Merino Siikep Industry. 203 



the upper and under woof at a proper distance from each 

 otlicr, a flat stick it placed between, A piece of wood 

 serves as the weaver's shuttle, and a short gazelle's horn is 

 used in beating back tlie thread. The loom is placed before 

 the mohorrum or women's apartment, and worked by the 

 mother and her daughter. The distafl* is in general use 

 among them, and among the Kibby Arabs all the shepherds 



mannfacture wool." 



It is probal)le that the covering of the primitive sheep 

 was a mixture of hair and wool, very closely akin to that of 

 many varieties now occupying extensive districts where the 

 patriarchs wandered, northward and eastward, through a 

 great part of Europe and Asia. 



Says Youatt : " It is highly improbable that the sheep, 

 which has now become, par excellence^ the wool bearing 

 animal, should, in any country, at any time, have been 

 entirely destitute ot wool, but covered externally with hair 

 and underneath with a fine, short, downy wool, from which 

 the hair is easily separated." Partially by temperature per- 

 haps, but mainly by breeding and cultivation, this hair has 

 been caused to disappear and its place occupied, yea, more 

 than occupied, by soft, clean wool, once of but few ounces, 

 but now of many pounds. 



In the palmy days of the Roman Empire the Italian 

 sheep surpassed all others in the fineness of their fleeces. 

 The sumptuous Roman was clothed in woolen fabrics of the 

 finest texture, and fortunes, even according to the ideas of 

 today, were often expended for his toga. 



" The best wool of all others," says Fliny, " is that of 

 Apulia and Tarentum, which is of very short staple, and 



