96 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



heat of the blood and body, prevents the evolution of the 

 heat generated in the body ; it, therefore, disarranges the 

 equilibrium, which is needful for health, between the 

 generation and evolution of the vital heat, producing an 

 excessive expansion, or relaxation, an excess of cutaneous 

 secretions to meet which a plentiful supply of water is 

 requisite a waste of the juices and of the tissues ; and 

 consequent general relaxation and debility, or the blood 

 becomes fevered, and its fatty and albuminous elements 

 have a tendency to lose, to a certain extent, their in- 

 dividuality. 



It is an object with the high-class breeder to protect 

 his sheep from both extremes ; and, as above-stated, to do 

 this to the greatest nicety, the variations and mean tem- 

 perature of a climate must be taken into account. Here, 

 in the Eiver Plate, we have a very temperate heat during 

 the greater portion of the year. During the winter 

 months, though raw and bleak, we have rarely any con- 

 tinuance of severe cold at all comparable to the cold of 

 England, North Germany, and France the cold here 

 rarely exceeding a hoar-frost, which disappears with the 

 morning sun. On the other hand, the summer heats 

 range considerably higher, frequently reaching, and ruling 

 for many days together, 90 to 95 Fahr. in the shade, 

 and from 100 to 125 Fahr. in the sun. Under these 

 circumstances, a slight protection from cold, and an airy 

 shade, or protection, against the summer heats, is what are 

 desirable to aim at ; and, of course, an efficient protection 

 against wet. The close housing required to meet the 

 severe cold which prevails for months in Great Britain, 

 North Germany, and the North of France, is quite unne- 

 cessary and undesirable here, even in the winter ; and 

 such houses would be intolerable during the summer 

 months, both by reason of the heat and the effluvia. 



