APPENDIX. 451 



XXIII. 



STATEMENT OF THE INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF THE BREED OF FINE 

 WOOLLED SHEEP IN NEW SOUTH WALES, DELIVERED AT THE E.IGHT HON 

 LORD HOBART'S OFFICE, 26tH JULY, 1803. 



The samples of wool brought from New South Wales having ex- 

 cited the particular attention of the merchants and principal English 

 manufacturers, Captain M'Arthur considers it his duty respectfully 

 to represent to His Majesty's ministers, that he has found, from an 

 experience of many years, the climate of New South Wales is pecu- 

 liarly adapted to the increase of fine-woolled sheep; and that, from 

 the unlimited extent of luxuriant pastures with which that country 

 abounds, millions of those valuable animals may be raised in a few 

 years, with but little other expense than the hire of a few shepherds. 



The specimens of wool that Captain M'Arthur has with him, have 

 been inspected by the best judges of wool in this kingdom ; and they 

 are of opinion that it possesses a softness superior to many of the 

 wools of Spain ; and that it certainly is equal, in every valuable 

 property, to the very best that is to be obtained from thence. 



The sheep producing this fine wool are of the Spanish kind, sent 

 originally from Holland to the Cape of Good Hope, and taken from 

 thence to Port Jackson. 



Captain M'Arthur being persuaded that the propagation of those 

 animals would be of the utmost consequence to this country, procured, 

 in 1797, three rams and five ewes ; and he has since had the satisfac- 

 tion to see them rapidly increase, their fleeces augment in weight, and 

 the wool very visibly improve in quality. When Captain M'Arthur 

 left Port Jackson in 1801, the heaviest fleece that had then been shorn 

 weighed only three pounds and a half; but he has received reports of 

 1802, from which he learns that the fleeces of his sheep were increased 

 to five pounds each ;* and that the wool is finer and softer than the 

 wool of the preceding year. The fleece of one of the sheep originally 

 imported from the Cape of Good Hope, has been valued here at four 

 shillings and sixpence per pound ; and a 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 ex- 



* In the grease. The average weight of the fleeces of fine-woolled sheep in New South 

 Wales, washed, is two and a half pounds. 



