THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 4r 



recommended this method to me, would, for a ducatoon, ^..^'^76. 



iNOvember. 



cut their mafter's throat, burn the houfe over his head, and 

 bury him and the whole family in the allies), I recovered 

 them all but the two ewes. Of thefe I never could hear the 

 leaft tidings ; and I gave over all enquiry after them, when 

 I was told, that fmce I had got the two rams, I might think 

 myfelf very well off. One of thefe, however, was fo much 

 hurt by the dogs, that there was reafon to believe he would 

 never recover. 



Mr. Hemmy very obligingly offered to make up this lofs, 

 by giving me a Spanifli ram, out of fome that he had fent 

 for from Lifbon. But I declined the offer, under a perfua- 

 fion that it would anfwer my purpofe full as well, to take 

 with me fome of the Cape rams : the event proved, that I 

 was under a miflake. This Gentleman has taken fome 

 pains to introduce European flieep at the Cape ; but his en- 

 deavours, as he told me, have been fruftrated by the obfti- 

 nacy of the country people, who hold their own breed in 

 greater eftimation, on account of their large tails, of the fat 

 of which they fometimes make more money than of the 

 whole carcafs befides * ; and think that the wool of Euro- 

 pean flieep will, by no means, make up for their deficiency 

 in this refpetSt. Indeed, I have heard fome fenfible men 

 here make the fame obfervation. And there feems to be 

 foundation for it. For, admitting that European flieep were 



* " The moft remarkable thing in the Cape fheep, is the length andthiclcnefs of their 

 tails, which weigh from fifteen to twenty pounds. The fat is not fo tallowifli as that 

 of European mutton, and the poorer fort ufe it for butter." Kolben's Cape of Good 

 Hope [Englilli tranflation]. Vol. II. p. 65. De la Caillc, who finds every thing 

 wrong in Kolben, fays, the weight of the tails of the Cape flieep is not above five or 

 fix pounds. Voyage de la Ca'ille, p. 343. If the information given to Captain Cook 

 may be depended upon, it will prove that, in this inftance at leaft, Kolben is unjuftly 

 accufed of exaggeration. 



Vol. I. G to 



