With a single exception--that of the dog--there is no member of the
beast family which presents so great a diversity of size, color, form,
covering, and general appearance, as characterizes the sheep; and none
occupy a wider range of climate, or subsist on a greater variety of
food. This animal is found in every latitude between the Equator and the
Arctic circle, ranging over barren mountains and through fertile
valleys, feeding upon almost every species of edible forage--the
cultivated grasses, clovers, cereals, and roots--browsing on aromatic
and bitter herbs alike, cropping the leaves and barks from stunted
forest shrubs and the pungent, resinous evergreens. In some parts of
Norway and Sweden, when other resources fail, he subsists on fish or
flesh during the long, rigorous winter, and, if reduced to necessity,
even devours his own wool.
In size, he is diminutive or massive; he has many horns, or but two
large or small spiral horns, or is polled or hornless. His tail may be
broad, or long, or a mere button, discoverable only by the touch. His
covering is long and coarse, or short and hairy, or soft and furry, or
fine and spiral. His color varies from white or black to every shade of
brown, dun, buff, blue, and gray. This wide diversity results from long
domestication under almost every conceivable variety of condition.
Among the antediluvians, sheep were used for sacrificial offerings, and
their fleeces, in all probability, furnished them with clothing. Since
the deluge their flesh has been a favorite food among many nations. Many
of the rude, wandering tribes of the East employ them as beasts of
burden. The uncivilized--and, to some extent, the refined--inhabitants
of Europe use their milk, not only as a beverage, but for making into
cheese, butter, and curds--an appropriation of it which is also noticed
by Job, Isaiah, and other Old Testament writers, as well as most of the
Greek and Roman authors. The ewe's milk scarcely differs in appearance
from that of the cow, though it is generally thicker, and yields a pale,
yellowish butter, which is always soft and soon becomes rancid. In dairy
regions the animal is likewise frequently employed at the tread-mill or
horizontal wheel, to pump water, churn milk, or perform other light
domestic work.
The calling of the shepherd has, from time immemorial, been conspicuous,
and not wanting in dignity and importance. Abel was a keeper of sheep;
as were Abraham and his descendants, as well as most of the ancient
patriarchs. Job possessed fourteen thousand sheep. Rachel, the favored
mother of the Jewish race, "came with her father's sheep, for she kept
them." The seven daughters of the priest of Midian "came and drew water
for their father's flocks." Moses, the statesman and lawgiver, "learned
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," busied himself in tending "the
flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law." David, too, that sweet singer of
Israel and its destined monarch--the Jewish hero, poet, and divine--was
a keeper of sheep. To shepherds, "abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flocks by night," came the glad tidings of a Saviour's birth.
The Hebrew term for sheep signifies, in its etymology, fruitfulness,
abundance, plenty--indicative of the blessings which they were destined
to confer upon the human family. In the Holy Scriptures, this animal is
the chosen symbol of purity and the gentler virtues, the victim of
propitiatory sacrifices, and the type of redemption to fallen man.
Among profane writers, Homer and Hesiod, Virgil and Theocritus,
introduce them in their pastoral themes; while their heroes and
demi-gods--Hercules and Ulysses, Eneas and Numa--carefully perpetuate
them in their domains.
In modern times, they have engaged the attention of the most enlightened
nations, whose prosperity has been intimately linked with them, wherever
wool and its manufactures have been regarded as essential staples. Spain
and Portugal, during the two centuries in which they figured as the
most enterprising European countries, excelled in the production and
manufacture of wool. Flanders, for a time, took precedence of England in
the perfection of the arts and the enjoyments of life; and the latter
country then sent what little wool she raised to the former to be
manufactured. This being soon found highly impolitic, large bounties
were offered by England for the importation of artists and machinery;
and by a systematic and thorough course of legislation, which looked to
the utmost protection and increase of wool and woollens, she gradually
carried their production beyond any thing the world had ever seen.
Of the original breed of this invaluable animal, nothing certain is
known; four varieties having been deemed by naturalists entitled to that
distinction.
These are, 1. The _Musimon_, inhabiting Corsica, Sardinia, and other
islands of the Mediterranean, the mountainous parts of Spain and Greece,
and some other regions bordering upon that inland sea. These have been
frequently domesticated and mixed with the long-cultivated breeds.
2. The _Argali_ ranges over the steppes, or inland plains of Central
Asia, northward and eastward to the ocean. They are larger and hardier
than the Musimon and not so easily tamed.
3. The _Rocky Mountain Sheep_--frequently called the _Bighorn_ by our
western hunters--is found on the prairies west of the Mississippi, and
throughout the wild, mountainous regions extending through California
and Oregon to the Pacific. They are larger than the Argali--which in
other respects they resemble--and are probably descended from them,
since they could easily cross upon the ice at Behring's Straits, from
the north-eastern coast of Asia. Like the Argali, when caught young
they are readily tamed; but it is not known that they have ever been
bred with the domestic sheep. Before the country was overrun by the
white ram, they probably inhabited the region bordering on the
Mississippi. Father Hennepin--a French Jesuit, who wrote some two
hundred years ago--often speaks of meeting with goats in his travels
through the territory which is now embraced by Illinois, Wisconsin, and
a portion of Minnesota. The wild, clambering propensities of these
animals--occupying, as they do, the giddy heights far beyond the reach
of the traveller--and their outer coating of hair--supplied underneath,
however, with a thick coating of soft wool--give them much the
appearance of goats. In summer they are generally found single; but when
they descend from their isolated, rocky heights in winter, they are
gregarious, marching in flocks under the guidance of leaders.
[Illustration: ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.]
4. The _Bearded Sheep of Africa_ inhabit the mountains of Barbary and
Egypt. They are covered with a soft, reddish hair, and have a mane
hanging below the neck, and large, locks of hair at the ankle.
Many varieties of the domesticated sheep--that is, all the subjugated
species--apparently differ less from their wild namesakes than from each
other.
The _fat-rumped_ and the _broad-tailed sheep_ are much more extensively
diffused than any other, and occupy nearly all the south-eastern part of
Europe, Western and Central Asia, and Northern Africa. They are
supposed, from various passages in the Pentateuch in which "the fat and
the rump" are spoken of in connection with offerings, to be the
varieties which were propagated by the patriarchs and their descendants,
the Jewish race. They certainly give indisputable evidence of remote and
continued subjugation. Their long, pendent, drowsy ears, and the highly
artificial posterior developments, are characteristic of no wild or
recently domesticated race.
This breed consists of numerous sub-varieties, differing in all their
characteristics of size, fleece, color, etc., with quite as many and
marked shades of distinction as the modern European varieties. In
Madagascar, they are covered with hair; in the south of Africa, with
coarse wool; in the Levant, and along the Mediterranean, the wool is
comparatively fine; and from that of the fat-rumped sheep of Thibet the
exquisite Cashmere shawls of commerce are manufactured. Both rams and
ewes are sometimes bred with horns, and sometimes without, and they
exhibit a great diversity of color. Some yield a carcass of scarcely
thirty pounds, while others have weighed two hundred pounds dressed. The
tail or rump varies greatly, according to the purity and style of
breeding; some are less than one-eighth, while others exceed one-third
of the entire dressed weight. The fat of the rump or tail is esteemed a
great delicacy; in hot climates resembling oil, and in colder, suet.
It is doubtful whether sheep are indigenous to Great Britain; but they
are mentioned as existing there at very early periods.