The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-09-03
ON A SHEEP RANCH.
DISMAL LIFE LED BY THE WRETcHEp
MEXICAN HERDERs.

and the principal ranch ON Calamity creek
is said TO be the largest in the state. i don't
know the exact number of sheep owned 10y
the proprietor Of this ranch, but IL must run
up into the hundreds of thousands Twenty
years ago he was bankrupt wool merchant,
in feeble health; to-day no is a ruddy-faced,
hale and hearty man Of 90, whose check IS
good for 100000 any day. With an
original plant of 900 ewes, his flock
has steadily increased TO its present
proportions and they literally roam
on thousand hills Sheep re-
quire good deal of care and attention and
every man who undertakes sheep raising is
not successful at Il. A man who invests in
horned cattle win get rich in spite Of him
self 1t requires a peculiar sort OF business
sagacity to manage sheep and make the in
vestment paying one. Out here they are
principally Mexicans, although necessity
forces few white men to turn TO the bust
ness temporarily as means of livelihood.
They never stay long at it, however. There
is an excruciating monotony about sheep
herding which causes q white man to wish
he had never been born after a few months
experience Now that the railroad has been
put through great many big sheep men
are importing Cinnamon from California to
take the place of the Mexicans who require
q great deal of watching.
THE MEXICAN sHEEP-HERDER
The wants of Mexican sheep-herder are
few His ration is half peck of corn
meal, q handful of salt and double hand
full OF chilies per day. With this hunio.e com
missariat he will keep up life. His idea Of
luxury is an occasional dram of mescal or
aguaudients and plenty of cora husks and
tobacco, Que Of which he manufactures that
Indispensable accessory to Mexican well
H..t~x ~. ntw
cages in strengthening at tender age and
once began rarely relinquishes it A Mex
lean Is conservative and content with the
established order of things They have
made no progress in $50 years This fact
makes them good sheep-herdqrs Conserva-
tism and lack of progress are prime re-
quisites in a shesp-herder After a years
faithful apprenticeship at strengthening a
Mexican boy has the trade learned and is
ready TO peon himself for life He usu-
ally does have known a Mexican berder,
after twenty five years faithful service, to
die as many hundred dollars in debt to the
man whose flock he has carefully tended
for quarter of a century. That is where
strengthening pays
We will suppose, by way of illustration,
that practical herder has been engaged to
run flock, and in the early morning, as
the first gray strealks of dawn appear in the
eastern sky no sallies forth to take charge
of his woody flock, who are just beginning
to awake and lelve their bedding place. Ii
he is a Mexican, he looks extremely pictur-
esque in his bright blue jacket, with its
double row of silver buttons, which, by the
way, are not for use, but solely for orna-
ment, for Mexican never buttons his
jacket, else he would hide his gaudy calico
shirt On his neither limbs are leggings of
leather or buckskin, TO protect his legs from
the sharp thorns through which be will be
forced to march These are kept in place
by crimson, orange or blue sash, over
which is buckled broad belt full of car
tridges On his head is tbs inevitable SOM
brero, with its ornamentation of gold and
silver lace II he is u sensible man, his
serape win be tied over one shoulder and
under the opposite arm and he will carry
Winchester rife and sharp butcher knife
THE HERDER WHEN ON DUTY.
As the sheep begin to move off he saun-
ters slowly along behind them, keeping a
sharp lookout for stragglers- Sheep do not
travel fast, but they keep moving At
meridian they viii begin to feed back to-
ward the bedding-place. There the herder
will eat his humble dinner of tortillas and
chilli, washed down by a draught of water,
il he Is fortunate enough to be in the vicin-
ity OF a spring or water hole About Gun
down the sheep will reach their camp and
begin to select beds for the night The
herder has rude shelter near by. He
builds himself a fire and cooks his tortillas.
Possibly he may have killed a quail or
jack rabbit during the day. II so, he makes
a savory soup. Then he smokes his cigaro
and walks around the flock to see that none
are missing If AL is well he returns TO his
camp and, rolling himself in his serape, lies
down. He may havea good nights sleep
and he may MOI A careful herder will be
aroused IL a single sheep moves and will inn
mediately rise up 10 see what Is the matter.
II bear or cougar or tiger-cat Is lurking
about he will hunt for the varmint and
either kill him or brighten him away.
Above all things he must guard against a
stampede, for IL the timid sheep once get
started there is no stopping them-the herd
would become scattered, many would be
: lost and the herder would be charged up
with the missing sheep
In the lambing season his duties are more
arduous and he is often up all night Then
he must watch for the appearance of "scabn
or any Of the other countless diseases TO
which sheep are subject; and report to the
captain, who makes known the fact through
the regular channel to the ranch superin-
tendent II it is the scab the sheep are
driven up to the ranch and run through a
dip. helped dip lot Of sheep once. 1t is
hard work and Tar from exciting. In fact,
everything pertaining to sheep Is like the
foolish animals, tame and embarrassing.
The sheep are sheared once a year, usually
in May. This is the sheep mans harvest
and the big pile OF wool which rewards him
represents the profits Of the business.
Some Of the hardeTs have dogs-dogs pc
culiar to the frontier, with more or less
wolf blood in their veins They are a surly
and unsocial brute and far from handsome
They are susceptible, however of a high de
gree OF education and their sagacity in the
matter OF tending sheep is something
marvellous have known dogs that would
herd ., 600 sheep, unaided, and never lose an
animal The sheepmsn oppose dogs They
say II makes tho herders lazy and careless.
Phoy neglect their duty and depend upon
the judgment and sagacity Of the dog to run
things.-Texas Cor Philadelphia Tunes.
Beautiful Curraht Jolly IA France.
NJ Charles Girard, chemist of Paris, re-
Gently amused himself by Investigation OF
the ingredients OF beautiful red currant