144 MERINO SHEEP 



English breeds, mixed and intermixed till they had 

 lost the distinctive characteristics of their long- 

 wooled, well-fleshed ancestors, and were known as 

 "natives" (a name they were as much entitled to 

 as their owners), being born here of parents who 

 had not slept or grazed mider other skies. For 

 many generations having little care, their best 

 shelter in winter being the stacks their poor fodder 

 was tossed from, and their fare in summer the 

 scant grass among the stumps of the clearings and 

 the shaded herbage of the woods, by the survival of 

 the fittest they came to be a hardy race, almost as 

 wild as deer, and almost as well fitted to withstand 

 the rigors of our climate and to elude capture by 

 wild beasts or their rightful owners. Indeed, so 

 much had they recovered the habits of their re- 

 motest ancestors, that to get up the settler's flock 

 for washing or shearing, or the draft of a number 

 for slaughter or sale, was at least a half -day's task, 

 if not one uncertain of fulfillment. All the farm- 

 hands, and often the women and children of the 

 household, were mustered for these herdings, and 

 likely enough the neighbors had to be called in to 

 help. The flocks were generally small, and the 

 coarse, thin, short wool was mostly worked upon 

 the now bygone hand-cards, spinning-wheels, 

 and hand-looms for home use. As the clearings 

 widened, the flocks of sheep grew larger, and wool- 

 growing for market became an industry of some 



