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autumn to feed during winter on the warm plains below. 

 The latter, which includes the pure Merino, are distinguished 

 from the common sheep by a loose skin hanging from their 

 necks, and in having wool on their foreheads and cheeks, 

 and frequently down their legs nearly to their hoofs. The 

 horns of the males are very large and ponderous, and are 

 usually rolled laterally, one part over another. Their wool 

 is long, fine, and soft, and is twisted into glossy spiral 

 ringlets. It naturally contains a large proportion of oil, 

 to which dust and other impurities adhere, and give to the 

 animals a dingy and unclean appearance, that conveys to 

 the casual observer an idea of inferiority, but on parting it' 

 all doubts are immediately removed, when its unsullied 

 purity and fineness are brought to view. There also exist 

 in Spain several intermediate breeds, among which are the 

 Pyrenean races, with remarkably fine wool, and somewhat 

 resembling that on the South Downs of England. In 

 general they are polled, but some have horns, which turn 

 behind the ears, and in the males project forward half a 

 circle. Their legs, which are short, are white or reddish ; 

 their faces speckled, and in some a small tuft of wool grows 

 on their foreheads. Their color varies from white to a red- 

 dish yellow, and in a few instances they are entirely black. 

 There is also another race in Biscay, which have from four 

 to six horns, but they are not of the fine wooled variety. 



" The example of Columella, of importing African rams,, 

 was repeated by Don Pedro, King of Arragon, in the early 

 part of the thirteenth century, and afterwards by Cardinal 

 Ximenes, prime minister of Spain ; and to that epoch is to 

 be ascribed the superiority of Merino wool over that of all 

 other domestic breeds. With regard to the cause of this 

 superiority, some impute it to the sheep passing their lives 

 in the open air, in a dry and equable climate ; others to the 

 nature of the soil and vegetation upon which they feed, and 

 to their migrating semi-annually from one part of the 

 country to another; and a third class, to the peculiar man- 



