EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 25 



wolves ; in fact the enterprise was almost abandoned and tlie sheep 

 nearly all destroyed. In 1643 there was not over a score of sheep in 

 the colony ; in 1650 they were so scarce that a bearing ewe was worth 

 from $8 to $10, an extravagant sum in those days. On May 18, 1654, 

 the directors at Amsterdam wrote to the director- general at New Am- 

 sterdam that an edict had been passed for the promotion of the increase 

 of sheep, but the act is not to be found among the colonial records. 



The sheep from Zealand and the Texel were of that kind then pre- 

 vailing along the borders of the German seas before their improvement 

 by the introduction of the Guinea sheep of West Africa and the Bar- 

 bary States. Those sheep were of large frame, capable of taking on 

 much fat, had long legs, and yielded a fleece of 2 or 3 pounds of coarse 

 wool well suited to the manufacture of blankets and common cloth. 

 An early writer thus speaks of the sheep of the New Netherlands as 

 they appeared in 1650 : 



Sheep are also kept in the New Netherlands, but not as many as in New England, 

 where the weaving business is driven and where much attention is paid to sheep, to 

 which our Netherlander pay little attention. The sheep thrive well and become 

 fat enough. I have seen mutton so exceedingly fat there that it was too luscious 

 and offensive. The sheep breed well and are healthy. There is also good feeding 

 in summer and good hay for the winter. But the flocks require to be guarded and 

 tended on account of the wolves, for which purpose men can not be spared. There 

 is also a more important hindrance to the keeping of sheep, which are principally 

 kept for their wool. New Netherlands throughout is a woody country, being almost 

 everywhere beset with trees, stumps, and brushwood, wherein the sheep pasture, and 

 by which they lose most of their wool, which by appearance does not seem to be out, 

 but when sheared turns out light in the fleeces. These are reasons against the 

 keeping of sheep. 



This writer then proceeds to give reasons why the inhabitants keep 

 more goats than sheep, which succeed best : 



Fat sheep are in great danger, when suffered to become lean; of goats there is no 

 danger. Goats also give good milk, which is always necessary, and because they 

 cost little, they are of importance to the new settlers and planters, who possess small 

 means. Such persons keep goats instead of cows. Goats cost little, and are very 

 prolific : and the young castrated tups afford fine delightful meat, which is alwayfc 

 in demand.* 



The early orders against weaving were so severe that but little 

 progress was made in domestic manufacture, though Dutch matrons 

 were proud in their display of blue, red, and green worsted stockings 

 Denton, in his history (1670), says that the inhabitants did much weav- 

 ing : " Everyone make their own linen and a great part of their woolen 

 cloth for their ordinary wearing." 



Governor Cornbury informed the home government, in 1707, that 

 making woolen goods had been brought to great perfection in the prov- 

 ince, and he thought it would be a great prejudice to England in a few 

 years and ought to be taken care of in time. " They already make good 

 serges, linsey-woolsey s, and in some places they begin to make coarse 



*" Description of the New Netherlands." Adriaen Van der Donck, 1650. 



