SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN SPAIN, 
47 
way, unobserved by the shepherds, it is the duty of 
a dog to protect it, until some one returns to afford 
relief.* 
For a detailed account of the management of sheep 
in Spain, I am principally indebted to a communica¬ 
tion addressed, about eighty years ago, to Mr. Peter 
Colinson, F. R. S., which was obtained directly from 
the mouth of a **■ good old friar,” who, it is stated, 
had a consummate knowledge of all the mechanical, 
minute circumstances, and economy of a flock. It 
does not differ essentially from that given by the 
shepherds who accompanied the Merinos of George 
III., from Spain, in 1791 and 1809, and corresponds ; 
nearly with the result of my inquiries and observa¬ 
tions when travelling in that country in 1833. He 
said that he was the son of a shepherd, and had fol¬ 
lowed fifteen long years the tribe of sheep his father 
led ; that at the age of twenty-five he begged an old 
primer, could read at thirty, and at thirty-six, had 
learned Latin enough to read mass and the breviary ; 
that he was ordained by the Bishop of Albarazzin 
and entered into the order of San Francisco, but had 
never meddled in their affairs for twenty-four years, 
only to say mass, confess, instruct, and to overlook 
about five hundred wethers which grazed on the 
neighboring plains for the use of the convent. He 
said that he had read the Bible, the Lives of the 
Saints, and the Lives of the Popes, with no other 
view in the world than to find out all that was said 
about shepherds. He said that good Abel was the 
first shepherd; that all the patriarchs were shep¬ 
herds ; that the meek shepherd Moses was chosen 
to deliver the people of God out-of bondage ; that 
Saul, in seeking his father’s flocks, found a king¬ 
dom ; that David went out from his flocks to slay , 
the Philistine giant; that 14,000 sheep was the chief 
reward Job received for his invincible patience ; that 
Isidro, the protecting saint of Madrid, was not, as 
commonly believed, a husbandman, like wicked 
Cain, but that he really was a keeper of sheep ; that 
the great Pope Sextus Quintus was verily and truly 
a shepherd, and not a swine-herd ; that for his own 
part he had forsaken his sheep to become a shepherd 
of men. 
The first thing the shepherd does when his flock 
returns from the south to their summer downs or 
pastures, is to give them as much salt as they will 
eat. Every owner allows to each tribe of a thousand 
sheep, twenty-five quintals of salt (2,500 lbs.), which 
they consume in about five months. They eat none 
on their journeys, nor are they allowed any in win¬ 
ter, for it is a prevailing opinion that it produces 
abortion when given to ewes forward with young. 
This has ever been the custom, and is thought to be 
the true reason why the kings of Spain could never 
raise the price of salt to the height it has maintained 
in most parts of France; for it would tempt the; 
shepherds to stint the sheep, which, it is believed 
would weaken their constitutions and deteriorate 
their wool. The shepherd places fifty or sixty flat 
stones, at the distance of about five paces apart, 
strews salt upon each, leads the sheep slowly among 
* An interesting article on the Mexican shepherd- 
dog, which is descended from the Spanish, will be 
found in volume III, of the American Agriculturist, p. 
241, to which the reader is referred, should he wish to 
know more of the duties and habits of these wonderful 
animals. 
them, and every one is allowed to eat of it at pleas¬ 
ure. But when they are feeding on lime-stone land, 
whether it be on the grass of the downs, or on the 
little plants of the corn-fields after harvest-home,, 
they eat no salt; and if they meet a spot of a mixed 
formation, they are said to partake of it in proportion 
as the soil is mingled with clay. The shepherd be' 
ing aware that his sheep will suffer, if deprived of 
salt, leads them to a clayey soil, and in a quarter oi 
an hour’s feeding, they march to the stones and de¬ 
vour whatever they need. 
One of the shepherd’s chief cares is not to suffei 
his sheep to imbibe in the morning the frozen dew or 
melted frost, and never to approach a pond or stream 
after a shower of hail. For, if they should eat the 
dewy grass, or drink the melted hail, the whole tribe, 
it is believed, would became depressed in spirits, lose 
their appetites, pine away, and die, as often has hap¬ 
pened. Hail water is also so pernicious to man, in 
that climate, that the people have learned by expe¬ 
rience not to drink from a rivulet or stream until 
some time after a violent storm of hail. 
On the last of July, six or seven rams are permit¬ 
ted to run with every hundred ewes, and when the 
shepherd judges they are properly served, he collects 
the former into a separate tribe, to feed by themselves. 
There is also another tribe of rams, that feed apart, 
and never serve the ewes at all, but are merely kept 
for the butchery or for their wool. Although the 
wool and flesh of wethers are finer and more delicate 
than those of rams, the fleeces of the latter weigh 
more, and the animals are longer-lived. The lon¬ 
gevity of the sheep also depends upon the perfection 
of their teeth; for when they fail they cannot bite 
the grass, and are condemned to the knife. The 
teeth of the ewes, from their tender constitution and 
the fatigues of breeding, usually begin to fail at the 
age of five years—the wethers at six ; and the robust 
rams not until they are nearly eight years of age. 
Towards the close of September, the shepherd per¬ 
forms the operation of smearing the sheep with a 
heavy, irony earth, common in Spain. It is first 
mixed with water, and then daubed on their backs, 
from the neck to the rump. Some say it mingles 
with the oil of the wool, and thus becomes a varnish 
impenetrable to the cold and rain ; others, that it? 
weight keeps the wool down, and prevents it from 
growing long and coarse; and a third class, that it 
acts as an absorbent, and receives a part of the per¬ 
spiration, which would otherwise foul the wool and 
render it rough. Be this as it may, it is a custom 
of long standing, and probably is useful both to the 
fleece and to the animal which carries it, and answers 
the purpose of destroying vermin. 
At the latter end of September the sheep commence 
their journeys towards the lower plains, their itinera¬ 
ries being marked out by immemorial custom, and are 
as well regulated as the march of troops. Each tribe 
is usually led by six tame wethers, called “ Mansos,” 
which are obedient to the voices of the shepherds, 
who frequently give them small pieces of bread, to 
encourage them along. The sheep feed freely in all 
the wilds and commons through which they pass, and 
often the poor creatures travel fifteen or twenty miles 
a day, through the crowded lanes, to get into the open 
wilds, where the shepherd walks slow, to Jet them 
feed at ease and rest; but they never stop, have no 
day of repose, and march two or three leagues a day. 
