05 CATTLE. Chap. III. 



nication, several distinct breeds of cattle now exist or formerly 

 existed. At the Cape of Good Hope Leguat observed, in 

 the year 1720, three kinds. 61 At the present day various 'tra- 

 vellers have noticed the differences in the breeds in Southern 

 Africa. Sir Andrew Smith several years ago remarked to me 

 that the cattle possessed by the different tribes of Caffres, 

 though living near each other under the same latitude and in 

 the same kind of country, yet differed, and he expressed much 

 surprise at the fact. Mr. Andersson has described 62 the Damara, 

 Bechuana, and Namaqua cattle ; and he informs me in a letter 

 that the cattle north of Lake Ngami are likewise different, as 

 Mr. Galton has heard is the case with the cattle of Benguela. 

 The Namaqua cattle in size and shape nearly resemble European 

 cattle, and have short stout horns and large hoofs. The Damara 

 cattle are very, peculiar, being big-boned, with slender legs and 

 small hard feet ; their tails are adorned with a tuft of long bushv 

 hair nearly touching the ground, and their horns are extra- 

 ordinarily large. The Bechuana cattle have even larger horns, 

 and there is now a skull in London with the two horns 8 ft. 

 8| in. long, as measured in a straight line from tip to tip, and 

 no less than 13 ft. 5 in. as measured along their curvature ! 

 Mr. Andersson in hisl etter to me says that, though he will not 

 venture to describe the differences between the breeds belonging 

 to the many different sub-tribes, yet such certainly exist, as 

 shown by the wonderful facility with which the natives discri- 

 minate them. 



That many breeds of cattle have originated through variation, 

 independently of descent from distinct species, we may infer from 

 what we see in South America, where the genus Bos was not 

 endemic, and where the cattle which now exist in such vast 

 numbers are the descendants of a few imported from Spain and 

 Portugal. In Columbia, Roulin 63 describes two peculiar breeds, 

 namely, pelones, with extremely thin and fine hair, and calongos, 

 absolutely naked. According to Castelnau there are two races in 

 Brazil, one like European cattle, the other different, with remark- 



81 Leguat's Voyage, quoted by Vasey « t Me - m> de pinstitut present, par 



in his « Delineations of the Ox-tribe,' p. divers Savans,' torn, vi., 1835, p. 333. 



132, For Brazil, see ' Comptes Eendus,' June 



62 'Travels in South Africa,' pp. 317, 15th, 1846. See Azara, ' Quadruples 



336, du Paraguay,' torn. ii. pp. 359, 361. 



