538 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



or, in fact, before it actually eomes on, ihey have 

 endeavored to find a place to slieller ttiemselves 

 from its fury : but in cases of snow-storms among 

 tiie mountains, it very generally happens that the 

 places of shelter from the bitter and piercing blast 

 are places fraught with the greatest danger, lor it 

 is there that the drifting snow accumulates in vast 

 masses ; and while the flocks that have sought 

 shelter are comparatively warm and comfortable, 

 probably before they are aware ihe drift will have 

 become piled up in such a manner as to render all 

 attempts to retreat impracticable even were they 

 inclined to do so. Thus it sometimes happens 

 that in the space of a very lew hours some scores, 

 nay, perhaps hundreds, of sheep become buried 

 beneath the enow to a depth of several feet. In 

 most parts of these mountain-regions, where the 

 hills are pretty steep, their sides are usually fur- 

 rowed by several clefts, or deep and narrow ra- 

 vines, down which trickle the waters of small 

 springs that commonly have their rise in the upper 

 parts of the mountain. The spaces along the 

 sides of the hills, between these respective furrows 

 or dells, for the most part are smooth and bare ; so 

 that at the approach of a snow-storm, should 

 these places be resorted to by the flocks as places 

 of shelter, they are soon buried to a considerable 

 depth, since all the snow that lalls on ihe smooth 

 portions of the mountains is hurled into these 

 dangerous ravines. 



When a snow-storm comes on unexpectedly, 

 the losses in the flocks of sheep are generally tiie 

 greatest ; tor when it is foreseen, the shepherds 

 are on the alert ; and though it may not be with- 

 in their power to prevent some portion of the flock 

 being buried (overblown, as they call it) beneath 

 tiie snow, yet, in most cases, they are aware of 

 the situation the missing sheep occupied when the 

 storm came on, and consequently know pretty well 

 where to search the drills lor them. When the 

 snow falls extremely light and feathery, the drift 

 will hardly sustain a person's weight lor a day or 

 two afterwards but in such cases there is not much 

 danger of the sheep being suffocated under it; 

 but when it falls in a softer state, but yet light 

 enough to be drifted by a strong wind, the drift at 

 once becomes consolidated and heavy, and then 

 it is that there exists great danger of the sheep 

 being quickly smothered. 



There are two methods pursued in searching 

 for the missing sheep when a snow-storm has 

 subsided ; one of them with dogs, — sheep-setters, 

 or, as they are sometimes called, sheep-finders ; 

 the other, thus : three or four persons go in com- 

 pany, carrying with them a couple of long smooth 

 poles, and also some spades or shovels. Those 

 that carry the poles, walk along the drifted snow 

 beneath which they suspect some of the sheep 

 are buried, frequently pushing their poles gently 

 through the snow, in order to ascertain, by the 

 touch, the presence of the missing sheep ; when, 

 having made the discovery of one or more, the 

 shovels are employed in opening a way by which 

 to liberate the innocent prisoners. Persons accus- 

 tomed to this prodding (probing) for sheep, as it 

 is called, can readily distinguish by the touch of 

 the pole the woolly coat of a sheep from any other 

 substance— even from the bushy and elastic heath, 

 or the softer bent and mountain mosa. This mode 

 of search, however, is a slow and tedious process 

 where there is a considerable breadth of drift, a 



great deal of lime necessarily being consumed in 

 carefijlly examining a comparatively small space. 

 Besides, it sometimes happens that the drifts are 

 so deep that an ordinary pole will hardly penetrate 

 them to the bottom, and in that case the system 

 becomes altogether useless. 



The employment of dogs to find the lost sheep 

 is by far the better plan, wtiere it can be effected. 

 The sheep-setter is of no particular breed, though, 

 for the most part, these dogs belong to the cur 

 species. But there are so many varieties of the 

 cur — or, al all events, so many coming under that 

 very general term, ihat it would be impossible to 

 define what peculiar class my father's dog, Corby, 

 the sheep-finder, belonged to. He was large and 

 black, strong-limbed, long and lean bodied, shag- 

 gy-coated, with a little white on the breast, as 

 well as between the eyes. His ears were precise- 

 ly those of the common cur, and his tail — for he 

 was not tailless — was both large and long. Corby 

 Irom his puppyhood was a favorite in the family, 

 certainly not on account of personal attractions, 

 for these were by no means in his favor, but from 

 sundry good qualities that he was early discover- 

 ed to possess. He was docile, sagacious, cour- 

 ageous, and faithful, and when he grew up he 

 exhibited an extraordinary sense of smelling, 

 particularly as regarded sheep, and hence he soon 

 became the most renowned sheep-setter through a 

 wide range of country. This rendered him of so 

 much account that it in a manner changed hie 

 destiny, for having been brought up with no other 

 view than that of his being employed as an ordi- 

 nary shepherd's dog, his superior qualities soon 

 procured lor him a higher distinction, and he be- 

 came a privileged character in the sitting-room 

 and parlor ; scarcely any services were required 

 of him, except afler a severe snow-storm, when 

 he was called upon to exercise his vocation, which, 

 during many years, he lived to do, and with won- 

 derful sucoess. 



It was not only upon our own farm and flock 

 that Corby exercised the extraordinary powers 

 nature had endowed him with, for his fame as a 

 sheep-finder extended through all the surrounding 

 parishes ; and many were the messages and re- 

 quests that his owner would permit him to be 

 taken to the distant parts of the upland country, 

 where portions of the sheep-flocks were often bu- 

 ried beneath the snow. We had a servant-boy, 

 to whom the dog was much attached, and when 

 it was convenient to spare the latter to exercise 

 his abilities for the benefit of our neighbors, the 

 former usually accompanied him, for it was not to 

 be supposed that so faithful and sagacious a 

 creature would voluntarily accompany entire 

 strangers. Money, of course, my father would 

 never accept for Corby's services, but the boy that 

 used 10 accompany the sheep-finder was not so 

 rigidly scrupulous, and many were the shillings 

 and half-crowns that he pocketed in the course of 

 a stormy winter. 



The sagacious animal always took advantage 

 of the wind, where that was practicable, and the 

 moment he was told to ' seek the sheep — be care- 

 fiil,' his whole attention was bestowed upon those 

 parts of the snow-drilis that the parties pointed 

 out to him. With his nose close to the surface.of 

 the snow, his eyes beaming with intelligence and 

 anxiously watching every motion of the person 

 that accompanied him, his ears in an attitude oi' 



