Journal of the Department 

 OF Agriculture. 



Vol. I. SKFTEMBER, 192iK No. 6. 



Published monthly in English and Afrikaans by the Department of Agriculture, 



Union of South Africa. 



SUBSCRIPTION" : Within the Union and Sonth-West Protectorate, Ss, (otherwise GSm) 

 per annum, post free, payable in advance. 



Applications, with subscriptions, to be sent to the Government 

 Printer, Box 378, Pretoria. 



KARAKUL SHEEP. 



liy R. Owen Wahl, B.A. (Hons.), Lecturer in Zoology and 

 Entomology, Grootfontein School of Agriculture, Middelburg 

 (Cape), Officer in Charge of Karakul Sheep Investigations. 

 (In consultation with A. D. Thompson. Manager, Karakul 

 Stud Farm. South -AVest Protectorate.) 



Origin. 



Kauakl'l sheep produce the lambskins known to commerce chiefly 

 as "Persian Lamb," from which various furs, such as astrakhan, 

 broad tail, karakul, etc., are made. They are eastern sheep, their 

 home being the arid region of 'Western Russian Turkestan, which 

 includes the Kizil-Kum and Kara-Kum deserts and the Khanates of 

 Bokhara and Khiva, districts situated east of the Caspian Sea and 

 north of xAfghanistan. 



The word karakul means in Sart "black lake," and refers to 

 the lake and town of that name in Bokhara which is an important 

 centre in the lamb-fur and sheepskin industry, and this name has 

 been used hj the European Russians to indicate the fur-producing 

 sheep of those regions. In Central Asia, however, this term is not 

 used, the names for the sheep being Arabi, Duzbai, and Shiraz. 



Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the origin of these 

 slieep, those who claim to be authorities on tlie subiert differing 



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