tion]

A ROUND OF BEEF.

A round of beef is not so easily carved as many other joints of beef,
and to manage it properly, a thin-bladed and very sharp knife is
necessary. Off the outside of the joint, at its top, a thick slice
should first be cut, so as to leave the surface smooth; then thin and
even slices should be cleverly carved in the direction of the line 1 to
2; and with each slice of the lean a delicate morsel of the fat should
be served.

[Illustration]

BEEF TONGUE.

Passing the knife down in the direction of from 1 to 2, a not too thin
slice should be helped; and the carving of a tongue may be continued in
this way until the best portions of the upper side are served. The fat
which lies about the root of the tongue can be served by turning the
tongue, and cutting in the direction of from 3 to 4.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XIV.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SHEEP AND LAMB.

678. OF ALL WILD or DOMESTICATED ANIMALS, the sheep is, without
exception, the most useful to man as a food, and the most necessary to
his health and comfort; for it not only supplies him with the lightest
and most nutritious of meats, but, in the absence of the cow, its udder
yields him milk, cream, and a sound though inferior cheese; while from
its fat he obtains light, and from its fleece broadcloth, kerseymere,
blankets, gloves, and hose. Its bones when burnt make an animal
charcoal--ivory black--to polish his boots, and when powdered, a manure
for the cultivation of his wheat; the skin, either split or whole, is
made into a mat for his carriage, a housing for his horse, or a lining
for his hat, and many other useful purposes besides, being extensively
employed in the manufacture of parchment; and finally, when oppressed by
care and sorrow, the harmonious strains that carry such soothing
contentment to the heart, are elicited from the musical strings,
prepared almost exclusively from the intestines of the sheep.

679. THIS VALUABLE ANIMAL, of which England is estimated to maintain an
average stock of 32,000,000, belongs to the class already indicated
under the ox,--the _Mammalia_; to the order of _Rumenantia_, or
cud-chewing animal; to the tribe of _Capridae_, or horned quadrupeds;
and the genus _Ovis_, or the "sheep." The sheep may be either with or
without horns; when present, however, they have always this peculiarity,
that they spring from a triangular base, are spiral in form, and
lateral, at th