protruding through the jaws, and the other not so." They have different
habits, and their voice is entirely different. The humped cattle in India
"seldom seek shade, and never go into the water and there stand knee-deep,
like the cattle of Europe." They have run wild in parts of Oude and
Rohilcund, and can maintain themselves in a region infested by tigers. They
have given rise to many races differing greatly in size, in the presence of
one or two humps, in length of horns, and other respects. Mr. Blyth sums up
emphatically that the humped and humpless cattle must be considered as
distinct species. When we consider the number of points in external
structure and habits, independently of important osteological differences,
in which they differ from each other; and that many of these points are not
likely to have been affected by domestication, there can hardly be a doubt,
notwithstanding the adverse opinion of some naturalists, that the humped
and non-humped cattle must be ranked as specifically distinct.
The European breeds of humpless cattle are numerous. Professor Low
enumerates 19 British breeds, only a few of which are identical with those
on the Continent. Even the small Channel islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and
Alderney possess their own sub-breeds (3/34. Mr. H.E. Marquand in 'The
Times' June 23, 1856.); and these again differ from the cattle of the other
British islands, such as Anglesea, and the western isles of Scotland.
Desmarest, who paid attention to the subject, describes 15 French races,
excluding sub-varieties and those imported from other countries. In other
parts of Europe there are several distinct races, such as the pale-coloured
Hungarian cattle, with their light and free step, and enormous horns
sometimes measuring above five feet from tip to tip (3/35. Vasey
'Delineations of the Ox-Tribe' page 124. Brace 'Hungary' 1851 page 94. The
Hungarian cattle descend according to Rutimeyer 'Zahmen Europ. Rindes' 1866
s. 13 from Bos primigenius.): the Podolian cattle also are remarkable from
the height of their fore-quarters. In the most recent work on Cattle (3/36.
Moll and Gayot 'La Connaissance Gen. du Boeuf' Paris 1860. Fig. 82 is that
of the Podolian breed.), engravings are given of fifty-five European
breeds; it is, however, probable that several of these differ very little
from each other, or are merely synonyms. It must not be supposed that
numerous breeds of cattle exist only in long-civilised countries, for we
shall presently see that several kinds are kept by the savages of Southern
Africa.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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