NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



On this the washers stand armed with long poles, 

 bearing each a blunt, wide prong, one of the irons 

 of which is straight, the other slightly curved. Seven 

 or eight feet in front of these men runs, also right 

 across the stream, a series of long, stout poles, which 

 thus serve to keep the sheep to the avenue in which 

 the washing is conducted. In a broad stream, such as 

 the Pevensey Haven, the sheep gets a thorough wash, 

 and the water is constantly cleansed and replenished 

 by the gentle flow throughout the operations. Sheep 

 are, of course, good natural swimmers, and, once in 

 deep water, they are pretty amenable ; in fact, under 

 the long poles of the shepherds they are powerless to 

 help themselves, and they finally submit, after the first 

 ineffectual struggles, with true sheep-like mildness and 

 acceptance of their fate, to the wills of their masters, 

 the pole-bearers. The washing takes place usually 

 from nine o'clock to eleven or twelve. During that 

 time from three hundred to five hundred sheep are 

 cleansed for the shearing. It must be vastly pleasant 

 to the sheep, after the terrors of the wash and the some- 

 what rough handling of the shearers, to find them- 

 selves, a few days later, disencumbered of their thick 

 winter coats, and to emerge into the glorious warmth 

 of the June sun, clad, as it were, in a delightfully 

 cool, yet close-fitting garment of short, clean, white 

 wool. 



The last day of May, 1902, was typical of late spring 

 or early summer. There had been heavy rain during 

 the night ; the sky was somewhat overcast ; the whole 

 countryside was enveloped in a pleasant, steaming 

 warmth, amid which vegetation was springing luxu- 

 riantly. Towards eleven o'clock the sun burst forth, 

 the clouds dispersed, and the flat marshes gleamed 

 golden in one vast expanse of buttercups. There has 



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