138 OBSCURITY OF BEGINNINGS. 



in the eighteenth century. > It is a peculiarity of the 

 human mind to desire to fix a definite origin for a 

 race or a man in whom there is a strong interest. 

 The early Greeks recognized tlie obscurity of Ijegin- 

 nings, and accordingly derived the origin of their 

 heroes fi-om a divine progenitor. *In a like manner 

 writers on cattle have attempted to derive the origin 

 of their breeds, from imjDorted animals or obscure 

 crosses. They have attempted to use the divinity of 

 a recognized breed in support of the breed, which 

 they fear will seem to their readers comparatively 

 recent. The literature of the Ayrshire breed abounds 

 with this error. 



Alton, our principal and almost only authority on 

 the oriarin of this breed, understands that the Earl of 

 Marchmont, about 1750, purchased from the Bishop 

 of Durham and carried to his seat in Berwickshire, 

 several cows and a bull of the Teeswater or other 

 English breed, of a brown and white color, and that 

 some of this breed were carried to Sombeg, in Kyle, 

 and crossed with many cows about Cessnock and 

 Sundrum.^ John Dunlop, of Dunlop, is also said to 

 have introduced cows of a large size from a distance, 

 probably of the Dutch, Teeswater, or Lincoln breed. ^ 

 In a later writing, Alton, lalwring under a seeming 

 necessity of giving a more definite origin to the 

 breed, writes that al)out 1770, or a little earlier, bulls 

 and cows of the Teeswater or Short-horned breed are 

 "said to have been introduced into Ayrshire by several 



1 Burton's Scotlnnd, ii, 393. 



2 Survey of Ayrejhire, p. 424. 



