162 DOMESTICATION OF SHEEP. 



As stated above, the sheep seems to have been almost 

 co-existent with man on the earth. From the stdry as con- 

 tained in the Bible, we learn that the first men tilled the 

 soil and were closely followed by the shepherds with their 

 flocks. Cain and Abel offered sacrifices. Cain from the soil 

 which he tilled and Abel from the firstlings of his flocks. 

 Abel's was the more acceptable offering. Cain became jealous, 

 and because of this jealousy resulted the first recorded mur- 

 der. The old shepherds knew no abiding place. They wan- 

 dered with their flocks from the plains to the hillsides and 

 from the hillsides to the plains in search of green pastures 

 and quiet waters, and so it is that sheep have acquired the 

 nomadic habits so characteristic of them. It is in connec- 

 tion with sheep that we have the first recorded principles of 

 breeding, when Jacob, to increase his wages or hire, resorted 

 to the device of peeling the rods and placing them before the 

 sheep as they came to the troughs to drink, that when they 

 mated while there these impressions might be made upon 

 their offspring and so increase the number that by virtue 

 of their stripes would go to him as hire for his labor. The 

 sheep at that time, as well as at the present, was kept as 

 a source of wealth, and there is no reason to doubt that the 

 flock masters of those ancient days practiced a system of 

 selection and mating, and management as to housing and 

 feeding, that increased the value of the flock under their 

 care, and though they did not possess the mutton forms of 

 the present day, it was from their fleeces that the costliest 

 raiments of kings, queens, and princes were made. The 

 adaptability of the sheep to different climates and conditions 

 made it profitable to shepherds as a source of food and 

 clothing before general field agriculture was practiced to any 

 great extent. And is that not the case today on our western 

 prairies? Are there not shepherds with thousands of sheep 

 wandering on our unfilled plains and hillsides? 



Truly the sheep is the precursor of civilization. Greece, 

 during the height of her power, was the sole possessor of 

 sheep in Europe. When the Roman Empire was founded the 

 sheep was introduced, and as the Romans extended their 

 conquests the sheep was transported to their conquered pos- 

 sessions. So it was that Spain, with her abundant rich pas- 

 ture, afforded a most suitable place for the development of 

 what is now known as the Spanish Merino, a decendant of the 



