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The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

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290 SHEEP BREEDING AND<br />

<strong>The</strong> customs <strong>of</strong> the shepherd tribes in the East are in this<br />

respect remarkably Hke those <strong>of</strong> the ancients.<br />

" <strong>The</strong> Arabs rarely diminish their flocks by using them for<br />

food, but live chiefly upon bread, dates, milk, butter, or what<br />

they receive in exchange for their <strong>wool</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y however sell<br />

their sheep to the people in the towns. A lamb or kid roasted<br />

whole is a fav orite dish at Aleppo, but seldom eaten except by<br />

the rich*." When the Arabs have a sheep-shearing, they per-<br />

haps kill a lamb, <strong>and</strong> treat their relations <strong>and</strong> friends with it<br />

together with new cheese <strong>and</strong> milk, but nothing more. Among<br />

the Mohammedans sheep are sacrificed on certain days as a<br />

festive <strong>and</strong> at the same time a religious ceremony ; these cere-<br />

monies are <strong>of</strong> great antiquity <strong>and</strong> derived from Ai'ab heathen-<br />

ism. On the pilgrimage to Mecca every one is required to sac-<br />

rifice a sheep at a certain place near Meccat.<br />

By the Law <strong>of</strong> Moses the sheep w^as a clean animal, <strong>and</strong><br />

might consequently be eaten or sacrificed. A lamb or kid,<br />

roasted whole, was the principal <strong>and</strong> characteristic dish at the<br />

feast <strong>of</strong> the passover. <strong>The</strong> rich man kills a lamb to entertain<br />

his guest in the beautiful parable <strong>of</strong> Nathan. (2 Satii. xii. 4.)<br />

Sheep were killed on the festive occasion <strong>of</strong> shearing the very<br />

numerous flocks <strong>of</strong> Nabal. (1 Sam. xxv. 2. 11. 18.) An ox<br />

<strong>and</strong> six choice sheep were sacrificed daily for the numerous<br />

guests <strong>of</strong> Nehemiah, while he was building the w^all <strong>of</strong> Jeru-<br />

salem. {Neh. V. 17, 18.) Immense numbers <strong>of</strong> sheep <strong>and</strong> oxen<br />

were sacrificed at the dedication <strong>of</strong> Solomon's temple. (1 Kings,<br />

viii. 5. 63.) <strong>The</strong> prophet Ezekiel (xxxiv. 3.) describes the bad<br />

shepherd as selfishly eating the flesh <strong>and</strong> clothing himself Anth<br />

the <strong>wool</strong> <strong>of</strong> the sheep, without tending them with due care <strong>and</strong><br />

labor.<br />

In the Suovetaurilia among the Romans a hog, a sheep, <strong>and</strong><br />

a bull, their principal domestic animals, were sacrificed. A<br />

sheep was killed every day for the guards, who w^atched the<br />

tomb <strong>of</strong> C}Tus. {Arrian^ vol. i. j)- ^38, Blancardi.) In the<br />

* Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 393. ed. Clarke,<br />

t Hanner, p. 39.<br />

Pallas (Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasc. xi. p. 79.) speaks <strong>of</strong> the beautiful Iamb-skins<br />

from Bucharia, as being admired for their curled gray <strong>wool</strong>.

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