53 



considerable quantity of salt. He places a great many fiat 

 stones five or six feet from each other, and strews salt upon 

 them, which is eagerly devoured. This is repeated on several 

 successive days ; and a case of general inflammatio7i, or hoove, 

 seldom occurs. 



" It is supposed that forty or fifty thousand men are employed 

 in these peregrinations of the sheep. They are a singular race 

 of men, enthusiastically attached to their profession, rarely 

 quitting it, even for a more lucrative one, and rarely marrying. 

 The number of dogs kept for the purpose of guarding the 

 sheep exceeds thirty thousand. 



" The shearing does not delay the flock more than a day. 

 Buildings are erected at various places in the early portion of 

 their journey ; they are very simply constructed, and consist 

 only of two large rooms, each of which will contain more than 

 a thousand sheep ; there is also a narrow, low, long hut adjoin- 

 ing, termed the sweating house. The sheep are all driven into 

 one of these apartments, and in the evening those intended to 

 be shorn on the following day are transferred into the low, 

 long hut. As many are forced into it as it will possibly hold, 

 and there they are left during the night. As some are liber- 

 ated in the morning, the others are urged towards the end of 

 the hut, while more from the apartment occpy their situation. 

 In consequence of this close confinement they are thrown into 

 a state of great perspiration ; the yolk, which formed a some- 

 what hard crust on the fieece, is melted, and thus the whole is 

 rendered softer, and is more easily cut. There is no previous 

 washing, nor any other preparation for the shearing. From 

 150 to 200 shearers are generally collected, and a fiock of a 

 thousand sheep is disposed of in a day, although five rams or 

 eight ewes are reckoned a good day's work for a Spanish 

 shearer ! The sheep are turned back as they are shorn into 

 the second apartment, and on the following day continue their 

 journey ; thus in the space of six days, as many flocks, each 

 consisting of a thousand sheep, pass through the csqullo (shear- 

 ing hut), and leave their fleeces behind them. The wool is 



