erpents,
and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind."

I conclude from what I have stated that there is no animal worthy of
domestication that has not frequently been captured, and might ages
ago have established itself as a domestic breed, had it not been
deficient in certain necessary particulars which I shall proceed to
discuss. These are numerous and so stringent as to leave no ground
for wonder that out of the vast abundance of the animal creation,
only a few varieties of a few species should have become the
companions of man.

It by no means follows that because a savage cares to take home a
young fawn to amuse himself, his family, and his friends, that he
will always continue to feed or to look after it. Such attention
would require a steadiness of purpose foreign to the ordinary
character of a savage. But herein lie two shrewd tests of the
eventual destiny of the animal as a domestic species.

_Hardiness_.--It must be able to shift for itself and to thrive,
although it is neglected; since, if it wanted much care, it would
never be worth its keep.

The hardiness of our domestic animals is shown by the rapidity with
which they establish themselves in new lands. The goats and hogs
left on islands by the earlier navigators throve excellently on the
whole. The horse has taken possession of the Pampas, and the sheep
and ox of Australia. The dog is hardly repressible in the streets of
an Oriental town.

_Fondness of Man_.--Secondly, it must cling to man, notwithstanding
occasional hard usage and frequent neglect. If the animal had no
natural attachment to our species, it would fret itself to death, or
escape and revert to wildness. It is easy to find cases where the
partial or total non-fulfilment of this condition is a corresponding
obstacle to domestication. Some kinds of cattle are too precious to
be discarded, but very troublesome to look after. Such are the
reindeer to the Lapps. Mr. Campbell of Islay informed me that the
tamest of certain herds of them look as if they were wild; they have
to be caught with a lasso to be milked. If they take fright, they
are off to the hills; consequently the Lapps are forced to
accommodate themselves to the habits of their beasts, and to follow
them from snow to sea and from sea to snow at different seasons. The
North American reindeer has never been domesticated, owing, I presume,
to this cause. The Peruvian herdsmen would have had great trouble to