and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sbeep. 397 



gives them no other praise than that of producing blackish or tawny coloured 

 fleeces. Pliny, who lived somewhat after Columella, adds that they were occa- 

 sionally of a reddish, or gold colour, like those of Asia.* Martial expressely com- 

 pares the colour of those fleeces with that of the golden or red hair of women.t 



Strabo, who flourished in the reigns of Augustus, and 'iiberius, says of 



Turdetania in Portugal, then a part of Spain, " That formerly ihcy imported 



" many garments, but that now their wool was better than that of the Coraxi, and 



" so beautiful, that a ram for the purpose of breeding was sold for a talent; and 



" that fabrics of extraordinary thirmess were made of this wool by the Sahiaiae." 



" lloXXfi S\ x.Oii nT^nq TTgortpov \[^yirQ' mi/ ii Epi» [axXXov rui/ Kop«^Mi/' xca u7rfp?oA« tk Efrri ra 



" xaAM?" T«A«i/TiaitiK yxv wt-oui/rai toi; xeioi; £1? raj" ovtixi; UTrtoSoXn <?£ x«i ruu Xizaruv 



" u(piiicrjj.ccTuv, ci.Tirt^ ol ZotKr^Tcci xaToo-xeua^oKrii/.'' "^ Any ambiguity which might attend 



this passage is removed by Pliny, who expressly tells us, that this breed did not 



produce what could be properly called wool, but hair. " Istriae Liburniasque pilo 



" propiorquam lanae, pexis aliena vestibus, et quam Salacia scutulato textu com- 



" mendat in Lusitania." " The wool of Istria and Liburnia is more like hair than 



" wool ; being totally unfit for cloths dressed with a nap or pile, and such as 



" Salacia in Portugal advantageously uses for thin, reticulated fabrics." ^ I have 



already explained the word " pexus;" and when it is considered that Pliny 



afterwards annexes the epithet " scutulatus," to the spider's web, [| he must in the 



present instance evidendy understand by it some cloth of a light open texture, like 



our finest stuffs, muslin, or gauze, altogether incapable of being constructed of 



any thing similar to our best carding wool, but rather manufactured from fine, 



long, combing wool, such as that of Shetland, or of the sheep or goat of Thibet, 



at this day. 



• Jam Asia rutill, quas Erythrsas vocant. Item Boetica. Histor. Natur. viii. 73. 



f Qux crlne vincit BcBtici gregis velfus. Epigram, lib. v. 38. 



X Strabonis Geographis Casauboni lib. iii. page 144. The little Attic talent of silver contained 

 sixty minas, and the mina an hundred drachms or denarii. The Attic drachma, according to 

 Greaves (Vol. I. page 262) weighs sixty-seven English troy grains. Now if the alloy, as in our 

 coin, made three fcrtieth pans of the whole, then the pure silver in a taknt would be 371,850 

 grains ; which divided by eighty-six, the weight of pure silver in our present shilling, will make , 

 the talent upwards of ;^2 16. of our money. The long wooUed ram of Portugal was therefore fully 

 equal in value to the best of oui- breeds. 



§ Hist. Nat. lib. viii. sect, 73. || Ibidem, xi. 28. 



