Young: Asiatic Breeds of Sheep 



429 



A RESHETILIEV RAM 



Figure 32. This breed is a close relative of the extinct Danadar. Like the Danadar 

 they have long tails. 



it was a difficult matter to speak of 

 any distinct breeds of sheep in Central 

 Asia, as we use the word in this coun- 

 try, since the flocks of the natives con- 

 sist of a mixture of all imaginable 

 kinds of hybrids. The writer is not 

 alone in speaking of the Karakul as 

 being a mongrel sheep. Karpofif, of 

 the Russian Department of Agricul- 

 ture, is making that quite clear in his 

 bulletin, and one needs but look at a 

 flock of Karakuls to satisfy himself 

 that he is looking at anything but pure 

 bred animals. Only where the closest 

 inbreeding has been practiced is there 

 a semblance of uniformity of type and 

 unfortunately that is accomplished at 

 the expense of the tightness of the 

 curls, upon which the real value of 

 Karakul lamb skins depends, as close 

 inbreeding tends to make the wool 

 finer. 



I might explain here that the word 

 "Karakul" covers a multitude of sins 

 in Central Asia and only about one out 

 of a hundred of the so-called Kara- 

 kuls has enough of the Danadar strain 

 in it to produce the tight curls so much 

 desired. 



When it comes to the large Arabi 

 which Sinitzin describes, he could not 

 possibly have meant anything other 

 than the large Karakul, also known as 

 Doozbai. What is more natural than 

 to expect a hybrid, resulting from "a 

 cross of the small Danadar upon a fat- 

 rump, to possess the characteristics of 

 the fatrump? The typical fatrump 

 possesses a large body, in fact is the 

 largest sheep in the world, with a large 

 generally hornless head, a convex nose 

 line, long drooping ears, thick legs, 

 coarse brittle hairy fleece, generally 

 red. " Sinitzin's large Arabi possesses 



