WILD CATTLE. 39 



settlement and enclosure of the land displaced them in time, and 

 they are now found chiefly in distant and seldom-visited parts. 



It is difficult to find exact records of the introduction of cattle 

 into New Zealand. They were no doubt brought over by the 

 missionaries, and also by the whalers who settled along the coast. 

 Thus in 1833 John Bell set out from Sydney for Mana Island, in 

 Cook Strait, with ten head of cattle and 102 sheep. Apart from 

 a reference _in Marsden's journal to the landing of some cattle, this 

 is the first record I can find since the days of Cook and Vancouver. 

 In 1839 E. J. Wakefield saw wild cattle on the hills at the entrance 

 of Pelorus Sound. In 1840 he states that they were abundant on 

 Kapiti, and says that they were the descendants of some which 

 were given to the Natives in exchange for flax. The Hon. S. Thome 

 George, writing to me four years ago, said, " When I first went to 

 Kawau, in 186$, there was a large number of wild cattle. The 

 island was originally occupied as a cattle-station, but owing to the 

 rough country and heavy bush very many were lost and became 

 quite wild." Mr. A. C. Yarborough, of Kohukohu, informs me 

 that forty years ago wild cattle were very numerous in all the bush 

 country, and in those days Hokianga and the large areas of the west 

 coast of the Island north of Auckland were nearly all covered with 

 bush. The Natives used to kill them in large quantities for the 

 sake of their hides, which were valued at 6s. to 12s. each. In later 

 years these wild cattle have been driven farther and farther back, 

 until they are now found only in the ranges distant from settle- 

 ment. These cattle are merely the descendants of tame ones which 

 have wandered, the Maoris' fences being usually of a defective 

 character. 



The wild cattle of these early days were an extremely mixed lot, 

 and it is hard to say to what breed they were most nearly allied. 

 Shorthorns, Ayrshire, and Polled Angus were commonly mixed in 

 the South Island, but all sorts of strains were represented. 



Mr. B. C. Aston, who crossed over part of the Wellington 

 district in 1914 and 1915, says, " Wild cattle are abundant in 

 unfrequented valleys and gorges of the Tararua Range. They are 

 apparently Hereford cattle gone wild. They eat out many species 

 of native plants, and have destroyed great numbers of Lig'nsticum 

 dissectum, which is one of the most abundant and characteristic 

 plants of the higher ground." He adds that cattle are particularly 



