64 WILD CATTLE. 



CHAPTER III. 



WILD CATTLE. 



BOS TATJEUS. 



TILL the discovery of the New World by Columbus, 

 no cattle except the bison, or, as they are com- 

 monly called in America, buffaloes, roamed its forests 

 or its prairies ; and the inhabitants of the whole con- 

 tinent, from ' the land of fire ' to the frozen North, 

 knew no more of them than of the horse. Both the 

 domestic cow and the horse were introduced by the 

 conquerors of Mexico — Cortez, and his companions in 

 arms — and now both are to be found in immense 

 numbers ; the horses generally keeping to the plains, 

 and the horned-cattle to the forests. 



The wild cattle are mostly descended from the large 

 Spanish cattle first introduced into the country, but 

 they have been largely crossed of late, i. e. during the 

 last half-century, with American cattle, the descendants 

 of Engjlish breeds. 



This being the case, there is little to describe, as 

 the wild cow shot in the forest resembles, in all re- 

 spects, its brethren who daily feel the pole-axe of our 



