ON THE SHEEP OF ZETLAND. 



sheep in Zetland. The circumstances which 

 favoured the propagation of the disease over the 

 country, are curious and authentic. While the 

 two infected lambs remained in a shed, the gentle- 

 man proposed sending a sheep of the Zetland 

 breed to a friend in Lerwick. One was according- 

 ly taken from the hill, bound and ready to be put 

 into a boat, when unfavourable weather coming 

 on, the passage was delayed for several days. In 

 the mean time, the native sheep was put into the 

 same place with the foreign lambs, and communi- 

 cated with them. When the weather became 

 favourable for the departure of the boat, the sheep 

 intended to have been sent by it, was found to 

 have suffered so much by confinement, that it was 

 not thought sufficiently good, and was returned to 

 the hill, and another taken in its stead. Soon 

 after this, the scab, the presence of which had 

 never been suspected, broke out on the two lambs. 

 They were immediately killed, but the reprieved 

 sheep had already imparted the fatal present to a 

 whole flock ; and this disgusting disease has been 

 extending its ravages ever since. 



The destructive effects of the scab have been 

 very obvious. Many individuals who had four or 

 five hundred sheep a few years ago, have not now 

 more than half a dozen ; and the affection is no 

 doubt heightened by the want of proper remedies 

 for its removal, and the careless management of 

 those affected by it. As the whole sheep of the 

 country run wild among the hills, a single indivi- 



