SPECIKS. 
appears not to have been the Merino variety, but 
another, which the Spaniards call de lana burda 
y basta (with wool coarse and rude). It is very 
common on the Oordilleras, at an elevation of 
3,300 to 8,200 feet. In no place do the sheep 
appear to have escaped from the protection of 
man, and hence we find that their manners have 
undergone scarcely any change; nor can any 
alteration in their forms be observed, except a 
slight diminution of stature. Within the limits 
above defined, the sheep propagate readily, and 
almost without requiring any care; but the 
reverse happens in the hotter districts. It ap- 
pears that in the plains of Meta it is very diffi- 
cult to rear lambs; and no sheep are to be seen 
from the river to the foot of the Cordilleras, 
although their skin is very much in demand to 
make a kind of parchment, and that its price is 
as high as the hide of an ox. In the valley 
which separates the most eastern chain from the 
central, they may perhaps be sometimes seen, 
but always in small numbers. The females are 
not very fruitful, and the lambs are difficult to 
rear. There is one very curious phenomenon 
exhibited by the sheep of this district. The 
fleece grows upon the lambs in the same manner 
as in most temperate climates, provided they are 
sheared as soon as it has arrived at a certain de- 
gree of thickness, in which case the wool grows 
again, and continues to observe the same order. 
But if the favourable period for stripping the 
animal of its fleece be allowed to pass, the wool 
thickens and becomes matted together, it de- 
taches itself in flakes, and finally leaves behind 
—not, as we might expect, a growing fleece, or 
a naked and diseased skin—but, a short, glossy, 
and compact hair, exactly resembling that of the 
common goat in the same climate. 
Although the goat is evidently best fitted for 
a mountainous region, it seems to thrive better 
in the low and sultry valleys than in the more 
elevated regions of the Cordilleras. In the for- 
mer districts it multiplies rapidly, generally 
bearing two young at a birth, often three, but 
never six, as some have been pleased to assert. 
Its height is diminutive, but in other respects its 
form has greatly improved. Its body is more 
slender, the shape of its head is more elegant, 
more pleasingly disposed, and usually less over- 
loaded with horns. The agility of this animal, 
and its taste for climbing and leaping, are also 
singularly increased. In the public square of a 
village, M. Roulin has often seen them leaping 
more than four feet upwards to the mouldings 
on the pilasters of the church. The projecting 
place on which their feet rested was not three 
square inches ; yet in this position, so difficult 
to preserve, they remained for hours together, 
without any other apparent object than that of 
warming themselves in the direct solar rays, as 
well as in those reflected from below. These 
goats are covered with short hair, very glossy 
ae thick; and although they may be seen to 
= =e 
305 
possess all the shades of colour, yet the most 
common is fawn, with a brown stripe on the 
back, and black symmetrical marks upon the 
face. The she-goats of Europe strikingly exhibit 
the influence of domestication in causing a great 
enlargement of the udders; for this acquired 
character has entirely disappeared in the she- 
goats of America. 
The establishment of the larger cattle in 
America must be dated, like that of the hogs, 
from the second voyage of Columbus to St. 
Domingo. In the latter place they multiplied 
rapidly, and the island soon became the nursery 
from which these animals were transferred to 
different points on the coast of the mainland, 
and thence to the interior of the continent. Al- 
though these numerous exportations must have 
diminished their numbers considerably, yet we 
are informed by Oviedo, that within twenty- 
seven years from the discovery of St. Domingo, 
herds of 4,000 head of cattle might frequently be 
encountered, and that there were even some 
containing at least 8,000. In the year 1587, the 
number of hides exported from this island alone 
amounted to 35,444, while 64,340 appear to have 
issued from the ports of New Spain. This was 
the sixty-fifth year after the capture of Mexico, 
before which event the Spaniards were entirely 
occupied in warfare, and it strikingly evinces 
the extreme rapidity with which these animals 
will increase their numbers when placed under 
favourable circumstances. While the cattle were 
in small numbers, and grouped around the habi- 
tations of their masters, they succeeded equally 
well almost everywhere; but as soon as their 
numbers became greatly increased, it was dis- 
covered that in certain districts they could not 
exist without the assistance of man. Unless 
they were able to find a certain quantity of salt, 
either in the substance of the plants which 
formed their food, or in the streams which in 
some districts acquire a brackish taste from the 
saline particles contained in the soil, it was 
found to be absolutely necessary to furnish it to 
them directly. If this precaution were not at- 
tended to, they became stunted and poor; many 
of the females ceased to be fruitful, and the herds 
rapidly disappeared. Even in those districts 
where the cattle can exist without this assist- 
ance, it has been found advantageous to distri- 
bute salt at stated intervals to the herd. This 
is one principal means of attaching them to a 
| particular spot; and so great is the avidity with 
|which they take this substance, after being for 
some time deprived of it, that when it has been 
distributed to them two or three times at the 
same place, they are seen running from all quar- 
‘ters to the spot as soon as they hear the horns 
| which the herdsmen sound before making the 
distribution. If, however, the country yields a 
sufficient supply of salt, and if the herdsmen 
neglect to assemble the cattle from time to time, 
they become in a very few years wholly wild. 
U 
