CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The zoological character of the sheep — domesticated at a very early 

 period of the world — Abel the first recorded shepherd — the flesh of the 

 sheep not used for food before the flood — vegetables the only means of 

 sustenance permitted by the Divine law — after the flood this command 

 was abrogated — vegetable food only eaten by some of the pagan sects 

 of the East at the present day — the milk of the sheep used as an article 

 of sustenance — converted into cheese and butter — Homer's description 

 of milking the ewes — Mr. Burckhardt's description also — custom of 

 the ancients of removing their flocks from one locality to another — 

 Jabal lived 500 j'ears before the flood, and was the first Nomadic 

 shepherd — Arabian and Tartarian shepherds at the present day con- 

 form to that primitive custom — D'Arviex description of the same — 

 Parson's description of the peregrinations of the Arabs — flocks in an- 

 cient Palestine very numerous — number which Job possessed, &,c. — 

 these numerous flocks accounted for — the ewes supposed to have 

 lambed twice in the year — flocks very numerous at the present day in 

 Palestine — Dr. Shaw's statement of this — first recorded improvement 

 was in the color of the fleece — originally tawny or dingy-black — 

 tendency of the sheep in modern times to return to the original hue — 

 instance the South Do wn, Norfolk, Black-faced sheep of Scotland, 

 and Asiatic and Jtt'ri'calif breeds — Jacob the original improver of the 

 color — his scheme for accomplishing it — in process of time the fleece 

 became wholly white — the Scriptures silent as to the form of the an- 

 cient sheep, except that the ram was horned — the fat-rumped breed 

 abounding so numerously at the East induced Mr. Youatt to suppose 

 these to be the primitive breed instead of the Argali — his remarks 

 and those of Mr. Price on the subject — the question will always remain 

 unsettled — the horned ram more particularly mentioned — the polled 

 sheep an accidental variety — reasons for cultivating them — humanity 

 a prominent characteristic of the primitive shepherds — Arab shepherds 

 the same — Buckingham's remarks — quotation from Dyer's Fleece — 

 music of the ancient shepherds a means to control their flocks — re- 

 marks — Goldsmith's description of the Alpine shepherds — evidence 

 from the Bible that the primitive shepherds washed their flocks before 

 they were shorn — Solomon's comparison of the teeth of his mistress to 

 a flock just come up from the washing — in early times the fleece was 

 detached from the pelt by pulling — humanity dictated another course, 

 and accordingly the shears, in process of time, were invented and 

 extensively used — the shearing time an occasion for feasting and re- 

 joicing — quotations in corroboration of this — remarks of Burder on the 

 subject — the system of cotting practised by the Israelites— remarks of 



