SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 99 



the hollows of dark, glittering maize ; the park-like 

 clumps of timber along the course of streams, — these 

 are the materials which make up every landscape, and 

 of which, in their sweet, harmonious, pastoral beauty, 

 the eye never grows weary." 



It is on the little streams which put into the great 

 valleys the fine sheep-ranches are found. For miles 

 and miles the hills stretch away, covered with a short, 

 soft grass, and on this the sheep keep fat the whole 

 year round. The soil is arid and sandy, and the air 

 warm and dry. All day long the sheep graze on the 

 sweet grass, and at night come down into the valley to 

 drink and sleep. Near Fort Hartsuff, on the head of 

 the North Loup, there is a little valley surrounded by 

 multitudes of low, round hills that look like mounds, 

 and down the valley, over a pebbly bottom, flows a 

 brook of clear, cold water. Near at hand are deep 

 ravines, timber, and cuts in the earth where the hills 

 almost meet overhead. This is a natural sheep-range. 

 The round mounds, of which there are thousands in all 

 directions, are covered with buifalo and gramma grass. 

 The pebbles in the brook clean the sheep's feet, and in 

 winter, when the storms beat, the ravines, timber, and 

 caves give them natural shelter. The snow no sooner 

 falls than the winds blow it off the mounds, and no 

 matter how deep it may be in the valley, by going up 

 two hundred feet the animals can get all the grass they 

 want. There is no need of shelter, for nature has pro- 

 vided corrals for tens of thousands of animals, and it is 

 unnecessary to cut hay, for the grass cured on the ground 

 and always at hand is better than any hay in stacks. 



