110 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



from England, and had no connection, except such, as 

 the Hungarian or Tuscan cattle had, with the British 

 wild cattle — namely, descent in remote ages from a 

 common source. I cannot conceive, as some have done, 

 the possibility of the Brit- Welsh being willing, or even 

 able, to accumulate during ages of internecine war 

 large herds of a breed of cattle obtained from their 

 most deadly and generally victorious enemies, the 

 Anglo-Saxons. And the improbability of such a thing 

 seems reduced to a certainty of its being impossible 

 when we consider, first, that these cattle have always 

 been most prevalent in those parts of Wales which were 

 the farthest removed from England ; and then, that 

 though the Anglo-Saxon cattle were, with certain modi- 

 fications, very probably descended from the Urus, we 

 have no reason to suppose that they were generally 

 white, but quite the contrary : the only accredited 

 instance, I believe, of the Anglo-Saxons possessing 

 domestic cattle of this colour, as a race, being the 

 " Custom of Knightlow Cross," to which I have just 

 alluded. The true solution seems to be that the Welsh 

 white cattle with red ears, both in North and South 

 Wales, whatever was their pristine origin, appeared first 

 in the extremest parts of both, multiplied by degrees, 

 and finally extended along the sea- coasts and the river- 

 valleys, though only to a limited extent, into some of 

 the neighbouring English counties. 



One such herd, possibly derived from this source, 

 existed until lately at Vale Eoyal, on the westerly side 

 of Cheshire, half-way between Northwich and the Forest 

 of Delamere, which, in the time of Leland, abounded 

 with deer. This was formerly a monastic house of con- 

 siderable importance, and was granted, in the thirty- 



