SHEEP. 



673 



a most essential part of the wealth of the people. 

 The changes which have been effected by crossing and 

 other means of artificial treatment in the sheep coun- 

 tries, are almost inconceivable, and the parent stocks 

 appear to have come from different parts. 



The many-horned sheep which have been already 

 alluded to as inhabiting far to the northward in Siberia, 

 appear to be the most northerly of the European 

 ones. They are found in Sweden and Norway, in 

 the Feroe Isles, and in Iceland. The breeds in most, 

 if not in all of these places, are, however, very much 

 mixed in consequence of the importation after incle- 

 ment seasons, which are very fatal to sheep in those 

 inhospitable countries, of supplies from other quarters. 

 Those sheep of the extreme north of Europe arc 

 rarely if ever white, but rather of different shades of 

 a rusty brown. They are rather a small race, but 

 very hardy ; and instances have been known of their 

 exi.-ting for a considerable length of time buried up 

 in the snow ; and, even in Iceland, some of them are 

 left to shift for themselves during the winter, at which 

 season they arc said to scrape up the snow fur lichens, 

 much in the s;nne way as the rein-deer in Lapland. 

 They are well adapted to the severity of the climate 

 in the nature of their covering, which consists of 

 three distinct kinds ; the first is long coarse hair, 

 which throws off the rain or the snow like a thatch ; 

 the next is a very closely matted, but rather coarse 

 wool, which is the portion in common use by the 

 people ; and the third is close on the skin among the 

 roots of the others, and exceedingly soft and delicate. 

 It is of this kind of wool, though not from exactly the 

 same breed of sheep, that the very fine stockings were 

 made, for which Shetland was once so celebrated, but 

 which appear to have fallen off in late years. The 

 proper Iceland breed have the horns very irregular in 

 number, amounting to three, four, or five, standing in 

 different directions, but not forming screws like the 

 horns of many other sheep. Their legs are slender, 

 and their hoofs long and sharp, so as to be well 

 adapted for keeping a footing either on the rocks or on 

 the ice. 



The Cretan sheep, though not confined to the 

 island after which they are named, and on the moun- 

 tains of which they are very abundant, are remark- 

 alii>! for the shape of the horns. Their horns are 

 large, and with a very marked crest or edge on the 

 front ; at the basal part they form one complete 

 turn of a spiral, and then they form three turns of a 

 spiral toward the points, the one rising above 

 tin: other, and then the tip nearly vertical. This 

 peculiarity in the form of the horns belonq-s to the 

 male only, for in the female they are much smaller, 

 nearly straight, and divergent from the head. These 

 sheep are about the same size as the common breeds, 

 and rather handsomely formed. Their tails are long, 

 arid their ears small, and inclining downwards ; their 

 wool is coarse in the staple, and waved or slightly 

 curled ; the body is generally of a whitish colour, but 

 the face and legs are dark, and sometimes nearly black. 



It is probable that this breed is in some way con- 

 nected with the long and coarse-woolled sheep of 

 tern Europe; and there is a race in the hilly 

 boundaries of the lower valley of the Danube which 

 have some resemblance to them, and which are called 

 AVallachian sheep. 



Among all the breeds in Europe, the Merinos have 



; acquired the greatest celebrity. It was in Spain that 



they first obtained this, though, according to the 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



chroniclers, they are of English origin, being the pro- 

 geny of a score of ewes and fine ranis presented by 

 Edward IV. to John, King of Aragon, about the 

 middle of the fifteenth century. How they came by 

 their fine wool in Spain has not been stated; but if 

 they are of an English race, it appears that that race 

 has either become extinct or degenerated ; for, until 

 a fresh importation, no English sheep of modern 

 times had wool of nearly the same fineness of staple. 

 At present it does not appear that the transfer of 

 these sheep to u warmer climate tends to make their 

 wool finer, but rather that this is the effect of their 

 being changed to a colder one. The wool which is 

 now imported into England from Saxony and Poland 

 is said to be superior to that which was formerly 

 obtained from Spain, and it certainly is of finer staple 

 than the Spanish wool of the present time, though 

 there is no doubt that the long troubles to which 

 Spain has been subjected have injured that as well 

 as every branch of the industry of that unfortunate 

 nation. 



Whether from Spain, or from any other country 

 into which the breed has been introduced and 

 preserved in a pure state, this wool is superior to 

 every other for the manufacture of fine cloths. It is a 

 short wool, much matted in the body of the fleece, 

 and curled into little screws at the points. It is best 

 adapted for being spun into soft yarns, and the cloth 

 is thickened by fulling, so that a piece of fine cloth 

 partakes of the nature of a woven fabric, and also of 

 a felted one. Its shortness and pliability fit it better 

 for felting than any other wool, and it is superior to 

 every other for the ground-work of hats, which are 

 lighter, stronger, more water-proof, and hold the 

 beaver belter than any other material. 



The wcstof Spain was the great place for these 

 sheep, some of the flocks of which ranged, in the 

 course of the year, over great part of the length of 

 the kingdom. These travelling flocks were called 

 Transliumantas, or -passers over the soil, as distin- 

 guished from the Estantas, or stationaries, which 

 remained in the same district. They usually wintered 

 pretty far to the south, in New Castile, Estrernadura, 

 and even in Andalusia, but when the grass came up 

 on the pastures, farther to the north, which was in 

 March or April, they took that course, moving north- 

 ward, as the heat of the summer began to parch the 

 more southerly plains, and proceeding as far as the 

 Pyrenees. They then began to retrace their steps, 

 so as again to reach the south before the winter. 



The Merino is rather a handsome sheep. The 

 horns of the male are large, formed with spirals with 

 the tips curving forward and outward, and the females 

 are without horns ; the body is thick and round, and the 

 head rather large, with the profile of the forehead but 

 little convex ; the cheeks and forehead being covered 

 with wool, make the head appear larger than it is in 

 reality ; the colour of the wool is pure white, but, 

 from its closeness and oily nature, the dust adheres to 

 it much more than to coarser wools, and thus, upon 

 most pastures, the external colour is brownish. 



Merinos have been often introduced into Britain, 

 and valuable crosses have been obtained between 

 them and some of the native breeds, but they do 

 not appear to be very well adapted for British 

 pasturage in flocks of the pure blood. In many 

 places the climate appears to be too humid for them, 

 and, generally speaking, there is not range enough 

 on the pastures. There are also other considerations 

 U U 



