888 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On the Preparation of the GENUINE 
) BARANGERS, 07 CURLED LAMB-SKINS, 
in the CRIMM. 
ARAN is the word used in Russia 
to signify sheep, and any‘kind of 
sheep-skins are thence called Barangers ; 
but of those which are properly thus 
styled, in other countries, we meet with 
two sorts, the genuine and the counter- 
feit. The former, which are held even in 
Russia in great estimation, and form a 
valuable article of trade, fetch a very 
high price; the latter, though they are 
dyed in the most skilful manner, and 
the imitation so excellently performed, 
-@s to render the difference scarcely dis- 
tinguishable, are however much inferior 
- both in value and quality. 
Judges note, as distinctive marks, their 
eolour, and the perfectness and neatness 
of the curl of the wool. These sheep ge- 
nerally constitute a considerable part of 
the inland trade of Russia, particularly 
- m the government in Catherinoslav, and 
in the Crimm or government of Taurida. 
Tt is not at all extraordinary in these 
countries, to see them both in summer 
and winter, feeding in flocks of more 
than a thousand; and only when the 
‘winter is very severe, which seldom hap= 
ens, or when the” weather is particu- 
arly tempestuous, they are driven into 
inclosures called koshari. They are 
shorn once during, the spring, but the 
wool of the sheep in the government of 
Catherinoslav, is neither so fine nor’ so 
soft as of those in Taurida, the causes 
- of which perhaps are, that the climate of 
the last-mentioned government jg the 
mildest, and that the sheep lamb during 
the winter, when the coldness of the 
season is of great consequence to the 
young and tender wool. 
The Calmucks and Tartars are pe- 
culiarly skilful im rendering the wool 
bushy and curled ; their mode .of pro- 
ceeding being nearly ‘as follows: As 
soon as the lamb is yeaned, it is sowed 
up ina piece of coarse linen, wetted cnce 
every day with warm water, and after 
that gently rubbed in various directions 
- with the palm of the hand; this being 
- continued for about four weeks, at the 
end of that period the fleece is inspected, 
. and. if not completely curled, the ope- 
“ ration is repeated. In Ukraine, the 
. lambs are cut out of the sheep, and 
treated in the very same manner. 
The grey skins are more valuable than 
any other, so that a: Rechetilofska, a 
Curled Lamb-skins.—Peat Afoss. 
-is formed. 
[July 1; 
little city where the best are to be found, 
each grey baranger, though only a few 
inches in length, is worth three or four 
rubles. The barangers of the Crimm are 
so finely curled, that it is hardly possible 
to lay hold of the curls with the fingers. 
Lambs cut out of the sheep at a certain. 
period, have skins covered with very 
short wool, but particularly smooth, and 
as glossy as satin, of which the black are 
preferred. 
The Polish colonies in the county of 
Selmigsnaky, under the government 
Irkutzk, keep a great number of a Mon- 
gol breed, not bigger ‘than our common 
sheep, but with very bushy tails, among 
which there are plenty of lambs, whose 
wool is fine and curled, and their skins 
are generally sold to the Chinese at a 
much higher rate than those of the 
lambs of the Calmucks and Buchares. 
The Poles likewise sow up new-yeaned 
lambs in a piece of strong linen, wetting 
them with warm water, and leaving 
them in this condition from two to four 
weeks with their mothers, until the wool 
is sufficiently curled; and when this de- 
gree of perfection is attained, the lambs 
are immediately killed. 
There are two kinds of sheep in the 
Crimm and government of Catheri- 
noslav; the one was brought from Rus- 
sia, and does not succeed well, and is 
only kept for the flesh, yet the same 
breed produces in the Ukraine very good 
wool, and grows to a greater size: the 
other comes from Moldavia and Wal- 
‘lachia; their tails are long and broad, 
and often so heavy that small wheeled 
carriages must be fastened under them, 
in order to give the fatter sheep 
some ease in moving about. Here 
these sheep are called Woloskiza Owzi, 
and in the Crimm, Tschontagh : vheir na- 
tive country is Caramania, and therefore 
they were formerly named Probatonla 
Caramania. 
ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVATIONS 02 DR. RENNIE’S ESSAYS 
on the NATURAL HISTORY and ORIGIN 
of PEAT MOSS. ‘Suae 
Ae a very spirited introduction, 
4 4% in which the author points out the 
various and contradictory accounts of 
this subject, and the vast importance of 
it to the united empire, he gives his own 
hypothesis. His object is, I. To ascer- 
tain-the materials of which all peat-moss 
This is the subject of the 
two first essays. And with much in- 
genuity 
