102 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



From written and unwritten evidence, we know that man 

 first tamed smaller animals, such, as the dog, the pig, and the 

 goat. Dogs and pigs are omnivorous and required therefore 

 very little care ; the goat is at least omnivorous as far as 

 plants are concerned. A much more important step forward 

 was made when the domestication of such large animals as 

 cattle and horses was accomplished. 



Several species of wild cattle lived in Europe and Asia in 

 prehistoric times, and furnished, no doubt, the most impor- 

 tant large game for primitive man. All species of wild 

 cattle are gregarious ; that is, they live in large herds, in 

 which the stronger males are the leaders. Man probably 

 first tried simply to keep these wild herds together and 

 retain them within the territory of his tribe. Thus the first 

 step was taken to tame and domesticate these large beasts. 

 Animals captured as calves were no doubt the first ones 

 entirely tamed and domesticated. These tamed beasts 

 would naturally be used to carry or drag some of the prop- 

 erty, when their masters sought another camping place. 

 After a tribe had become permanently settled and was com- 

 pelled to depend partly on agriculture for its food supply, it 

 was an easy step to yoke their pack oxen to a rudely con- 

 structed plough. The advantage of a people who possessed 

 domesticated cattle over those who had none can hardly be 

 overestimated. The former were in possession of an almost 

 inexhaustible food supply, and on the backs of their beasts 

 or on rude wagons they could move their families and their 

 property to any desired place. At first, man did not use the 

 milk of his beasts, and he, no doubt, first learned to milk 

 smaller animals like the goat ; but when he did learn to pro- 

 cure and use the milk of cattle, another large food supply 

 was added to his dietary. History teaches us that all 

 nations who did not have some large, strong beast of biirden 

 never attained to any high degree of civilization. Our own 



