WOOL-BEARING ANIMALS. 153 



animals as polTible, in preference to thofe of the fhort 

 haired kuids ? and is it not an objea of great national 

 concern to obtain as many varieties of thefe wool-bearing 

 animals as can be got, in order to make accurate trials of 

 their refpedive qualities, to afcertain in what relpedts 

 they would prove beneficial or hurtful ? We fee bv ex- 

 perience that the natives of Madagafcar have reared no 

 other fheep but the naked breed till this hour ; and pro- 

 bably they believe either that there are no wool-bearino- 

 animals of that kind exifting, or that they would not 

 live in their country. We in Britain have never //// now 

 believed it was poflible to have a wool-bearing goat ; and 

 even while I write fupported by fuch fads, where is the 

 man who would not laugh at me as a vifionary, were 

 I to talk of rearing wool-bearing cattle in place of the 

 naked breeds we have hitherto propagated ? 



N°. xvn. 



Later Commimication by the Author on this SiibjeH, with a 

 Sample taken from the Fleece of a Sheep brmght f'om 

 Jamaica to England. 



THIS fheep forms a diftind variety altogether 

 different from any other 1 have ever feen. The 

 hair is a fubftance fui generis, and is as different from 

 the hemps, or ftitchet hair of Europe, as from the 

 long tough hair of the Ruffian and other haiiy breeds. 

 The wool too is as different from other fheep 's wool 

 as the hair; it n finer than any other, not excepting 

 the Shetland breed ; though I would fufped it is fcaixely 

 fo foft. This affords the mofl convincing proof that ever 

 was given of the prevalence of <5/w^ above climate, and 



the 



