46 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



hairs, of which the Efquimaux Indians make caps 5 

 which are fo contrived, that the long hair, falling round 

 their faces, defends them from the bites of the mufqui- 

 toes. Its horns are clofe at the bafe, and bend down- 

 wards, turning out at the points ; they are two feet long, 

 and two feet round at the bafe ; fome of them will weigh 

 fixty pounds. 



Thefe animals delight chiefly in rocky and mountain- 

 ous countries. They run nimbly, and are very active in 

 climbing deep afcents. 



The SHEEP. 



THE Sheep, in its prefent domeftic ftate, feems fo 

 far removed from a ftate of nature, that it may be 

 deemed a difficult matter to point out its origin. Cli- 

 mate, food, and above all, the unwearied arts of cultiva- 

 tion, contribute to render this animal, in a peculiar man- 

 ner, the creature of man ; to whom it is obliged to truffc 

 entirely for its protection, and to whofe neceffities it 

 largely contributes. Though fingularly inoffenfive, and 

 harmlefs even to a proverb, it does not appear to be that 

 ftupid, inanimate creature, defcribed by Buffon, " devoid 

 of every neceflary art of felf-prefervation, without cou- 

 rage, and even deprived of every inftinc~tive faculty, we 

 are led to conclude, that the Sheep, of all other animals, 

 is the raoft contemptible and ftupid:" But amidft thofe 

 numerous flocks that range without controul on exten- 

 sive mountains, where they feldom depend upon the aid 

 of the fhepherd, it will be found to aflume a very difFe- 



