82 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



CHAPTER III. 



DIFFERENT BREEDS OP OXEN. 



Before we commence to describe briefly the various kinds of 

 oxen met with in England, we must first point out that they 

 have been crossed to a very considerable extent. It is, moreover, 

 a matter of great difficulty to decide which variety of the nume- 

 rous kinds of cattle now existing in Great Britain is to be looked 

 upon as most nearly resembling what we may consider the 

 original British breed to have been. Whether the middlehorns 

 or the longhorns are to be so regarded, it is next to impossible 

 to decide positively. As for the shorthorns, they are evidently of 

 foreign extraction, and polled cattle, although they have existed 

 in certain districts for as long a time as the residents can re- 

 member, are, nevertheless, in all probability to be considered 

 as examples of variation. On the whole, however, the evidence 

 at our disposal seems to show that the middlehorns constitute 

 the original British breed, and that the longhorned cattle came 

 in the first instance from Ireland. 



Now, it is clear that when the ancient inhabitants of Great 

 Britain were at various times repulsed and driven before the 

 invading foe they carried away their cattle to their strongholds 

 in North Devon and Cornwall, or to the more mountainous dis- 

 tricts of Wales, or even to the wealds of East Sussex ; and the 

 primitive breed of British cattle was thus preserved. Differences 

 in the characters of the climate and the soil by degrees neces- 

 sarily brought about certain corresponding changes of bulk and 

 qualities in the cattle of different districts. The rich pastures of 

 Sussex, for example, led to the fattening of the oxen of that 

 district to such a marked extent as ultimately to lead to their 

 superior size. Again, the herbage occurring in the northern 



