96 STATES OF THE EIVEB PLATE. 



heat of the blood and body, prevents the evolution of the 

 heat generated in the body ; it, therefore, disarranges the 

 equilibrium, which is needful for health, between the 

 generation and evolution of tlie vital heat, producing an 

 excessive expansion, or relaxation, an excess of cutaneous 

 secretions — to meet which a plentiful supply of water is 

 requisite — a waste of the juices and of the tissues ; and 

 consequent general relaxation and debility, or the blood 

 becomes fevered, and its fatty and albuminous elements 

 have a tendency to lose, to a certain extent, their in- 

 dividuality. 



It is an object with the high-class breeder to protect 

 his sheep from both extremes ; and, as above-stated, to do 

 this to the greatest nicety, the variations and mean tem- 

 perature of a climate must be taken into account. Here, 

 in the Kiver Plate, we have a very temperate heat during 

 the greater portion of the year. During the winter 

 months, though raw and bleak, we have rarely any con- 

 tinuance of severe cold at all comparable to the cold of 

 England, North Germany, and France — the cold here 

 rarely exceeding a hoar-frost, which disappears with the 

 nioming sun. On the other hand, the summer heats 

 range considerably higher, frequently reaching, and ruling 

 for many days together, 90° to 95° Fahr. in the shade, 

 and from 100° to 125° Fahr. in the sun. Under these 

 circumstances, a slight protection from cold, and an airy 

 shade, or protection, against the summer heats, is what are 

 desirable to aim at ; and, of course, an efficient protection 

 against wet. The close housing required to meet the 

 severe cold which prevails for months in Great Britain, 

 North Germany, and the North of France, is quite unne- 

 cessary and undesirable here, even in the winter ; and 

 such houses would be intolerable during the summer 

 months, both by reason of the heat and the effluvia. 



