330 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



place of war and pillage, devotes his time to the care of 

 sheep, and receives wages from a neighbouring farmer. 

 He scarcely knows anything of the warlike history of 

 his clan ; but, instead, can tell you if it has been a good 

 lambing season, and how wool is selling. This is all that 

 remains of an extinct race. One of these shepherds can 

 look after five hundred sheep. There may be four hun- 

 dred or five hundred such upon these eight hundred 

 thousand acres. 



The history of Sutherlandshire is more or less that of 

 the whole Highlands. Wherever it has been practicable 

 to displace the old population, they have been succeeded 

 by sheep. Where the soil is a little better, and the de- 

 population therefore less complete, a few oats and turnips 

 are cultivated round the farm-houses ; and, in addition 

 to the sheep, we find a few horned cattle. These cattle, 

 well known under the name of West Highlanders, are 

 just the old race of the country, which, through care and 

 attention, have acquired a fulness of flesh and an un- 

 common aptitude for fattening. The cattle-stealers of 

 Waverley would now scarcely recognise these animals as 

 the progeny of the small beasts they used to drive be- 

 fore them on returning from their marauding excursions 

 hundreds of which they used to hide in their caves. 

 One will now weigh as much as five or six of former days. 



It was Archibald, Duke of Argyll, who, about the 

 middle of the last century, began to improve this breed, 

 which has now reached its climax. As shaggy as a bear, 

 and of a black or brown colour, they have still, at first 

 sight, a wild look, quite in keeping with the locality 

 from whence they come. But their leisurely gait and 

 quiet eye soon show that they also have lost their former 

 wildness, and that they have little in common with their 

 fierce brethren of Andalusia, trained for the fight. No 



