687 
RAPID PROPAGATION OF DOMESTIC QUADRUPEDS 
OVER THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
[Extracted from Lyall’s Geology.] 
Humboldt observes in his Travels, on the authority of Azzarra, 
that it is believed there exist in the pampas of Buenos Ayres 
twelve millions of cows and three millions of horses, without 
comprising in the enumeration the cattle that have no acknow- 
ledged proprietor. 
In the Llanos of Caracoas, the rich haterahs, or proprietors of 
pastoral farms are entirely ignorant of the number of cattle they 
possess. The young are branded with a mark peculiar to each 
herd, and some of the most wealthy owners mark as many as 
fourteen thousand a year. In the northern plains, from the 
Orinoco to the Lake of Maracaybo, M. Depons reckoned that 
1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules, wandered at 
large. In some parts of the valley of the Mississippi, especially 
in the country of the Osage Indians, wild horses are immensely 
numerous. 
The ass has thriven very generally in the New World: and 
we learn from Ulloa that in Quito they ran wild, and multiplied 
in amazing numbers, so as to become a nuisance. They graze 
together in herds, and, when attacked, defend themselves with 
their teeth. If a horse happens to stray into the places where 
they feed, they all fall upon him, and do not cease biting and 
kicking until they leave him dead. 
Hogs, sheep, and goats, have likewise multiplied enormously 
in the New World, as have also the cat and rat, which last has 
been imported unintentionally in ships. The dog, introduced by 
man, and which, at different periods, became wild in America, 
hunts in packs, like the wolf and jackal, destroying not only 
hogs, but the calves and foals of the wild cattle, and even de- 
stroying horses. 
The rapid propagation of domestic animals over the continent 
of America within the last three centuries only is a fact of great 
importance in natural history. The extraordinary herds of wild 
cattle and horses which overran the plains of South America 
sprung from a very few pairs first carried over by the Spaniards ; 
and they prove that the wide geographical range of large species 
on great continents does not necessarily imply that they have 
existed there from remote periods. 
