>>I'm reminded of Sam Philipp's old "no cows, though - they'd roll off" >>digest comment from 1994 about Scotland and its highlands. Once you get >>to bedrock right under the vegetation, any thoughts of "cultivation" mean >>something similar to pot-gardening (like on the Aran Islands).
> I wonder where he thought highland longhorn cattle came from, and
> still live.
On the gentle slopes and in the highland plateaus. Have a look at the mountainous hills around Inverness and tell me where to put the cows there...
The highland cattle are tolerant vs. low temperature and wind chill. They are not mountain goats. (And even those would have trouble near Inverness...)
> Given that the Orlanthi breed a similar type of cattle
> I don't think they'd have much problem keeping them on the hilly
> areas of Dragon Pass.
In the Alps, cattle falling down the slopes was not unknown during summer pasture.
> Equally there were cereal crops grown in the highlands before the
> clearances.
Basically on smaller clearances made by axe and fire. Usual practice since the Neolithicum, and well into feudalism.
> Probably on small sheltered plots where the soil is
> deeper and oats rather than wheat but cultivation is possible.
Yeah. That's how and why the hilly parts of Sartar are successful. And that's why population density troubles me.
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