22 Essay on Sheep, 



is the natural effect of the climate; and that 

 the wool-bearing sheep, upon being transported 

 to low latitudes, loose their wool, and acquire 

 hair; and the smooth skinned sheep that are 

 found in most of the West-India islands are 

 adduced as a proof of this theory. 



1 will not pretend to say that climate, in a 

 long series of years, may not produce a change 

 in the nature of quadrupeds; but if it does, I 

 believe it must operate very slowly, and much 

 more gradually than is generally supposed. 

 The hairy sheep* that are found in most of the 

 islands appear to me to bear evident marks of 

 .African origin; like those, the rams and ewes 

 have a kind of dewlap of long hair pendant 

 from their necks; they are larger and more ac- 

 tive than the common European sheep. It is 

 certainly not to be wondered at, that countries 

 which maintain a constant intercourse with 

 Guinea should have brought over their sheep 

 as well as their men, and, as this breed are 

 better adapted to a warm climate than the sheep 

 of Europe, they have probably become the 

 pred eminent sheep in the islands; though there 

 are, in many of them, wool-bearing sheep, 

 which remain unaltered, except by mixture of 



* Ovls Aries Guiniencis, 



