THE NORSE CONTINGENT 67 



Iceland." Mittendorff, 1 maintains that they are 

 the lineal descendants of the hornless cattle of 

 the Ancient Scythians, mentioned by Herodotus, 

 and that they wandered north from the south 

 of modern Russia, and then westwards into 

 Scandinavia. If this be so, then it may be 

 possible some day to trace them still farther 

 back either into Asia or to the hornless cattle of 

 the early Egyptians. For the present, however, 

 we are concerned with them in Scandinavia, and 

 two quotations will be sufficient to show that the 

 hornless race makes itself manifest there precisely 

 as it has done in Britian. The first quotation is 

 from a letter received from Professor Isaachsen 

 of Aas, in Norway : " As to our cattle up to the 

 year 1600, we know very little. But in these 

 days, like in ours, there were several distinct 

 breeds in our country, and probably they have 

 not changed their characteristics very much. 

 Especially in the western and south-western 

 parts of Norway, the so-called * Westland,' from 

 which part of the country the first settlers are 

 supposed to have come to your country, the 

 breed is partly horned, partly polled, about half 

 the animals being polled, I think. The colour 

 of the breed is either black, dun, red, or grey, 

 whole-coloured or with small or large white 

 marks or spots. In the south-eastern parts of 



1 See Landwirtschaftliche Jahrbucher^ vol. xvii., 1888, pp. 

 299, 300. 



