On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen of a very
curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear externally to hold
nearly the same relation to other cattle, which bull or pug dogs do to
other dogs. Their forehead is very short and broad, with the nasal end
turned up, and the upper lip much drawn back; their lower jaws project
beyond the upper, and have a corresponding upward curve; hence their
teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils are seated high up and are
very open; their eyes project outwards. When walking they carry their
heads low, on a short neck; and their hinder legs are rather longer
compared with the front legs than is usual. Their bare teeth, their
short heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most ludicrous
self-confident air of defiance imaginable.
Since my return, I have procured a skeleton head, through the kindness
of my friend Captain Sulivan, R. N., which is now deposited in the
College of Surgeons. [1] Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly collected
for me all the information which he could respecting this breed. From
his account it seems that about eighty or ninety years ago, they were
rare and kept as curiosities at Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally
believed to have originated amongst the Indians southward of the Plata;
and that it was with them the commonest kind. Even to this day, those
reared in the provinces near the Plata show their less civilized
origin, in being fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow easily
deserting her first calf, if visited too often or molested. It is a
singular fact that an almost similar structure to the abnormal [2] one
of the niata breed, characterizes, as I am informed by Dr. Falconer,
that great extinct ruminant of India, the Sivatherium. The breed is
very _true_; and a niata bull and cow invariably produce niata calves.
A niata bull with a common cow, or the reverse cross, produces
offspring having an intermediate character, but with the niata
characters strongly displayed: according to Senor Muniz, there is the
clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief of agriculturists in
analogous cases, that the niata cow when crossed with a common bull
transmits her peculiarities more strongly than the niata bull when
crossed with a common cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, the
niata cattle feed with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle;
but during the great droughts, when so many animals perish, the niata
breed is under a great disadvantage, and would be exterminated if not
attended to; for the common cattle, like horses, are able just to keep
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