CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The zoological character of the sheep — domesticated at a vem early 

 period of the world— Abel the first recorded shepherd— the flesh of the 

 sheep not used for food before the flood— vegetables the only means of 

 sustenance permitted by the Divine law — after the flood this command 

 was abrogated— vegetable food only eaten by some of the pagan sects 

 of the East at the present day— the milk of the sheep used as an article 

 of sustenance— converted into cheese and butter — Homer's description 

 of milking the ewes — Mr. Burckhardt's description also — custom of 



the ancients of removing their flocks from one locality to another 



Jabal lived 500 years before the flood, and was the first Nomadic 

 shepherd — ^Arabian and Tartarian shepherds at the present day con- 

 form to that primitive custom — D'Arviex description of the same — 

 Parson's description of the peregrinations of the Arabs — flocks in an- 

 cient Palestine very numerous — number which Job possessed, &c. 



these numerous flocks accounted for — the ewes supposed to have 

 lambed twice in the year — flocks very numerous at the present day in 

 Palestine — Dr. Shaw's statement of this — ^fiist recorded improvement 

 was in the color of the fleece— originally tawny or dingy-bluck— 

 tendency of the sheep in modern times to return to the original hue — 

 instance the South Down, Norfolk, Black-faced sheep of Scotland, 

 and Asiatic and African breeds — Jacob the original improver of the 

 color — ^his scheme for accomplishing it-^in process of time the fleece 

 became wholly white — ^the Scriptures silent as to the form of the an- 

 cient sheep, except that the ram was homed — the fat-rumped breed 

 abounding so numerously at the East induced Mr. Youatt to suppose 

 these to be the primitive breed instead of the Argali — his remarks 

 and those of Mr. Price on the subject — the question will always remain 

 unsettled — the homed ram more particularly mentioned — the polled 

 sheep an accidental variety— reasons for cultivating them— humanity 

 a prominent cliaracteristic of the primitive shepherds — Arab shepherds 

 the same — Buckingham's remarks — quotation from Dyer's Fleece — 

 music of the ancient shepherds a means to control their flocks — ^re- 

 marks.— Goldsmith's description of the Alpine shepherds — evidence 

 from the Bible that the primitive shepherds washed their flocks before 

 they were shorn — Solomon's comparison of the teeth of his mistress to 

 a flock just come up from the washing — in early times the fleece was 

 detached from the pelt by pulling — humanity dictated another' course, 

 and accordingly the shears, in process of time, were invented and 

 extensively used — the shearing time an occasion for feasting and re- 

 joicing^ quotations in corroboration of this — remarks of Burder on the 



Bulyect ^the system of cotting practised by the Israelites — remarks of 



