EARLY HISTORY OF BLACKFACES 535 



is more juicy and more venison-flavoured than that of 

 Welsh sheep or Southdown. It finds subsistence beyond 

 the ordinary range of other sheep, It is not so nice in 

 the choice of herbage as most others, and feeds much on 

 the shoots of heather. The breed, extending over a great 

 variety of situations and soils, from the moist moors of 

 Yorkshire and other parts to the rocky mountains of the 

 North of Scotland, presents a great diversity of size and 

 aspect. The best are found in Tweeddale in Scotland [a 

 distinction which was later transferred to Lanarkshire, and 

 finally shared by other districts]. The sheep on the hills of 

 Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire are 

 much inferior to those of the border counties of Scotland. 

 The only food supplied is what the animals can collect on 

 their natural pastures, including a little coarse hay during 

 deep snows. No permanent improvement for their home 

 conditions has been successful by crossing with other races 

 of sheep." Nevertheless the changing of a Blackface into a 

 Cheviot stock by the constant use of Cheviot tups, and vice 

 versa, was a common and successful practice during the early 

 period of competition between the two breeds. 



Alton (1824) says: "This breed of sheep is the boldest, 

 the hardiest, and the most active and industrious of all 

 the sheep species. They are so round of their bodies, so 

 compact in their figure and short coupled, that they are 

 often denominated the ' Short ' sheep." 



According to Sir G. Mackenzie's Survey of Ross (i 8 10), 

 the Blackface breed was first introduced into the mountains 

 of Ross-shire by Sir John L. Ross of Balnagown about the 

 year 1775. They were first bought at Linton in Peebles- 

 shire, and were for a time called the Linton breed, but came 

 later from Perthshire. It was several years before they were 

 really established, owing to the hostility of the people who, 

 with their Black cattle, were removed to make room for the 

 sheep. One Geddes from Perthshire took the farm from 

 Sir John about 1782, and was believed to be the first sheep 

 farmer who settled in the North. 



Sheep Stock Valuations. The proprietors of the North 

 and West of Scotland found sheep pay much better than 

 any other stock, and encouraged sheep farmers to lease and 

 to stock the land ; and the system soon spread. Owing to 



