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Steep Trails-Part1_John Muir(1838-1914)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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bushes, and leaping among jagged storm-beaten cliffs, wears a dress so

exquisitely adapted to its mountain life that it is always found as



unruffled and stainless as a bird.

On leaving the Shasta hunting grounds I selected a few specimen tufts,



and brought them away with a view to making more leisurely

examinations; but, owing to the imperfectness of the instruments at my



command, the results thus far obtained must be regarded only as rough

approximations.



As already stated, the clothing of our wild sheep is composed of fine

wool and coarse hair. The hairs are from about two to four inches



long, mostly of a dull bluish-gray color, though varying somewhat with

the seasons. In general characteristics they are closely related to



the hairs of the deer and antelope, being light, spongy, and elastic,

with a highly polished surface, and though somewhat ridged and



spiraled, like wool, they do not manifest the slightest tendency to

felt or become taggy. A hair two and a half inches long, which is



perhaps near the average length, will stretch about one fourth of an

inch before breaking. The diameter decreases rapidly both at the top



and bottom, but is maintained throughout the greater portion of the

length with a fair degree of regularity. The slender tapering point



in which the hairs terminate is nearly black: but, owing to its

fineness as compared with the main trunk, the quantity of blackness is



not sufficient to affect greatly the general color. The number of

hairs growing upon a square inch is about ten thousand; the number of



wool fibers is about twenty-five thousand, or two and a half times

that of the hairs. The wool fibers are white and glossy, and



beautifully spired into ringlets. The average length of the staple is

about an inch and a half. A fiber of this length, when growing



undisturbed down among the hairs, measures about an inch; hence the

degree of curliness may easily be inferred. I regret exceedingly that



my instruments do not enable me to measure the diameter of the fibers,

in order that their degrees of fineness might be definitely" target="_blank" title="ad.明确地；绝对">definitely compared



with each other and with the finest of the domestic breeds; but that

the three wild fleeces under consideration are considerably finer than



the average grades of Merino shipped from San Francisco is, I think,

unquestionable.



When the fleece is parted and looked into with a good lens, the skin

appears of a beautiful pale-yellow color, and the delicate wool fibers



are seen growing up among the strong hairs, like grass among stalks of

corn, every individual fiber being protected about as specially and



effectively as if inclosed in a separate husk. Wild wool is too fine

to stand by itself, the fibers being about as frail and invisible as



the floating threads of spiders, while the hairs against which they

lean stand erect like hazel wands; but, notwithstanding their great



dissimilarity in size and appearance, the wool and hair are forms of

the same thing, modified in just that way and to just that degree that



renders them most perfectly subservient to the well-being of the

sheep. Furthermore, it will be observed that these wild modifications



are entirely distinct from those which are brought chancingly into

existence through the accidents and caprices of culture; the former



being inventions of God for the attainment of definite ends. Like the

modifications of limbs--the fin for swimming, the wing for flying, the



foot for walking--so the fine wool for warmth, the hair for additional

warmth and to protect the wool, and both together for a fabric to wear



well in mountain roughness and wash well in mountain storms.

The effects of human culture upon wild wool are analogous to those



produced upon wild roses. In the one case there is an abnormal

development of petals at the expense of the stamens, in the other an






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