90 SEEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



dinary sheep, and covered with short hair like a goat, without any wool, 

 and with tails like swine; with a sort of mane like a lion on the neck, 

 and so on the rump, and a bunch at the end of the tail. Some of them 

 have singular enlargements on the cheek, throat, and sometimes on the 

 forehead. They were familiar to the slave-traders, who carried them 

 away as sea- stock along with their human victims, and many of them 

 found their way into the West India Islands. Their flesh was not very 

 palatable, but it was infinitely better than nothing. This was the case in 

 their native home, but transportation improved them, and those of Cu4 

 ra^ao were so highly esteemed that they were imported into the States 

 of Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, to the great improvement of 

 the mutton. They were very prevalent in Virginia during the latter 

 half of the last century, and Washington had some in his flock at 

 Mount Vernon. 



But the most numerous breed of Guinea sheep is of a far different 

 character. The male is horned, the horns generally forming a semicir- 

 cle, with the points forward 5 the females are hornless. In the early 

 part of the seventeenth century the Guinea sheep were taken into the 

 islands on the Danish coast and into Friesland and crossed with the 

 native sheep, producing the Mouton Flandrin or Texel sheep, of great 

 size, beauty of form, and abundant produce of fine wool. They were 

 very prolific and gave good milk. In their native country these sheep 

 had a long, gaunt form, but under better treatment they became a 

 large, well-shaped animal, indicative of the rich pastures and moist 

 climate in which they had been fed in the drained lakes of Holland. 

 Dutch traders brought these sheep to the American colonies before the 

 Eevolution, and many were imported into New York and Philadelphia 

 from 1807 to 1820, and were very popular as a mutton sheep in the city 

 markets. The cross on the Texel sheep with a dash of the Tunis broad- 

 tailed was considered very superior. 



In Holland they were crossed with some of the larger native breeds ; 

 the English long-wooled sheep, and 



particularly the Roinney, contributed more to their amelioration, and they are now 

 a singular, but in many respects a valuable, breed. They have somewhat decreased 

 in size ; they are seldom more than 2 feet 6 inches in height ; they are polled, with 

 long pendant ears ; the leg is rather inclined to be long ; the tail is short and large, 

 and covered with wool; the fleece averages from 10 to 12 inches in length, but it is 

 far from being fine, and is devoted to the preparation of coarser goods. 



FRIESLAND SHEEP. 



Similar to the Texel sheep, but of a superior size, is another Holland 

 sheep, descended from a cross of the Guinea sheep with that of East 

 Frieslaud, whence its name. It has a greater mixture of the English 

 blood, stands 2 or 3 inches higher than the Texel, is without horns, 

 and has a long, small tail, generally devoid of wool. The sheep of this 

 breed are not inclined to fatten, are very prolific, and give a rich milk, 

 much used by the Dutch and Flemings in the manufacture of a good 



