WILD SHEEP. 41 



by eating some poisonous plant. Thus my hopes of stocking this 

 country with a breed of sheep were blasted in a moment." Most 

 probably they had eaten tutu, which is common in the Marlborough 

 Sounds district. 



I cannot find when sheep were next brought into New Zealand, 

 but as soon as settlement began they were freely imported from 

 New South Wales. In those early days fences were very rough, 

 and little or no attempt was made to keep sheep within enclosures. 

 They were therefore allowed to roam freely over the open country, 

 and were mustered at only rare intervals for shearing, tailing the 

 lambs, culling, &c. It was inevitable, therefore, that numbers 

 escaped the musterers, especially in high and inaccessible country, 

 and that thus wild sheep became very common in the mountainous 

 districts of the South Island. 



Wild sheep are still abundant in some of the wilder parts of 

 the country, and are especially numerous in the high limestone 

 country of Marlborough. Much of this country is a terra in- 

 cog nit a, for it is most inaccessible, except in certain rare states 

 of the river-gorges, and very few people know anything about it. 

 Mr. Aston, who recently visited this region on a botanical quest, 

 says, "On the north-west side of Isolated Hill is a gently sloping 

 tussock-land, stretching down towards the Ure River, on which 

 are hundreds of wild sheep in small flocks of about half a dozen 

 in each. All rams, ewes, and particularly the lambs are, as 

 far as we could see, in excellent condition. Some were curiously 

 marked and coloured. One had a brown body, black legs and face, 

 and white forehead. The rams had large horns, and all were tamer 

 than ordinary domestic sheep. Their food appears to consist of 

 the silver-tussock (Poa caespitosa) which was well eaten down 

 spear-grass, and several other native plants and shrubs." In 

 another part of his account he adds, " These sheep destroy the 

 mountain-ribbonwood trees (Gaya Lyallii] by eating the bark, 

 which we watched one stripping off in large sheets." 



In the district of Strath Taieri, in Otago, some forty years ago 

 certain sheep on one of the runs probably the progeny of a single 

 ram were found to be evidently short-winded. Apparently the 

 action of the heart was defective, for when these sheep were driven 

 they would run with the rest of the flock for a short distance, and 

 then lie down panting. The result of this peculiar affection was 



