284 CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Africa the sagacity of the goats sometimes saves a 

 flock of sheep which are in danger of being destroyed 

 by a storm. 



It is curious that the goat should be taken as a 

 type of wickedness (Matt. xxv. 32 and 33), whereas 

 the sheep is the symbol of innocence. Perhaps the 

 former animal gives more trouble to the shepherd. 

 Many a time we have seen the goats stray into a field 

 of Sainfoin (Onobrychis) when the more obedient sheep 

 have scampered home to the pen. The shepherd en- 

 courages this trespassing, and does not permit the dog 

 to interfere. But he is called to account by the owner 

 of the crop, and has to pay for his dishonesty. 



Some of these shepherds are very well off, and 

 own as many as two thousand sheep. For the 

 Summer they rent a tract of mountain in the Maritime 

 Alps : in the Winter they migrate westward, and hire 

 a piece of land in the Crau or in the Camargue. 

 Sometimes they convey the flocks by rail, but they 

 generally travel by the road. In this case donkeys 

 or mules are provided to carry the lambs which may 

 be born during the journey. 



The Crau is a barren, stony region on the east 

 side of the Rhone delta. To the north is the Durance, 

 and to the south-east the Berre swamp. The town 

 of Aries may be said to preside over this desert. 

 After the Autumn rains some scanty herbage springs 

 up on the Crau : on this the flocks subsist throughout 

 the Winter. The almond is almost the only useful 

 tree which can live upon this barren plain. 



Here it was that the fabled fight took place 

 between Heracles and the Ligurians ; and these are 

 the stones which Jupiter rained upon the enemies of 



