92 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



the home of the black-faced breed, it is of a very 

 different physical character, consisting of trappean, 

 in place of Palseozoic sedimentary, rocks, which 

 carry, instead of heather, a crop of nutritious short 

 grass and thyme. In the Cheviots the highest 

 peak is 2658 feet above sea-level, so that much 

 of the ground frequented by these hardy sheep is 

 covered with snow long after it has disappeared 

 from the adjoining lowlands. The climate is moist, 

 and in winter inclement. 



So far as can be ascertained, this breed has 

 inhabited the Cheviot district from time immemorial, 

 so that nothing is known with regard to its origin 

 and descent. Improvements in the breed date 

 from the year 1777 onwards, but although these 

 have considerably modified its character, they have 

 interfered but little, if at all, with its purity ; the 

 crosses which have from time to time been made 

 with the black-faced, Leicester, and merino breeds 

 having been more or less completely eliminated. 

 Nowadays Cheviots are by no means restricted to 

 their original home, as they have been introduced 

 into many other parts of Scotland, including the 

 Grampians and Caithness, where they have dis- 

 placed the black-faced breed ; and they have also 

 been tried on the higher grounds of the west of 

 England, North Wales, and Ireland. Nor does 

 this limit the expansion of the breed, which was 

 first introduced into the United States in 1838, and 



