India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace].

  • Robert Wallace
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    150/550 (page 64)
    chocolate skin and points. These are thought to be the more beautiful of the two, but not so hardy. Still fewer have broken colours,—white patches on the prevailing black or brown ; and in some rare cases, patches of brown on the black. 1 he legs are short, and the bones fine. The barrel is round and substantial. The hind-quarters are unusually long for Indian cattle, and carried out square, or on a line with the back to the setting on of the tail. Behind the shoulder they are as well filled up as the best of our home breeds. I he hump is thick and massive, and very often double. The dewlap is prominent, and there is no hanging skin on the belly. Plate XXIX. (a) shows an excellent specimen of a bull, but with the one little defect, which no doubt will disappear with age—want of depth of barrel. He was, at the time the photograph was taken, not quite 3* years old (but had six teeth), and measured in height 3 feet 5^ inches, lie had worked for a year, but being well fed and cared for, he had not suffered, as might have been expected, from going to yoke at such an unusually early age. Good treatment was evident from the number and appearance of his teeth. Cattle are shod with thin or thick shoes at a cost of is. or 2s., as the case may be. The nails used have large round heads like great coarse rivets, and a passage is made for each nail through the hoof by a carpenter’s brog. In the case of the outer digits, the sharp points of the nails are neatly coiled upon themselves and left as ornamentation ; the inner ones arc cut off and fastened in the usual way. The operation has to be repeated once every two months in the case of animals working on hard roads. The bullocks of the breed are not noted as quick movers, but they are possessed of great power of endurance and wonderful strength for their size.