30 HISTORY. 



which means the fibres adhere, and become intertwined in 

 such a manner as to form a species of cloth ; and of this 

 simple manufacture were the woollen garments of the rude 

 people in the north of Asia and Europe. The use of the dis- 

 taif and the shuttle infers a considerable advancement in the 

 arts. Yet at this stage, we know, by indubitable records, 

 the wandering tribes of Syria had arrived, long ere the golden 

 fleece had been acquired by Jason, or ere Minerva had com- 

 municated to her Athenians the gifts of spinning and weaving. 

 And besides the spindle and the simple loom of the East, the 

 Syrian Shepherds had, from early times, acquired the know- 

 ledge of the art of communicating to their cloths and gar- 

 ments those beautiful colours which so much please the eye. 

 The fondness of a parent, and his gift of a many-coloured 

 garment to a favoured child, gave rise to a tale which, in 

 beauty and pathos, cannot be surpassed; and even yet, 

 amongst the people of India, the practice exists of giving to 

 a favourite boy a garment of many colours, as a charm 

 against evil. The flesh of the Sheep was likewise used, but 

 with that temperance which still distinguishes the people of 

 those countries in the use of animal food. It was from the 

 milk of their flocks that they derived the chief part of their 

 daily food. They understood the art of curdling the milk of 

 their goats and ewes ; and cheese and butter, with fat and 

 honey, formed the simple repasts of these early shepherds, 

 as of the Kurds, the Turcomans, and Arabs, of the present 

 day. 



Domestication renders the Sheep more suited to our uses, 

 but diminishes his physical powers, and adapts him to another 

 condition of life. When once completely subjugated, he never 

 again appears to acquire the faculties which fit him for a life 

 of liberty. Give him afterwards what freedom we may, he 

 remains more or less dependent upon us, and would fall a 

 prey to wolves, and the swifter ferse, were he not under 

 human protection. Yet he is not the stupid and insensible 

 creature which some represent him to be. When entirely 



