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



In some parts of this vast continent, the Oxen and the Horse, since 

 their introduction from Europe, have so firmly established themselves 

 in a half-wild state as to be often hunted and killed for their hides 

 alone. 



Australia and the islands of the Pacific have no native domestic ani- 

 mals, if we again except the Dog ; and Australia alone has any mam- 

 mals sufficiently large to be hunted for their flesh. There formerly 

 existed in New Zealand a large bird (the Moa) which was eaten by 

 the natives ; but it seems to have been exterminated, or nearly so, 

 before the colonization of the islands. 



European animals have been largely and advantageously introduced 

 throughout the Pacific Ocean, and in some cases have become wild 

 and even dangerous. 



As in Europe, all the domestic animals of these various parts of 

 the world appear to have been brought into their present condition 

 for many ages, inasmuch as they were all found in a domestic state 

 when the several countries were first visited by Europeans. 



And an attentive study of the list, and of the peculiarities of the 

 animals composing it, induces me to believe that, in attempting to 

 introduce new domestic animals into some of our colonies, it would 

 be desirable not to confine ourselves to the Euroj)ean breeds, but to 

 ascertain whether some of the domestic races of Asia or Africa might 

 not be better adapted to the climate and other conditions of the 

 colony, although, for reasons to which I have before adverted, it 

 would neither be worth the trouble, nor consistent with good policy, 

 to attempt their introduction here. 



There is evidently ample room for such experiments, which might 

 be advantageously made, for instance, in the colonies of the coast 

 of Africa, where our horse, ass, oxen, sheep, and goats, and even dogs 

 have greatly degenerated, where the horse and the ass live only for 

 a brief period, where the flesh of the ox and sheep is described as 

 bad and rare, and the flesh of the goat, which is more common, is 

 said to be tasteless and stringy. The pig alone, of all our domestic 

 animals, seems to bear the change with equanimity ; and the produce 

 of the "milch pig" is often sold to passengers of the mail packets and 

 the ships on the stations, as the milk of the cow or even the goat is 

 rarely to be obtained. Unfortunately both the white and the black 

 inhabitants are merely sojourners in the land, and do not seem to 

 possess sufficient energy or inclination to make the experiment them- 

 selves. 



Secondly, as regards the introduction of the domestic races of one 

 country into another, there can be no doubt that this is a much more 

 important object in relation to our Australian colonies, and other 

 settlements planted in waste lands, than it is to the old countries, 

 such as all the European states, and that it has been pursued, as far 

 as they are concerned, with great success. Dr. George Bennett, in 

 the third annual ' Report of the Acclimatization Society of New 

 Holland,' has well observed, " We have lately heard of acclimatiza- 

 tion dinners in London and other places, but a dinner in New South 

 Wales of food naturalized in the colony occurs every day, and a finer 



