6oo 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is only in India and Peru that the sheep is used as a beast 

 of burden. Borax, asafoetida, and other commodities are brought 

 in bags on the backs of sheep driven in large flocks from Thibet 

 into British territory. Only the picturesque shepherds return 

 from these journeys ; for the carriers of the caravan, feeding as 

 they go, gather flesh in spite of their burdens, and provide most 

 excellent mutton. 



Sheep are numerous in India, but they are seldom kept by the 

 cultivator or farmer, for the combination of agricultural with 

 pastoral life, common in other countries, is almost unknown. In 

 the towns of the plains rams are kept as fighting animals, and 

 the sport is a source of gratification to many. A Mohammedan. 

 " buck," going out for a stroll with his fighting ram, makes a 

 picture of point-device foppery not easily surpassed by the sport- 

 ing fancy of the West. The ram is neatly clipped, with a judi- 

 cious reservation of salient tufts, touched with saffron and mauve 

 dyes, and, besides a necklace of large blue beads, it bears a collar 

 of hawk-bells. Its master wears loosely round his neck or on his 

 shoulders a large handkerchief of the brightest colors procurable ; 

 his vest is of scarlet or sky-blue satin, embroidered with color and 

 gold ; his slender legs are incased in skin-tight drawers ; a gold- 

 embroidered cap is poised on one side of his head ; his long black 

 hair, parted in the middle, and shining with scented hair-oil, is 

 sleeked behind his ears, where it has a drake's-tail curl which 

 throws in relief his gold ear-rings ; and, in addition to two or three 



Fig. 4. — Comparative Sizes of the Largest and Smallest Breeds of Indiaij Oxen. 



necklaces, he usually wears a gold chain. Patent-leather shoes 

 and a cane complete the costume. As he first affronts the sun- 

 shine, he looks undeniably smart, but his return, I have observed, 

 is not always so triumphant. The ram naturally loses interest in 

 a stroll which has not another ram in perspective, and it is not 

 easy to preserve an air of distinction when angrily proiDelling 

 homeward a heavy and reluctant sheep. 



