l6o ON THE SHEEP OF ZETLAND. 



A breed of sheep exactly similar to that in Zet- 

 land, appears to exist in Iceland and in the 

 Faro Islands ; and it is probable, that both have 

 sprung from the same source ; and that similar 

 causes and modes of management have continued 

 to preserve the identity between them. 



The Zetland sheep are of different colours, as 

 white, grey, black, speckled, and a dusky brown, 

 called moorit. The face is generally of the same 

 colour with the body, and is somewhat shorter in 

 proportion, than among the sheep of Scotland. 

 The prevailing colour is white, with but little ad- 

 mixture. The next is the grey. Some are al- 

 most entirely black, with only a small portion of 

 white, above one or more of the hoofs. More fre- 

 quently, the forehead, face and legs, and a part 

 of one thigh, are white, and the rest of the body 

 perfectly black. There is nothing of that unifor- 

 mity of colour among them, corresponding to 

 what takes place in the black-faced sheep of this 

 country. 



The quality of the wool varies very much on 

 the same animal ; the thighs and back yield- 

 ing the coarsest, and the neck and breast the 

 finest wool. Stockings have been made of the 

 wool from 5 d. to 30 s. per pair ; and it is by no- 

 means uncommon to obtain the materials from 

 which both are manufactured, from the same 



* Von Troil's Letters on Iceland, p. 13,6* 



