Of the cows of the northern land.[1]
Translated by Kristine (Kasey) Drake ’23
As I have been assured by those who have been in the northern part of the Mainland, behind the province they call Florida, there are many cows and wild bulls in those parts. These are commonly larger cattle or animals than our livestock. Their necks are thickly covered in wool, and their heads sit somewhat lower than those of Spanish cows; from the back of the knee or halfway down the legs to the hooves they have lots of wool, and the fur on the rest of their bodies is short. The tails are long and like those of our cows; the hooves cleft to the side; the horns are pointy and face each other, and from the jaw hangs a big beard of the aforementioned wool. The bulls or males have a high hump above the shoulders, at the cross or high neck juncture, and the females do not have said hump. The wool or fur on the rest of the body is thick like merino wool. It does not move at a trot or gallop, but in a saunter like a tied up horse; but they are swift and light animals and very wild and innumerable in quantity. Their meat is good and the leather very tough, and the color of all of them is dark tawny. These animals are found in many parts of the Mainland, to the north as I have said, and so the reader better understands me I have included an illustration of it (Lam. 5a. Fig. 7a.).
[1] The cow described is most likely the American bison (Bison bison), also known as the American buffalo, whose 16th-century range extended as far south as Florida, Georgia, and northern Mexico.