AGRICULTURE. 213 
came originally to Mexico is not precisely known, but without 
doubt it was in the seventeenth century, soon after the con- 
quest by Cortes, and they must have been imported, from 
Spain. They are called “Spanish cattle.” In Mexico, as sub- 
sequently in California, they were allowed to run almost wild, 
and they took something of the appearance of wild animals. 
They have nearly the same range of colors as the neat cattle 
of Europe; but mouse, dun, and brindle colors—almost infal- 
lible signs of “scrub” blood—are more frequent; and the deep 
red, fine cream-color, and delicate mottling of deep red and 
white, found only in animals of high blood, are entirely want- 
ing. Their legs are long and thin, their noses sharp, their 
forms graceful, their heads high, their horns long, slender, and 
wide-spread; and they have a duskiness about the eyes and 
nostrils similar to that of the deer, between which animal and 
a young Spanish cow there gre many points of resemblance. 
The general carriage of the Spanish cow is like that of a wild 
animal: she is quick, uneasy, restless, frequently on the look- 
out for danger, snuffing the air, moving with a high and elastic 
trot, and excited at the sight of a man, particularly if afoot, 
when she will often attack him. In some counties it is, for this 
reason, unsafe to go about on foot. The native Californians 
are always mounted, and to these the cattle are accustomed ; 
but a man afoot is considered’ to be a dangerous animal, de- 
serving of the same treatment with wolves and coyotes. The 
Spanish cow is small, does not fatten readily, produces little 
milk, and her meat is not so tender and juicy as that of Amer- 
ican cattle. 
The breeding of neat cattle was almost the only business of 
the country previous to the American conquest, and they were 
killed for their hides and tallow, which were the chief exports. 
The meat went to enrich the land; there was too much of it 
to be eaten. The breeding of cattle, being the chief occupa- 
tion of the Californians, determined their mode of life, the 
structure of their society, and the size of their ranches. No- 
body wanted to own less than a square league (four thousand 
