In the interior of Africa, negroes, who have not associated with white men,
show great anxiety to improve their animals; they "always choose the larger
and stronger males for stock;" the Malakolo were much pleased at Livingstone's
promise to send them a bull, and some Bakalolo carried a live cock all the way
from Loanda into the interior. (20/58. Livingstone 'First Travels' pages 191,
439, 565; see also 'Expedition to the Zambesi' 1865 page 495, for an analogous
case respecting a good breed of goats.) At Falaba Mr. Winwood Reade noticed an
unusually fine horse, and the negro King informed him that "the owner was
noted for his skill in breeding horses." Further south on the same continent,
Andersson states that he has known a Damara give two fine oxen for a dog which
struck his fancy. The Damaras take great delight in having whole droves of
cattle of the same colour, and they prize their oxen in proportion to the size
of their horns. "The Namaquas have a perfect mania for a uniform team; and
almost all the people of Southern Africa value their cattle next to their
women, and take a pride in possessing animals that look high-bred. They rarely
or never make use of a handsome animal as a beast of burden." (20/59.
Andersson 'Travels in South Africa' pages 232, 318, 319.) The power of
discrimination which these savages possess is wonderful, and they can
recognise to which tribe any cattle belong. Mr. Andersson further informs me
that the natives frequently match a particular bull with a particular cow.
The most curious case of selection by semi-civilised people, or indeed by any
people, which I have found recorded, is that given by Garcilazo de la Vega, a
descendant of the Incas, as having been practised in Peru before the country
was subjugated by the Spaniards. (20/60. Dr. Vavasseur in 'Bull. de La Soc.
d'Acclimat.' tome 8 1861 page 136.) The Incas annually held great hunts, when
all the wild animals were driven from an immense circuit to a central point.
The beasts of prey were first destroyed as injurious. The wild Guanacos and
Vicunas were sheared; the old males and females killed, and the others set at
liberty. The various kinds of deer were examined; the old males and females
were likewise killed, "but the young females, with a certain number of males,
selected from the most beautiful and strong," were given their freedom. Here,
then, we have selection by man aiding natural selection. So that the Incas
followed exactly the reverse system of that which our Scottish sportsman are
accused of following, namely, of steadily killing the finest stags, thus
causing the whole race to degenerate. (20/61. 'The Natural History of Dee
Side' 1855 page 476.) In regard to the domesticated llamas and alpacas, they
were separated in the time of the Incas according to colour: and if by chance
one in a flock was born of the wrong colour, it was eventually put into
another flock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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