sionally exposed to the severest storms, yet enduring them and thriving, will complete the list of models; and among the British sheep, the Cheviot most deserves to be selected.
A description of them by a writer in the Farmer's Magazine, who had studied and known them well, is selected as a faithful representation of what they were, or what a good Cheviot should be, even before this breed had received the last improvement from the Leicesters:—
"The head polled, bare and clean, with jaw bone of a good length. Ears not too short. Countenance of not too dark a colour. (Repeated crossings with the Leicester have now made both the face and the legs white.) Neck full, round and not too long; well covered with wool, and without any beard or coarse wool beneath. Shoulders deep, full, and wide-set above. Chest full and open. Chine long, but not too long; straight, broad, and wide across the fillets. Hams round and plump. Body in general round and full, and not too deep or flat in the ribs or flanks. Legs clean, of a proportionable length, and well clad with wool to the knee-joints and hocks. Fleece fine, close, short, and thick set; of a medium length of pile, without hairs at the bottom, and not curled on the shoulders, and with as little coarse wool as possible on the hips, tail, and belly. A sheep possessing these properties in an eminent degree may be considered as the most perfect model of the Cheviot breed."[1]
These sheep, notwithstanding the strong prejudice that was entertained against them, have established themselves in every part of the South Highlands, almost to the exclusion of the native horned and short breed; and when their wool is become a little finer in the pile and somewhat shorter in the staple, in order to make it at the same time more portable by the animal and fitter for the cloth manufacturer; when the pelt is a little thicker, better to ensure, if need be, the hardihood of the breed, and the wool is a little more equal in point of quality on every part of the sheep, the Cheviot will extend itself also through the Northern Highlands, and there, too, the value of the sheep-farm and the comfort of the peasant will be more than doubled. The native black-faced breed—the short sheep—with which the Cheviot is still contending far in the north, and which he is gradually displacing, might, perhaps, deserve a place in the catalogue of models; but, valuable as he is, he must gradually give way, and in a manner disappear.
THE FAT-TAILED SHEEP.
Several breeds of sheep, that seem to be derived from a variety of the primitive race, are found in the countries which the patriarchs traversed. In Syria, the chief residence of the early shepherds, a sheep is cultivated, of which Dr. Russell, in his History of Aleppo, gives the following account: "The dead weight of one of these sheep will amount to 50lbs. or 60lbs, of which the tail makes up 15lbs. or 161bs.; but some of the largest that have been fattened with care weigh 150lbs., the tail alone composing one-third of the whole weight. This broad, flattish tail is mostly covered with long wool, and, becoming very small at the extremity, turns up. It is entirely composed of a substance between marrow and fat, serving very often in the kitchen instead of butter, and cut into small pieces, makes an ingredient in various dishes. When the animal is young, it is little inferior to marrow."
This race of sheep is found scattered over almost as large an extent of country as the fat rumps. They differ in the comparative accumulation of fat, compared with the general weight of the animal, and in the situation of the fat. In some, as in the sheep of Syria, it accumulates about the
- ↑ Farmer's Mag. 1810, p. 143.
