282 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



comet Pond. This enclosure was divided for the 

 accommodation of the two flocks, and this was used 

 as the regular shear pen until sheep-raising was 

 abandoned. 



After the sheep had been gathered for the shearing, 

 they were driven through a lane into a circle of per- 

 haps an acre, on the outside of which was a continua- 

 tion of pens opening into the circle, where each owner 

 put his sheep when caught. Within the circle was a 

 smaller one, where, as the first part of the work, all 

 the lambs were put. An officer of the association had 

 the care of marking all the lambs. The clerk had the 

 power of appointing deputies, whose duty it was to sit 

 in an elevated position and note every sheep as the 

 several owners filled their respective pens; after which 

 a report was made to the clerk, and if the number of 

 sheep overran the owner's account of commons (see 

 page 86) in the stock book, he was obliged to slaugh- 

 ter to his number or obtain of others sufficient com- 

 mons to keep his flock. But alas! men were found 

 to be no more honest then than they are to-day. At 

 the annual shearing the association gradually forgot 

 or omitted to take account of stock or commons; and 

 as a result of this remissness, it was soon found that 

 certain individuals owned hundreds of sheep, and not 

 one inch of land! As a natural result, the entire 

 destruction of sheep husbandry followed, and for years 

 the bleat of lambs was heard no more around the clas- 

 sic shores of Miacomet. 



No care was taken to improve the sheep, and they 

 were consequently rather small, rarely shearing more 

 than two pounds each. A few Merinos were intro- 



