282 Mr. L. Hindmarsh on the 



senserint, in obvium quencunque magno impetu irruentes 

 eum prosternunt, non canes^ non venabula, nee ferrum ullum 

 metuunt." And after narrating the wonderful deliverance of 

 Robert Bruce from one of these wild bulls by the courage and 

 prowess of a man M^ho was, in grateful commemoration of the 

 circumstance, afterwards named by the king TurnbuU, he 

 adds, " Caiterum quum tota olim sylva nasci ea solerent ; in 

 una tantum nimc ejus parte reperiuntur, quaj Cummernald 

 appellatur, aliis gula humana ad internecionem redactis." 

 This description is confirmed by Bishop Leslie in his * De 

 Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotonim/ published at 

 Rome in 1578, 52 years after the work of Boethius. At page 

 18 of the edition of 1675, he says, — 



" In Calidonia olim frequens erat sylvestris quidem bos, 

 nunc vero rarior, qui colore candidissimo, jubam densam, ac 

 demissam instai' leonis gestat, truculentus, ac ferus ab humane 

 genere abhorrens, ut quoecunque homines vel manibus con- 

 trectarint, vel halitu perflaverint, ab iis multos post dies om- 

 nino abstinuerint .... Ejus carnes cartilaginosas, sed saporis 

 suavissimi. Erat is olim per illam vastissimam Calidoniee 

 sylvam frequens, sed humana ingluvie jam assumptus, tribus 

 tantum locis est reliquus, Strivilingi, Cummernaldias, et Kin- 

 carniae." 



These passages are most important, not only for their very 

 minute description of the wild Caledonian cattle, but for the 

 light which they throw upon the cause of their almost total 

 extermination. Even in the time of Boethius they had been 

 reduced by an almost universal slaughter to a small remnant ; 

 and it has been stated that upon the dissolution of the mo- 

 nastic establishments of Scotland the few that remained were 

 transferred to Drumlanrig. 



On comparing the descriptions of the wild Caledonian cattle 

 given by Boethius and Leslie with the previous account of the 

 Chillingham breed at the present day, we cannot but be struck 

 with their generally close correspondence. Bating a little hy- 

 perbole in the style of the old historians, the resemblance is 

 complete in almost every point, excepting that the Chilling- 

 ham cattle want the lion-like manes ascribed to the Caledo- 

 nian race. This point alone seems to offer any difficulty in 



