and camels." (Gen. xii. 16.) And, when they "went up out of Egypt," Lot also had "flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together: for their substance was great." (xiii. 5, 6.) and they separated in that friendly and conciliating manner, on the part of Abraham, so beautifully set forth by the sacred historian.

When Jacob, on his journey to his uncle Laban, “came into the land of the people of the east," "he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks," and presently Rachel, the shepherdess, came with Laban's flock. (Gen. xxix.) In this we, afterwards, find that there was a variety in the colour, some being "speckled and spotted and brown." (xxx. 32.) The numbers of the flocks of Laban, or of Jacob, when he left him, are not mentioned; but it is said of Job, who is supposed by some to have been cotemporary with him, as the Rabbis say that Dinah, Jacob's daughter, after the massacre of the Shechemites, became Job's wife, that "his substance was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses;" (Job i. 3.) and after his losses, and his restoration from his "captivity," his substance was doubled, (xlii. 12.) In the provision of Solomon for his establishment, for one day, the number of sheep was an hundred, (1 Kings iv. 23.) And we are told, 2 Kings iii. 4. "Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master, and rendered" as tribute" unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool."

Some idea of the immense produce and consumption of sheep among the Israelites may be obtained, by considering, besides the foregoing particulars, that, "At the public charge, there were annually offered to God at the tabernacles and at the temple, 1101 lambs, 132 bullocks, 72 rams, 21 kids, 15 goats. All these were independently of trespass offerings and voluntary vows, which, if they could be computed, must amount to an immense number. It is said that the number of lambs sacrificed annually at the passover, amounted in one year to the number of 255,600 slain at the temple, which was the answer that Cestius the Roman General received, when he asked the priests how many persons had come to Jerusalem at their annual festivals': the priests, numbering the people by the lambs that had been slain,

said, "twenty-five myriads, 5000 and 600."* (Jones's Scripture Antiquities, p. 91.)

The modern Turkmans, who live in companies, and lead a wandering life, are said sometimes to have as many as 400,000 camels, horses, asses, oxen, and cows; and 3,000,000 of sheep and goats, belonging to one class of them; and their principal families are distinguished by their white or black sheep. In their migrations from one pasture to another, they are three or four days in passing by a place. (See Brown, art. Flock.) In some parts of Europe, noblemen do not let out their estates to tenants, but keep them in their own hands; and have immense flocks and herds. An officer who has been in Alsace informs me, that he knew a nobleman there who had 10,000 sheep.

In a very interesting article on sheep in the Encyclopædia Britannica, (vol. xix. pt. i. p. 222.) in an account of the Spanish sheep, it is said "ten thousand sheep form a flock, which is divided into ten tribes, under the management of one person, who has absolute dominion over fifty shepherds and fifty dogs." An extract is afterwards given from Arthur Young's Annals of Agriculture, (Vol. viii. p. 195.) concerning the Pyrenean or Catalonian sheep, too long to be inserted here, though it would reflect great light upon our subject; but an extract will be given in its proper place respecting the dogs, and I shall here insert a short paragraph which speaks much for the humane treatment which the sheep receive: "A circumstance which cannot be too much. commended, and deserves universal imitation, is the extreme docility they accustom them to. When I desired the shepherd to catch one of his rams, I supposed he would do it with his crook, or probably not be able to do it at all; but he walked into the flock, and singling out a ram and a goat, bid them follow him, which they did immediately; and he talked to them while they were obeying him, holding out his hand as if to give them something. By this method he brought me the ram, which I caught, and held without difficulty." (p. 223.)

But to return to the sheep of the Israelites: Amidst the varieties of sheep, and in the length of time since the Israelites inhabited Canaan, and in the vicissitudes which the country and its produce has undergone, it is impossible, in the agricultural language of the present day, to ascertain

* See Dr. Clarke's Com. on Numb. xxix. 12.-Universal Hist. vol. iv. p. 268, fol. ed.-Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. vii. 11, &c.-Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 401, 5th ed.

the breed which they possessed: of this, however, we may be assured, that it was the best, and God's blessing was promised upon them, (Deut. xxviii. 4.) if the Israelites would 'hearken unto the voice of the Lord."

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Brown, in his Dictionary of the Bible, says, that "in Mesopotamia, Italy, &c. the ewes bring forth their lambs. twice a year;" as does Orton, likewise, in his exposition upon Gen. xxx. 42. The same property is attributed to our Dorsetshire sheep by Mr. Bingley: "The ewes are very prolific; are remarkable for yeaning early, and, not unfrequently, twice in the season." (British Quadrupeds, p. 384.) see, however, no direct proof of this in the scripture, nor of their bearing commonly more than two at a time, as it is said of some of our breeds, that they will bear three, four, and even five at a birth. (See British Quadrupeds, p. 373 and Bewick's Quadrupeds, p. 53 and 61.) But, in the Song of Solomon, (iv. 2.) the bridegroom compares the teeth of the bride to "a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bears twins, and none is barren among them." (See also vi. 6.) This is, in the agricultural phrase, the ewe having, or being, double couples; that is, a ewe and a lamb being called a couple, a ewe with two lambs is counted over twice, with each of the lambs, making the double couple. This is by no means an uncommon thing with our South-downs. "The period of gestation" is said by Mr. Bingley, (Brit. Quadr. p. 366.) to be "twenty-three weeks." The author of the Complete Grazier says "five months, or twenty weeks," (p. 72.) as does Dr. Willich, in his Domestic Encyclopædia. My farming man, who is intelligent, and an accurate observer, tells me that it is twenty-one weeks. The real case probably is, that the time varies a few days or a week, according to the age and condition of the animal, the season, and other circumstances, as is the case with cows, as will be mentioned in treating of them.

The milk of ewes was certainly used by the Israelites, as appears from 1 Cor. ix. 7, "who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" Mr. Bingley, in his Animal Biography, on the authority of Mr. Pennant, in his British Zoology, i. 32, says, speaking of sheep, "the milk is thicker than that of cows, and consequently yields a greater quantity of butter and cheese; and in some places it is even so rich, as not to produce the cheese without a mixture of water to make it part from the whey." In his Brit. Quadr., however, he says, "though not deficient in thickness," it

"is said to yield but little cream; and that cream gives butter of a quality greatly inferior to what is obtained from the milk of cows. But it is to be remarked, that the same measure of ewe's milk will yield double the quantity of curd that our cows' milk affords." (p. 365.) The writer of this essay has lately (April 4, 1822) tasted ewe's milk, and thought it particularly rich and soft, more like cream than milk, as did all those who tasted it at the same time; it had not so fine a flavour as that of the best cow's milk, (the flavour like the smell of the cow's breath,) but it was free from any strong or muttony flavour, which he had rather apprehended. The quantity brought him in the evening, was a glass, which held somewhat less than half a pint; and less than a quarter of it was set by till the next morning, when there was no appearance through the glass of a separation of cream on the top, nor yet upon skimming the spoon over it. On putting it into tea, it gave a particular softness to it, and was decidedly better than the cream from the cows which was sent up for breakfast, though it was not indeed the best cream, that being kept to make butter with, but the second skimming. The cows were fed on good hay, but the ewe on fresh grass. There was no opportunity of trying the ewe's milk for butter or cheese. The Israelites had probably no wether sheep, as it is said that "the Jews never castrated any of their animals, nor do the Mahometans to this day properly do so." (Brown's Dict. art. Bull.) The author of the Experienced Butcher says, on the subject of castration, "If animals be given for our use, and the great law be protection and kind usage, while we keep them alive, if their utility to man shall be greater, and their own happiness, upon the whole, as great, if castrated, there does not seem any good reason, why it may not be practised." (p. 115.) The proportion of rams to ewes was much greater with the Israelites than with us. "While the former are young," says the author of the Complete Grazier, (p. 73.) fifty or sixty should be the utmost extent; and, as they advance in years, the numbers may be gradually increased; without these precautions, the lambs would not only be deficient in number, but also in point of strength." But in Jacob's present to his brother Esau, (Genesis xxxii. 14.) the proportion was one to ten, "two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams."

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VOL. V. NO. 10.

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Address on the Institution of the Agricultural Society of Sumatra. By the President, the Hon. Sir T. Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Fort Marlborough.

THE establishment of a society for the express purpose of encouraging the agricultural Industry of Sumatra is an event of no common interest. Agriculture is the only sure and solid foundation of national prosperity, and in the early stages of society in particular, such as we find on this island, it constitutes and comprises nearly all that is valuable and interesting. What is the state of agriculture, and what can be done to improve it, are questions of high importance; and before we descend to particulars, it may be as well to consider the state of agriculture in Sumatra generally; the condition and character of those who cultivate the soil; and the points of comparison or contrast which these afford with other countries. We shall then be better prepared to carry our inquiries into the details of our more immediate neighbourhood, and to define the most proper and useful sphere for our operations. The field as it now opens to us is so wide, so novel, and so fraught with interest, that unless we separate the general from the particular objects of the Institution, and chalk out for ourselves the limits in which we may be practically useful, I fear we may too often be led into speculative reasoning, and calculate on distant and uncertain data.

The state of agriculture, and the condition of society, have been so happily and so justly pictured in Mr. Marsden's History of Sumatra, that we have only to refer to this interesting and valuable volume for an accurate and philosophic view of both. My own experience, and the result of all the information I have obtained from others, have only served to confirm what is there stated; and although the recent discovery of new and interesting tracts of country, and a more intimate acquaintance with the people, may lead me to form a higher estimate of the resources of this island than were perhaps contemplated in the time of that able historian, I cannot do better than recommend the adoption, generally, of the data which he has furnished on these points. Wretched as may be the state of cultivation near the sea coast, to which the observations of Mr. Marsden principally apply, in the interior I can affirm that agriculture is much more advanced, and that the country of Menangkabau in particular may in this respect vie with the