| Milch ewes and lambs, | 173,562 |
| Barren ewes, | 18,615 |
| Wethers and rams above one year old, | 55,710 |
| Yearlings, | 118,243 |
| Total, | 366,130 |
or a falling off of 134,000, where the population has gained since 1834-35 upwards of 13,700.
The next source of profit in Iceland is breeding black cattle. According to the same traveller, the total in 1834 was 36,000 to 40,000 head. The official tables for 1871 give:
| Cows and calves, | 15,634 |
| Bulls and bullocks above one year old, | 828 |
| Yearlings, | 2,649 |
| Total, | 19,111 |
or a falling off of nearly half, when the population has increased about one-fifth.
The following table shows the comparative numbers:
| 1855 | there were of sheep, | 489,132 | of horned cattle, | (?) | of horses, | (?) |
| 1860 | ” | 309,177 | ” | (?) | ” | (?) |
| 1866 | ” | 393,295 | ” | 20,357 | ” | 35,241 |
| 1867 | ” | 368,591 | ” | 19,003 | ” | 33,768 |
| 1868 | ” | 351,167 | ” | 17,968 | ” | 31,796 |
| 1869 | ” | 356,701 | ” | 18,342 | ” | 30,835 |
| 1870 | ” | 352,443 | ” | 18,189 | ” | 30,078 |
| 1871 | ” | 366,130 | ” | 19,111 | ” | 29,688 |
Thus, not including 1871, the number of horses since 1855 has decreased upwards of 25 per cent., horned cattle 23 per cent., and sheep a little more than 31 per cent.
Black cattle, according to Mackenzie, resemble the largest Highland breed; the author thought them far more like our short-horns in general, and especially Alderneys. Dillon makes them generally hornless,[226] and the breed has remained unchanged. The cows yield an abundance of milk, sometimes ten to twelve quarts a day. There has been no disease amongst the “slaughter-creatures,” as Icelanders call black cattle, but the gold of California and Australia has affected even Ultima Thule. In 1830-40 the price of a cow, $4, had increased to $28 in 1870; in 1872 it had risen to $50-$80, and the animal often cost $100 to $120 in rearing. Twenty years ago the pound of beef fetched eight to ten skillings (farthings); now it averages one mark (fourpence) to one mark three skillings. Few householders own more than eight head of cattle, and probably half that number would be a high average. The community lives chiefly upon milk and fish; hence the sale of a cow is to the children the death of a friend, causing tears and lamentations.