THE ORIGIN OF SOME DOMESTICATED 
ANIMALS 
Few subjects are hidden in greater obscurity than is the 
origin of many of our domesticated animals; and seeing 
that man in all probability began to exercise his power of 
dominion over the wild creatures by which he was sur- 
rounded at a very early date indeed, this is not more 
than might be expected. When animals were first domes- 
ticated, and which were the species that first came under 
the yoke of servitude, we shall never know. The available 
evidence points, however, very clearly to the conclusion that 
Asia was the great original centre of the early domestication 
of Old World animals; although North-Eastern Africa 
seems also to have participated to a certain extent. So far 
as it goes this tends to confirm the conclusion that Asia 
has been the cradle of the human race, although it must be 
borne in mind that different races exhibit wide differences 
in their capacity for domesticating animals; those of Africa 
being far inferior in this respect to many Asiatic tribes. 
When any species of animal—provided that it will breed 
in this state—had once been domesticated, it is probable 
that the descendants of such domesticated stock have formed 
the basis of all or most of the later breeds; for it is 
obviously much easier to train such stock than to commence 
again de novo with a wild strain. Still, there are many 
cases where subsequent crosses have taken place with a 
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