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ner of smearing their backs at a certain period, a process 

 hereafter to be described ; but it is most probable that they 

 do not so much owe the fineness and quality of their wool 

 to the reasons above assigned, as to the uniform, systematic, 

 and unceasing care with which they are managed through 

 every stage of their existence, and the pure, unmixed, and 

 isolated condition in which each flock is kept from genera- 

 tion to generation. For it appears as a matter of certainty 

 that the sole design of removing these sheep from one dis- 

 trict to another is to feed ; and it is equally certain that 

 these journeys never would be undertaken if a sufficiency 

 of good pasturage could be found in one place during the 

 year; and, besides, it is a noted fact that there are station- 

 ary flocks in the plains of Estremadura, where frost is sel- 

 dom seen, and about the mountains of Old Castile, where 

 snow often falls in June, both of which produce wool of an 

 equal degree of fineness to that of the itinerant flocks that 

 change their quarters every six months. It has been as- 

 serted, and believed by some, although controverted by 

 several well-informed persons, that regions abounding in 

 aromatic plants are more favorable to the health of sheep, 

 and, consequently, to the fineness of their wool, than those 

 entirely destitute of such plants. Two instances, well sup- 

 ported, will, perhaps, be sufficient to refute this opinion. 

 The territory of Montana, in Old Castile, is one of the most 

 elevated tracts in Spain, where the neighboring mountains 

 rise in the atmosphere to a line of perpetual snow. Its 

 hills consist of sandstone, covered with a deep clayey soil; 

 black marble, marked with white and yellow veins; grey 

 limestone, containing marine petrifactions, talc, gypsum, and 

 numerous saline springs; and in the plains and valleys 

 emery abounds, both occurring in large blocks and incorpo- 

 rated in the soil. The soils of the mountains and hills are 

 noted as being of a similar composition with the rocks be- 

 neath them ; and experience has taught the Spanish farmers 

 that the sod which covers the limestone districts is best 



