,
than to go to the expense and loss of animals by shipping them across
the ocean.

There was a market for oxen in the Caribbean region, where they were
used for power, in the sugar mills.

In the first thirty years, some of the cattle went wild in the back
country, but many of the cows were kept in the vicinity of the
Jamestown headquarters. While not notable as dairy cows, they
produced enough milk so that Virginia gained a reputation among ship
crews for its excellent butter and cheese. In 1649 it was estimated
that there were twenty thousand cattle in the Colony.

GOATS AND SHEEP

Flocks of goats and sheep became noticeable to visitors about the
middle of the century. Many were brought to Virginia. In the early
years the numbers killed by wolves made them unprofitable. Heavy
bounties paid for wolf heads eventually reduced the depredations of
this predator until sheep and goats were fairly safe. As producers of
meat and wool for clothing sheep contributed to the general welfare
of the colony. By 1649, the number of sheep was estimated at three
thousand; and of goats at five thousand.

HORSES

Of all the domestic animals brought from England to Jamestown in the
early days of the settlement, the most expensive to transport and the
most useless after they arrived in Virginia were horses. The estimate
of the number in the Colony in 1649 is 200. There was no purpose for
them to serve. The fragile wooden plows of the seventeenth century
were of no use among the stumps and roots in newly cleared forest
lands. Horses were of no value for transportation as there were no
roads through the forests or bridges over the rivers. They were of
little use as beasts of burden as there were few burdens to carry. A
horse was no match for an able-bodied man on Indian trails through
timbered country. As late as 1671, the Batts and Fallam expedition,
consisting of five white men and seven Indians, who were the
discoverers of New River, had horses for the white men when they left
Petersburg. All of these animals were dead before they reached the
mountains.

The colonists did all they could afford to do with the horses brought
to them and that was to turn them loose to shift for themselves. In a
very few years there was a band of wild horses roaming the woods in
the back country. Eventually these wild horses provided a great deal
of recreation for the younger planters. Capturing and breaking to the
saddle wild horses became a p