98 EUROPEAN SHEEP. 



used to find its way to the French manufactories. The 

 Crimea was scarcely in the possession of Russia ere many 

 attempts were made' to improve the sheep, naturally so valu- 

 able. The Merinos were in process of time introduced 

 here, as into every part of Europe. A few have been cul- 

 tivated as a pure flock ; more have been employed in im- 

 proving the native breeds, and the consequence is that the 

 wool exported from Odessa is increasing in -quantity and 

 value every year. In 1828, 184,000 lbs. of wool were 

 shipped from this port; in 1831 that quantity had increased 

 to more than 1,260,000 lbs.* 



" The staple from a sample of Odessa wool is from four 

 to six inches in length. The diameter of a fibre is the 

 l-750th part of an inch, and 2080 serrations to an inch^ The 

 wool is very soft, and possesses good felting properties ; but 

 it is inferior to Merino, and most decidedly so to Saxony " 



NEW SOUTH WALES, OR AUSTKALIAN SHEEP. 



The island of New Holland, now better known as Austra- 

 lasia, or Australia, is situated in the Indian Ocean, between 

 (including the southernmost point of Van Dieman's Land) 

 the 11th and 41st degrees of south latitude. The climate 

 is temperate of that portion of the country devoted to sheep 

 husbandry, compared with the same latitude of the United 

 States, which may, in part, be ascribed to the proximity of 

 the settlement to the salubrious influence of the ocean. The 

 country is subject to severe droughts, though not of frequent 

 occurrenc'e. " ^'The' great drought which commenced in 

 1826, did not terminate until 1829. Very little rain fell 

 during the whole of this period, and for more than six months 

 there was not a single shower."t Th&soil in general, though 

 exceedingly variable, being in many parts almost ^hoUy 

 barren, is highly productiue of herbage well adapted to the 

 sheep. 



There were no sheep indigenous to the country, therefore 

 the early colonists were compelled to provide themselves 

 with mutton and wool from the native Bengal sheep, which, 

 it is hardly necessary to say, were of the most inferior charac- 

 ter. According to Mr. Atkinson, these sheep resembled 

 goats more than anything else ; but' the change of climate, 

 as well as of herbage, contributed in a short time to work a 



• McCulloch's Dictionaiy + McCuUoch's Com. Cictionarjr 



