FARMERS' REGISTER— MERINO SHEEP— THE MESTA. 



583 



of 2^- feet into the floor of another ol' the work- 

 ings, and the atmospheric air excluded from it by 

 a tight stopping of clay; tliis thermometer being 

 raised after a lapse of 48 hours, stood at 71.2. The 

 above observations will accord with the prevailing 

 (and certainly well-grounded) opinion, that the 

 temperature of tlie earth increases with the depth 

 ii-om the surlace. It must not, liowever, be ior- 

 gotten, that causes may be assigned ibr an in- 

 crease of temperature in this and other coal mines, 

 independently of the presumed subterranean lieat. 

 Those who are familiar with coal mines must have 

 frequently witnessed the efl'ecls of the enormous 

 pressure of the superincumbent strata, and a 

 weight of twenty-five or thirty thousand tons 

 which had lately reposed upon the coal hitherto 

 occupying the drift above described, had suddenly 

 been fransferred to the coal situate on the sides ot^ 

 this driit. Hence those constant indications of 

 tremendous pressure — the cracking of the skies 

 and roof, and "heaving of the floor," and the 

 crumbling of their materials, furnishing admission 

 of air and water to innumerable fragments of 

 shale, coal, and pyrites; — circumstances which 

 are abundantly calculated to occasion an increase 

 of temperature, both by mechanical compression 

 and chemical decomposition, although wholly in- 

 adequate, as we conceive, to the generation of the 

 temperature recorded on Saturday last: and the 

 presence and lights of the pitmen were obviously 

 inoperative in producing the effects remarked. 

 Other experiments, however, in the prosecution of 

 these inquiries, are, with the obliging permission 

 of the owners, contemplated at Monkwearmouth 

 Colliery^ and amongst the minor advantages ari- 

 sing fifom their magnificent undertaking, will 

 doubtless be the solution of any remaining doubts 

 of the existence of considerable subterranean heat 

 at accessible depths beneath the surface of the 

 earth. 



From tlie Penny Magazine. 

 ACCOUNT OF THE MERIIVO SHEEP, AND THE 

 MESTA OF SPAIN. 



Merino is the name of a Spanish breed or vari- 

 ety of sheep, Avhich affords a wool esteemed to be 

 finer than that which any other European breed 

 produces. In this breed the males have horns, 

 but the females are without them. They have 

 generally white faces and legs. The body does 

 not seem very perlect in shape; the legs are long, 

 the bones small; and under the throat the skin is 

 somewhat pendulous and loose. The skin of the 

 animal is fine and clear. When they are some- 

 what fat, the weight, per quarter, of the ram is 

 about seventeen pounds, and of the ewe about 

 eleven pounds. 



The sheep of Spain are divided into two princi- 

 pal sorts: the common sheep, which continue on 

 the grounds of their owners, and are housed in 

 winter; and the Merinos, which always remain in 

 the open air, travelling before the summer to the 

 cool mountains, and returning before the winter fo 

 the warm plains. The stationary sheep chiefly 

 belong to the eastern provinces of Spain; while 

 the Merinos belong to the central and western 

 parts — the Castiles, Leon, and Eslromadura. In 

 summer tliey resort chiefly to the plains of the lat- 

 ter provinces, and in winter to the mountainous 

 parts of Caetile, which form the most elevated 



part of Spain, and abound in aromatic plants and 

 fine pastures. Different accounts are given of 

 the origin of this practice; but we have no distinct 

 knowledge of the existence of travelling flocks in 

 Spain until the time when the christians began to 

 prevail against the Mohammedans in the thir- 

 teenth century, and came down Irom the moun- 

 tains of tlie north into the pro\'inces of the centre 

 and the south. After that time, however, the sys- 

 tem of migration became well and firmly estab- 

 lished; and before tlie JMoorish kingdom of Gra- 

 nada had been finally reduced in the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, the system had been organized, under the 

 authority of the government, in nearly its present 

 form. This we shall now proceed to describe, 

 taking Laborde, a statistical writer on Spain, as 

 our principal guide in the description. 



There is an institution peculiar to Spain called 

 the mcsta. It is a society of noblemen and other 

 great proprietors, to whom the migratory sheep 

 belong; who are empowered to make regulations 

 concerning the migrations of the flocks; and who, 

 in fact, are a great co-operative body of capitalists. 

 Unfortunately they possess powers and privileges 

 much at variance with the interests of the people. 

 The term mesia is also applied to the great body 

 of the migratory sheep in general; while the par- 

 ticular flocks are called Merinos and transhu- 

 manfes. 



These flocks, when assembled for migration, ge- 

 nerally consist of about ten thousand sheep. 

 Every flock is conducted by an officer called a may- 

 oral, whose business it is to superintend the shep- 

 herds and diiv-^ct the route: he is generally an ac- 

 tive man, well acquainted with the kinds of pas- 

 turage, the nature of sheep, and the method of 

 treatment. Under liim there are commonly about 

 fifty shepherds, each of whom is allowed to keep a 

 few sheep or goats of his own in the flock, on the 

 understanding, that although they and any young 

 they maj' produce are his property, the wool and 

 the hair belong to the proprietor of the flock. The 

 number of persons thus employed in the care o{ 

 the whole of the flocks that compose themes/a 

 are about forty-five or fiffy thousand. The dogs 

 are also very numerous, fifty being the number 

 commonly allowed to each flock. 



It is at the latter end of April, or the beginning 

 of May, that the flocks leave the plains for the 

 mountains. When they have been driven to the 

 place where they are to remain, the shepherd.-5 

 give them as much salt as thej^ are willing to lick; 

 and the quantity of this article allowed tor their 

 consumption during the five summer months is one 

 ton for every thousand sheep. At the end of 

 July the rams are permitted to associate with tlie 

 ewes, but before and after that time they are kept 

 separate. In September the hacks and loins of 

 the sheep are rubbed with red ochre dissolved in 

 water; and towards the end of the same month 

 they recommence their march to the plains ol 

 Leon, Estremadura, and Andalusia. The sheep 

 are o-enerally conducted to the same ground which 

 they had grazed the preceding year, and where 

 most of the lambs were born. Here folds are con- 

 structed f»f the sheep, and huts of branches for 

 the shepherds; and there thej' remain during the 

 winter. The birth of the lambs takes place 

 shortly after the arrival of the flocks in Avinler 

 quarters; and particular attention is paid to prepare 

 them by good diet for the journey in April. In 



