478 APPENDIX. 



fleece of the same kind bred in New South Wales is estimated at six 

 shillings a pound. 



Being once in possession of this valuable breed, and having ascer- 

 tained that they improved in that climate, he became anxious to 

 extend them as much as possible ; he therefore crossed all the mixed- 

 breed ewes of which his flocks were composed, with Spanish rams. 

 The lambs produced from this cross were much improved ; but when 

 they were again crossed, the change far exceeded his most sanguine 

 expectations. In four crosses, he is of opinion, no distinction will be 

 perceptible between the pure and the mixed breed. As a proof of 

 the extraordinary and rapid improvement of his flocks, Captain 

 Mac Arthur has exhibited the fleece of a coarse-woolled ewe, that 

 has been valued at ninepence a pound ; and the fleece of her lamb, 

 begotten by a Spanish ram, which is allowed to be worth three 

 shillings a pound. 



Captain MacArthur has now about four thousand sheep, amongst 

 which there are no rams but of the Spanish breed. He calculates 

 that they will, with proper care, double themselves every two years 

 and a half; and that in twenty years they will be so increased as to 

 produce as much fine wool as is now imported from Spain and other 

 countries, at an annual expense of £1,800,000 sterling. To make the 

 principle perfectly plain upon which Captain MacArthur founds this 

 expectation, he begs to state that half his flock has been raised from 

 thirty ewes purchased in 1793, out of a ship from India, and from 

 about eight or ten Spanish and Irish sheep purchased since. The 

 other half of his flock were obtained in 1801, by purchases from an 

 officer who had raised them in the same time, and from about the 

 same number of ewes that Captain MacArthur commenced with. 

 This statement proves that the sheep have hitherto multiplied more 

 rapidly than it is calculated they will do in future ; but this is attri- 

 buted to the first ewes being of a more prolific kind than the Spanish 

 sheep are found to be ; for since Captain MacArthur has directed his 

 attention to that breed, he has observed the ewes do not so often 

 produce double lambs. 



As a further confirmation of the principle of increase that Captain 

 MacArthur has endeavoured to establish, and which he is positive 

 time will prove to be correct, he would refer to the general returns 

 transmitted from New South Wales. In 1796, (since when not one 

 hundred sheep have been imported), one thousand five hundred and 

 thirty-one were returned as the public and private stock of the colony. 



