522 
VEETEBEATA. 
THE SHEPUERD. 
is destroyed by eraascnlation. The wether sheep are still more timorous than ewes ; it is through 
fear that they gather so often in troops; the smallest noise to which they are miaccustomed is 
sufficient to make them liy and get close together. This fear is attended with the greatest stu- 
pidity ; for they know not how to fly the danger, nor do they even seem to feel the inconvenience 
of their situation ; they continue wherever they are, either in rain or snow, and to oblige them to 
change their situation tliey must have a chief who is instructed to walk first, and whom they will 
follow step by step. This chief will remain with the rest of the flock, Avithout motion, in the same 
place, if he be not driven from it by the shepherd, or the dog which guards them, who, in fact, 
watches for their safety, defends, directs, and separates them, assembles them together, and com- 
municates to them motives not their own. Goats, which in many things resemble sheep, have 
much more uuderstandino-. 
"But this animal, so cowaixUy in itself, so wanting in sentiment and interior qualities, is to man 
the most valuable of all animals, and the most useful both for his present and future support. Of 
itself it supplies our greatest necessities : it furnishes us with both food and clothing. Without 
recounting the particular advantages we have from the milk, the skin, and even the bowels, the 
bones and the dung of this animal serve to prove that nature has given it nothing but what turns 
out useful to man." 
This portrait of the sheep is draw^n with the usual force and something of the exaggeration 
common to its author. It is only in its thoroughly domesticated state that this animal is cow- 
ardly. In mountainous countries, where it ranges over a wide extent, and with little control, it 
is deficient neither in courage nor intelligence. A ram or a wether will attack, and often defeat, 
