24 Essay oji Sheep, 



to separate them. These sheep partake of the 

 hardiness of the parent stock. The large horns 

 pecuHar to the Argali is not, indeed, found 

 among them in the same form, but it is broken 

 down into several smaller branches. Most of 

 them carry four, and many five horns of con- 

 siderable size, and always spiral. What is re- 

 markable, and shows that this circumstance is 

 owing to the address of man, and not to the 

 effects of climate, is, that when the common 

 sheep are brought to Iceland, their horns di- 

 minish or disappear altogether; this, at least, 

 is affirmed by V. Bomari. The Iceland flocks 

 are never stabled, but seek their food by fol- 

 lowing the horses and eating the grass and moss 

 that they uncover; their own feet being too 

 feeble to dig the snow. Their shelter is the 

 jutting rocks, or mountain's caverns. At the 

 approach of a snow storm they run violently 

 towards the sea, and are sometimes precipitated 

 into it by each other. They have probably 

 learned from experience that the sea softens the 

 rigour of the air, and that the snow is sooner 

 dissolved in its vicinity than upon the moun- 

 tains. If they are surprized by a snow storm 

 before they can reach the coast, they turn their 

 heads toward each other, and patiently expect, 

 under their fleecy covering, the aid of their 



