80] Here is an extensive corral, inclosing thousands of cattle,
owned by a rheumatic old
gentleman, Senor Valdevieso, who supplies the beef-market of
Quito.[81]
A desire for beef has alone brought man and his beast to this chilly
altitude.
It is difficult to get a quart of milk, and impossible to find
a pound of butter at this hacienda. The predominant colors of the
cattle
are red and black. They feed on the wild paramo grass,
and the beef is not only
remarkably cheap, but superior in quality. The lasso is used in
catching the animals, but not so skillfully as by the Gauchos of Rio
Plata. It is a singular fact that cattle have followed men over the
whole earth, from the coast of Africa to the highlands of Antisana.
The same species i
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