EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 161 



In an instrument of writing given by Col. Humphreys, July 8, 1812, 

 lie says: 



To all concerned to whom these presents shall come : I hereby certify and make 

 known that the flock of Merinos belonging to me, and intrusted this day to the care 

 of Mr. Elihu Ives, to be disposed of for my account at his best discretion, consisting of 

 full and high degree of mixed .bloods, are the genuine descendants and offsprings of 

 those pure bloods extracted by me from Spanish Estremadura, in the beginning of 

 the year 1802, and ascertained by their pedigree to be of the purest and best race in 

 Spain. I, moreover, declare that it has been proved by the best of experience in 

 almost every part of the United States, that they have not in any respect degenerated, 

 but on the contrary, that the breed of whole-bloods, has, in some points, much 

 improved in this country. 



It is now generally admitted that Col. Humphreys 7 Merinos were 

 from a single family and had that sameness in appearance and char- 

 acter which indicates sameness of blood, and that, spontaneously and 

 without weeding out, they transmitted this sameness both to their 

 immediate and last descendants, a thing they could not possibly have 

 done had they been drawn from several cabanas. Every Spaniard at that 

 day who had any connection with sheep considered it improper to mix 

 the different great families or cabanas. It was contrary to the settled 

 traditions of the country. Col. Humphreys up to that time had had 

 little or no experience with sheep, and it was natural that he should 

 adopt without question the views of people of whom he had made his 

 purchases. There is no evidence that he entertained the remotest idea 

 of improving or changing the style of the Spanish sheep, or of deviat- 

 ing from the Spanish ideas of breeding in-and-in. 



It is the general opinion, too, that the Humphreys sheep were Infan- 

 tadoes, though some have dissented, and an eminent Ohio breeder in a 

 paper published in the Ohio Agricultural Eeport for 1854, advanced 

 the idea that they were Escurials. The Escurial flock had been given 

 by the crown to the Hieronimite monks, and the nearest line from their 

 monastery at the Escurial Palace to the seacoast is by the valley of 

 the Mondego across Portugal, the very route by which the Humphreys 

 sheep were driven. Besides which, they were recognized by those who 

 professed to have seen them and who were acquainted with the Escu- 

 rial sheep as resembling them and the engraved portraits of them. 



Col. Humphreys took a just pride in his success in establishing the 

 Merino breed in this country, and in 1807 addressed two communica- 

 tions to the Society for Promoting Agriculture in the State of Massa- 

 chusetts, giving some of the results of his experiments and congratu- 

 lating both the manufacturer and the farmer on the value of the sheep 

 for wool and mutton. The first letter is dated Boston, ^November 28, 

 1807, and reads: 



More than live years having now elapsed since the introduction into New England 

 of thr> flock of Merino sheep, in consequence of which the Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture in the State of Massachusetts were pleased to present to me a gold medal, 

 it will doubtless be acceptable to that respectable and patriotic body to learu that 



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