OV1S ARIES. 



19 



properties of its pile, and forms a striking contrast with the rich 

 white colour below. 



The varieties of sheep spread over the island of Great Britain 

 are so numerous that it is almost impossible to enumerate and 

 describe them. They may be divided into the breeds which have 

 horns and those that are without that appendage. Of the hornless 

 kind we have the old and new Leicester, Dartmore, Hereford or 

 Ryeland, the South-down, the Cheviot, and the Shetland sheep ; 

 and of the horned kind we have the Exmoor, Dorsetshire, and 

 Heath or Mountain sheep. 



The primitive source of the domestic sheep is supposed by some 

 naturalists to be the Musmon of Pliny and Gesner, Ovis ammon of 

 Linne, Moufion of Button, Wild Sheep of Pennant, and Argali of 

 Shaw, while others regard it as a distinct species. It chiefly inha- 

 bits the mountainous districts of Asia and Greece, and it also 

 occurs, though somewhat modified, in the islands of Candia, 

 Corsica, and Sardinia. Its general size is that of a small fallow- 

 deer ; its colour greyish ferruginous brown, with some white on 

 the face and legs, and beneath the throat arc two pendant hairy 

 dewlaps. The tail is remarkably short ; but the horns, in the full 

 grown animal, are extremely large, placed on the top of the head, 

 standing close at their base, rising first upwards then bending down, 

 and twisting outwards as in the common ram ; and the body is 

 covered with hair instead of wool. 



There is hardly any part of this animal that is not serviceable 

 to man. Of the fleece we make our cloths ; the skins, when pro- 

 perly prepared, are in great request by saddlers, bookbinders, 

 glovers, and other artisans ; the intestines are formed into strings 

 for musical instruments; the flesh affords a wholesome and nutri- 

 tious food, and the fat or suet is employed medicinally. Suet is 

 freed from the cellular membrane in which it occurs by melting it 

 by a gentle heat, and then pressing it through a linen cloth. 

 When cold it becomes concrete, has all the properties of animal 

 fat, and differs from lard chiefly in its consistency. Both these 

 varieties of fat consist almost entirely of two distinct oily sub- 

 stances which have been termed stearine and elaine, and when 

 converted into soap, undergo the same changes as fixed oils yield- 



