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the pastoral life. The shepherds first separate the pregnant 

 from the barren ewes, and conduct them to the best shelter, 

 and the others to the bleaker parts of the district. As the 

 lambs are yeaned, they are led apart with their dams to a 

 more comfortable place. A third division is made of the 

 lambs last brought forth, for which was allotted from the 

 beginning the most fertile spot, of the sweetest feed, and the 

 best shelter, in order that they may grow with as much 

 vigor as those first yeaned; for they must all set off the 

 same day in spring towards their summer quarters. 



"It is the interest of a proprietor to increase his flock to 

 as large a number as the land allotted to it can possibly 

 maintain; in consequence of which the sheep are always 

 low kept. When a flock has arrived at that point, all fur- 

 ther increase is useless, as there is but little sale for these 

 sheep, unless some neighboring cavana has been reduced by 

 mortality. Hence most of the lambs are killed as soon as 

 they are yeaned, and each of those preserved is allowed to 

 suck two or three ewes. 



u ln the month of March the shepherds perform four 

 operations on the lambs about the same time. They first cut 

 off their tails five inches below the rump, in order to pre- 

 serve cleanliness; they next brand them on the nose with a 

 hot iron, making a permanent mark or character indicating 

 the flock to which they belong; and then saw off a portion 

 of their horns to prevent the rams from hurting one another, 

 or the ewes. The fourth operation is to render impotent 

 the lambs destined for docile bell-wethers, to walk at the 

 head of each tribe. This is not done by making an incision, 

 as with us, but by turning the testicles with the fingers 

 twenty times round in the scrotum, twisting the spermatic 

 cords as a rope, and the parts wither away without danger. 



"Migration of the Sheep to their Summer Retreats. As 

 soon as the month of April arrives, which is the period of 

 departure -from the winter to the summer quarters, the sheep 

 manifest, by various uneasy motions, a remarkable restless- 



