THE SHEEP. 41 



principally for their large and heavy tails, which are frequently 

 a foot broad. The tails of these sheep weigh from twenty to 

 fifty pounds, and are esteemed a great delicacy, being of a sub- 

 stance between fat and marrow. 



The sheep of the mountains of Tibet, afford wool of an ex- 

 traordinary length and fineness, of which are made the Indian 

 shawls, frequently sold in this country, at the exorbitant price of 

 forty or fifty pounds. Formerly an opinion prevailed, that those 

 shawls were made of the hair of the camel ; and it is only since 

 the English began to form a communication with Tibet from 

 India, that the real material of this singular manufacture has 

 been known. 



We have been somewhat prolix, in exhibiting the different 

 kinds of those quadrupeds which are so conducive to our con- 

 veniency and comfort, and so essential to our well-being, that we 

 cannot but consider them as designed by the all-wise and boun- 

 tiful Creator peculiarly for our use. To examine each species* 

 by following all its varieties, proceeding from soil, climate, and 

 human management, would be an endless, and, indeed, an use- 

 less task. Our intention is, only to present to view the great 

 outlines of nature, with which every one ought to be acquainted, 

 that so we may be enabled to form a right judgment of their 

 properties and use, and to conceive some faint idea of the infi- 

 nite goodness of the Great Author of all existence, in creating 

 them for our benefit, as well as of his power and wisdom in giv- 

 ing them qualities so perfectly adapted to that purpose. Our 

 views of these subjects will still be enlarged, when we consider, 

 that of the sheep, as well as of the ox, there is scarcely any pro- 

 duction that is riot useful to man. Of the fleece we make our 

 clothes ; the skin produces leather, suitable to a multiplicity of 

 purposes ; and the very entrails are formed into strings for vio- 

 lins and other musical instruments. It must also be observed, 

 that the milk and butter, produced from sheep, constitute in 

 some countries no inconsiderable article of food ; and although 

 inferior to the same productions of the cow, might serve as a 

 very good succedaneum, if Providence had not supplied us with 

 that useful and excellent quadruped, which affords another striking 

 instance of the prolific bounty of the Creator in affording us such 

 a variety of resources. 



One particular and very interesting circumstance, relative to 

 the animal now under consideration, must not be forgotten. It 

 merits our attention, and will furnish our minds with a copious 

 fund of reflection, as it will enable us to comprehend the great 

 importance of our sheep as an object of national advantage. In 

 the reign of Edward the Third, when the English wool was ex 

 ported, it brought in 150,000 per annum, a vast sum in that 



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