ANCIENT VALUE OF WHITE CATTLE. 19 



valued race of ancient white oxen ; and so devoted were 

 the ancient Persians to the colour that the " sacred 

 horses of the sun " were white. 



In countries far remote from the East, but deriving 

 their religion and many of their customs thence, 

 white cattle were highly valued. Even in Britain 

 (and this is a striking fact in the history of our 

 white herds), the white bull was the sacred victim in 

 one of the greatest religious ceremonies practised here 

 before the Roman conquest. Pliny tells us " that when 

 that rare event occurred, the finding of the sacred 

 mistletoe growing on the oak, the great festival began by 

 bringing up to the tree which bore it two bulls of a 

 white colour, which had never before been bound. The 

 chief priest, clothed in a white raiment, then ascended 

 the tree, and cut off with a golden knife the sacred 

 treasure. It was received in a white cloth, and then the 

 victims ready prepared below, the white bulls, were 

 immolated with prayers to the Deity that he would 

 make this, his own gift to the people, most prosperous." 



But if such was the value attached to the white ox 

 by ancient nations, we might expect to hear more about 

 him in the histories of countries then more central, and 

 with which we are better acquainted, such as Greece and 

 Pome. This is the case. It would be an unnecessary 

 labour to fill these pages with too numerous quotations, 

 but some references will be interesting. Varro tells 

 us that the most usual colour among the cattle of 

 Italy was black, then red, then dun or tawny 

 (helvus), and the scarcest white, and he describes their 

 several characteristics. He attributes the comparative 

 scarcity of the white, which were evidently the most 

 esteemed, to the great demand there was for them as 

 c 2 



