THE MAMMALIA— MAN AND BEASTS. 



61 



animals underwent in their original transition from the wild state ; and may further 

 compare those half domesticated herds, acknowledging only a partial submission to 

 Man, with the humble individuals of their own species, which still yield him a patient 

 and implicit obedience. 



It is evident that careful observations should be multiplied over the whole continent 

 of America, in order to render this investigation complete ; but we owe to M. Roulin 

 the merit of having traced some changes in a portion of this vast country. That 

 learned physician, during his residence in Colombia for sis years, has collected a 

 number of interesting facts which were communicated to the Royal Academy of 

 Science at Paris in the year 1828. These observations were made in New Grenada 

 and a part of Venezuela, from the 3d to the 10th degree of North Latitude, and from 

 the 70th to the 80th degree of West Longitude. However Hmited this tract of 

 country may appear, it offered unusual facilities for observation, being traversed 

 throuf^hout its entire course by the great Cordilleras of the Andes, which are here 

 divided into three principal chains ; so that, within the distance of a few leagues, the 

 same livin"- animals were investigated, thouigh resident in one district, where the medium 

 temperature is only 50° Fahrenheit, and in another where it varies from 77^ to 86°. 

 The MammaUa transported from Europe to America were the Hog, the Horse, 

 the Ass, the Sheep, the Goat, the Cow, the Dog, and the Cat. It becomes import- 

 ant to ascertain whether these animals retain the forms acquired in Europe, or 

 whether they have undergone any considerable change. By carefully comparing these 

 phenomena with the circumstances under which they have arisen, much light may be 

 thrown upon those modifications which probably attended the transition of these 

 animals from the wild to the domestic state. 



The first Hogs brought to America were introduced by Columbus, and became 

 established at Saint Domingo in November 1493, being the year which followed 

 its discovery. Daring the following years they were successively carried into aU 

 those places where the Spaniards attempted to fix themselves, and, in the period of 

 about half a century, they might be found wild from the 25th degree of North, to 

 the 40th of South Latitude. In no place do their important changes appear to have 

 been effected by chmate, and they have reproduced every where with the same faci- 

 lity as in Europe. 



Most of the pork consumed in New Grenada comes from the warmest valleys, 

 where the Hogs are bred in large numbers, from their maintenance costing but little. 

 During some seasons they are even supported wholly by wild fruits, and especially 

 by those of the several species of Palms. From roaming constantly in the woods, 

 the Hoo- has lost in this district all traces of his former domestication. His ears are 

 straight and erect, his head has widened and become elevated in the upper region. 

 The colour has again become constant, being entirely black. The young Pigs have 

 several fawn-coloured stripes, like the European Wild Boar in its youth, and upon a 

 ground of the same colour. Such are the Hogs brought to Bogota from the valleys 

 of Tocayma, Cunday, and Melgar. Their hair is scanty, and on this account they 

 bear a striking resemblance to the Wild Boar of Europe, from a year to eighteen 

 months old. This deficiency of hair is not, however, peculiar to the Hogs of 

 Grenada, but is also experienced by the common Wild Boar of Europe. M. Roulin 

 observed an instance of it in France, at a farm near Fougeres, where seven or eight of 

 these animals were brought up together. One of them, being about two years old, 

 had been fed in a stable from the beginning of spring, with the intention of fattening 

 it for the market. Though the animal had not been closely confined in this place, 

 the good feedmg of the stable was sufficient to induce it to remain at home. Its hair 

 had almost wholly fallen off from the effects of the heat, and it exhibited a most perfect 

 resemblance to the Hogs of Melgar above described, except that the two horizontal 

 stripes on the sides of the muzzle were more decidedly marked, and gave it a stronger 

 expression of ferocity. The Hogs of the Paramos, which are mountains at least 

 8,200 feet above the level of the sea, approach much more nearly in appearance to 

 the Wild Boar of the European forests, from the thickness of their hair, which has 

 even become frizzled. Beneath, in some individuals, it has been observed to assume a 

 woolly appearance. The Hog of these elevated regions is, however, small and stunted, 

 from the want of sufficient food, and the continued action of an excessive cold. In 

 some sultry districts, the Hog is not black hke those above described, bat red, like 

 the Peccari, during its youth. At Melgar, and in the other places above mentioned, 

 instances have been known where the Hogs are not entirely black; but these are 

 comparatively rare. There is a variety called Cinchados, or girthed, because they 

 have a large white band underneath, which usually maites on the back, and always 

 preserves a imiform breadth; and the young individuals of this variety bear the same 

 stripes as those of the pure black breed. The only Hogs in Colombia which re- 

 semble the common Pigs of Europe, have been imported within the last twenty-five 

 years, and these do not come direct from Europe, but from the United States of 

 America ; and it must be recollected that in the neighbourhood of New York, where 

 this race has long been domesticated, it experienced the influence of a climate very 

 nearly the same as our own. 



The Horse has become wild in several districts of Colombia, especially in the plains 

 of San Jlartin, among the sources of the IMeta, the Rio Negro, and the Umadea, 

 where small troops of Chestnut Horses may be observed. Their hmited numbers, the 

 narrow range to which they are confined, and the immediate neighbourhood of the inha- 

 bited districts, have prevented them from acquiring those pecuUarities which Azara has 

 related of the Wild Horses of Paraguay. They go about in small squadrons, com- 

 posed of an old Horse, five or six Mares, with some Foals, and one squadron is com- 

 pletely isolated from another. Instead of approaching the caravans to entice the 

 domestic Horses, they run away on the first appearance of a Man, and do not stop their 

 flight until he is out of sight. Their movements are graceful, especially those of the 

 leader, but their forms, though not heavy, are wanting in elegance. 



In the Hatos des Llanos, the Horses are almost wholly left to themselves. The 

 herds are assembled together at intervals to prevent them from becoming absolutely 

 wild, to extract the larvae of the Gad-fly, and to mai'k the Foals with a red-hot iron. 

 From this independent kind of life, they begin to acquire the uniform colour of the 

 savage races. The Chestnut bay is not merely the prevalent colour, but it is very 

 nearly the only one. Something similar to this has probably happened in Spain 

 16 



with the Wild Horses (cavallos cerreros) which wander in the mountains; for in 

 the Spanish proverbs, the Horse is often noticed by the name of el hayo ^the Bay), 

 as well as the Ass by the term rucio (Gray). 



In the small Hatos which are found on the plateau of the Cordilleras, the effects 

 of domestication are more perceptible. The colours of the Horses become more 

 various; there is also a greater difference in their height; and while many are more 

 diminutive than the average of the species, only a few surpass the medium size. As 

 long as they live continually in the fields, their hair is tolerably thick and long, but a 

 few months' residence in the stable is sufficient to render it short and glossy. It is cus- 

 tomary to cross this breed of Horses with the races from the warm valleys, especially 

 with those of Cauca. On some properties where this precaution has not been at- 

 tended to, the Horses have become perceptibly smaller, though the pastures have long 

 been celebrated for their richness. The hair has grown to such a degree as to render 

 their appearance absolutely deformed. In respect to the useful qualities, this breed 

 has lost but little; and the Horses belonging to one canton are even celebrated for 

 their swiftness. 



When a Horse is brought from the Llanos de San Martin, or from Casanare, to the 

 plateau of Bogota, he must be kept in the stable until he is accustomed to the climate. 

 If allowed to run loose at once into the fields, he grows thin, contracts a cutaneous 

 disease, and often dies in a few months. The pace which is commonly preferred in 

 the saddle-horses is the amble ; this they are made to acquire early, and the greatest 

 care is taken not to allow them, when mounted, to take any other pace. In a short 

 time, the limbs of these Horses usually become stiff; and then, if otherwise of a good 

 form, they are allowed to run in the Hatos as Stallions. From them a race has de- 

 scended, in which the amble is with the adults the natural pace. These Horses are called 

 aguilillas ; and they form a remarkable instance of the transmission of acquired habits 

 from the parent to his offspring. 



The Ass has undergone very few alterations in its form or habits in all the pro- 

 vinces visited by M. Roulin. At Bogota it is very common, being there used for 

 transporting building materials ; but being badly taken care of, and exposed to the 

 inclemencies of the weather, without receiving sufficient nourishment, the race has 

 become small and pitiful. It is covered with very long and uncombed hair. De- 

 formed individuals are often seen, not only among the adults, which are loaded pre- 

 maturely, and before they have acquired sufficient strength, but also among the 

 Foals at their birth. Perhaps the latter circumstance may arise from the ill treat- 

 ment of the dams during the period of gestation. 



In the low and warm provinces this animal is less neglected, as it is required for the 

 production of Mules. Being well fed. at least in these districts, it becomes larger and 

 stronger ; its hair also is shorter and more poUshed. In no province, however, has 

 the Ass reverted to its wild state. 



The Sheep was originally transported to the New World from Spain; and the 

 earliest importation appears not to have been the Merino variety, but another, which 

 the Spaniards call de lana hurda y basta (with wool coarse and rude). It is very 

 common on the Cordilleras, at an elevation of 3,300 to 8,200 feet. 



In no place do the Sheep appear to have escaped from the protection of Man, 

 and hence we find that their manners have undergone scarcely any change; nor can 

 any alteration in their forms be observed, except a slight diminution of stature. 

 Within the limits above defined, the Sheep propagate readily, and almost without re- 

 quiring any care; but the reverse happens in the hotter districts. It appears that m 

 the plains of IMeta it is very difficult to rear Lambs; and no Sheep are to be seen 

 from the river to the foot of the Cordilleras, although their skin is very much in de- 

 mand to make a kind of parchment, and that its price is as high as the hide of an Ox, 

 In the valley which separates the most eastern chain from the central, they may 

 perhaps be sometimes seen, but always in small numbers. The females are not very 

 fruitful, and the Lambs are difficult to rear. 



There is one very curious phenomenon exhibited by the Sheep of this district. 

 The fleece grows upon the Lambs in the same manner as in most temperate climates, 

 provided they are sheared as soon as it has arrived at a certain degree of thickness, 

 in which case the wool grows again, and continues to observe the same order. Bat 

 if the favorable period for stripping the animal of its fleece be allowed to pass, the 

 wool thickens and becomes matted together, it detaches itself in flakes, and finally 

 leaves behind — not, as we might expect, a growing fleece, or a naked and diseased 

 skin — but, a short, glossy, and compact hair, exactly resembling that of the common 

 Goat in the same climate. 



Although the Goat is evidently best fitted for a mountainous region, it seems to 

 thrive better in the low and sultry valleys than in the more elevated regions of the 

 Cordilleras. In the former districts it multiplies rapidly, generally bearing two 

 young at a birth, often three, but never six, as some have been pleased to assert. 

 Its height is diminutive, but in other respects its form has greatly improved. Its 

 body is more slender, the shape of its head is more elegant, more pleasingly disposed, 

 and usually less overloaded with horns. The agiUty of this animal, and its taste for 

 climbing and leaping, are also singularly increased. In the pubUe square of a village, 

 IM. Roulin has often seen them leaping more than four feet upwards to the mould- 

 ings on the pilasters of the church. The projecting place on which their feet rested 

 was not three square inches; yet in this position, so difficult to preserve, they re- 

 mained for hours together, without any other apparent object than that of warming 

 themselves in the direct solar rays, as well as in those reflected from below. These 

 Goats are covered with short hair, very glossy and thick ; and although they may 

 be seen to possess all the shades of colour, yet the most common is fawn, with a 

 brown stripe on the back, and black symmetrical marks upon the face. The She- 

 Goats of Europe strikingly exhibit the influence of domestication in causing a great 

 enlargement of the udders; for this acquired character has entirely disappeared in 

 the She- Goats of America. 



The establishment of the larger Cattle in America must be dated, like that of the 

 Hogs, from the second voyage of Columbus to St Domingo. In the latter place 

 they multiplied rapidly, and the island soon became the nursery from which these 

 animals were transferred to different points on the coast of the Mainland, and thence 

 to the interior of the continent. Although these numerous exportations must have 



