE DUTCH SUPREMACY 105 



Wales, excepting, perhaps, in the south, where 

 there may have been some small red cattle of 

 North Devon type. Knowing the superiority 

 of the cattle in England, many owners of land 

 in Ireland sent there for cattle, and Lancashire 

 and the western counties being most convenient 

 for transit, as well, perhaps, as possessing the 

 most superior cattle, were naturally resorted to. 

 Eventually, as in the south of England, the 

 Longhorn overran the most desirable parts of 

 the country, and, at the time of Arthur Young's 

 visit (1776-78) they and their cousins that had 

 been graded up from the original black Celtic 

 stock, and were now for the most part pure 

 Longhorns, were in possession of the great 

 central plain of Ireland, from one side of the 

 country to the other, and of the fertile valleys and 

 smaller plains running into it from both sides : 

 the native cattle having been driven into the 

 higher and less fertile regions to the north and 

 to the south. At the same time considerable 

 numbers of Longhorn cattle were carried else- 

 where for colonising purposes. They were 

 carried into Wales, the north of England, Scot- 

 land, and even to the Orkney Islands, but in 

 these at that time somewhat backward countries, 

 although they left signs of their visits, they made 

 no great progress. 



Hemmed in on the south by the Longhorns, 

 on the west by the Pennine Chain and the 



