Mountain breeds yield wool of varying quality but give the best pelts. The "Cheviots"--much favoured by the Scotch farmers--have a wool of medium length but with much hair in it. They have white faces and legs and no horns, and yield excellent pelts. The "Black-faced Mountain Sheep" have longer wool but coarse, and yield good pelts. They are kept in the hilly parts of North England and in the Scottish Highlands. "Lonks" yield a large and good pelt, but very coarse wool. The mutton is good. They are a very large breed with much curved horns and black faces. There are also some small breeds, "soft wools," "Shetlands," and "Welsh Mountain Sheep." The wool of the last two is poor, but the Welsh pelts are valued for their fine grain. There are large numbers of sheepskins also imported, from South and Central America, and from Australia, New Zealand and the Cape. The colonies, however, have often done their own fellmongering, and we have imported pickled pelts. They now tan the skins also, and many tanned sheepskins are now imported. There are also many Indian skins imported after tannage with turwash bark (cp. E.I. Goat, Section II.). The depilation is brought about by "sweating" (or "staling") and by "painting." The immediate object of both these types of method is to avoid using any thing which will affect the wool. The sweating process is the most ancient method of unhairing and is used in America for hides as well as sheepskins. It consists of a more or less regulated putrefaction. The loosening of hair or wool has long been accepted as evidence that putrefaction had commenced in a hide or skin, and it is the aim of the sweating process to stop the action at that stage, before any damage has been done to the pelt. This aim is achieved rather imperfectly by suspending the goods in closed chambers and regulating the temperature and humidity by means of steam and water. Such chambers are known as "sweat pits" or "tainting stoves". In the case of sheepskins the "warm-sweat" system is generally used, and the operation is carried out at 75°-80° F. A satisfactory yield of wool is obtained in good condition, but the pelt is very liable to suffer bacterial damage and show "weak grain." The skins are first cleaned by a few "soaks" in clean fresh water, with intermediate help from a "burring machine" which presents a rapidly revolving set of spiral blades to the wool, and in the presence of a good stream of water quickly removes all dirt from the wool. The skins then enter the tainting stove, and the operation is commenced by a slight injection of live steam. In summer, about a week is sufficient to loosen the hair, but in winter up to two weeks may be necessary. Little control of the process is possible, and all that can be done is to watch the goods carefully near the end of the operation. In one variety of this method of unwoolling the skins are painted on the flesh side with a creamy mixture of lime and water and piled for a day