SHEEP. 



295 



CARAMAN OR FAT-TAILED SHEEP. 



THERE are many varieties of the fat or broad-tailed sheep, and among naturalists gen 

 erally they form a group by themselves. They are found in Asia and Africa, being 

 abundant at the Cape of Good Hope. also in some portions of Europe. The tail 

 in some of these varieties weighs from fifteen to twenty pounds, but among some of the 

 larger kinds has been known, when well fattened, to reach the enormous weight of seventy 

 eighty, and in rare cases, according to the best authority, even as high as one hundred 

 and fifty pounds; this overgrown appendage often being of great inconvenience to the animal. 

 The Syrian breeds have it less developed than most of the others. It consists of an 

 oleaginous or fatty deposit, said to be of a consistence between fat and marrow, very palatable 

 when the animal is young, being often used by the inhabitants of these countries as a 

 substitute for butter. 



This appendage is often so cumbersome that in order to relieve the animal from dragging 

 or carrying it about, and at the same time protect from injury what is considered the most 

 valuable part of the mutton, and a great delicacy, a rude cart or truck is often placed under 

 it as shown in the following figure, and which causes them to present a most ludicrous appear 

 ance. In the countries where these sheep are raised 

 extensively, it is no uncommon sight to see them 

 dragging about their little carts, with their much 

 prized freight. 



These sheep are rather small and their wool somewhat 

 coarse in texture. They are supposed to be the varie 

 ties which were bred by the patriarchs and their 

 descendants, the Jewish race. This inference is 

 founded upon various passages in the Bible, among 

 FAT-TAILED SHEEP WITH GO-CART. which are Exodus xxix. 22; Leviticus iii. 9; viii. 25; 

 where &quot; the fat and the rump &quot; are referred to in reference to offerings. Allen says respect 

 ing these varieties or families of sheep : 



&quot; This breed consists of numerous sub-varieties, differing in all their characteristics of 

 size, fleece, etc., with quite as many and marked shades of distinction as the modern European 

 varieties. In Madagascar, they are covered with hair; in the south of Africa, with coarse 

 wool; in the Levant, and along the Mediterranean, the wool is comparatively fine; and from 

 that of the fat-rumped sheep of Thibet, the exquisite Cashmere shawls are manufactured. 

 Both rams and ewes are sometimes bred with horns, and sometimes without, and they exhibit 

 a great diversity of color. Some yield a carcass of scarcely thirty pounds, while others have 

 weighed two hundred pounds, dressed. The tail or rump varies greetly, according to the 

 purity and style of breeding; some are less than one-eighth, while others exceed one-third the 

 entire dressed weight. The fat of the rump or tail is considered a great delicacy, and in hot 

 climates resembles oil, and in colder, suet. The broad-tailed sheep were brought into this country 

 about seventy years since, by Commodore Barren and Judge Peters, and bred with the native 

 flocks. They were called the Tunisian Mountain sheep. Some of them were subsequently 

 distributed by Colonel Pickering, of Massachusetts, among the farmers of Pennsylvania, and 

 their mixed descendants were highly prized as prolific and good nursers, coming early to 

 maturity, attaining large weight of superior quality of carcass, and yielding a heavy fleece of 

 excellent wool. The lambs were dropped white, red, tawny, bluish, or black; but all except 

 ing the black grew white as they approached maturity, retaining some spots of the original 

 color on the cheeks and legs, and sometimes having the entire head tawny or black. The 

 few which descended from those originally imported into this country became blended with 

 American flocks, and are now scarcely known. A few other importations have since been 

 made, but have proved of little value for American cultivation &quot; 



