Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/79

 Iceland." Mittendorff, maintains that they are the lineal descendants of the hornless cattle of the Ancient Scythians, mentioned by Herodotus, and that they wandered north from the south of modern Russia, and then westwards into Scandinavia. If this be so, then it may be possible some day to trace them still farther back either into Asia or to the hornless cattle of the early Egyptians. For the present, however, we are concerned with them in Scandinavia, and two quotations will be sufficient to show that the hornless race makes itself manifest there precisely as it has done in Britian [sic]. The first quotation is from a letter received from Professor Isaachsen of Aas, in Norway: "As to our cattle up to the year 1600, we know very little. But in these days, like in ours, there were several distinct breeds in our country, and probably they have not changed their characteristics very much. Especially in the western and south-western parts of Norway, the so-called 'Westland,' from which part of the country the first settlers are supposed to have come to your country, the breed is partly horned, partly polled, about half the animals being polled, I think. The colour of the breed is either black, dun, red, or grey, whole-coloured or with small or large white marks or spots. In the south-eastern parts of