FLOCKS AND HERDS IN PROVENCE. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



WE read in Luke ii. 8 of shepherds on the hills of 

 Palestine keeping watch over their flocks by night. 

 Were these shepherds working, or resting from their 

 work ? In other words, were the sheep feeding, or 

 were they sleeping in some fold or enclosure ? It 

 seems natural to suppose that both the flocks and 

 their guardians were at rest, for we are not in the 

 habit of regarding the sheep as a nocturnal animal. 

 But there is a difficulty ; if those shepherds of 

 Bethlehem were sleeping, how could they see that 

 Angel and that " Heavenly Host "? Now, a shepherd, 

 like any other mortal, must sleep at night if he works 

 all day. His dogs will guard against wild animals. 

 I am inclined to think that these men were not resting, 

 but at work. If Christ were born, as some theo- 

 logians maintain, not at Christmas, but at the vernal 

 Equinox, when the sun has gained power, the suppo- 

 sition would be much strengthened that the flocks 

 were feeding by night, and the shepherds wide 

 awake. 



Whatever the custom may have been in Palestine, 

 the sheep on the hills to the west of the Var feed by 

 night during a great part of the year, that is, during 

 the whole Summer and far into the Autumn : in fact, 



