As numerous breeds are generally found only in long-civilised countries, it
may be well to show that in some countries inhabited by barbarous races,
who are frequently at war with each other, and therefore have little free
communication, several distinct breeds of cattle now exist or formerly
existed. At the Cape of Good Hope Leguat observed, in the year 1720, three
kinds. (3/61. Leguat's Voyage quoted by Vasey in his 'Delineations of the
Ox-tribe' page 132.) At the present day various travellers have noticed the
differences in the breeds in Southern Africa. Sir Andrew Smith several
years ago remarked to me that the cattle possessed by the different tribes
of Caffres, though living near each other under the same latitude and in
the same kind of country, yet differed, and he expressed much surprise at
the fact. Mr. Andersson has described (3/62. 'Travels in South Africa'
pages 317, 336.) the Damara, Bechuana, and Namaqua cattle; and he informs
me in a letter that the cattle north of Lake Ngami are likewise different,
as Mr. Galton has heard is also the case with the cattle of Benguela. The
Namaqua cattle in size and shape nearly resemble European cattle, and have
short stout horns and large hoofs. The Damara cattle are very peculiar,
being big-boned, with slender legs, and small hard feet; their tails are
adorned with a tuft of long bushy hair nearly touching the ground, and
their horns are extraordinarily large. The Bechuana cattle have even larger
horns, and there is now a skull in London with the two horns 8 ft. 8 1/4
in. long, as measured in a straight line from tip to tip, and no less than
13 ft. 5 in. as measured along their curvature! Mr. Andersson in his letter
to me says that, though he will not venture to describe the differences
between the breeds belonging to the many different sub-tribes, yet such
certainly exist, as shown by the wonderful facility with which the natives
discriminate them.
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