AMERICAN CATTLE 
143 
1 8th February 1846, to the effect that a similar tint 
characterised the cattle then to be found in a practi- 
cally wild state in Texas. On the other hand, the 
cattle seen by Lord Anson in 1741 in the Ladrone, 
or Marianne, Islands, to the north of New Guinea, 
were described as " milk-white, except their ears, 
which are generally black." ^ At the date referred 
to, these wild cattle were estimated to number about 
ten thousand head. Cattle were introduced into the 
Falkland Islands from La Plata by the French in 
1764, and in 1833-34, when Darwin visited these 
islands, their descendants were very numerous and 
thoroughly wild. " In the southern districts," writes 
Darwin,^ " the animals are mostly white, with their 
feet, or whole heads, or only their ears black ; but my 
informant. Admiral (Sir J.) Sulivan, who long resided 
on these islands, does not believe that they are ever 
purely white. ... In other parts of the Falkland 
Islands other colours prevail : near Port Pleasant 
brown is the common tint ; round Mount Usborn, 
about half of the animals were lead or mouse coloured, 
which elsewhere is an unusual tint." 
The resemblance of these white Ladrone and Falk- 
land cattle to the British park-breeds is very remark- 
able ; while still more so is the fact of their breeding 
true, and not tending to produce black calves. It 
would be of great interest to know the colour of the 
stocks from which they were respectively derived. 
In the state of Colombia, where half-wild cattle 
occurred in 1835 high up in the mountains as well as 
in the plains, there is one breed with soft, fine hair, 
Vide Darwin, loc, cit. 
- Loc. cit. ; see also A Natiiralisi'' s Voyage Round the Worlds 1884, 
ed, p. 191. 
