"On the hump or collar, the hair grows much longer than on the other parts of the body, forming a sort of curled mane, resembling, I should imagine, that of the Bison. It is perfectly white, growing to the length of one foot six inches, and adding greatly to the height of the rising part behind the horns. At present the hair is only beginning to grow; but it will be in full beauty at the approach of the winter months, and will fall off gradually again in the early part of the succeeding spring.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Dewlap of African Bull.]
"The keeper pointed out to Mr. Harvey, as a remarkable peculiarity, that the dewlap (fig. 3), in passing between the fore-legs (_a_), and under the body (_b_), seemed to divide itself into three parts, which they called the three stomachs, (1, 2, 3,) from their being very much acted on in the progress of digestion."
[C] The engraving here given as well as those of the eyes, hoofs, and dewlap, have been carefully copied from Mr. Harvey's originals.
Considerable interest has always been connected with the history of those herds of white cattle which have been kept secluded, apparently from time immemorial, in the parks of some of our aristocracy.[D] It has been, and still is, a matter of lordly pride to their noble owners, that these cattle are held to be of a distinct and untameable race.
Feeling a full share of the interest attached to them, and anxious to gain the most accurate and circumstantial information, I was induced to pay a visit, during the summer of 1845, to the beautifully wooded and undulating Park of Chillingham, in which a herd of these cattle is preserved; and, although I have not been able to gather material for a perfect history of these animals, I think it will not be difficult to show that matters respecting them have been set forth as facts which are fictions; and that from some points of their history which have been correctly detailed, inferences have been drawn, which are by no means warranted by the facts.
In endeavouring to point out these errors and false reasonings, it will be necessary to make quotations from the old history of the white cattle, in Culley's 'Observations on Live Stock,' which has been so often repeated in works on natural history, and is, moreover, so thoroughly accredited, that it may now appear something like presumption to call it in question. To what extent it is called in question on the present occasion, and the reasons for so doing, will be seen in the running commentary which accompanies these quotations.