Gents Mag 1899 part 2 p.541
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Gentleman's Magazine 1899 part 2 p.541
[cere]monies. The fells were then a wide stretch of open land, and no one had the right to count the eatage of another's sheep, but with the consolidation of the heaf-going rights, these free and easy dealings came to an end. The grass grows longer on the moors, the skylark loudly trills the signal of departure to the fell, and every day at daybreak the sheep collect at the gate at the head of the intakes, waiting for it to be opened. At last the day of liberation arrives, the shepherd climbs the dank slope and opens the way. In an instant the pathway is jammed by a hurrying, struggling mass of sheep anxious to forget the privations of winter in the liberty of the spring; the shephard affectionatley, but in vain, exhorts the mob "to tak' time"; the dogs wander about whimpering with delight at the prospect. When the last sheep has darted past, the shepherd drives slowly along the hillside, with his dogs to right and left, within easy signalling distance. In a piece of country much broken by crags and ghylls, where there are abundant places for an idle sheep to be hidden and left behind, the dogs are rarely more than 300 yards away from their master, dividing the ground very skilfully and watching it completely. When, however, a gentle sloping basin of green moorland is reached, they often take up positions near the horizon, trusting to hear the commanding whistle. At such times the distance will be over a mile from the shepherd. One would think that, in such dead silence as that settled upon the fells, oral instructions would be easily transmissible, but few good shepherds employ this method of command, except when "folding in" for the evening. Instead, successive generations have developed a code of whistles which are intelligible at immense distances, coupled with a system of motions with arms and body which is equally effective. A very pretty exhibition of the complete control exerted by the shepherd over his dogs was the following. We were walking up a narrow valley: in front was a farmhouse; on either side and behind it rose the cliffs, with a few slacks (or less severe slopes) by which approach was to be made to the open moor. A man standing in the fold was whistling commands to an unseen dog. We stopped to chat with him - for fell-head dwellers are not averse to a few minutes with the very occasional visitor - but he motioned us to silebnce. We could than hear his dog barking on the moor above. A sheep appeared on the sky-line followed by quite half a hundred more, after the last of which came a black-and-tan dog. As soon as they were in view, the farmer gave no more signals; "t' dog could drive 'em haem," he said. His |
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