600 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE SrOCK ANT> COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



Christ, speaks of a "fair heifer ;" and Virgil, about the time of the Chris- 

 tian era, wrote admiringly of the beautiful cattle of the Roman Campag- 

 nas, and of their value in husbandry. 



The Egyptians worshipped the bull Apis, and, it is probable that they 

 were the first to domesticate the ox. T.'iat the domestication of horned 

 cattle was anterior to that of the horse is more than probable. 

 III. The Original Type. 



What the first cattle were like is mainly a matter of conjecture. The 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics, the most ancient known, leave us entirely in the 

 dark as to what the cattle of that remote antiquity resembled. No 

 description of the original type has come down to us. The earliest draw- 

 ings, or pictures of cattle, represent them as being rugged in form, of 

 great length, gaunt, and with upright, spreading horns, somewhat like the 

 descendants of Spanish cattle now running wild in Central America. 



rv. Undomesticated Herds of Eoirope and Asia. 

 The Steppes of Tartary still nourish vast droves of semi-wild cattle, 

 that are not regularly herded, and are wild to all intents and purposes. 

 In Hungary, also, and in Russia, and on the grassy plains of all the more 

 temperate climates of Asia, herds of cattle al^ound that are as wild as 

 neglect on the part of their owners can make them. 



Cattle have been reared by every Celtic nation from the earliest period, 

 and have been regarded by all barbarians and pagan people as the greatest 

 of the divine gifts to man. The herds ran half -wild when ever these tribes 

 migrated, until, as civilization advanced, the least desirable breeds were 

 exterminated, while the fittest survived in a state of real domestication. 

 Descendontsof one of these ancient breeds, are still seen in the Chillinghani 

 eattle of England ; they are wild only because all possible means are used 

 to keep them so. The wHdest and least frequented tracts of two exten- 

 sive parks are set apart for their use. They are probably the descend- 

 ents of the best of the ancient cattle of Great Britian. 



V. Spanish-American Breeds. 



In Texas and on the plains of Mexico, in Central America, and in the 

 sub-tropical and more temperate regions of South America, there are 

 immense herds of cattle, the descendents of animals which escaped Irom 

 the early Spanish invaders. In Spain these fierce, almost untamable cattle 

 are still bred for the barbarous sport witnessed in their buii fightmg 

 arenas, where the animals are pitted against men on foot and on horse- 

 back, until they are tortured to death. 



The cattle of Texas, and the Southwestern plains possess at least one 

 good quality in a high degree — they reproduce rapidly, and take care of 



