Mesta

the Mesta was the common Wetron name given to the sheep-herding guild of Anfalas and, by extension, the region of the Pinnath Gelin where its herd- ranged.

As Anfalas was ruled by a royal Liege-Lord residing in Lond Galen. Since his territory was quite unimportant, this Cáno rarely came from among the prominent nobility of  Gondor. Instead,he usually came from one of the more notable local noble families.The position was the subject of  a running political feud between a group of noblemen of  the richer, western parts of Annúlond and the Mesta,a  group from the Pinnath Gelin.The coastal group advocated a more developed agriculture and opposed the  Mesta's measures to protect the migratory routes of their  sheep flocks.Accordingly, the Pinnath Gelin group strongly  protected the Mesta against anything they felt as encroaching on the privileges of its organization.There were many towns all over the territory.Most were very small with populations of between 1.000 and 2.000 inhabitants and functioned mainly as marketplaces for the surrounding villages.Those in the valleys of the Lefnui and the lower Morthond were more important,since they were foci for the Mesta's wool-trade in the Lefnui vale,or for the mining of ore.