- Pliny's account of Spartum—Bulbous plant—Its fibrous coats—Pliny's translation
of Theophrastus—Socks and garments—Size of the bulb—Its genus or
species not sufficiently defined—Remarks of various modern writers on this plant—Interesting
communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass.
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth 202
PART SECOND.
ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.
CHAPTER I.
SHEEP'S WOOL.
SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF
THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
The Shepherd Boy—Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia—Mesopotamia and
Syria—In Idumæa and Northern Arabia—In Palestine and Egypt—In Ethiopia
and Libya—In Caucasus and Coraxi—The Coraxi identified with the
modern Caratshai—In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c.—In Caria
and Ionia—Milesian wool—Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly,
Eubœa, and Bœotia—In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris—In Arcadia—Worship
of Pan—Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds—Introduction of his worship
into Attica—Extension of the worship of Pan—His dances with the nymphs—Pan
not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus—The philosophical
explanation of Pan rejected—Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians—Polybius
on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians—Worship of Mercury
in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade—Present state of Arcadia—Sheep-breeding
in Macedonia and Epirus—Shepherds' dogs—Annual
migration of Albanian shepherds 217
CHAPTER II.
SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS
OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
Sheep-breeding in Sicily—Bucolic poetry—Sheep-breeding in South Italy—Annual
migration of the flocks—The ram employed to aid the shepherd in conducting
his flock—The ram an emblem of authority—Bells—Ancient inscription
at Sepino—Use of music by ancient shepherds—Superior quality of Tarentine
sheep—Testimony of Columella—Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds—Names
given to sheep—Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool—Sheep-breeding
in South Italy, Tarentum, and Apulia—Brown and red wool—Sheep-breeding
in North Italy—Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua—Ori-*
