CATTLE OR SHEEP TOGETHER OR SEPARATELY. 229 



Tliey clearly saw that horses and cattle could not graze on the 

 higher and steeper places of the land — that many sheep might 

 be reared on what was there utterly unproductive. 



They further observed that the breed of sheep kept in the 

 Highlands yielded very small profits compared with what the 

 land was capable of rearing. That breed is still preserved in St 

 Kilda, and, it is believed, to some small extent both in the 

 islands of Uist and Lewis. They are small in size, seldom 

 weighing more than 40 lbs. when full grown and in good con- 

 dition. But their flesh is very delicate ; their wool also is of 

 very fine quality, though unfitted for many kinds of cloth on 

 account of its colour, or rather variety of colours, which often 

 include sooty brown, many shades of grey, and of pale or rather 

 dirty white. They are sometimes termed " the five-horned 

 sheep." They are called " the brindle-headed sheep " (caoirich 

 cheann riach), oii account of their variegated colour, and " the 

 little sheep " (caoirich hheaga), on account of their diminutive 

 size ; while the southern sheep are known as caoirich mhora, or 

 large sheep, divided into two sub-classes, the " black-lieaded 

 sheep " (caoirich dhubh-cheannaeh), and " the white," " the 

 Ejiglish," or " the hornless sheep," applied to the Cheviot. 



Farmers, it is said cliiefly from Dumfriesshire, rented large 

 tracts of hill ground first in Perthshire, and stocked them with 

 what was then called " the Linton breed " of sheep, now gene- 

 rally called the " blackfaced." The enterprise paid well, and 

 was extended year after year, until bv the earlier years of the 

 present century flocks of sheep pastured the hill ranges even of 

 the remotest Hebrides — nearly exterminating the old little 

 breed, and driving horses and cattle to the more level pastures 

 or stratli. 



Opinions differed widely as to tlie propriety of introducing 

 large sheep into the Highlands. The question was fully dis- 

 cussed in the old Statistical Account, and it would be instructive 

 to peruse some of the reports. The following parishes are 

 specially referred to. In the report for Glenorchy, published 

 in 179:3, it is said : — " The hills and muirs which some years ago 

 \vere covered with heath and coarse herbage are, since the in- 

 troduction of large flocks of sheep into the country, gradually 

 trettin'' a richer sward and a j^n-eener hue, and allbrd excellent 

 pasture. Every wht-re they abound with springs and rivulets ot 

 jmre and salubrious water. Numerous flocks of large and heavy 

 sheep now pasture almost the whole year on these mountains 

 and wilds, where formerly were to be found, and only for the 

 summer months, a few light sheep and goats, small hill liorses, 

 as they were called, and some herds of black cattle. Then it 

 was believed that no domestic animal could stand the severities 

 of the winter on the high and stony ground ; even the g(»ats 



