24 A HISTORY OP HEREFORD CATTLE 



from its mountain home to mother ocean. Descend- 

 ing first through the rocky defiles of the highlands of 

 Montgomery, gathering force and volume as it races 

 away toward English soil, it debouches at last upon 

 the plain of Shrewsbury. Loitering awhile in that 

 land of the golden fleece, it sweeps past the Wen- 

 locks into the south, down through Worcester- 

 shire into Gloucester, receives the waters of the 

 Avon out of Warwick, and then, as if in sudden re- 

 membrance of its birthplace in the west, and weary, 

 of its wanderings, turns back to lose itself at last in 

 the broad estuary that holds the mighty tides press- 

 ing up the Bristol Channel from the North Atlantic. 



The County of Hereford. — ^Within this wide- 

 sweeping embrace of the Severn lies Herefordshire 

 — ancestral home of the breed of which we write. 

 It is not an extensive- area. The whole countryside 

 lying between the encircling river and the Welsh 

 boundary might easily be stowed away within al- 

 most any one of our great western states, but it is 

 fortunate in the character and intelligence of those 

 who live upon its soil, and is celebrated throughout 

 all Britain for its grass and cattle. 



Another important stream flows down from 

 Wales and wends its way independently into Bristol 

 water. While the Severn almost girdles the Here- 

 ford habitat the winding Wye bisects it. On its 

 banks is the picturesque old city of Hereford. Along 

 its sinuous course and that of its tributary, the little 

 river Arrow, one traverses the very heart of Here- 

 fordshire. Here, and along the Lug, the Hereford 



