RAMBOUILLET MERINOS. 
189 
them notice! and recommended in the papers, but 
that appeared to be the extent of their information. 
“ In 1786 Louis the Sixteenth made a special 
application to the King of Spain, to allow him to 
obtain a flock of Merinos. This was granted, and 
the sheep were driven into France and put on the 
royal estate of Rambouillet, from which they took 
their name. In the Revolution those sheep were 
taken under the patronage of the Convention and 
subsequent governments. In 1801, Chancellor 
Livingston, then minister in France, obtained four 
from that flock, and sent them to his estate in New 
York, and the Marquis Lafayette, on his return to 
France from the dungeons of Olmutz, obtained 
some and put on his estate of Lagrange. Those 
sheep were undoubtedly well chosen, and much 
care has been taken of the flock since: but does it 
follow that t'he sheep of Mr. Collins were of that 
flock ? In every instance in which high bred 
Merinos or Saxonies have been imported into this 
country, they have been accompanied with a certi¬ 
ficate from some municipal officer or notary public, 
proving the breed of the sheep, which certificate 
was verified by an American Consul, under his 
official seal and signature. Now, although I have 
several times seen Mr. Collins’ sheep denominated 
Rambouillet, I have nowhere seen any such proof 
of their paternity. If they are really Rambouillet, 
the fact is easily susceptible of unquestionable 
proof. I must, therefore, take the liberty of asking 
N. L. N., who appears to have obtained the inser¬ 
tion of the article in your paper, the following 
questions, which, if satisfactorily answered, will 
place the matter beyond all doubt: 1st, In what 
year were those sheep purchased in France? 2d, 
At what port in F ranee were those sheep shipped ? 
3d, On board of what vessel were they shipped, 
naming the vessel and the captain? 4th, Were 
they accompanied with any certificate of any public 
functionary in France, and was that certificate veri¬ 
fied by the American Consul ? 5th, Into what port 
of the United States were they imported, and in 
what month and year ? 
“ It must be obvious to every sensible and re¬ 
flecting man, that any individual who would take 
the trouble and go to the expense of obtaining 
Rambouillet sheep from France, would be especi¬ 
ally careful to obtain the necessary certificates, 
proving the purity of their blood. If these ques¬ 
tions are not satisfactorily answered, the public 
have a right to conclude, that Rambouillet is a 
e nomme de guerre ,’ a borrowed name, in order to 
assist the sale of the flock, and may be placed side 
by side with the Paular, the Guadaloupes, and the 
Infantadas, under which name several flocks have 
found a much more current sale than they possibly 
could have done from their own intrinsic merit. 
Apropos of the Infantado flock : the Duke del In- 
fantado joined the patriot side in the Peninsula con¬ 
test, and his flock was not confiscated or sold, nor 
did any part of it ever come to this country. W J.” 
At New York, April 7th, 1846, I, D. C. Collins, 
of Hartford, Conn., hereby certify, that in the 
autumn of the year 1839 (I think in the month of 
October), I personally visited the ancient Park of 
Rambouillet, in France, and there examined the 
celebrated Merino flock of rams and ewes, known 
as the “ Royal Rambouillet breeding flock,” the 
blood of which was originally in the latter part of 
the previous century imported from the choicest 
Trashumantes, or Travelling flocks of Old Spain, 
of the sort known in Spain as Leonese. I took per¬ 
sonally from several of the said ewes and rams, 
samples of their wool, and took down a memoran¬ 
dum of the numbers or figures branded on the horns 
of the said rams, and by which they were desig¬ 
nated, among which rams, so examined, sampled, 
and noted by me, was the superb ram numbered 
and branded 349, being the identical ram subse¬ 
quently owned by me, and extensively known in 
the United States by the name of Grandee, the sire 
of the ram branded with a figure 3, sold by me 
with the flock to Rev. Luther G. Bingham, of 
Williston, Chittenden County, Vermont. In 
the spring of the succeeding year, in the month of 
May, 1840, 1 purchased at the public sale at Ram¬ 
bouillet, the said ram Grandee, No, 349 (I now 
still have his head and horns preserved); also, at 
same time and place, another very fine and beauti¬ 
ful, but younger ram, and twenty of the most 
beautiful, and valuable, and desirable ewes which 
could be selected from said Royal Rambouillet 
flock. The business part of the transaction was done 
mainly with M. Bourgeois, the superintendant of 
the said Royal flock, and as I understand son of the 
former M. Bourgeois, now deceased, so long known 
as having personal charge of said flock, and who 
is, I understand, still in charge there. 
My agent, and temporary shepherd, in bidding or 
agreeing for price, and disbursing my funds in pay¬ 
ment of said sheep, at Rambouillet, provisioning 
and watching over said flock on the voyage of im¬ 
portation from Europe to the United States, was 
Monsieur C. P. Bordenave, since and lately a 
resident of the city of New York, where he has 
been favorably known as a teacher and translator 
of the French language, and (as I was informed) 
associated with Henry C. Deming, Esq., at New 
York, in the translation of several popular French 
publications. 
The flock was embarked from the port of Havre, 
in France, in the autumn of the year 1840, on 
board the ship Illinois, Capt. Eveleig. Messrs. 
Boyd & Hincken, of this city, were part owners 
and agents for said ship, and with whom I made 
bargain and arrangements for passage of said sheep, 
before the ship sailed from this country for Europe. 
The flock was landed at New York in the 
autumn of that year (1840), I think in the month 
of October, without the loss of a single sheep. 
Young Mr. Olmsted (then a lad of twelve or 
fifteen years), second son of John Olmsted, 
Esq., of Hartford, Conn., was a passenger in 
the said ship Illinois, in care of M. Bordenave, 
with the said flock from France, to the United 
States, and can, if needed by Mr. Bingham, verify 
the fact of the said importation, as herein stated, 
Whether M. Bordenave is still in this country, 
or whether he has lately returned to France, 
I am not aware. If he is still in the United 
States he can verify and make oath to all the 
foregoing. 
The said flock, with the exception of some of the 
young lambs, was never parted with, or sold by 
