370 THE ox. 



abundant hair. Their horns were long, and bending down- 

 wards ; a peculiarity, however, which seemed to give place 

 to the influence of external agents, since, at the eastern and 

 southern limits of the breed in England, their horns fre- 

 quently turned upwards, in the manner of other cattle in- 

 habiting these districts. Their bodies were long, their sides 

 flat, and their shoulders heavy as compared with their hind 

 quarters. They were hardy, capable of subsisting without 

 shelter, and on indifferent food, but they were slow in arriv- 

 ing at maturity. Their flesh was of a dark colour, and the 

 fat of a yellow tinge. They were of docile tempers, and 

 steady in the yoke, though sluggish in their motions. They 

 were with difficulty amalgamated with other varieties, re- 

 taining with greater obstinacy than any other race their dis- 

 tinctive characters. The females were suited to the domes- 

 tic dairy, yielding good milk, though not in large quantity. 



This breed having been naturalized in Ireland from a 

 period of unknown antiquity, it may be believed that the 

 fertile pastures of that country would tend to produce a 

 great development of form and size in the animals. Very 

 large cattle, accordingly, appear to have been produced on 

 the rich plains of the Shannon and elsewhere. Early writers, 

 however, give us little information further than that the 

 country abounded in cattle, which were the chief wealth of 

 the inhabitants. But soon after the middle of last century, 

 competent judges bear testimony to the excellence of many of 

 the Long-horned cattle of Ireland. Mr Bakewell found, in 

 the fair of Ballinasloe, individuals of the breed, which he re- 

 garded as inferior only to those which he himself had per- 

 fected ; and it may therefore be believed, that cattle were 

 produced in Ireland not inferior to those of the same race in 

 the sister island. In England, the nursery of this breed was 

 the county of Lancaster. Writers frequently refer to the 

 fair beeves, with spreading horns, of this part of England. 

 " A man may judge," says Cambden, " of the soile partly 

 by the constitution and complexion of the inhabitants, who 



