“In the chase the hunters are assisted by dogs, which they take when young and domesticate; but they take little pains to train them to any particular mode of hunting.  After finding a litter of young, the natives generally carry away one or two to rear; in this case, it often occurs that the mother will trace and attack them; and, being large and very strong, she is rather formidable.  At some periods, food is so scanty as to compel the dog to leave his master and provide for himself; but in a few days he generally returns.”

I have also evidence that this custom is common to the wild natives of other parts of Australia.

The gregariousness of all our domestic species is, I think, the primary reason why some of them are extinct in a wild state.  The wild herds would intermingle with the tame ones, some would become absorbed, the others would be killed by hunters, who used the tame cattle as a shelter to approach the wild.  Besides this, comfort-loving animals would be less suited to fight the battle of life with the rest of the brute creation; and it is therefore to be expected that those varieties which are best fitted for domestication, would be the soonest extinguished in a wild state.  For instance, we could hardly fancy the camel to endure in a land where there were large wild beasts.

Selection.—­The irreclaimably wild members of every flock would escape and be utterly lost; the wilder of those that remained would assuredly be selected for slaughter, when ever it was necessary that one of the flock should be killed.  The tamest cattle—­those that seldom ran away, that kept the flock together and led them homewards—­would be preserved alive longer than any of the others.  It is therefore these that chiefly become the parents of stock, and bequeath their domestic aptitudes to the future herd.  I have constantly witnessed this process of selection among the pastoral savages of South Africa.  I believe it to be a very important one, on account of its rigour and its regularity.  It must have existed from the earliest times, and have been in continuous operation, generation after generation, down to the present day.

Exceptions.—­I have already mentioned the African elephant, the North American reindeer, and the apparent, but not real exception of the North American turkey.  I should add the ducks and geese of North America, but I cannot consider them in the light of a very strong case, for a savage who constantly changes his home is not likely to carry aquatic birds along with him.  Beyond these few, I know of no notable exceptions to my theory.

Summary.

I see no reason to suppose that the first domestication of any animal, except the elephant, implies a high civilisation among the people who established it.  I cannot believe it to have been the result of a preconceived intention, followed by elaborate trials, to administer to the comfort of man.  Neither can I think it arose from one successful effort made by an individual, who might thereby justly claim the title of benefactor to his race; but, on the contrary, that a vast number of half-unconscious attempts have been made throughout the course of ages, and that ultimately, by slow degrees, after many relapses, and continued selection, our several domestic breeds became firmly established.