SHEEP. 263 



in regard to the tails. They have long, slender, vibrating tails, a broad, flat tail like those 

 of Asia, -or no tail at all, only a rudiment of one being discernible. 



And thus with the covering. It hardly seems possible to connect the straight, hairy 

 fleece of the Rocky Mountain sheep, and the long, combing wool of the Leicester or Cotswold, 

 in the same animal. In Madagascar the sheep have short, hairy wool, hardly to be considered 

 wool at all. In Lincolnshire it is long and coarse. In Saxony it is almost like silk, fine, 

 curly, and lustrous. In Angola it is furry and soft as a rabbit s fur. Nor does the diversity 

 stop here. In our own country we meet with the white and black sheep. About the Cape 

 of Good Hope they are gray, dun, brown, buff, blue, and all intermediate shades of color. 

 This great difference of color results from long breeding under many different climates and 

 modes of feeding. 



The uses to which these animals are applied seem to partake of the great diversity of 

 their characteristics. The meat forms one of the standard dishes of the world. For luscious 

 juiciness, ease of digestion, and delicacy of flavor, it has no equal. Agreeable alike to the 

 invalid and to the laborer, it is eagerly sought by all classes. Nor is its flesh the only thing 

 about it that forms a diet of man. Some nations use, to a large extent, the milk of sheep as 

 well as of cows and goats. Excellent cheese is manufactured from it, and its use is thought 

 by some physicians to be a specific diet in obstinate cases of dyspepsia. Even the wool is 

 considered a choice dish by some of the Highland clans of Scotland. They scorch it to a 

 crisp brownness, and eat it with great relish. The use of ewe s milk in preparing cheese, 

 butter, and curd is alluded to in the Book of Job. The writers of profane history often speak 

 of ewe s milk. The ewe s milk cheese has a sharp, strong taste, that, like Limberg cheese, 

 commends itself to the taste of many people. It is often mixed with cow s milk in the 

 manufacture of some brands of cheese, to give it a tartness not given by cow s milk alone. 

 The butter is a pale yellow, less firm than cow s butter, and becomes rancid much quicker. 

 The milk is thicker than cow s milk, but in other respects resembles it very much, both in 

 taste and appearance. 



The nomadic tribes of Asia live almost exclusively on the flesh of sheep, and when 

 a patriarch assembles his family to the one meal of the day, it is generally around a large 

 tray containing a single sheep, which serves them for meat and bread.&quot; 



We believe the use of ewe s milk for dairy purposes has never been known in the 

 United States except by a few Welsh and Highland emigrants. 



Abraham and most of ancient patriarchs were shepherds. In the simple and beautiful 

 sketch of Rachel we are told that &quot; she came with her father s sheep, for she kept them; &quot; 

 and respecting the seven daughters of the priest of Midian, they &quot;came and drew water for 

 her father s flocks.&quot; Job had 14,000 sheep. Moses and David at one period of their lives 

 followed the occupation of the shepherd. 



While shepherds were &quot;abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night,&quot; 

 the birth of the Saviour was announced to them. They were often used in sacrifices, and 

 among the sacred writers were the symbols of purity and gentleness. Our Saviour is desig 

 nated &quot;the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.&quot; Homer, Horace, Vergil, 

 Plato, Herodotus, and other famous writers of antiquity make frequent and pleasing allusions 

 to sheep, indicating the attachment and estimation with which they were regarded by the 

 people of that time. The improvement of sheep is supposed to have been commenced in the 

 middle ages. 



Spain and Portugal are justly entitled to the credit of having made the first improvement 

 in these animals with reference to their wool, these two countries for more than two 

 centuries, at one period, having been the most enterprising nations of Europe. At that 

 time they greatly excelled in the production and manufacture of wool. 



Flanders for a time manufactured most of the wool produced by Spain, Portugal, 

 VOL. II. 16 



