334 THE OX. 



Dorsetshire and Hampshire, and they are mingled in blood 

 with the native races, especially the Devon and its varieties. 

 To supply these sources of demand, the importation from the 

 islands is regular, and forms a considerable branch of their 

 commerce. 



The cattle of this race are small and ill-formed, when 

 regarded as animals to be fattened. The cow is greatly 

 below the male in strength and stature, in which respect she 

 resembles the cows of the Devon and its kindred breeds. 

 Her neck is thin, her shoulder light, her chest narrow, and 

 the belly large. The limbs are slender, the pelvic bones 

 prominent ; the lumbar region is deep, the croup short and 

 drooping, and the udder large. The muzzle is narrow, the 

 horns are short, slender, and curving inwards. The colour 

 is usually of a light red or fawn, mixed with white ; but fre- 

 quently individuals are black, mixed with white or dun, and 

 sometimes cream-coloured. The skin is thin, and of a rich 

 orange-yellow, and the fat, as well as the milk and butter, 

 is tinged with the same colour. The animals are gentle, 

 and somewhat delicate in constitution. Being small in size, 

 the milk they yield is likewise small in quantity, although 

 fully in proportion to their bulk of body ; and it is viscid, and 

 rich in cream. In their native country, the Bullocks are 

 used for labour, to which they are better adapted than, from 

 the slender form of the dam, might be inferred. 



The islands from which these cattle are derived, are the 

 sole remaining appanage to the English crown of the ancient 

 Duchy of Normandy. When the rude Northmen had hewed 

 a passage by the sword to the fair plains of Western France, 

 they subdued likewise the lovely little islands on its shores ; 

 and, after a hundred years of strife, having ravaged Bur- 

 gundy and the adjacent provinces, and twice assailed the city 

 of Paris, and once reduced it to ashes, these wild invaders 

 were put in possession of the conquered lands by a formal 

 investiture. In the year of our Lord 912, Charles the Simple 

 concluded a treaty, from which a thousand mighty events 



