THE SHETLAND OR KINDLY SHEEP. 383 



stockings have been manufactured of this wool, 

 which were so fine as to sell for six guineas a pair. 

 For softness and lustre,, no wool has hitherto been 

 found to equal it ; and the skin, with the fleece on, 

 is capable of being converted into a fur of great 

 value. Several specimens have already been ex- 

 ported from this country to China. The silver- 

 grey wool is generally considered to be the finest 

 and most soft; but the black, the white, and the 

 brown, are very little inferior. 



The fleeces of these Sheep are liable to be rubbed 

 off their bodies during winter, or early in the 

 spring. This, it is supposed, might be prevented 

 by clipping the animals in the way that is usual in 

 England, instead of pulling off the wool in the 

 barbarous manner now practised. 



The skins of the Shetland breed, after the wool 

 has been separated, sell for double the price of 

 other Sheeps' skins, of the same size; because it is 

 found that, for the purpose of leather aprons, for a 

 particular class of mechanics, they are not only 

 pleasanter in the wear, but also that they last much 

 longer than any others. This, says Dr. Anderson, 

 is a fact known to every inhabitant of Shetland ; 

 and hence, not less than on account of the softness 

 of their fleece, it is, that, by common consent, the 

 Sheep have obtained the name of the kindly breed. 



* * Horned 



