that in some countries inhabited by barbarous races,
who are frequently at war with each other and therefore have little free
{88} 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.[204] 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[205] 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 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. 81/4 in. long, as measured in a straight line from
tip to tip, and no less than 13ft. 5in. 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.

That many breeds of cattle have originated through variation, independently
of descent from distinct species, we may infer from what we see in South
America, where the genus Bos was not endemic, and where the cattle which
now exist in such vast numbers are the descendants of a few imported from
Spain and Portugal. In Columbia, Roulin[206] describes two peculiar breeds,
namely, _pelones_, with extremely thin and fine hair, and _calongos_,
absolutely naked. According to Castelnau there are two races in Brazil, one
like European cattle, the other different, with {89} remarkable horns. In
Paraguay, Azara describes a breed which certainly originated in S. America,
called _chivos_, "because they have straight vertical horns, conical, and
very large at t