Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/255

 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.

THE SHEPHERD BOY.

The rain was pattering o'er the low thatch'd shed That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy, Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw, In vacant happiness. A tatter'd sack Cover'd his sturdy loins, while his rude legs Were deck'd with uncouth patches of all hues, Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin Peep'd forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory For painter's eye; and his quaint draperies Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene,