HISTORY. 235 



any mony dayis eftir, thay eit nocht of the herbis that wer 

 twichit or handillit be men. Thir bullis wer sa wild, that 

 thay wer nevir tane but slight and crafty laubour, and sa 

 impacient that, eftir thair taking, they deit for importable 

 doloure. Alse sone as ony man invadit thir bullis, they 

 ruschit with so terrible preis on him, that they dang him to 

 the eird, takand na feir of houndis, scharp lancis, nor uthir 

 maist penitrive wapinnis.'' " And thoucht thir bullis wer 

 bred in sindry boundis of the Calidon Wod, now, be conti- 

 wal hunting and lust of insolent men, thay are distroyit in 

 all partis of Scotland, and nane of thaim left bot allanerlie 

 in Cumarnald." * 



In this their last retreat, they were subjected to persecu- 

 tion : In a remarkable document written in 1570-71, the 

 writer, describing the aggressions of the King's party, com- 

 plains of the destruction of the Deer in the forest of Cum- 

 bernauld, " and the quhit ky and bullis of the said forrest, to 

 the gryt destructione of polecie, and hinder of the common- 

 weill. For that kynd of ky and bullis he bein kepit thir 

 money zeiris in the said forrest, and the like was not man- 

 tenit in ony vther partis of the He of Albion." t 



Thus were the Uri of the Scottish forests driven from the 

 woods 'which they inhabited, destroyed, or made captive. 

 Part, indeed, had been preserved in some of the parks at- 

 tached to the religious houses, their flesh being more esteemed 

 than that of " their awin tame bestial." But, with the de- 

 struction of the Ancient Establishments, the oxen were 

 dispersed, destroyed, or mingled with the common races. 

 In a few places only they seem to have been preserved 

 without intermixture, chiefly in the Parks of the Dukes 

 of Queensberry at Drumlanrig, and of the Dukes of Ha- 

 milton, called the Chace of Cadzow. Those at Drumlanrig 

 were, many years ago, destroyed by an order of the late 



* History and Chronicles of Scotland, by Hector Boece, translated by John 

 Ballenden. 



f Illustrations of Scottish History, preserved from Manuscripts, by Sir John 

 Graham Dalyell, Bart. 



