Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/91

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THE DUTCH INVASION
79

they are, in general, more subject to Iyer or black flesh, than those bred farther North; and in that rich part of Yorkshire called Holderness, they are much the same as those south of the H umber, of which we have been speaking. It is probable that they had either stuck more to the lyery black-beefed kind, than their more northern neighbours, at that unfortunate period when they were imported from the Continent, or that the latter had seen their error. But from whatever cause this happened, it is a fact, that as soon as we cross the Yorkshire Wolds, northward, we find this breed alter for the better; they become finer in the bone, in the carcase, and, in a great measure, free from that disagreeable lyery sort which has brought such an odium upon this, perhaps, most valuable breed. When you reach that fine country on both sides of the River Tees, you are then in the centre of this breed of cattle; a country that has been long eminent for good stock of all kinds; the country where the Dobinsons first raised a spirit of emulation amongst the breeders, which is still kept up by Mr. Hill, the Mr. Charges, the Mr. Collins, Mr. Maynard, etc."[1]

It is unnecessary to make more or later quotations to show that these east-country English cattle came from the opposite shores of the German Ocean. Documentary evidence as to

  1. Quoted from the second edition, 1794, p. 40.