FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 35 
a most intelligent correspondent, that, being an am- 
bassador, he was, probably, allowed to draw his sheep 
from the Escurial flock, and I find that this impression 
is somewhat prevalent. Those who have read his 
writings, and observed the old-school ceremonious 
courtesy, as well as the other tastes developed in 
them, will have no difficulty in arriving at a very posi- 
tive conclusion that, had Colonel Humphreys been 
indebted to any proprietor of a cabana for a selection 
from his flock, or for any other particular favor in the 
premises, the fact would have been carefully stated. 
It is to be presumed he made inquiries in the proper 
place, and was referred to a thoroughly capable, as 
well as “respectable” person, to make the purchases 
for him, and there is no doubt the commission was 
most intelligently and faithfully executed. No flock 
enjoyed a better early reputation in our country, and 
none enjoys a better traditional reputation now. With 
the Spanish ideas in respect to mixing cabanas, such a 
Spanish agent as he employed would not have pro- 
cured different varieties as the foundation of a flock. 
It is singular how few things, in relation to these 
sheep, can now be agreed on by different recollectors ; 
and the contemporaneous descriptions are usually so 
vague and general that they will apply to one variety 
as well as another. 
In a manuscript letter of Colonel Humphreys, be 
fore me, he says, as if he thought it worthy of note, 
that a ram, raised on his farm, yielded 7 lbs. 5 oz. of 
washed wool. In an Essay, obviously written by a 
gentleman, and a man of the first intelligence and 
standing, but whose name is torn from the copy before 
me, there is a more careful description than I have 
