40 THE SHEEP. 



and Calabria, being the eastern parts of the present kingdom 

 of Naples. Pliny informs us that the best wool was that of 

 Apulia, on the Adriatic Sea ; that the next best was further 

 to the south, on the Gulf of Tarentum ; that the Milesian or 

 Asiatic Sheep carried the third prize ; and that, for white- 

 ness, there was none better than that produced on the Po. 

 The care of the Romans in causing the wool to grow fine, 

 exceeded, in the case of certain breeds, any thing that is 

 now attempted. The sheep were kept in houses, and con- 

 tinually clothed, so that the filaments of the wool might be- 

 come delicate : the skin was smeared with fine oil, and mois- 

 tened with wine ; the fleece was combed, so that the wool 

 might not become matted ; and the whole was washed seve- 

 ral times in the year. Under this artificial treatment the 

 breed became tender, subject to diseases, voracious of food, 

 and the females so incapable of nourishing their young, 

 that many of the lambs were obliged to be destroyed. The 

 Apulian and Tarentine breeds probably ceased to exist even 

 before the fall of the Empire, or were swept away by barbar- 

 ous conquerors, with all the arts of the lovely land. There 

 are still in Italy many fine-woolled Sheep, but of small bad 

 form, and ruined by neglect. The same remark applies to 

 the Sheep of Sicily, which were greatly celebrated for the 

 fineness of their wool, and which have not yet lost this an- 

 cient character. 



Of all the countries of Europe, Spain has been the longest 

 distinguished for its Sheep. This fine country, more varied 

 in its surface and natural productions than any other region 

 of the like extent in Europe, produces a great variety of 

 breeds, from the larger animals of the richer plains, to the 

 smaller races of the higher mountains and arid country. 

 Besides the difference produced in the Sheep of Spain by 

 varieties of climate and natural productions, the diversity of 

 character in the animals may be supposed to have been in- 

 creased by the different races introduced into it, 1st, from 

 Asia, by the early Phoenician colonies ; 2d, from Africa, by 



