SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 45 



hardier, and makes a living more successfully on the heathery 

 moors of the Highlands. Modern breeds also show the in- 

 fluence of man's selection in a subtle quality that of fattening 

 rapidly when placed on suitable pasture a quality absent 

 in primitive Scottish breeds. 



Comparison with the ancestral forms and early breeds 

 shows that in a very important respect a great advance has 

 been made, for the coat of hair, furnished by Nature, has 

 been almost altogether subordinated to the development of 

 the original undercoat of wool. In both breeds the pre- 

 dominant colour is white in place of an ancestral shade of 

 brown, but while in the Black-face the wool is long, loose, 

 shaggy and rather coarse, in the Cheviot it is shorter, closer 

 and finer. In both breeds, it is unnecessary to add, a fleece 

 far exceeds in weight those of the primitive races of domes- 

 ticated sheep. 



IMPROVEMENT OF WOOL IN SCOTLAND 



Perhaps no single character in the domesticated races 

 of animals affords so clear a demonstration of man's con- 

 tinuous influence as the wool of sheep. Even in a limited 

 area like Scotland, the results point convincingly to the 

 power of selection. It must be remembered that in the 

 earliest days of civilization the flesh of domestic sheep was 

 seldom used for food though the milk was drunk. The main 

 value of sheep lay in furnishing fleeces which, prepared as 

 skins, formed the clothing of barbarian tribes. Almost in our 

 own era Caesar described the Briton as clothed in the skins 

 of animals, of which no doubt the sheep was the chief; and 

 Pliny the Younger says of his own time and country, as 

 translated by Philemon Holland: 



Sheepe likewise are in great request, both in regard they serve as sacri- 

 fices to appease the Gods, and also by "reason of their fleece yielding so 

 profitable a use : for even as men are beholden to the boeuf for their prin- 

 cipal food and nourishment which they labour for, so they must acknowledge 

 that they have their clothing and coverture for their bodies from the poore 

 sheepe. 



Even from the outset of the domestication of the sheep, 

 therefore, there was strong inducement for the herdsman to 

 improve the quality of the fleece. In the wild species from 

 which the domesticated breeds of sheep have sprung, the 



