The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-10-04
Early English Cattle.

d Che story of tho conquest and holding of
j.. land by tho desCendents of l}os Urus is
&C that of the first chapters of the history
England, for the Celtic OK, poor 'ongi-
,'ons, was driven, with his master, to dcs-
ert regions beyond the reach of the irrcsist-
ible English. There is an epic grandeur in
the story, of these herds even of the tame
species but the wild creatures, roamingi in
the great forests, and over the plains, yfas-
cinate our fancy, like the horses of the
Ukraine, or the tamclcss North American
bison, never domcstlCatcd by man, and
which arc too surely, as Alexandra Dumas
described them in one of his daring SMILES,
vanishing in the MIST That I}os Urus
himself existed in historic timcs-in the
East and in Southern Europe, but not in
Briton, where, historic times begin so much
later-is not so pleasant to think of except
that the men were probably as wild as the
beasts, at period when, as Mr.. Storer in.
forms us. 'tMount Hpmus, the Carpathians,
running through the middle of Europe, and
the Hyrcinian Forest, stretching from these
almost through Germany, and connecting
them with other mountain ranges, were the
formidable brutes favorite #haunts from
Scythia, Sarmatia and the Black Sen, TO
Denmark and the shores of the Northern
Ocean, everywhere we find him." Hc
lived after the fall of the Roman Empire
and through the Middle Ages, although his
range was greatly circumscribcd, aud he
did not become finally extinct until tho six
teenth century. From the animals Of his
race by which the Celtic OK was driven to
the highlands Of those regions .aftcrward
called Scotland and Wales are descended
the ancient British herds of white cattle,
whether wild or domcsticatcd, the "old no.
bility' of their kind, perfectly extinct from
the ordinary cattle Of our dairics and our
markets, everywhere alike in color ESQ vari-'
able and f1ccting among domestic animals),
OF which herds few still remain, and
others arc but recently cXtinct. Mr. Storcr
was OF opinion that all white cnttlc arc
probably of the aboriginal brecd-tllat Bos
Urus himself was white-and in an interest
ing dissertation on the estimation in which
white animals were held by tho ancients
and the modern prejudice against them, he
quotes passage from tic writings Of NM.
Moll and Gayot descriptive of the beautiful
Hungarian OK, which might be applied,
without alteration, to the famous white
herds at Chillingham and Charley ga
certain air of nobility, very striking as
poet, are shown in the whole Of its str,lc-
tureJ and each movement displays vigor
and activity. In the lofty carriage of its
head, in It's proud shape, in its look, SO
open and full of courage, we sec clearly
that the Hungarian cattle descend from the
ancient race which inhabited these plains,
whose extent no eye can embrace; that
they do not only descend from, but arc the
continuation Of it," According to Profcs-
sor Wrightson, the majestic Hungarian OK
which is white, with Il shading of gray
On, f1,n HC, A.,
dark, shaded inside; the horns long, wide
muzzlc, skin round the eye, the eye itself
and the feet all blacll.-is a larger type of
the wild cattle Of Chllingham Park; and
MIR. Storcr holds that the Hungarian cattle,
those of the vast Russian stcppcs and our
own wild white forest breed, are lineal
representatives of the ancient Urus which
existed in thc bronze age, but Of which
there is no trace among the motlcrn domcs-
tic races of Western Continental Europe.
After the early Norman age the times be-
came hard for the Wild bull he had to re-
tire before civilization; the forest was s,l-
percedcd by the park. Princes and mobiles
gained the Kings permission to enclose
inrgc ranges OF the forest, With tho wild
creatures within them, and then all ont
sidcrs were speedily cXtcrminatcd. First
went the wild OK, then the roe deer in
England next, the wild boar and the fall
low deer; and lastly, with the exception
Of few on EXmoor and those in tho Scot
tish deer forests, preserved and protected
by man, the rcd deer also. The wild boar
became quite extinct in Great Britain. OF
all the herds of wild white cattle in all the
privileged ''parks," creatures mighty and
majestic, themes of many romance and
popular superstition, subjects of many
stirring tale OF pride and prowcss, dreaded
as omens, and used as hcraldlc devices of
many great house, strange relics of me-
Qitpval grandeur, there now remain but
three. When Bcwick wrote of them in
1890 there were five, and two hud but re-
Gently ceased to exist.