268 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



number as many as ten thousand animals, tended by 

 fifty shepherds and as many dogs." 



"It must be very interesting, ' ' said Jules, "to see 

 those immense flocks in motion along the highways 

 when they go to or from their mountain pasture." 



"What takes place in the south of France can 

 give us some idea of this. I told you that the vast 

 plains of the Mediterranean coast, the plains of Crau 

 and Camargue, support flocks of considerable size, 

 which emigrate to the mountains of Dauphiny when 

 warm weather comes, and return home on the ap- 

 proach of cold. ' ' 



"Are those sheep merinos?" Jules asked. 



"No, my friend: they are ordinary sheep ; but, like 

 the merinos, they travel alternately from the plain 

 to the mountains and from the mountains to the 

 plain ; in a word, they are migratory flocks. Let us 

 look at them on their return journey. 



"At the head are the donkeys laden with clothing 

 and provisions. Large and heavy bells hang from 

 their collars, each collar being made of a big sheet of 

 bent deal. If they spy a thistle beside the road, they 

 turn out and with a grimace crop the savory mouth- 

 ful with a movement of their lips, after which they at 

 once return to their posts of file-leaders. In large 

 panniers of plaited grass one of them carries the 

 lambs born on the journey, too weak to follow the 

 flock. The poor little things bleat, their heads nod- 

 ding to the movements of their nags, and the mothers 

 answer from the midst of the throng. Next come the 

 ill-smelling, high-horned, flat-nosed, cross-eyed he- 



