74 EUROPEAN SHEEP. 



Spain, but were not handsomely formed, being rather flat- 

 sided, roach back, and the neck inclining to sink down froili 

 the withers ; the wool was somewhat shorter that the Pau- 

 lar and more crimped, the skin was more loose and inclined 

 to double, and many of them were wooled on their faces and 

 legs down to their hoofs. All the loose-skinned sheep had 

 large dewlaps. The Aqueirres were short-legged, round, 

 broad-bodied, with loose skins, and were more wooled about 

 their faces and legs than any other flock I ever saw, the 

 wool was more crimped than the Paular, and less than the 

 Negretti, but was thick and soft. This flock formerly be- 

 longed to the Moors of Spain, and at their expulsion, was 

 bought by the family of Aqueirres. The wool in England 

 was known as the Muros flock, and was highly esteemed. 

 All the bucks of these three flocks had large horns. The 

 Escurials were about as tall as the Paulars, but not quite so 

 round and broad, being in general rather more slight in their 

 make ; their wool was crimped, but not quite so thick as 

 the Paular or Negretti, nor were their skins so loose as the 

 Negretti and Aqueirres, nor had they so much wool on the 

 face and legs. The Montarco bore a considerable resem- 

 blance to the Escurials. The Escurial flock had formerly 

 belonged to the crown, but when Philip the II. built the Es- 

 curial palace, he gave them to the friars, whom he placed in 

 a convent that was attached to the palace, as a source of 

 revenue. These four flocks were moderately gummed. 

 The Gaudaloupe flock was rather larger in the bone than 

 the two preceding, about the same height, but not quite so 

 handsomely formed, their wool was thick and crimped, their 

 skins loose and doubling, their faces and legs not materially 

 difiierdnt from the two latter flocks, but in general they were 

 more gummed than either of the other flocks. In point of fine- 

 ness there was very little diflTerence between these six flocks, 

 and as I have been told by well-informed persons, there is' 

 very little difierence in this respect among the Leonesa 

 Transhumantes in general. The Escurials, the Montarcos, 

 and the Gaudaloupes were not in general so heavy horned 

 as tlie other three flocks, and about one in six of the bucks 

 were without horns, or what is commonly called a polled 

 buck. 



" I had selected by the Paular shepherds, who came with 

 that flock, three hundred sheep which I shipped to Newbu- 

 ryport. The half of these were Paulars, a fourth Aqueirres 



