292 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Acclimatization of Animals. 



general use, I cannot consider them as at all acclimatized. They 

 have almost always had the protection of warmed buildings, espe- 

 cially in the winter ; and though they may have lived through a 

 certain number of years, they are liable to attacks of diseases de- 

 pendent upon our climate, and generally die off before their natural 

 term of existence is completed. I can only regard them as partially 

 domesticated, and that only as objects of curiosity and luxury, and 

 as incapable of being turned, in this country at least, to any useful 

 domestic purpose. 



With regard to those animals which may be considered as more or 

 less completely under the control of Man, there exists considerable 

 difference in the nature of their domestication. 



The more typical among them, or truly domesticated, such as the 

 Oxen, the Sheep, the Horse, the Camel, the Dog, and the Cat, like 

 the Wheat and the Maize among plants, are never found truly wild ; 

 and when they are permitted to run wild, as in the case of horses 

 and oxen in South America, they are easily brought back to a 

 state of domestication, especially if caught young. What may be 

 called the semidomeaticated or domesticable animals, such as the 

 IJuffalo, the Goat, the Pig, the Rabbit, the Reindeer, the Yak, and 

 some other Asiatic cattle, are found both in the tame and the wild 

 state, and often in the same region and in close {)roximity to 

 each other. The Asiatic Elephant, and a few other animals which 

 can be made tractable under man's direction, never (or very rarely) 

 breed in domestication ; and all tlie individuals of these very use- 

 fid races are caught wild and brought into subjection by training. 

 The African Elcjdiant is evidently equally amenable to man's 

 control, and was equally domesticated by the Romans ; but the ne- 

 groes do not seem to aj)preciate the advantages which they might 

 derive from its domestication, and only make use of its tractable dis- 

 position to keep it in captivity until such time as its ivory is best 

 fitted for the market, when, also they, can feed upon its flesh. 



All our domestic or semi-domestic animals have their proper home 

 in the temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Tliey all, except the 

 Ass, bear great cold better than excessive heat ; and even the Ass 

 suffers greatly on the coasts of the tropics. The Sheep, in the warmer 

 regions, require to be driven to the cool mountains during the hot 

 season. In the tropics they lose their wool, and, like the long-haired 

 goats and dogs, change the character of their fur. The inhabitants 

 of the arctic region or subarctic regions of Europe and Asia have 

 partially domesticated the Reindeer. 



Either Asiatics have a peculiar aptitude for domesticating animals, 

 or the Ruminants of that part of the world are peculiarly adapted for 

 domestication. In the mountain regions of Tibet and Siberia the 

 Yak has been domesticated, and, like the Reindeer of the arctic 

 regions, it is used as a beast of burthen as well as for milk and food. 

 The steppes of Asia are the home of the Camel and the Dromedary. 

 In the lower and warmer regions of central and southern Asia the 

 Zebu has been completely domesticated ; and the natives of India 

 and of the islands of the Malayan archipelago have brought into a 



