O V 
judge of fuperintendant of the fheep-walk. At the pe¬ 
riod when the trajhumantcs , or travelling flocks in Spain, 
were eftablifhed, they became the objects of police, and 
were placed under the exclufive jurifdidtion of mayors, 
with public walks and large diftri&s allotted for their 
fuftenance, and were termed merinos ovejas, or “ the fheep 
tinder the care of the merino or mayor.” The names pe¬ 
culiar to the eftabliffiment of thefe flocks, fuch as mejla, 
Havana , &c. are derived, not from the Morifco, but from 
the provincial Latin that prevailed in Spain before and 
after it was fubdued by the Goths. The management of 
the flocks is peculiarly Roman ; the merino, or mayor, 
correl'ponds exactly with the magijler pecoris of Varro and 
Columella, and was fuperiorto theopiliones and paftores. 
The praftice of deftroying half the flieep at their birth, and 
of fucklingeach of the furvivors on two ewes; of fweat- 
ing the flieep before they were fliorn, to increafe the foft¬ 
nefs of the fleece; and of conducting them from their 
winter to their fummer ftations by long journeys through 
public flieep-walks ; has been derived from Roman infti- 
tutions, with this difference, that in Italy their migra¬ 
tions were confined to the coarfe-woolled flieep, while the 
molles oves, or filie-woolled flocks of antiquity, were al¬ 
ways lioufed. 
The experiment of Columella’s uncle, afcertains the 
early introduction of fine-woolled flieep into Spain. Hav¬ 
ing procured fome wild African rams at Cadiz, of a coarfe 
fleece, but of an admirable colour, he gave them to fome 
fine-woolled ewes, and the male progeny being again 
given to Tarentine ewes, the offspring, with their de- 
fcendants, united the paternal colour with the peculiar 
foftnefs of the maternal fleece. Columella’s uncle re- 
fided in Bcetica, which comprehended the modern Eftra- 
madura; and, as Columella flourifhed under the emperor 
Claudius, the Tarentine breed mull have been introduced 
into that province at the commencement of the Chriftian 
era. Whatever was the peculiar colour which the elder 
Columella introduced by means of African rams into his 
Tarentine flock, we may conclude that the fame fuccefs- 
ful expedient was employed by other agriculturalifts of 
Bcetica, to convert thefe coarfe into fine woolled breeds, 
and to communicate the pureft white to the black or parti¬ 
coloured native flocks, which, according to Pliny, were 
common in Spain. The original intermixture of diftindt 
breeds of native Spanifti flieep with the Tarentine in dif¬ 
ferent parts of Spain, may be inferred from other cir- 
cumftances : each cavana, or flock, forms a diftinft breed ; 
and the Nigrette no more refembles the Paulac, than the 
Merino South-Down refembles the Merino Cheviot. The 
genuine unmixed defcendants of the Tarentine breed 
would have preferved one uniform character; but the na¬ 
tive flocks eroded with Tarentine rams would retain their 
diftindtive varieties, and tranfmit them to each cavana. 
That the merino is a mixed race, feems to be further 
indicated by the more tender conftitutions of the fine- 
woolled flocks of antiquity. Of thefe, the Tarentine 
were moft celebrated in Italy, and the Milefian in Ana 
Minor. They were termed pcllitce and teSlce oves, from 
the coverings of Ikin with which they were clothed to 
defend the fleece. They were denominated alfo molles 
oves, not only from the foftnefs of the fleece, but from 
the delicacy of the conftitution. They were always fed 
in the houfe; and, though fatisfied with brambles, or the 
coarfeft food, they are deferibed as a moft voracious breed ; 
a diminution of their allowance from the fraud of fer- 
vants, or the parfimony of the owner, was attended with 
certain deftrudtion to the flock. (Plin. lib. viii. cap. 47.) 
As there was no fale for the lambs, nor any profit from 
the milk of a Tarentine flock, half the lambs were de- 
ftroyed at the birth. The ram-lambs were chiefly reared, 
and were killed at two years, when their pelts fold to the 
merchant at an advanced price, on account of the beauty 
of the pile. This breed demanded conftant care, when 
iii the fields, to preferve their coverings from being torn. 
I S. 95 
and the fleeces injured. At home they required even 
greater care than abroad, as they were not daily conduced 
to their paftures. They were frequently uncovered and 
cooled for refreftnnent. The ftaples of the fleece were 
opened and difparted, and were frequently moiftened 
with wine and oil. The whole flock was wafhed three 
times a-year, when the weather was warm. The ftables 
were frequently fwept, cleaned, and fumigated. For thefe 
different offices two ffiepherds were conftantly required 
for every hundred flieep. 
The exceffive care bellowed on thefe flocks by the na¬ 
tions of antiquity, (hows in what eftimation their fleeces 
were held; and, though fuch attention is remote from mo¬ 
dern practice, we are fully convinced that, by feledting 
the very fined and fofteft merino flocks, and covering the 
wool, and frequently anointing and waffiing, it would 
give to the pile that degree of foftnefs which is fo much 
wanted in the manufacture of fliawls, and other coftly ar¬ 
ticles of luxury, but which we feek for in vain in the fined 
fleeces of modern Europe. However expenfive fuch at¬ 
tention might prove, we have no doubt that, on a limited 
fcale, it would well repay the labour of the judicious ex- 
perimentalift, as the wool would be worth more than 30s. 
per pound, could it be made to equal that of India in 
foftnefs. It would appear, that the Tarentine breed were 
felefted with much care for breeding, and every expedient 
adopted which was proved by experience to attenuate 
and foften the pile. The tranfition of thefe delicate ani¬ 
mals into the merinos of Spain, which are a hardy race, 
can only be explained by fuppofing that other agricui- 
turalifts had imitated Columella, and obtained a fine- 
woolled race by crofting their native breeds with the 
more delicate animals from Italy. The beginning of this 
improvement is indeed deferibed by Strabo, in the reign 
of Tiberius: he informs us that the inhabitants of Tru- 
ditania had formerly imported many garments, but that 
their wool in his time furpafled that of the Coraxi, and 
excelled it in beauty fo much, that a talent, equal to two 
hundred guineas, was the Hated price of a ram to breed 
from ; and that they excelled alfo in the fabrics which the 
Saltiatas manufactured. Truditania, according to Strabo, 
comprehended the province of Bcetica, from the Gua- 
diana to the confines of Lufitania, and fouthward to 
Gibraltar, and eaftward to Toledo. The wool of the 
Coraxi, with which Strabo compares that of this part of 
Spain, we are informed, in his account of Pontus, was 
from the foft-woolled Milefian flieep. Such high prices 
as a talent mult have been produced by a very general de¬ 
mand for rams; not for the ufe of the Tarentine-flocks, 
which could occafion no fuch competition, but for the 
purpofe of eroding the indigenous breeds of the province, 
which, from the earlieft period, appears to have abounded 
in flieep. 
The travelling-flocks were not at that time introduced, 
as the mountainous regions had been till then infefted by 
native as well as Lufitanian robbers, whom the Romans 
diflodged from their villages, and difperfed into cantons. 
(Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. cap. 32.) The Mooriih looms 
of Andalufia and Catalonia, and thofe of the Chriftians 
at Segovia, in the 13th century, mult have been fupplied 
by the fine-woolled flocks introduced by the Romans. 
The vacant mountains, when cleared of banditti, offered 
a vaft range of pafture from Eftremadura northward, to¬ 
wards Galicia and the Afturias. A fimilar opportunity 
occurred to eftablifli or renew the inllitution of travelling 
flocks, when the Chriftians defeended, in the middle of 
the 13th century, to occupy the conquered provinces of 
Andalufia and Murcia. After that time, the travelling- 
flocks became fo well eftablifhed, that the mentargo, or 
tolls, on their pafiage through the mountains from pro¬ 
vince to province, the fervicio, or tax to the crown, and 
the laws of the mefta, were impofed or ratified by govern¬ 
ment in the middle of the 15th century, before the Moor- 
ifh kingdom of Grenada had been finally reduced. 
We 
