DOMESTIC CATTLE. 145 



the vices of living- beeves than to the virtues of 

 dead ones. 



Given a Northern tribe with a taste (however 

 acquired) for keeping and eating cattle, it seems to 

 me that the following chain of causes and conse- 

 quences might ensue. The keeping of horned 

 stock in a barren and unfenced country involves 

 the employment of herdsmen. The cattle, being 

 active and half wild, could only be controlled by 

 men on horseback. Hence in ancient days the 

 tending of unruly mobs of cattle always involved 

 the keeping of swift and serviceable horses. Now 

 we find that the most darinof horsemen in the world 

 are found in the United States and Mexico, on the 

 Southern pampas, in the Australian bush, or amid 

 the steppes of Tartary, among the stockmen who 

 follow such half-wild herds. Such an employ- 

 ment develops hardihood, boldness, resourceful- 

 ness, and determination, as well as skill in 

 horsemanship ; for all these qualities are called 

 for in directing and masteringf the fierce and 

 active beasts which the men have in charge. 

 Moreover, in a sparsely settled district the cow- 

 boy is almost always called upon to settle disputes 

 as to pasture rights and ownership in the rough- 

 and-ready fashion customary among frontier or 



K 



