Sheep may, in a few instances, be purchased in tolerable good condition, especially during the hot season, when they nibble the short stems, and even the roots of the finer grasses; yet it must not be expected that any, which may be procurable in the villages, should cut up well: they are usually mere skeletons; and if they have any fat it is of a bad color. This compels gentlemen to keep small flocks, perhaps from thirty to sixty, according to the average of expenditure; which, among officers in the army, may amount to one sheep in every fifteen, or twenty days: observing, that the meat is seldom good, nor the animal comparatively the better for his keep, until it may have been put up for about three or four months. The most approved mode of fatting sheep, is to have about a dozen on full feed; allowing as much _gram_ as they can well eat; say about two pounds daily for each: another dozen should be upon half feed; having an allowance of very fine chaff to complete their diet; or perhaps some cut grass, the same as is brought in for horses. All these twenty-four sheep should be confined in an area, enclosed either by mud walls, or by railings of a suitable height; taking care to allow them access to sweet water, and to have a small quantity of salt in a flat vessel, accessible to them at pleasure. In this manner they will fatten admirably in the course of six or seven months; their flesh becoming fine grained, juicy, and high flavored. Besides the above number, about as many more should be kept on a small allowance of _gram_; allowing them to graze, in company with half a dozen milch goats and their kids, under charge of the _berriarah_, in some place remote from any camp or town; so as to insure their feeding clean. This precaution may seem unnecessary, but is certainly proper; for all sheep, especially those of India, are particularly partial to certain excrements, abounding in a country where the goddess is worshipped on the plains: the borders of tanks being particularly the resort of all descriptions of persons, when pressed to pay their _devoirs_ to the deity. The dress of the _berriarah_ is usually similar to that of the _cooly_; with this addition, that, on account of the oppressive heats at one season; the heavy falls of rain at another; and the sharp cold during three months; he has constant recourse to a substantial blanket, generally black: that being the ordinary color of the sheep. In the hot season, the blanket serves to repel the heat; during the rains, to keep him dry; and in the winter, to keep him warm. As any cross folds, or pleats, would infallibly rather retain, than cast off, the rain, these people have recourse to a most effectual mode of managing the blanket; tying it together in a very regular manner, after puckering the longest side, and placing that part over their heads. Whatever portion of moisture may lodge within the short pleats above the tie, cannot sink downwards, if the ligature be properly made; while all