SHEEP, OEIGIN AND HISTOKY. 21 



conquest of ]\Iexico by the Spaniards in the fourteenth century.. 

 Previous to their advent in the jSTew World, the nearest ap- 

 proach to the species was the llama, found in South America, 

 when Pizarro conquered Peru, and so far as is known even this 

 animal was not found north of Central America. After MexicO' 

 was parcelled out among the conquerors and colonization was 

 started, the necessity of stocking the grants caused the exporta- 

 tion of large numbers of live stock from Spain to North America,, 

 and as the western broncho can be traced as a lineal descendant 

 of the fiery barb, ridden by the Spanish cavaliers, so can the 

 Mexican sheep be traced back to the silky-fleeced Merino of 

 Castille. The care of the converts under the supervision of the^ 

 priests, and the pastoral duties of the different missions which 

 included raising of live stock and agricultural pursuits in 

 general, as much as the welfare of the souls of the converted. 

 Indians, was responsible for the rapid increase of the flocks and 

 herds and their extension to other parts of the continent, notably 

 Xew Mexico and California. While Spain is to be credited 

 with being the source from which the Southern and Western 

 sheep in this country originated, we find also that in the year 

 1600 sheep were imported by the early settlers of the Xew 

 England States from England and Holland, and that prior to 

 the War of Independence many importations were made, the 

 housewives in those days being expert with the spinning wheel. 

 Imported cloth fetching a high price, sheep were bred for the 

 wool they produced, the clip being spun and converted into cloth 

 at home for the use of the members of the family. From the 

 commencement of this century up to the present time the im- 

 portations have been many and good, the best breeds of all 

 foreign countries having been freely drawn from, the imports 

 embracing all the recognized breeds from the Spanish ilerino 

 even to the Persian sheep, and increasing in number until at 

 the present time the annual importations amount to many thou- 



