426 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Penobscot river and on tlie coast, were formerly much settled 

 with French colonists, who came from St. Maloes and other ports 

 on the north of France, bringing with them the French cattle. 

 Many fishing vessels came from Marseilles, in the Mediterranean 

 Sea. The race of Huguenots afterwards came into Maine in great 

 numbers. It is said that Talleyrand, the great French minister 

 under Bonaparte, was born of a Quaker mother on the Penobscot 

 river. The cattle of northern and western France were originally 

 well represented in many parts of Maine, as well as the western 

 Highland cattle of Scotland. The fishermen of the west coasts of 

 Ireland and Scotland were for a long time engaged in the fish 

 trade of Maine. The New Hampshire and Maine colonies started 

 with the best of stocks of cattle from Norfolk, Leicestershire and 

 Devonshire, England, and afterwards obtained herds from the 

 Massachusetts colony, which first started at Salem, Avith cattle 

 from Norfolk, Leicestershire, and Yorkshire, and other parts of 

 England. The Puritans were well acquainted with the value of 

 the Short-horns; and the Yorkshire and the old Norfolk dun cat- 

 tle, were all great milkers. 



Large numbers of these cattle have been at various times 

 brought into New England. The Yorkshire and the Norfolk and 

 Devon types are found scattered over the best dairy districts in 

 north New England, and our best milkers retain many of the 

 Norfolk and Yorkshire forms of the original animals. These 

 have been crossed with the Devonshire stock. A large portion of 

 the cattle in Maine, are descendants of the Yorkshire, Leicester- 

 shire, Norfolk, and Devonshire races. 



The working oxen in Maine are mostly red, with a strong cross 

 of the Devons, and Yorkshires, and Leicestershire, and Scotch 

 cattle. The lumbering business has trained up a race of oxen, 

 possessing all and more than the original agility and fleetness and 

 intelligence of the Devons ; while the carcass has been improved 

 to a great size and strength, both for work and for beef. The 

 whole race of mountain cattle in New England, is vastly superior 

 to the original stocks of the old world. There are no dairy 

 regions so good as those on tlie highlands of New England and 

 the State of New-York, where the pastures are full of red and 

 white clover. 



