The Sheep.] OF ORKNEY. 7 



eagles and ravens destroy them, while lambs, in numbers ; 

 the storms of winter and the sea, to which they are obliged 

 to fly, in this inclement season, for a meal, kill them in hun- 

 dreds ; but this is nothing but accident, nor equal to the ty- 

 ranny practised over them by their pretended lord, Man, to 

 whom they owe nothing, even for so much as shelter. He is 

 not content with what they can easily spare, and that with- 

 out complaint, their yearly tribute ; but all their lives are, 

 sooner or later, at his call, and required with the greatest 

 severity. Not even content with this last sacrifice they make 

 him, he (here) uses them with the greatest cruelty, in receiv- 

 ing their offered and grateful price of a little longer liberty. 

 About midsummer there is a particular day published for 

 rowing, when all the men in the parish, attended with their 

 dogs, turn out, and drive the whole flock, without any pre- 

 paration of washing, into narrow pens, and from thence, I 

 may say, to the place of execution, where the wool is torn 

 (not shorn) off their backs, an operation which brings the 

 whole blood into their skin, and is not only disgusting, but, 

 if the season proves harsh, is the cause of great destruction. 

 But, however cruel it may seem, it is almost the only notice 

 that is taken of these useful animals, by their unfeeling mas- 

 ters, till that time twelvemonth. 



This operation is far different from that similar, so beauti- 

 fully described by Thomson in his Seasons : 



Or rushing thence, in one diffusive band, 

 They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog 

 Compell'd, to where the mazy-running brook 



