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hence the appellation extended to the flocks under his care.

It does not seem to be ascertained at what time this introduction of the English sheep took place. Sarmiento thinks under the last Alonso; but Gil Gonzalez Davila, in his History of Henrique III. (Madrid, 1638) says that Catharine, wife of that King, and daughter of John of Gaunt, brought them into Spain as her dowry. Y fue la que quando vino a Ese paña traxo a Castilla el uso de las camas de campo, y en dote el ganado que llamamos merino. p. 11.

How long was it before the merino fleece became finer than that of the original stock? Brito, who wrote towards the close of the sixteenth century, says in praise of the wool grown about Santarem, it is so fine that it may vie with that of England (Monarchia Lusitania, T. 1, p. 93). If the Spanish wool had been as fine then as it is now, he would hardly have drawn his comparison from the English.

That the merino was originally English is a fact resting upon better authority than can usually be found for facts of this kind. Is there not reason to suppose, that as the wool was improved by the effect of a better climate upon the sheep, it will gradually return to its original state when the breed is again thoroughly naturalised in England? In Denmark, Mr. Macdonald tells us, (Travels in Denmark, vol. 1, p. 101) they have already degenerated, for the wool is much coarser than any merino wool which he had seen before. This degeneracy he supposes to be the consequence of bad keeping. The climate has probably bad as much influence as neglect. Wool, we know, in very hot countries becomes coarser, till it at last assumes the character of hair; but it does not necessarily follow that fine wool should be the growth of cold countries. A certain degree of temperature may be necessary for its perfection. There is no

reason for supposing that the breed of English sheep has deteriorated in this country since they were introduced into Spain, and therefore inferring that the merino is now, what the original stock was then, for the breed seems to have been more attended to by our ancestors than is generally supposed. R. B. the well-known computer of little books for the people at the end of the 17th century, says, "the best and biggest bodied sheep in England are in the vale of Aylesbury, where it is nothing to give ten pounds or more for a breed-ram; so that should a foreigner hear the price thereof, he would guess that ram to be rather some Roman engine of batteryr than the creature commonly so called."

Can there possibly be any truth in the remark of Yepes, (T. 7, ff. 134,) who says, "daily experience shews us that if a lamb is suckled by a goat the wool becomes hard and hairy; and on the contrary, if a kid is suckled by a ewe the hair becomes soft."

200. Gigantic Bird.

M. Henderstrom has discovered in that part of the Russian dominions which he calls New Siberia, the claws of a bird, measuring each a yard in length, and the Yakuts assured him they had frequently in their hunting excursions met with skeletons, and even feathers of this bird, the quills of which were large enough to admit a man's fist. This is the strongest fact which has yet appeared in support of the almost universal tradition, that the earth was formerly inhabited by a race of giants. For though men not exceeding ourselves in stature might have defended themselves against the Megatherion, they would have been helpless against birds of prey of this magnitude.

There is a passage in the Viage de las Goletas Mexicana y Sutil, which gives some reason for supposing that this bird is not extinct. A chief at Nootka, where the image of a large bird seemed to be held in some degree of veneration, drew

such a monster, with the additional monstrosity of two horns upon its head, carrying away a whale in its talons, and he affirmed that he had seen a bird of that kind pounce upon a whale and fly off with it. The Spaniards observed, he must have been dreaming, but he insisted upon the literal truth of what he had related. The original passage is as follows: Notamos que la Canoa tenia en la proa un gran aguilucho de talla, cuya figura hubiamos visto tambien en otras canoas de guerra. Estos Indios, parece, tienen cierta idea de temor o de veneracion a la efigie de esta ave, asi como los naturales de California la tienen particular gratitud, por haber sacado, dicen ellos, a un Indio de un pozo. Tetacus habiendo tomado lapiz que estaba sobre una mesa, entre otros dibuxos que hizo en un papel, nos figuro con esmero un aguila en accion de colar; tenia la cabeza muy grande, y dos cuernos en ella; la represento llevando asida en sus garrús a una ballena y nos aseguro habia el visto descender rapida

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