The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939 Page: 192
446 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Texas cattle seem to have been of "the pure Spanish breed,"
black in color.'
The Spanish chroniclers consistently neglected to describe their
own stock. Only incidentally has description so far been made
of these wild, Spanish, "mustang" cattle. In California, Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas they were pretty much of the same type.
In California they ran as wild as in Texas, though they did
not stray off in such unclaimed numbers. The rancheros there
considered that wildness made their cattle less liable to be stolen
and more alert in defense against predatory animals-on the
principle by which the Arkansas stock judges awarded the prize
over Poland China shoats and Duroc Jersey boars to a vari-
colored bunch of long-snouted, long-legged, long-tailed native
razorbacks. "A hawg in this country," the judges announced,
"ain't no 'count 'less he can outrun a nigger and outfight a b'ar."
Choosing them always, roping them, tailing them down, the
Spaniards and their mestizo or Indian vaqueros handled their
stock on the open ranges, whether in California, Mexico, or Texas,
in a way to make even those that bore brands as feral in instincts
as the thicket-haunting orejanos. In California also the cattle had
a reputation for being "more dangerous to footmen than grizzly
bears."43
When Juan de Ofiate and Pedro Ponce de Le6n were bidding
against each other, 1595, for the privilege of leading a colony
into New Mexico and becoming captain-general of that province,
Ofiate promised to take-along with 500 pesos' worth of jerked
beef, 3,000 sheep for wool, 1,000 sheep for mutton, 1,000 goats,
and a great number of mares, colts and horses-"1,000 head of
cattle" (ganado mayor) and "100 head of black cattle" (ganado
prieto). Ponce de Le6n, raising the ante in every particular, said
he would take 2,000 head of "cattle" and 400 head of "black
cattle." Evidently black cattle were scarcer and more expensive
42Taylor White's ranch, being on the road to New Orleans from lower
Texas was commented on by various early travelers. See Fiske, A Visit
to Texas, New York, 1836, 99-108; Woodman, David, Guide to Texas Emi-
grants, Boston, 1835, 62-63; Gray, William F., From Virginia to Texas,
1885, Diary, Houston, Texas, 1909, 171 and entry for April 17, 1836; an
early letter by Dr. D. C. Hardee, reprinted in Frontier Times, Bandera,
Texas, March, 1936, 304-308.
4SBrewer, Wm. H., Up and Doumn California in 1860-1864, New Haven,
1930, 95; Bidwell, John, "Life in California Before the Gold Discovery,"
Century Magazine, XLI (1890), 164.192
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939, periodical, 1939; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101107/m1/214/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.