Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/392

 352 Correspondence.

material on a stick on my back through a Basque Spanish town, I was supposed to be doing it as a carnival joke, and they took much pains to make me speak. I, not knowing Spanish, was quite unconscious of the joke until enlightened by a friend. Another incident occurred in Rome with a carnival actor, who must not speak whatever happened; and, as I was then aware of that, I did much to embarrass him.

When I wrote to MuUion the year before last (that is 1897, only six years after I witnessed the mumming), I could get no replies to my questions, and as I was very friendly with the people, I felt quite sure I had stumbled on what they did not wish to speak of ; either it was an old-world custom which they had begun to look upon as foohsh, or they had some feeling against publicity. The house I stayed in was a boarding-house at MuUion, and the host and hostess are still there. If there were any chance at all of rescuing the fragments, I feel sure it would have to be done with tact and care. The dresses of the mummers were elaborate.

Florence Grove.

White Cattle in British Folktales and Customs.

As I have been engaged for some time working on the origin and history of British white cattle, I take this opportunity, through the kindness of the President of the Folk-Lore Society, to ask the assistance of those interested in folklore and early traditions of favouring me with references to tales and customs, in which white cattle play a part.

The statement most commonly made is that herds of white cattle which now exist in some English and Scotch parks are descendants of wild cattle that roamed through the forests of Britain — the true Bos Primigenius of the zoologist. This tradition I am unable to accept, and I think Professor McKenny Hughes has conclusively shown that instead of being descendants of the wild bull — the urus of Csesar — they are the descendants of im- ported cattle, which were probably required for sacrifical purposes. Instead of being wild cattle their colour indicates a long period of domestication, for, excepting some animals common to the