KARAKUL SHEEP 83 



American breeders who, themselves, may be in ignorance of the ina- 

 bility of their sheep to produce lambs with valuable skins, 



. When the vogue for black Russian furs arose one or two 



and Astrakhanscore years ago the first traders to secure the raw furs and 

 market them were the Persians, hence the trade name 

 of the karakul sheep lambs became 'Persian lamb.' Their proximity 

 to Bokhara, because they were Mohammedans and because they could 

 enter a land, at that time, closed to Christians, enabled the Persians to 

 monopolise this trade. The skins were brought out by caravans 

 through Transcaspia to Asun-da on the Caspian sea and were shipped 

 by water to Astraldian. Hence the trade name of 'astrakhan' was 

 also attached to these pelts by the European merchants who traded 

 there. Thus, for a time, the terms 'astrakhan' and 'Persian lamb' 

 were used indiscriminately to describe all lamb pelts used as fur, except 

 gray ones, which were called shiraz and, later, krimmer. In the last 

 dozen years, the term 'Persian lamb' is applied to all black, lustrous, 

 tight-curled skins; 'astrakhan' or 'karakul' has been applied to open- 

 curled skins or skins with no curl whatever, of any colour except gray, 

 and includes the skins of fawn-coloured kids and kalmuck, khirgiz, mon- 

 gol, tshuntuk, Persian or other fat-rump sheep as well as to the skins of 

 karakul Afghan or karakul sheep with fine underwool. All gray lamb- 

 skins with tight curls are named 'krimmer' by the furriers; the gray 

 skins with only slight curl or no curl are 'astrakhan.' It should be 

 distinctly borne in mind that the terms 'Persian lamb,' 'astrakhan,' 

 and 'krimmer' are trade names used by furriers and tradesmen. These 

 names are never applied to the live animals, but to the skins only. 



According to Karpov, "kara-kul" is a Tartar term. 

 Their Meanings signifying "black rose" or "black lake" to which 



the native in his enthusiasm likens the black tight- 

 curled skin known as 'Persian lamb'. 'Arabi' is a Tadjik word meaning 

 'black' and should not be confounded etymologically with Arabia, 

 which country, according to Consul Emil Brass, possesses no fur-bearing 

 sheep. 'Koordiuk' in Tartar, signifies 'fat rump' and is applied by the 

 Russians to some thirty different breeds of fat-rump, coarse-wool 

 sheep {ovis steotopyga) whose lambs are not killed for fur purposes. 

 The skins of the still-born and young lambs which have unavoidably 

 died are styled 'astrakhan' and are practically valueless outside of the 

 country of their origin. As the fur is of the poorest class, it is re- 

 ferred to as 'peasant fur,' and is, generally, fawn-coloured. 



_ ^. „^ It was noted above that the presence of fine wool 



Native Sheep as . ,, , , , .^ , , f . i .1 • i 



Fur Producers m the karakul Afghan sheep destroyed their value 



for the production of the costlier skins. This sug- 



