376 MAMMALIA— SHEEP. 



THE DOMESTIC SHEEP.i 



Our domestic sheep is only to be met with in Europe, and some of the 

 most temperate provinces of Asia and America, and if transported into 

 Guinea, loses its wool, and is covered with hair. It increases there but 

 little, and its flesh has no longer the same taste ; it cannot also subsist in 

 cold countries. 



In Iceland, a breed of sheep is to be found, who have many horns, short 

 tails, harsh and thick wool, under which, as in almost every animal in 

 the north, is a second lining of a softer, finer, and thicker wool. These 

 animals are sometimes wintered in stables, but are generally left to 

 provide for themselves in the open plains. Caves are their retreats in 

 stormy weather ; but when they cannot reach such places of shelter, and 

 are involved in falls of snow, they place their heads near each other, with 

 their muzzles downward towards the ground. In this situation, they will 

 remain for several days, and hunger will sometimes compel them to gnaw 

 each other's wool. They yield from two to six quarts of milk a day. Their 

 wool is not shorn, but loosens of itself, about the end of May, and is then 

 stripped off at once, like a skin. 



In warm climates, some are covered with wool, others with hair, and a 

 third kind with hair mixed with wool. The first kind of sheep of those 

 countries, is that commonly called the Barbary or Arabian sheep, which 

 entirely resembles the tame kind, excepting in the tail, which is very much 

 loaded with fat, is often more than a foot broad, and weighs upwards of 

 twenty pounds. As for external appearance, this sheep has nothing remark- 

 able but the tail, which he carries as if a pillow was fastened to his hinder 

 parts. Among this kind of broad tailed sheep, there are some whose tails 

 are so long and heavy, that the shepherds are obliged to fasten a small board 

 with wheels, in order to support them as they walk along. This tail, which 

 is a substance between marrow and fat, is considered a great delicacy. In 

 the Levant, these sheep are clothed with a very fine wool. In the hotter 



1 Ovis aries, Decji. 



