Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

THE WEST HIGHLANDERS. 41
SCOTLAND.
Scotland contains several distinct and valuable breeds of cattle,
evidently belonging to our present division, " The Middle Horns."
The West Highlanders, whether we regard those that are found
in the Hebrides, or the county of Argyle, seem to retain most of the
aboriginal character. They have remained unchanged, or improved
only by selection,, for many generations ; indeed from the earliest
accounts that we possess of Scottish cattle.
The North Highlanders are a smaller^ coarser, and in every
way inferior race, and owe the greater part of what is valuable about
them to crosses from the Western breed.
The North-Eastern Cattle were derived from, and bear a
stong resemblance to, the West Highlander, but are of considerably
larger size.
The Ayrshire Breed are second to none as milkers.
The Galloways, which scarcely a century ago were middlehorned,
and with difficulty distinguished from the West Highlanders,
are now a polled breed—increased in size, with more striking resemblance
to their kindred, the Devons—with all their aptitude to fatten,
and with a great hardiness of constitution.
THE "WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE.
The cattle of the islands on the Western coast have the honor of
being, or, at least, of retaining the character of the primitive breed,
and whence are procured the purest and best specimens to preserve
or to improve the Highland cattle in other districts.
Skirting the coast, from the promontory of Cantire to the northern
extremity of Scotland, is a range of islands—the Hebrides, about
half of them inhabited by man.
Little is known of the history of the Hebrideans, except that they
descended from the same stock with the Irish and the Highlanders
and, at no very remote period, the inhabitants were singularly uncul-
tivated, ignorant, idle, and miserable.
After the union between the English and Scottish kingdoms, and
when civilization had commenced on the mainland, the Hebrideans
began to be reclaimed, and that was chiefly manifested in, and promoted
hy, a change of occupation. Although they did not abandon
their seafaring life, they began to be agriculturists. Their cattle,
which had been totally neglected, and their" value altogether unknown,
retained their primitive character. The Hebrideans for the first time
became aware of this, and they bred them in greater numbers, and a
few of the most intelligent farmers endeavored to improve them by
selections from the best specimens of their native stock ; the result
;