State Library of NSW
[Page 198]
the sheep from the tubs to the River; Six men in pairs in the river, each provided with factory frock & trousers, and a woollen wrapper round the higher arm, to enable them to use it with more effect in rubbing. An overseer to supervise the whole.
The tubs being filled with water from the boiler, reduced by cold water, to a temperature comfortable to the hands, two or three sheep, according to their size, are placed in each, their backs downwards. When plunged about one minute to allow the warm water to penetrate, one of them is made to stand up in the tub, and soap is applied on the back from the tail to the neck, and if requisite, on the shoulders, flanks, & hips. The lower parts of the fleece never require soap. Experience alone can teach the quantity of soap necessary to be applied. It varies infinitely in different animals. Some require scarcely any, others as much as would suffice for eight or ten of the average of the flock. The same flock which in the year 1826 were washed, even too cleanly
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