THE ORIGIN OF SOME DOMESTICATED 



ANIMALS 



Few subjects are hidden in greater obscurity than is the 

 origin of many of our domesticated animals ; and seeing 

 that man in all probability began to exercise his power of 

 dominion over the wild creatures by which he was sur- 

 rounded at a very early date indeed, this is not more 

 than might be expected. When animals were first domes- 

 ticated, and which were the species that first came under 

 the yoke of servitude, we shall never know. The available 

 evidence points, however, very clearly to the conclusion that 

 Asia was the great original centre of the early domestication 

 of Old World animals; although North-Eastern Africa 

 seems also to have participated to a certain extent. So far 

 as it goes this tends to confirm the conclusion that Asia 

 has been the cradle of the human race, although it must be 

 borne in mind that different races exhibit wide differences 

 in their capacity for domesticating animals ; those of Africa 

 being far inferior in this respect to many Asiatic tribes. 



When any species of animal — provided that it will breed 

 in this state — had once been domesticated, it is probable 

 that the descendants of such domesticated stock have formed 

 the basis of all or most of the later breeds; for it is 

 obviously much easier to train such stock than to commence 

 again de novo with a wild strain. Still, there are many 

 cases where subsequent crosses have taken place with a 



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