52 MAMMALIA 



E. J. Wakefield saw wild cattle in 1839 on the hills at the entrance 

 of Pelonis Sound. In 1840 he states that they were abundant on 

 Kapiti, and that they were the descendants of some given to the 

 natives there in exchange for flax. I recall in 1868 how they used 

 to come out of the Southland bushes during the winter season to 

 feed on the paddocks of English grass. They raided these during the 

 night, and when disturbed in the morning used to jump the fences and 

 ditches just like deer. The Hon. S. Thorne George, M.L.C., writes 

 (February, 1916): "When I first went to Kawau (1869) there was a 

 large number of wild cattle. The island was originally occupied as a 

 cattle station, but owing to the rough country and heavy bush, very 

 many were lost and became quite wild." Mr A. C. Yarborough of 

 Kohu Kohu informs me (August, 191 6) that 40 years ago wild cattle 

 were very numerous in all the bush country, and in those days Hokianga 

 and the West Coast were nearly all covered with bush. The natives 

 used to kill them in large quantities for the sake of their hides, which 

 were valued at from 6^. to i2,s. each. In later years these wild cattle 

 have been driven further and further back, until they are now found 

 only in the ranges distant from settlement. These cattle are merely 

 the descendants of tame ones which have wandered — the Maoris' 

 fences being usually of a defective character — and are not of any 

 distinct character. Wild cattle are found in the high country between 

 Lake Wakatipu and the West Coast. Their tracks were numerous 

 in the Valley of the Rockburn. 



Cattle were first introduced into Chatham Island in 1841, and 

 soon became wild; and they used to be trapped by the natives in 

 the early sixties. Wild cattle are now very numerous on the table land. 



In regard to the Southern Islands, cattle were landed on the 

 Auckland Islands in 1850 by Captain Enderby, but they were all 

 killed off by sealers. In 1894, cattle were landed from the ' Hinemoa* • 

 on Enderby Island and Rose Island, where (according to Cockayne) 

 these were about 10 and 15 head respectively in 1903. Aston says 

 that on Enderby Island they have exterminated the tussocks of Poa 

 littorosa. Cattle were landed on Antipodes Island at various times 

 between 1886 and 1900, but they either died or were killed off by cast- 

 aways. Three more were landed in 1903 ; these have disappeared also. 



Effect of Cattle on Native Vegetation. Aston, who was over 

 the country in 1914 and 1915, says: 



Wild cattle are abundant in unfrequented valleys and gorges of the 

 Tararua Range. They are apparently Hereford cattle gone wild. They eat 

 out many species of native plants, and have destroyed great numbers of 

 Ligusticum dissectum, which is one of the most abundant and characteristic 

 plants of the higher ground. 



