62 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



were suffered to become very scarce, but of late 

 years the breed has been re-established. 



The following passage relating to the Manx 

 loaghtan sheep is from a work by Messrs. Baldwin 

 and Cradock, published in 1837 : — 



" The sheep are small on the hills, seldom 

 exceeding eight to ten pounds the quarter, and pro- 

 ducing fleeces of short or middle wool weighing two 

 and a half pounds. They have much resemblance to 

 the Welsh sheep, and have most of their peculiarities 

 and bad points. They are narrow-chested and 

 narrow-backed, long in the leg, and deficient in 

 shoulder. They are found both horned and polled, 

 mostly of a white colour ; but some of them are 

 grey, and others of a peculiar snuff or brown colour, 

 termed in the island ' laughton ' colour. This 

 colour, either covering the whole of the sheep or 

 appearing in the form of a patch on the neck, is 

 considered as the peculiar badge of the Isle of Man 

 sheep. In the valleys a larger sheep with longer 

 wool, a proper long-woolled sheep, is found. The 

 flesh of both breeds is said to be good, and the 

 wool of the hill-sheep valued in the manufacture of 

 stockings and some of the worsted goods." 



The original Hebridean sheep are generally 

 believed to have been introduced from Norway, 

 although there is no definite information with regard 

 to this point, or with respect to the aboriginal sheep 

 which may still linger on some of the islands in the 



