A NUMEROUS FLOCK. 



171 



a robe enveloping him from head to 

 foot. He had been left at home to 

 prepare supper for his companions, 

 and we had scarcely seated ourselves 

 in front of the door of their principal 

 residence before they debouched, one 

 by one, through one of the cols, or 

 passes, of the table-land, partly es- 

 corting, and partly driving before 

 them, a flock of ten thousand sheep, 

 goats, alpacas, cows, and oxen. It 

 was truly a sight to see all these 

 domestic animals, passing slowly, 

 chiming their bells, and kept in per- 

 fect order by a dozen enormous dogs, 

 with jet - black skins and tufted 

 tails. In a very short time the flock 

 was penned up for the night, and 

 then each shepherd began to think 

 of his supper. And while they ate 

 their onion soup and a ration of 

 boiled meat, washed down by a dram 

 of brandy, each gave in his report for 

 the day. 



A herd of nineteen wild goats 

 had been sighted at about five miles 

 from the sheep-farm, tranquilly feed- 

 ing on a precipitous table-land, bor- 

 dered on one side by a ravine, at the 

 bottom of which rolled a torrent, 

 fed by the springs and snows of the 

 Masserne chain. For five whole 





' ONE OF THE COLS. 



