The herds of cattle at Chillingham are believed to be survivors of Bos primigenius, the wild ox of Europe, which is the supposed progenitor of our domestic cattle.  This fact is of great scientific interest and is analogous to the preservation of the few remaining buffaloes in America, only in this case these wild cattle have been preserved through much changed conditions for a vastly longer period.

The King, when Prince of Wales, shot one of these animals, but in doing so had a rather narrow escape.  The chief external appearances distinguishing the cattle from all others are as follows—­“their colour is invariably white; muzzles black, the whole of the inside of the ear and about one-third of the outside, from the lips downwards, red; horns white with black tips, very fine and bent upwards; some of the bulls have a thin upright mane about an inch and a half or two inches long.”

It should be pointed out that there is some danger in encountering any of the herd in the absence of the park-keepers.  The calves have been noticed to have the wild characteristic of dropping when suddenly surprised.

A reproduction is given opposite of Landseer’s picture of the wild cattle.

[Illustration:  Collection A. Rischgitz.

THE WILD CATTLE AT CHILLINGHAM.

From the painting by Landseer.  The herd are survivors of the wild ox or Bos primigenius.]

ST. IVES, CORNWALL

=How to get there.=—­Train from Paddington.  Great Western Rly. =Nearest Station.=—­St. Ives. =Distance from London.=—­325 miles. =Average Time.=—­About 9 hours.

                     1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 50s. 3d. 31s. 6d. 25s. 1-1/2d. 
          Return 88s. 0d. 55s. 0d. 50s. 3d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­“Tregenna Castle,” “Porthminster,”
  “Western,” “Queen’s,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=—­None.

St. Ives is a quiet, old-world fishing town on the northern coast of Cornwall.  The town occupies the western limb of the wide bay of St. Ives.  On the narrow neck of land joining the promontory known as The Island to the mainland, most of the houses of the fishing town are packed away in picturesque confusion, while the streets are tortuous in the extreme.  On either side of this isthmus the land rises; behind it thunder the waves on Porthmeor beach; in front are the deep green waters of the harbour, protected by two piers.  The beach is of firm, hard sand, upon which the boats are hauled up in safety.  The fifteenth-century church, standing on the site of the former Norman chapel, is a large building near the harbour.  It is said that the Norman structure was dedicated to St. Ivo, a Persian bishop, who is supposed to have Christianised the Britons in Cornwall in the ninth century, and to have erected six chapels.  Others think that St. Ia was the daughter of an Irish