104 SHEEP. — COWS. — INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. [CHAP. v. 



are collected and sold for fuel, after the seed has been shaken 

 out to yield its share of profit. 



SHEEP. 



The sheep of the island are of the Spanish hooked-nose 

 breed, very small, and of no excellence either for meat or 

 wool. An English gentleman tried to introduce the South- 

 down breed, but he found they were not hardy enough for 

 the cloud-capped serras. When he told his Portuguese hind 

 that he had given ten and eleven dollars apiece for them in 

 England, the man shrugged his shoulders and said, " You 

 might have spent your money better, senhor." The same 

 gentleman afterwards tried crossing the breed with the native 

 animals : the cross succeeds well, giving a better flavour and 

 more flesh to the scraggy mountaineers. 



cows. 



The Madeira cows, though they produce good working hois, 

 are bad milkers both as regards quantity and quality. One 

 would think that the constant importation of Alderneys in 

 the traders must in time improve the breed ; though perhaps 

 the roughness of the pasturage has a good deal to do with 

 the poverty of the milk. The landlords sometimes furnish 

 their tenants with cattle, and share the profits of the sale. 



INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 



The instruments employed in agriculture are a plough, 

 very similar to the old Koman one described by Virgil, and 

 the enchada, or pick, with which they grub up the ground. 

 The introduction of an English plough was attempted on 

 some ground two thousand four hundred feet above the level 

 of the sea ; an English labourer was also imported to teach 



