616 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMINU. 



placing the carcasses in carts for the different city markets. The sight 

 is a most repellant one, and no person with weak nerves or a humane 

 heart would care to witness it twice. All these city establishments are 

 under the control of the municipal authorities, not merely for the col- 

 lection of the taxes oh each head but to inspect the meat ; but the latter 

 duty is most carelessly attended to, and the amount of unhealthy beef 

 which is sold in the city of Buenos Ayres is, according to the physicians, 

 little less than appalling. 



EFFOETS TO IMPEOVE THE AE&ENTINE BEEED. 



Thus far in my report, I have exclusively referred to the native (creole) 

 breed of cattle of this Republic* I have done this for the reason that 

 scarcelyany other kind reaches the slaughtering establishments. It must 

 not be understood, however, that there are no blood cattle in the coun- 

 try. During the last few years very commendable efforts have been 

 made, especially in the province of Buenos Ayres, to improve the breed, 

 and some o'f the best bleeding stock of Great Britain has been imported, 

 in some cases commanding extravagant prices. These have mostly been 

 Shorthorns or Durhams, though more recently some valuable acquisi- 

 ■ tions of Hereford bulls have been made. The effect of these crosses 

 with Creole cows cannot yet be fully determined. So far as the milk- 

 producing qualities of the cross is concerned, of course there is no ques- 

 tion ; but milk is just now a matter of small consideration among estan- 

 cieros, who never milk a cow. 



On two points, however, there is a very serious question. These are, 

 first, the quality of the hides produced by the cross; and, second, the 

 ability of the cross to " rough it" during the long winter months. 



* Mr. Darwin, in his " Naturalist's Voyage around the World," page 14G, describes a 

 very curious native breed which ho says lie met with on two occasions on the Upper 

 Uruguay Eiver. I have never seen the breed, but I give his description. Ho says : 

 " They are called ndta or niata. They appear externally to hold nearly the same rela- 

 tion to other cattle which bull or pug dogs do to other dogs. Their forehead is very 

 short and broad, with the nasal end turned up and the upper lip much drawn back ; 

 their lower jaws project beyond the upper, and have a, corresponding upward curve; 

 hence their teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils are seated high up and are very 

 open ; their eyes project outward. When walking they carry their heads low, on a 

 short neck ; and their hind legs are rather longer compared with the front legs than 

 usual. Their bare teeth, their short heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most 

 ludicrous self-confident air of defiance imaginable. Since my return, I havo procured 

 a skeliton head, which is now deposited in the College of Surgeons. Dim F. Muniz, of 

 Luxan kindly collected for me all the information which he could respecting this breed. 

 From his account it seems that about eighty or ninety years ago they were rare and 

 kept a^ curiosities at Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally believed to have origi- 

 nated amon^ the Indians, southward of the Plata, and that it was with them the 

 commonest kind. Even at this day those reared in the provinces, near the Plata, show 

 their less civilized origin in being fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow early 

 deserting her first calf, if visited too often or molested. It is a singular fact that an 

 almost similar structure to the abnormal one of the niata breed, as I am informed by 

 Dr. Falconer, characterizes that great extinct ruminant of India, the servitherium. 

 The breed is very true, and a niata bull and cow invariably produce niata calf. A 

 niata bull with a common cow or the reverse cross, produces offspring having an inter- 

 mediate character, but with the niata characters strongly displayed. When the past- 

 ure is tolerably long, the niata cattle feed with tongue and palate, as well as common 

 cattle ; but during the great droughts, when so many cattle perish, the niata breed is 

 under a great disadvantage, and would be exterminated if not attended to ; for the 

 common cattle are just able to keep alive by browsing with their lips on the twigs 

 and reeds ; this the niatas cannot do so well, as their lips do not join, and hence they 

 are found to perish before the common cattle. This strikes me as a good illustration 

 of how little we are able to judge from the ordinary habits of life, on what circum- 

 stkncea, ocouring at long intervals only, the rarity or extinction of a species may be 

 determined." 



