220 



SHARP-SHOOTERS SHEEP. 



the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legis- 

 lature, in which he contends tor a revival of the 

 political institutions of Alfred. He died July 6, 

 1813. 



SHARP-SHOOTERS. Formerly, there were, 

 in several armies, a few men attached to each com- 

 pany of troops of the line, who, unlike the rest of 

 the infantry, took aim at particular individuals, 

 had better guns or rifles, and did not shoot with 

 the mass of the troops. These were called sharp- 

 shooters. The better organization of armies in 

 modern times, and particularly the introduction of 

 tirailleurs (q. v.), has caused them to be abolished. 



SHASTRA, OR SHASTEB. See Indian Lite- 

 rature, division Sacred Literature. 



SHAWLS. For the Cashmere shawls, see 

 Cashmere. 



SHEATHING, in naval architecture; a sort of 

 covering nailed all over the outside of a ship's 

 bottom, to protect the planks from the pernicious 

 effects of worms. This sheathing, in former years, 

 consisted of thin boards; but sheets of copper 

 having been found far preferable, these have of late 

 been almost universally adopted, especially in long 

 voyages. 



SHECHINAH, in Jewish history ; the name of 

 that miraculous light, or visible glory, which was 

 a symbol of the divine presence. 



SHEEP (ovis) ; a genus of ruminant quadru- 

 peds, differing so slightly in the anatomical structure 

 from the goat, that both genera are by some natu- 

 ralists united. The principal distinctive characters 

 consist in the absence of a beard, and the form and 

 spiral direction of the horns. The wild sheep, or 

 argali (ovis ammori), is by no means the helpless 

 animal we are accustomed to see in a domestic 

 state. (See Argali.) The sheep seems to be the 

 most stupid of all domestic quadrupeds, and is pro- 

 bably the only one incapable of returning to a state 

 of nature, even if placed in the most favourable 

 circumstances. It neither knows how to avoid 

 danger, nor to seek shelter from the changes of the 

 atmosphere, nor even to procure nourishment, 

 except in abundant pasturage. Its habits are well 

 known. Its products are the flesh, milk, skin, and 

 especially the wool, which employs a vast capital 

 in the manufacture of clothing. The time allowed 

 for fattening them is about three months before 

 they are sent to market, and when they have at- 

 tained the age of two or three years; unless the 

 fleece be the object, when it may be delayed to the 

 sixth, seventh, or even the tenth year, in a district 

 where they are long-lived. Their ordinary life 

 does not exceed twelve or fifteen years. The 

 fleece is shorn every year, towards the month of 

 May. It is sometimes washed on the back of the 

 animal; but the more usual practice is to shear it 

 without washing, as it then contains an animal oil, 

 which is a great preservative against insects. The 

 sheep require particular attention afterwards, as 

 they are more exposed to the changes of the 

 weather. At all times they are exposed to nume- 

 rous maladies. The varieties of the sheep are very 

 numerous, differing in size, the length of their legs, 

 the size and number of their horns; some are 

 covered with hair instead of wool; others have 

 enormous tails; and others, again, pendant ears. 

 The variety most celebrated for the fineness of the 

 wool is the Spanish Merino, as improved in Ger- 

 many: all the other most approved European- 

 varieties are crosses from the Merino. The Eng- 

 lish sheep is most celebrated for the quantity of its 



wool. Besides the argali, there is another animal 

 more nearly related to the goat, inhabiting the 

 Rocky mountains, between hit. 45 and 68 U . It is 

 more numerous in the western than in the eastern 

 parts of these mountains, and i.s found in large 

 flocks, frequenting the summits in the summer, and 

 the valleys in the winter season. It is little known, 

 but in some parts forms the principal sustenance of 

 the natives. It is easily obtained by the hunters, 

 but its flesh is not esteemed, neither is a value set 

 upon its fleece. In size it approaches the sheep, 

 and has long hair extending beyond the wool: the 

 horns are five inches in length and one in diameter, 

 conical, and slightly curved backwards. An interest 

 has lately been excited about this animal in Eng- 

 land, and the fleece is said to be as fine as that of 

 the shawl goat of Cashmere. It is often called the 

 Rocky mountain sheep. 



Sheep-Raising. Our limits will not allow us to 

 give in detail the history of this valuable domestic 

 animal, with the improvements which have been 

 made in it at different periods; and we must refer 

 the reader for more information to works which 

 treat particularly of the subject, as Loudon's Ency- 

 clopaedia of Agriculture. In Germany, both govern- 

 ments and individuals have paid great attention to 

 the improvement of the wool, and in some parts of 

 that country it has been brought to such perfection 

 as to surpass that of any other part of the world. 

 Several works in German, on this subject, though 

 referring more particularly to the country in which 

 they were written, would afford important assis- 

 tance to sheep-breeders in any country. When we 

 look for the origin of the improvements which have 

 been made in the breeding of this animal, which 

 has become so important an element of national 

 wealth, and the source of so much manufacturing 

 and commercial industry, we are obliged to go back 

 to the Romans. They had made such progress, 

 that the whole system of sheep-breeding, at present 

 in use in Spain, is essentially the same which was 

 introduced there by the Romans. Columella, who 

 lived under the emperor Claudius, gives us interest- 

 ing information on this point. Among other things, 

 he says that his uncle, who lived in Bcetica (which 

 comprehends the present province of Estreinadura), 

 procured some wild African rams at Cadiz, of a 

 coarse fleece, but of an admirable colour. He put 

 them to some fine-wooled ewes, and, the male pro- 

 geny being again put to Tarentine ewes, the off- 

 spring, with their descendants, united the colour of 

 the sire with the dam's softness of fleece. Other 

 agriculturists undoubtedly imitated him, and thus 

 the purest white was communicated to the black 

 or parti-coloured native flocks, which, according to 

 Pliny, were common in Spain. The Tarentine 

 sheep were most celebrated in Italy, and the Mile- 

 sian in Asia Minor. They were termed pellit<E 

 and tectce oves, from the coverings of skin with 

 which they were clothed, to protect the fleece; 

 they were also denominated mattes oves, not only 

 from the softness of the fleece, but also from the 

 delicacy of their constitution. The attention paid 

 by the ancients to the sheep was excessive, and the 

 animal was extremely tender; so that we must 

 account for the transition from the ancient sheep 

 to the Merino, which is a hardy animal, thriving in 

 almost any climate, by supposing that other agri- 

 culturists imitated Columella; and by crossing the 

 breed imparted a stronger constitution to the 

 fine-fleeced, but delicate sheep of ancient Italy 

 Strabo, indeed, describes the beginning of this im- 



