FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES 



white, red, black, or yellow. Once admit that these distinct colors 

 existed in many of the herds of those ancient times, and then we can 

 account for many of the varieties and breeds that are being presented 

 to us to-day, the origin of which are lost in antiquity. Unfortunately 

 much of the cattle history of the ancients is very much of the same 

 class of writing, and does not give us much detail. According to 

 Danberry's Lectures on Rom:in Husbandry, cattle amongst the Konians 

 were merely intended 'for one single purpose namely, the labor of 

 the farm, for he says : :< No attempt is made by the Scriptures Rei 

 Rusticae to point out the qualifications which characterise the dif- 

 ferent races, for although Cullumella distinguishes the Campanian from. 

 the Umbrian the Hetrurian and Latin from the Apennine v reed 

 which last, although less comely, was the hardiest of any he contents 

 himself with quoting from the Carthaginian Mago the following de- 

 scription of a good bullock : ' The oxen we buy should be,' he says, 

 ' young, square, with large members and lofty horns, black and strong; 

 the forehead broad and rough ; the ears hairy ; lips and eyes black ; 

 noses flat and turned up, with wide nostrils ; a long and brawny neck; 

 dewlap large, and reaching down to their knees ; chest broad ; shoul- 

 ders large ; belly protuberant, with sides well stretched out ; flanks 

 broad ; back straight and even, or a little declining; hips round ; legs 

 compact and straight, but rather short ; knee-joints well set ; hoofs 

 large ; tails very long and hairy ; hair over the whole body, thick and 

 short, either red or a dark brown ; and the coat altogether very soft 

 to the touch.' With regard to the bull, the chief differences from the 

 above are that he is fierce-looking, more lively in his deportment, with 

 a neck more brawny, and so large indeed as to form a larg? part of 

 his body ; and a belly a little smaller in its dimensions than is suit- 

 able -for an ox. The cow, on the contrary, mostly approved of is 

 of a tall make, long, with a very large belly, a very broad forehead, 

 eyes black and opening widely ; horns graceful, smooth, and black ; 

 hairy ears, very small dewlap, and tail, hoofs, and legs oi moderate 

 size." 



As to Virgil, he confines his discourse to the cow, on the ground 

 that the qualities of the offspring depend upon the make of the mother, 

 a notion the truth of which, if not wholly acceded to in our own times, 

 the Arabians at least are fully persuaded of in the case of horses, as ap- 

 pears from their never selling a mare, although they are willing 

 enough to dispose of their stallions. To come nearer home, take, for 

 example, our sheep breeders. Many of them wi 1 readilv enough sell 

 their purebred rams, but absolutely refuse to part with their purebred 

 ewes at any price for similar reasons. 



Now, if we compare the opinions of our modern authorities with 

 those of the ancients just mentioned it will be seen that with regard 

 to the descriptions and qualifications of oxen their opinions are much 

 in common. For instance. Sir George Sinclair says of a bullock: "The 

 chest should be broad, the carcase deep and straight, the belly mode- 

 rate-sized, the legs short, the head and bones as small as is consistent 

 with health and strength, and the loins and hips broad and full. 

 Virgil's description of the ox is to be found (Georgics iii., 51 >." 



If, as has been shown by the early Roman writers, butter was re- 

 garded as a medicine, and not as an artic'e of food, and that flesh or 

 cow's milk was seldom if ever used bv the Romans, it is patent that 

 the Celts must have been the early protectors and breeders of cattle 

 in Great I'.ritain and Ireland before and after the Roman invasions. 

 They possessed white, black, yellow, and red cattle, which were ad- 

 mired for their separate purposes. Hence, the mixtures of color> in 

 the ancient eattle of Great Hritain and Ireland ; hence the wild white 

 cattle of England, Scotland, ard Wales ; hence the large proportion of 

 white in our cattle at the present time. 



14-'. 



