Volume 60: William Campbell letters, 1846-1894: No. 218
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[Page 218]
(2)
to the ordinary Spanish Merino and they have a long heavy fleece coarser in proportion to the size of the animal. When I touched at the Cape of Good Hope in 1857 I visited a small sheep station near Stellinbosh [also spelt Stellenbosch] and saw a flock of Merinos which I was told were pure. In symmetry they were very like the Camden sheep. We had a few American rams imported here two years ago bred by Mr. Geo. Campbell of the State Vermont, quite equal if not superior to any thing I ever say saw. They had all the qualities of a fine Merino - a silky face, wool up to the forehead, short legged, heavy bodied, and horns well set on, not like the narrow headed Saxons. I gave £40 for one of them and let a friend have the use of him. He had well bred Ewes, which belonged to a Mr. James Riley. I have