32 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



on the islands in the harbor to protect them from the Indians and 

 wolves. On June 15, 1633, thirty-four Dutch sheep were landed, forty 

 having been lost at sea; and in 1635 two Dutch schooners brought into 

 the colony twenty-seven Flanders mares at 34 each, sixty- three heif- 

 ers at 12, and eighty-eight sheep (ewes) at 50s. each. These Dutch 

 sheep were rather large, white faced, no horns, long legged, and with a 

 light fleece. They were of mixed Holland and English origin, from the 

 lowlands of Holland and the Texel. They were similar to. if not iden- 

 tical with, those introduced into New York four or five years previous. 



On May 5, 1634, quaint Obadiah Turner, of Lynn, records in his 

 diary: " And wee doe hope soone to have plentie of sheepe, too, for 

 wool as well as for meate. And our women can do ye spinning and 

 weaving." 



By the inventory of Piscataqua and Norridgewock, in 1635, it is 

 shown that these settlements contained ninety-two sheep, and in 1640 

 they numbered about one thousand in the whole colony. Capt. Ed- 

 ward Johnson in his "Wonder Working Providence," says that there 

 were twelve thousand neat cattle, and three thousand sheep at this 

 time; that previous to this Watertown had " some store of sheepe and 

 goates." Cambridge had " cattle neate and sheepe, of which they have 

 a good flocke, which the Lord hath caused to thrive much in these 

 latter days," and of Concord, in 1636, "as for those who laid out their 

 estate upon sheepe they sped worst of any at the beginning (although, 

 some have sped the best of any now), for untill the land be often fed 

 with other cattell sheepe can not live." 



In 1641 beef, pork, and mutton were plenty in many houses, and " for 

 rayment the Lord hath been pleased to increase sheepe extraordinarily," 

 and for cloth material enough to make it. 



Homespun manufactures had been carried on to some extent before 

 this time, for the records of the probate court of Suffolk County give 

 instances of spinning-wheels and small quantities of homemade cloth 

 as being inventoried among other articles. In 1642 there were flax, 

 hemp, and wool enough to furnish the people clothing, and on Septem- 

 ber 26, of this year, the author of " New England's First Fruits," writ- 

 ing at Boston, says: 



And having a matter of one thousand sheep, which prosper well to begin withal, 

 in a competent time we hope to have woolen cloth there made. And great and 

 small cattle being now very frequently killed for food, their skins will afford us 

 leather for boots and shoes and other uses; so that God is leading us by the hand 

 into a way of clothing. 



The writer's, hopes were soon realized, for in the next year, 1643, a 

 fulling mill was erected at Rowley, between Ipswich and Newbury, "by 

 Mr. Rogers' people, who were the first that set upon making cloth in 

 this western world." Eowley was settled in 1638 by about twenty 

 families of industrious and pious people from Yorkshire, England, many 

 of whom had pursued the woolen manufacture in the old country. The 



