THE TEXANS. 175 



In this brief description, may easily be detected the origin of 

 the modern Texan cattle, run wild for many generations, while 

 the Spanish are thoroughly domestic in their habits, and treated 

 with care, as the density of population, and close husbandry of 

 the Spanish people at home, compel them to be. Undoubtedly 

 the originals are much better animals under the treatment they 

 receive, than their half-savage cousins, at such a far distant 

 removal. 



The Texans are, in fact, a semi-wild race in America, the 

 mild climate of the tropics, with its abundant perennial herbage, 

 affording them all of food which their natures require. There 

 they range, propagate and grow, with little care, congregating 

 in large herds, and known by their owners only by the marks, or 

 brands, they put upon them. They are annually gathered for 

 identification, when the young calves are castrated, and those fit 

 to sell, selected and driven to market. The cattle pay little 

 attention to the widely scattered ranches of their owners, and 

 rove for miles away, attracted by better pasturage, the scattered 

 salt-licks, or in the indulgence of their own vagarious habits. 

 "We illustrate on the following page, a group of the bullocks, 

 drawn by our artist as they stood in a cattle yard, on their 

 arrival at market. 



These portraits are truthful, as we saw them in a herd of about 

 forty in number, and know them to be correct. Their live 

 weights, at the time — the animals ranging from five to seven 

 years — averaged 1,008 pounds. A short description will suffice. 



They are tall, lank, and bony, coarse headed, with enormous 

 horns; (only exceeded in length by a pair in our own possession, 

 brought from the Island of Sicily, in the Mediterranean. The 

 shells of these Sicilian horns, are three feet four inches in length, 

 spiral, and gracefully turned, thin, and almost transparent.) 

 Their legs are long and coarse ; they have much dewlap, and 

 little brisket; are flat-sided, swayed in the back, high in the 



