BISHOP LESLIE ON HIGHLAND CATTLE. 139 



in Koss-shire too, and in very many other places, cows 

 which are not tame as elsewhere, bnt which wander 

 about like stags, avoiding with considerable natural 

 wildness intercourse with or the sight of man. Scarcely, 

 even in winter, when the snow is very deep and severe 

 frost lasts long, are they recalled to the shelter of a roof. 

 The wonderful sweetness and most delicate flavour of 

 their flesh far exceed the expectation of those who have 

 never tasted it : when the meat is cooked the fat does 

 not set when it cools, like that of other cattle, but for a 

 few days is fluid, like oil. Many others of this breed are 

 celebrated, but those which are sent to us from Carrick* 

 most of all. The herdsmen only retain the cow calves ; 

 they never keep the bull calves, except single ones for 

 single herds, for there they plough the land with horses. 

 On the approach of winter, when the cows are very fat 

 and plump, they are sent for sale into all parts of the 

 kingdom ; but those which are killed for domestic use 

 are preserved in salt till the following summer, as in 

 other nations they do with pork, a kind of flesh which 

 our countrymen little care for." 



I think it must be apparent to my readers that 

 Boethius and Leslie well knew that the wild bull of the 

 Caledonian Forest was as distinct in species as he was 



* " Carectonia " is, I presume, Carrick. Touatt, describing what has 

 taken place there during the present century, says : — " In Carrick chiefly, 

 but not exclusively, many black cattle are grazed and fattened for the 

 Scotch and English markets." And again : — " In the beautiful village of 

 Colmonel, on the banks of the Stinchar, there are usually at least 3,000 

 black cattle."— Youatt's "Cattle," chap, iii., pp. 137, 138. This seems 

 much to confirm what Bishop Leslie wrote so long before, as does also the 

 old and well-known rhyme : — 



"Kyle for a man, 



And Carrick for a cow, 



Cunningham for butter and cheese, 



And Galloway for wool." 



