Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-10-13

have written the story, she may read it, and
see how superstiti0us | once became
Frances B. CurYie.
Mexican Cattle.
SAN DIEGO, TEXAS, Sept. 25, 1886.
Correspondence of the spEcTAToRl
Editor Spectator Much has been said
and written about the Texas cattle, which
of course are the same breed as the Nexi-
can, though many stock-raisers in Texas
have imported fine stock and mixed the
same with the common Texas stock, which
has not been done in Mexico, unless in iso-
lated cases. A Mexican three-year-old steer
will weigh one third as much as common
Virginia steer, have horns four times as
long, hoofs one-half as large, and bones
one-fourth smaller. Why the horns grow
larger and not the boots and bones and
muscles, is too hard a question. One might
as we'll ask why the blood flows from the
human heart through the arteries, and
back to the heart through the veins. 1t
may be in the climate, it may be in the
food. There are no exceptions, however,
unless the breed become mixed, then
the hoofs, frames and bones grow larger,
so this theory of food and climate vanishes.
1t can not be the breed, for some time ago
stock man writing from Montana, says
''Bring one of your Texas steers up here,
and in a year you would not know him, SO
big he has grown, his bones and feet seem
to grow iR, R,proportion, while his horns stop
growing altogether This, too, has been
the case in other portions of the United
States where this breed has been taken
A Mexican COW w-after two years old will
raise calf every year until she is killed.
They seldom die. Twenty-fv years is a
good age for them to live. Mexican stock
raisers never dig wells, nor build dams or
tanks, and if their rancho fails to front on
river or the gulf they fail to raise stock,
and sometimes rivers that for years
in a long dry summer, fails. Every day
the ranchero expects rain, and instead OF
driving his cattle
A HUNDRED MILES
or so, for water, while they are strong, hs
waits and trusts for luck and rain, until his
cattle grow weaker and weaker, their al.
ready small frames grow smaller, and their
long three or four foot horns seem to in.
crease in length as PERSONS features ap-
pear after a hard spell of sickness, and the
herder finds each morning some of his half.
starved animals unable to rise, unless
aided. Then let rain come while these
cattle are in this condition and these ami
mails will be seen to stagger to the creek OF
pool of water and deliberately drink them
selves to death. The writer several years
ago, while at Big Springs, saw hundreds OF
carcasses OF cattle iying on tne banks OF tne
river, ana was toio that some OF the cattie
had oeen driven hundred mlies, ana upon
arriving mad absolutely Killed themselves
orlnKlng "aIer'
THE wo1vEs AND COYOTES
play havoc with tne cattle "nlie IN thls
starving condition: IN fact, IN this country
these plood-thlrsty ANIMALS al" ays seem TO
De hungry ana roam throughout the n1gnt'
and during the day, too, and as they are
Always IN search OF 1000, would 90 con-
would be Glad to dispense with. while to
them @ the Mexican rancnman %, seem TO pay
put hetle attehtlon. inese long, guant,
tlreiess ANIMALS roam TO and ITO over ene
range, IKE ponceman on MS peat, seeking
Wnat they may ae'our, ever ana anon sic-
ting upon tneir nauncnes' nowhng Voc1-
eronsly as IL IN dissPPoln,mens at tne m pre-
vailing Scarcity oi oioou anu oeei. 1he
mexican cattie are lntelhgent.
THEY REVERENCE OLD AeE-
ana VIII always give way TO tne oder
me oloer ones protect tne younger from
wlld oeastS. Inc cows always niue tnelr
caves, ana us singular tnaS Wnen one OF
nows from the WOUND tne paiance OF the
herd turn upon the injured oeast ana de-
iioerately gore IL 10 oeath. LOOKING at
this matter from human STANDPOINT the
reason would De apparent, ana from prute
standpoint, that sef-preservatlon is law
OF nature. SUCH attacks are generaiiy
headed by cows win caves ny thelr sloes'
nature no DOUBT teacning tnem tnat the
scent OF olood from the WOUNDED anlmal
would oraw wolves, panthers' anu other
and nlav havoc with their young.
THEY SEEM TO HAVE LEADER
for when hunting water, one old stager
takes the lead' and tney form sort OF
cone shape, poinLlhg Io"arus tne Iront' JUST
so when IN search OF grass, and when rest
ing at night there seems TO ne not 10"
sentinels on guard, and they too, always on
the outskirts OF the hero ready to give the
alarm should any Danger seem apparent
These leaders, as well as the Cattle gener-
ally are brave, and when angry Will nght
for life, and when lassoed Will appear TO
get very angry, and start at once Tor the
herder; this IS always expected, anu an
other vaquero lherder) throws another iasso
over the angry pfutes norns, then IL Turns
and starts for the horse OF the last lnsulter,
and SO backwards and forwards this cap
tured animal is sJerked, until third vaQuero
succeeds in throwing iasso around its legs
and throwing it upon the ground, when a
fourth comes forward with knife to mark
the same, If in the corral, with hot iron
to brand it: All stockmen have marks and
brands, and there is no law to punish for
81 rord;no ~, on;mo1 fornd in tho ronro
with no mark and brand upon it. In Texas