Sheep dislike Water. 61 



here from the hills for the periodical washing. At 

 that time the roads are full of sheep daj' after da}', all 

 tending in the same direction ; and the little wayside 

 inns, and those of the village which closely adjoins 

 the washpool, find a sudden increase of custom from 

 the shepherds. There is no written law regulating 

 the washing, but custom has fixed it as firmh' as an 

 Act of Parliament : each shepherd knows his day, and 

 takes his turn, and no one attempts to interfere with 

 the monopol}- of the men who throw the sheep in. 

 The right of wash here is upheld as sternly as if it 

 were a bulwark of the Constitution. 



Sometimes a land-owner or a farmer, anxious to 

 make improvements, tries to enclose the approach or 

 to utilize the water in fertilizing meadows, or in one 

 way or another to introduce an innovation. He 

 thinks perhaps that education, the spread of modern 

 ideas, and the fact that laborers travel nowada^'s, have 

 weakened the influence of tradition. He finds him- 

 self entirely mistaken : the men assemble and throw 

 down the fence, or fill up the new channel that has 

 been dug ; and, the general sympath}' of the parish 

 being with them and the interest of the sheep-farmers 

 behind them to back them up, they alwa^'s carrj- the 

 day, and old custom rules supreme. 



The sheep greatly dislike water. The diflSculty is 

 to get them in ; after the dip they get out fast 

 enough. Only if driven by a strange dog, and unable 

 to escape on account of a wall or enclosure, will they 

 ever rush into a pond. If a sheep gets into a brook 

 and cannot get out — his narrow feet sink deep into 

 the mud — should he not be speedily relieved he will 

 die, even though his head be above water, from chill 



