34 SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



with the sea, and protected from the tide by sea walls, pro- 

 bably of very ancient date, as in the time of Henry III. their 

 regulation and rights were spoken of as ancient and approved. 

 The soil is usually a deep alluvial clay interspersed with por- 

 tions of infertile sand or gravel, and the area is traversed by 

 wide ditches full of water. Romney Marsh boasts a humid 

 and scarcely salubrious climate, and carries a sparse popula- 

 tion, most of whom are employed in tending the sheep, which 

 are maintained in greater numbers than on any equal area in 

 the kingdom. 



I forbear to describe the ancient sheep of Romney Marsh in 

 the uncomplimentary language usually employed by writers on 

 live stock with regard to the unimproved races. One thing is 

 certain, they had friends in the past as well as traducers, and 

 it appears doubtful taste to slate a dead breed now unable to 

 return the compliment or stand up for its big head, narrow 

 chest, " flat sides," or '* big belly " all of which seem to 

 have been characteristic features of the older races of live 

 stock. The battle of the races appears to have been a stout 

 one, although eventually decided in favour of the modified 

 forms resulting from importations of new Leicester blood. 

 Whether the old Romney Marsh really appeared as he is 

 depicted by an artist following the descriptions still extant in 

 Culley or David Low, is exceedingly doubtful : that is, with 

 " broad feet, long, stout limbs, narrow chests, flat sides, and 

 great bellies." 



The apparently fanciful description of a Warwickshire ram, 

 by Marshall, is certainly grotesque, and seems to be an unfair 

 contrast between the past and present. " A frame large and 

 remarkably loose, his bone heavy, his legs long and thick, 

 terminating in great splaw feet, his chine, as well as his rump, 

 sharp as a hatchet, his skin rattling on his ribs." Such a 

 description would scarcely have commended itself to those 

 who maintained that the old breed had its advantages, and 

 who considered that the new type was not in all respects 

 better than the old. 



