58 THE SHEEP. 



part of the whole export trade of the kingdom. The woollen 

 trade is, therefore, of surpassing importance to the nation. 

 It has to contend with the fiscal regulations, and the increas- 

 ing production and rivalry of other countries ; but hitherto 

 the superior capital, machinery, and industry of the country, 

 and the facilities of an extended commerce, have given advan- 

 tages to the British manufacturer which no European coun- 

 try as yet possesses. 



This brief account of the nature and properties of wool, 

 will prepare us for considering the characters of the various 

 breeds of Sheep which have been naturalized in these Islands. 



I. THE BREEDS OF THE ZETLAND AND ORKNEY 

 ISLANDS. 



The Sheep of this race inhabit the group of Islands and 

 Islets which lie to the north of the Pentland Firth, extending 

 to about the sixty-first degree of north latitude. They have 

 been in numerous cases intermixed with Dutch Sheep, brought 

 by the fishing-craft which frequent these northern seas, and 

 likewise with the Sheep of the Main. They thus differ in 

 some degree in the different islands, and even in different 

 flocks of the same island ; but they have manifestly a common 

 origin with the Sheep of Norway and other parts of Northern 

 Europe. 



These wild little Sheep are possessed of a fur consisting 

 partly of hair and partly of fine wool. They are of different 

 colours, black, brown, or white ; and more often they are of 

 a gray colour, from the mixture of black and white, and are 

 often curiously streaked. There are horns in both sexes, but 

 more generally they are wanting in the females, and some- 

 times in the males. Their horns are short, and often so straight 

 and upright, as to resemble those of the Goat. Their tails. are 

 short and broad, and their limbs slender, their aspect is 

 wild, and their motions are active. 



