The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-07-09

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nHlLIP THE GOOD, Duke of Bur
! gundy, in 1929, at the time of hi
marriage, instituted the military
order of Toson d or, or the Colder
Fleece; it was said on account of thu
profit he made by wool At the enc
OF the collar Of the order hung Gold
en- Fleece with this device, "Pretinum
non vile labornum," (the laborer il
worthy Of his hire).
Linneas, the great Swedish natural
list, who wrote in the middle of the 18th
century, appears to have given more
careful and thorough research into the
origin and history of sheep than any
writer | have been able to discover.
The sheep, as typifed by the domesti-
Gated breeds of the European represen-
tatives of which Linneas gave the
name Of Owls Arius, was enc of the
earliest animals to he brought under
subJection by man. 1t is known to
have been domesticated by the inhabi-
tants of the prehistoric lake dwellings
of Switzerland, by whom it appears to
have been brought from the East In
deed, all research seems to make plain
the fact that the sheep from which all
the domesticated flocks descend were
natives of the elevated table land of
Central Asia, 1t is also depicted among
the earliest of the Egyptian monuments
and its remains were mummified by the
inhabitants Of the Delta during the
Pharaonic Epoch. Two distinct breeds
are noted from this date.
The First Shepherd.
The first shepherd of which history
gives an account was Abel, second son
of Adam. Through him sheep enter the
first tragedy of the human race. At
first sight it seems strange-on reflec-
tion it seems to be necessity of the
csse-that the territory on which the
hocks of the ancient Patriarchs were
fed and tended is still the home of the
shepherds, and that there for forty cen
turtles sheep have wandered from pas
ture to pasture under the care Of their
nomadic proprietors.
The skins of the animals gave place
to the manufactured garments of wool
at the time Of the Conquest of Spain
by the ancient Romans, 206 B. c., when
that country was celebrated for its
hocks and the quality of its wool. To
day the Spanish Merino is equally eel
ebrated, though lost to Spain. Before
the Christian Era the fine woods Of
Italy were noted and the fineness of
the fleece was cultivated to degree
unk nown to us of the present day. The
sheep were housed and clothed, their
skins oiled and moistened with wine,
their fleece was combed and washed re-
peatedly. This treatment destroyed the
vigor and impaired the constitution of
the sheep. Their descendants, though
inferior in form, are still fine wool
sheep. 1t is only in sparsely settled
countries that sheep are cultivated for
wool alone The wonderful wealth of
Asia during the 18th century, of which
its flocks were largely the cause, de-
serves a special chapter.
Livestock for New World.
On the second voyage of Columbus
to the New World, he stopped a. Go
mera, one of the Canary Islands, on
October S, 1893, to take on wood and
wster. Here he purchased calves,
goats and sheep to stock the islands Of
Hispanoia, Cuba and Panama. The
livestock were landed in the middle of
December, 1893, when was founded the
first Christian city of the New World,
Isabella.
After Cortez's conquest of Mexico,
and his return to Spain, from whence
he came again to the City of Mexico
in 1880, a misunderstanding between
him and the magistrate caused him to
leave and take up his residence in the
City of Juernavaca on the southern
slope of the Cordilleras. he imported
large numbers of Merino sheep, and
from Panama and the City of Cuerna-
vaca went forth sheep in great num-
bers.
Much woven cloth was made in New