546 
THE WHITE FOREST AND 
mately prove the same, I hold the matter as still very doubtful. 
The birth of a black calf amongst these white cattle of Pembroke- 
shire may prove not identity, but a mixture of two races of cattle 
(black and white), shewing itself from time to time by accidental 
births ; and as black cattle abound in the district, and, if I am 
rightly informed, constitute the great bulk of the Pembrokeshire 
cattle, it is not at all surprising that a black calf should from time 
to time appear among its fairer companions : such things happen 
occasionally among the human race, and is unhesitatingly re- 
ferred to the influence of a black parent, recent or remote*. 
Nothing of this proves identity ; it merely shews an admixture, 
recently or remote it matters not ; an admixture influencing un- 
born races for an unknown period of time. Again; the birth of a 
white calf among the West Highland or the Pembroke black cattle 
does not prove identity of species ; it may as well prove the in- 
fluence of a breed extinct as a general breed (in Scotland), but 
shewing itself from time to time among the existing species. 
A question here naturally arises, which is this : Are the Pem- 
broke black cattle indentical with the West Highland and Irish 
cattle, seeing that, according to Mr. Low’s hypothesis, they 
ought to be ? The Celt, Caledonian, and Irish (surely the High- 
landers are at least as much Celt as the Welsh), must have pre- 
served his cattle in a much purer state, or in a state nearer their 
original condition than they could have possibly been preserved 
on the green hills of Wales, and in the vicinity of all-powerful 
England. According to the hypothesis I combat, the white ox 
should abound in Caledonia and in the remote districts of Ireland, 
and in France, which is pure “ Celtic,” Welsh to the core ; Welsh 
out and outf . Now, instead of this being the case, we find them 
* In the human race the admixture of dark blood will continue to shew 
itself for more than a century without the possible return to the original 
stock : there is no reason why the same law should not hold good in cattle. 
f Rebecca and her daughters shew themselves only occasionally in the 
Principality, and, being but few in numbers, the event is not much attended 
to. Still, as the inhabitants of the Principality, upon the present system of 
land tenure, will every year become more and more Celtic, so will Rebecca’s 
visits become more and more frequent. Ireland long ere this (and Wales 
too) might have been mostly Saxon, with Saxon industry, Saxon steadiness, 
Saxon respect for law and order, but for the land tenure — the law of entail. 
Nine-tenths of the soil of Ireland and of Wales were originally handed over 
to a few English families, some centuries ago : the entail has kept out Saxon 
industry and Saxon capital. In the mean time, the Celtic population in- 
creases, and now some four-and-twenty English families, possessing most of 
the landed property (and all the patronage of Ireland and of Wales), call on 
Britain generally to maintain not so much the British supremacy as their 
entails. Had Ireland and Wales been conquered for the Anglo-Saxon race, 
these countries, long ere this, would have been all but Saxon or English. 
They would have formed a part of England as it were : but it is quite noto- 
