of Cachcmire and Boitfan, 237 



sliccp of Cachcmire are not subject to giddiness and gkn- 

 dcrs, fatal diseases, which occasion so much havoc and de- 

 struction among sheep. I have made the same observation 

 in regard to the sheep of the Arcadian pastures, and those 

 in the pasturaije of Etna and Parnassus ; which being kept 

 with great care, admit of being compared w ith those of 

 Cachcmire. 



Whether owing to barbarism, or a mechanical attachment 

 to the old habits of pasturaiie, which is the only occupation 

 of the Tartars, since war cannot ])e one, the breeding of 

 sheep is the branch of rural cecon()niv,most attended to in 

 Turkev. The method of penning, and that of migration, 

 have preserved there the fineness of tlie wool, and prevented 

 deterioration of the annuals. This is a certain truth, and 

 which will be admitted bv every traveller of observation. 



In Cachcniire, as in Greece and in Spain, the sheep are 

 moved from place to place, that they may be kept all the 

 year through in an equal temperature. They pass the 

 winter in pens in the plains, and the summer on the 

 mountains. They even enjov this advantage in Cache- 

 mire, that the migrations arc shorter and less laborious, 

 because this small province is surrounded by higii moun- 

 tains. 



But the Cachemirian shepherds, to secure their sheep 

 from the effects of the great heat of the summer season, 

 make them traverse a lake or a river several times a day. 

 Thev never crowd them together in cots or confined places, 

 as if nature had not given tham a fleecy clothing capable 

 of sccurino- their bodies from the intemperance of the sea- 

 sons. It is a fact well known that damp air is prejudicial to 

 thenj; but it is proved also, that the acrid and almost 

 mephitic air which prevails in close buildings, occasions 

 among these animals putrid and inflammatory diseases, 

 from which those of Cachcmire are free. The humidity, 

 say the natives of that country, which always prevails in 

 obscure sheep-cots, however large they may be, is far more 

 hurtful to these animals than the humidity of the atmo- 

 ephcre. Every one is able to appreciate the justness of this 

 reasoning : the mephitism of cots w ould occasion to the 

 .<!trongest of tliese animals not only severe diseases, but 

 would injure their wool. 



Lone experience has proved for centuries to the Cache- 

 Tnirian shepherds, what reason had demonstrated to the iilus- 

 triousDaubcnton, that the immediate action of the open air, 

 daily bathing, and several times a day during the great heats, 

 occaiioiul showtrs, and the dews, as well as continual mi- 



gratjoa. 



