FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDKY. 75 



think that in 1840 they were about as heavy sheep as 

 Mr. Jarvis's, and had the same Spanish figure that is 

 to say, they were taller, thinner, longer necked and 

 finer boned than- our present Merinos. I should say 

 they were a little flatter in the ribs than "No. 1, and a 

 little deeper in the chest. They were peculiarly deep- 

 chested, and not only had a very marked Spanish ap- 

 pearance, but the marked individuality of sheep from 

 one cabana. Their skins were mellow, loose, and of 

 a fine deep color. The ram had a pendulous dewlap, 

 and some moderate sized neck-folds. Some of the 

 ewes had dewlaps, but otherwise their skins were free 

 from corrugation. The external color of the fleece 

 was very dark, sometimes a pitchy black, 'shining and 

 sticky in hot weather, and forming a rigid crust in 

 cold weather. The inside was so filled with yolk that 

 every fibre seemed to have been dipped in it, and it 

 often stood in small globules between the fibres. The 

 inside yolk was thin, generally colorless, and perfectly 

 limpid. The sheep were not wooled below the eye, 

 knee, and hock. The wool was rather short consider- 

 ably shorter than that of No. 1 and No. 3, and did 

 not carry out its length so well on the belly, forehead, 

 cheeks, and legs near the knees as No. 3. The wool 



flock have obtained "their credit" from Escurial rams ! What authority ' 

 has my informant for pronouncing sheep notoriously bred from a ewe 

 from Colonel Humphreys' own flock, to be Negrettis, and " the hardest 

 kind of Spanish sheep ?" Judge of my astonishment when I find the 

 same person claiming, in a published letter seventeen years ago, that 

 his own sheep instead of being originally Infantados, were " apart of 

 them Negrettis and a part Montarcos !" These slips of memory at least 

 admonish us that similar ones may have occurred in other instances. 

 Again I say the matter is of little consequence, except as one of justice 

 to an old breeder who deserves well of the public; and when such de- 

 tails are given .at all, they should be correctly given. 



