46 SMALL I'OX L\ SIIEKP. 



system which exists with reference to the exportation 

 of foreign sheep, and we shall find that cattle-dealers 

 on the continent are the chief persons who consign 

 them to English salesmen. A ship's cargo may, there- 

 fore, be the property of three, four, or five individuals ; 

 and the animals composing it being bought in different 

 neighbourhoods by A, B, C, and D, some of them 

 may, and others may not, have been subjected to the 

 contagion of variola before they were put on board. 

 While on their passage the chances are in favom* of their 

 not taking the disease, since no exporter would be so 

 regardless of his own interests as to ship animals which 

 were visibly suffering from it. Now, the sheep are 

 disembarked, and go into quarantine, and the malady 

 breaks out in A's lot, and all the others are instantly 

 placed in a position to be exposed to the infection, and 

 many will undoubtedly take it. What recompense, 

 then, can be made to B, C, or D, and who is to sus- 

 tain the loss under such circumstances ? It may be 

 replied that no necessity exists to herd the animals 

 together. But we ask, where are there places, far 

 enough removed from each other, to be found for 

 putting each separate lot of sheep, and keeping them 

 apart ? As they continue to arrive daily, their num- 

 ber will amount to some thousands in the course of a 

 fortnight ; and for this period, at any rate, they must 

 be under quarantine. The recent publication of the 

 official returns for 1S47 enables us to state that 146,698 

 foreign sheep have been imported into England dm-ing 

 the year; and that, out of these, 138,739 have entered 

 the port of London, being an average of 2668 per 

 week. Who is to undertake to supply, and who to 

 pay for, the food which will be consumed ? In com- 



