OVI8 ARIES* 



tails of the journey. He goes in advance of the flock ; the 

 others follow with their dogs, to collect the stragglers and 

 keep off the wolves which prowl in the distance, migrating 

 with the flock. A few mules or asses accompany the caval- 

 cade, carrying the simple necessaries of the shepherds and 

 the materials for forming the nightly folds. In these folds 

 the sheep are penned throughout the night, surrounded by 

 the faithful dogs, which give notice of the approach of 

 danger. 



When the sheep arrive at the shearing-houses, which is in 

 the early part of their journey northward, a sufficient number 

 of shearers are in attendance to shear a thousand or more in 

 one day. The shearing-houses consist of two large, rude 

 rooms, and a low, narrow hut adjoining, termed the sweating- 

 house. The sheep are driven into one of the large rooms, 

 and such of them as are to be shorn on the following day are 

 forced into the long, narrow hut as close as it can be packed, 

 where they are kept all night. They undergo in this state a 

 great perspiration, the effect of which is to soften the hard- 

 ened, unctuous matter which has collected on the fleece. 

 They are then shorn without a previous washing, and the 

 wool is left in the shearing-houses, where it is sorted and 

 made ready for sale. By this arrangement one thousand 

 sheep or more are shorn with only the delay of a day. 



The shepherds employed in tending these sheep amount to 

 more than fifty thousand, which, supposing there are over 

 ten million sheep, is at the rate of about two hundred to 

 each shepherd. The number of dogs is calculated at thirty 

 thousand. These shepherds form a peculiar class of men, 

 strongly attached to their pursuit, and living in a state of 

 great simplicity. Their food is chiefly black bread, oil, and 

 garlic. They eat the mutton of their sheep when they die 

 or meet with accidents. In travelling, they sleep on the 

 ground, wrapping themselves in their cloaks, and in winter 

 they construct rude huts to afford shelter. It is said they 

 seldom marry or change their calling. 



The whole of this extraordinary system is regulated by a 

 set of laws, and an especial tribunal exists for the protection 

 of the privileges of the parties having the right of way and 

 pasturage. These parties claim the right of pasturage on all 

 the open and common land that lies in their way, a path of 

 ninety paces wide through the inclosed and cultivated coun- 



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