176 THE SHEEP. 



grasses and other herbage plants abundantly, and never 

 having been subjected to the action of the plough. " It ys, f> 

 says Leland, " a marvelous rank ground for fedying catel, 

 b}' the reason that the grasse groweth plentifully upon the 

 wose, sum tyme cast up there by the se." The land is sub- 

 divided by rails, and deep ditches filled with stagnant water. 

 There are scarcely any hedges or trees to afford shelter. 

 The roads are broad miry paths, rudely fenced off from the 

 marsh, and scarcely to be passed after heavy falls of rain. 

 The inhabitants are few in number, scattered over the flat 

 monotonous surface in mean hamlets or villages, and mostly 

 employed in tending the numerous Sheep by which the ground 

 is depastured. The air is humid from stagnant water, and 

 the wealthier possessors of the farms reside, not in the 

 marshes, but on the more elevated grounds surrounding 

 them ; and the animals which are reared or fattened on the 

 marsh, depend on the natural herbage which it produces. 

 The principal produce is Sheep, which are reared in greater 

 numbers than in any similar space in the kingdom. 



The ancient native Sheep of this district had coarse heads, 

 furnished with a tuft of wool ; thick necks, long stout limbs, 

 broad feet, narrow chests, flat sides, and great bellies. They 

 were of the larger class of Sheep, but yet fell short in weight 

 of the heavy-woolled Sheep of the eastern counties. The 

 wool weighed 7 lb. or 8 lb., had the usual qualities of long 

 wool, was moderately soft, but unequal, and coarse on the 

 posterior parts. These Sheep were slow in fattening, the 

 wethers being rarely fit for use until they had completed 

 their third year; but yet they were favourites with the butch- 

 ers, from their yielding a large proportion of internal fat and 

 offal. They bore well the exposed maritime situation in 

 which they were placed, and acquired the habit of avoiding 

 the dangerous ditches by which the country is intersected. 



The modern breed of Romney Marsh, which has extended 

 into other parts of Kent, still exhibits much of the charac- 

 ters of the ancient family, the individuals being, for the 



