678 



SHEEP. 



in the article, if it lasts for only half the time ? The 

 answer to this question will readily suggest itself to 

 any one ; but there are probably very many who 

 have not thought on the subject of the injury that has 

 been done to the labouring people of this country, 

 by the endeavours which have been made to adapt 

 the materials of the necessaries of life, and more 

 especially those of clothing, only to the wants and 

 wishes of that portion of the community who are 

 anxious that an article shall wear out as soon as pos- 

 sible, in order that they may follow the fashion in 

 getting another. There is not the least doubt that 

 much misery to the labouring classes in Britain has 

 arisen from this cause, and in none more than in the 

 substitution of fine and tender wools for the stronger 

 ones that were formerly in use. The writer of this 

 article well remembers a countryman, then above 

 seventy years of age, who, from the time that he 

 arrived at manhood, had appeared every Sunday at 

 church in his father's wedding coat, which, after the 

 long period that it had been in use, really looked 

 more fresh than the fabrics used by the same class of 

 persons at the present day. The fact is that the low 

 priced woollen goods that are now manufactured are 

 made of rubbish, not nnfrequently of woollen rags, 

 which, after they have lain till half rotted, are torn to 

 pieces by an engine ; and, by another engine and the 

 help of glue or size, twisted into yarn, which, without 

 the glue, would be little more tenacious than a rope 

 of sand. It is true, that this rubbish is cheap in the 

 numerical tale of the money paid for it ; but in reality 

 it is not worth the cost or even the labour of the 

 leisure time necessary for making it up. 



These are considerations eminently worthy the at- 

 tention of the legislature, and would no doubt receive 

 it, if it were possible to find legislators possessed of 

 the requisite degree of knowledge, which, however, 

 seems to be a matter that is utterly hopeless ; for 

 with all the parade of their committees, commissions, 

 and reports, some tons of which latter go to the limbo 

 of waste paper every year, the actual result appears 

 to be that the more they inquire into any subject the 

 less they understand it ; and that the most certain 

 and rapid means by which any one matter can be 

 wholly blotted out from the book of knowledge, is by 

 the report of a committee or commission, which gets 

 thanks for costing an abused public so many thou- 

 sands of pounds. Our business, however, is with 

 sheep, not with senators, and there is some consola- 

 tion in the feeling that the one case is of far more 

 substantial importance to the country than the other. 



We have spoken of the durable nature of the 

 wool of the black-faced sheep, and we may add, that 

 the flavour of their flesh is unrivalled ; and that, if 

 bred and fattened on a proper pasture, a haunch of 

 real hill mutton is superior to that of any park deer in 

 the world. We must except the red deer of the free 

 hill, which are tempered by the high spring tide of the 

 elements, and also the mountain roe, which is a luxury 

 in the good old and honest sense of the term ; but truly 

 among all the breeds of sheep, however full in the 

 body or however fat they may be, there is truly 

 nothing that comes up to the old black-face of the 

 mountains ; and we honestly think that the re-establish- 

 ment of it in all those upland districts for which it is well 

 adapted, is a matter of great national importance. 



On subjects of this kind, feeling ought to be, as 

 much as possible, left out of the question ; and yet it 

 is difficult to abstain from some admiration of the 



personal character of this animal. It can hardly be 

 exhausted by fatigue ; there is no severity of weather 

 which it cannot bear ; and there are many recorded 

 instances of its subsisting for weeks buried up under 

 the snow. The ram, although not a large animal, is 

 u very bold and powerful one ; and when two meet 

 to settle an affair of gallantry, there is a splendour in . 

 the conflict to which there is not much superior in the 

 whole wars of the animal kingdom. The run which 

 they take is much longer than that taken by the mules 

 of most races of sheep; and if they come into col- 

 lision at the full swing of their impetus, the result is 

 generally fatal to one, and sometimes to both. The 

 bulls in the uplands, where the cattle are left to acquire 

 the hardihood of nature, are powerful animals, but 

 they quail before the charge of a black-faced ram 

 when he is fully excited. As for the fox, they hem 

 him round if they can find him, and when he is fairly 

 in the circle, with the horns threatening him on every 

 side, two retreat, backwards, and then, advancing at the 

 signal stamp of the foot, beat him to a pancake at a single 

 effort. When in the season ot excitement, they are 

 prone to run at everything that is unusual ; and a ludi- 

 crous story of this is told of and by no less illustrious a 

 personage than the highly gifted and truly noble-minded 

 "Sandv Wilson," whose "American Ornithology" will 

 be in the freshness of immortal youth when every other 

 natural history of birds is forgotten. Any of our 

 readers who are acquainted with that illustiious child 

 of nature, whose expatriation and the neglect of Burns 

 are of those leopard spots upon the discernment and 

 liberality of Scotland, which must keep her long or 

 for ever in the class of the low and ungrateful among 

 nations, must be aware that he followed for a time 

 the trade of a pedlar. While he was thus employed, 

 some circumstance, we forget what, revived the story 

 of the rich gold mines in Crawford moor, of the pro- 

 duce of which the broad Jacobuses are said to have 

 been made ; and many persons resorted to " Crawford 

 Burn" in order to search the sand and gravel in its 

 bed for a portion of the treasure. [We have generally 

 found the reported gold-dust of many parts of Scot- 

 land to be nothing but gold-coloured mica, but 

 nimporte.] Wilson went, among others, and leaving 

 his pack on the high bank, descended, shovel in hand, 

 to find his fortune in the pool below. A " muirland 

 ram'' espied the pack, as an intruder on the pasture 

 of the flock of which he was the patriarch and the 

 guardian, and advanced toward it upon a reconnais- 

 sance, on which he was very close in his examination. 

 After he had finished his survey he retreated back- 

 wards, as is the custom with rams, till he hud gained 

 the necessarv distance ; and then collecting his 

 energy for the charge, he rushed upon the pack, and 

 sent it endlong into the pool, sousing Wilson with 

 the spray produced by the splash. Wilson imme- 

 diately got out the pack, and spread his muslins 

 and lawns to dry in a place where they wore secure 

 from the ram ; and while waiting Ihe operation of the 

 sun and air upon them, he composed a very choice 

 poem on the inordinate passion for wealth, he himself 

 being the subject. 



We have mentioned this anecdote for various rea- 

 sons : First, it is highly characteristic of the black- 

 faced ram, as offering battle to whatever intrudes on 

 the pasture of his flock ; secondly, because every 

 reader of natural history must love to hear the name 

 of Wilson repeated as often as possible ; and, thirdly, 

 because no independent Scotchman should fail to 



