NATURAL HISTORY. 



839 



lion, the only certain means of 

 placing animals in the hands of 

 those persons who set the highest 

 value upon them, and are conse- 

 quently the most likely to take 

 proper care of them. The attempt, 

 however, succeeded; and the prices 

 given demonstrated, that some at 

 least of his majesty's subjects had 

 at that time learned to put a due 

 value on the benefit his royal 

 patriotism offered to them. One 

 of the rams sold at the first sale for 

 42 guineas, and 2 of the ewes for 1 1 

 guineas each ; the average price at 

 which the rams sold was 19/. 45.and 

 that of the ewes 8/. 155. Qd. each. 



This most useful mode of distri- 

 bution has since that time been 

 annually continued, and the sales 

 have taken place in August. The 

 last sale was held on the 17th of 

 August, 1808, when the highest 

 price given for a ram wslsIU. lis. 

 for an ewe 38/. 17*. The average 

 price of rams was 33/. \0s. Id. of 

 ewes 23/. 12*. 5d. ; a most decisive 

 proof not only that the flock had 

 risen very materially in public esti- 

 mation, but also that the sheep have 

 not in any way degenerated from 

 their original excellence. 



The wool was at first found to 

 be quite as difficult of sale as the 

 sheep themselves; manufacturers 

 were therefore employed to make 

 a considerable quantity of it into 

 cloth, which, when finiahed, was 

 allowed by both woollen-drapers 

 and tailors to be quite as good as 

 cloth made from wool imported 

 from Spain. But even this proof 

 would not satisfy the scruples of 

 tlie wool buyers, or induce them 

 to offer a price at all adequate to the 

 real value of the article ; it was 

 found necessary, therefore, to have 

 the wool scowered, and to sell it 



in that state as Spanish wool, 

 which, though grown in England, 

 it really was ; thus managed, the 

 sales were easily effected for some 

 years, at a price equal to that de- 

 manded for the prima piles of impor- 

 ted Spanish wool at the times when 

 the bargains were made. 



Time and patience have at last 

 superseded all difficulties, and his 

 majesty's wool has now been sold 

 as Clipped from the sheep's backs, 

 the sheep have been washed, and 

 the whole management of them 

 carried on exactly in the English 

 manner, at a price not lower than 

 is. 6d. a pound, which, allowing 

 for the loss of weight in the scow- 

 ering and sorting, costs the buyer 

 at least 5s. 6d. a pound, a tolera- 

 ble price for Spanish wool when 

 plenty of it could be produced, 

 though not possibly so high a one 

 as ought to have been given, or as 

 will be obtained for the Anglo- 

 Negrette pile, when the value of the 

 article is fully understood. 



The race of another capital Ca- 

 vana has now been added to the 

 riches of this countiy, the Pauhr, 

 and the draught from it is larger 

 than on any other occasion has 

 been suffered to leave Spain ; the 

 animals have been selected with 

 skill and attention, the pile they 

 belong to stands at the very top of 

 our English list, and the sheep have 

 been most fortunately placed at the 

 disposal of our most gracious king, 

 whose shepherdshave demonstrated 

 to the public, in an experience of 

 17 years of their management of 

 these interesting animals, that they 

 can not only continue the breed in 

 its original purity, but can also 

 preclude all danger of degeneration 

 in the article of wool. What more 

 can be wished for on this head ? 



On 



