THE SHEEP. 189

still observed in the Hast and in some parts of Europe, in
application to herds as well as flocks. It exists in Spain,
having probably been introduced by the Arabs; and is
found also in Russia, in the villages of which, we have
often seen, of a morning, a peasant marching through the
street playing on a pipe, on hearing which, the animals
came forth from their various cottage homesteads, following
him to the pasture. They are brought home in the even-
ing, and called to be milked in the same manner*.” In
Italy, those who have the care of swine always go Jdefore
them, and from time to time sound a horn. Polybius says,
that in the island of Corsica the herds and flocks were
called together by the sound of a trampet, and that they
never mistook one shepherd for another, or failed to dis-
tinguish the peculiar sound of their own guide. This is
a striking illustration of the next verse: “And a stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers.” The whole of this chapter
forms a very interesting similitude between a good shep-
herd who would even “lay down his life for the sheep”
under his care, and that good shepherd who would have
led his people into the “pleasant pastures” of goodness,
* Pictorial Bible.