THE BARBARY BROAD-TAILED SHEEP. 169 



middle Asia have the ears pointing forwards, the pro- 

 file much arched, and the horns from three to six in 

 number. 



The 0. steatopyga or Fat-rumped Sheep of Pallas, 

 the same we have just alluded to, is reared through- 

 out all the temperate regions of Asia, from the fron- 

 tiers of Europe to those of China in the vast plains 

 of Tartary, where the hordes of Kirguize Tartars 

 lead a wandering life, seeking fresh and fitting pas- 

 ture. The body of the animal towards the posteriors 

 swells gradually with fat ; but the characteristic mark 

 is the deposition of a solid mass of fat on the rump, 

 which falls over in the place of a tail, divided into 

 two hemispheres, which take the form of hips, with a 

 little button of a tail in the middle, to be felt with the 

 finger. It sometimes becomes so loose as to incom- 

 mode the sheep, and weighs thirty-eight pounds.* 



The subject of our plate is from the figure of Fre- 

 deric Cuvier, and is the Barbary breed, with the 

 profile arched, the ears of middling size and pendant ; 

 the fleece of a thick but coarse wool, the horns have 

 the direction of those of the Moufflon, and the tail, 

 on each side, is loaded with an accumulation of 

 fat. 



All observers have attributed this accumulation of 

 fat to the peculiarity of feeding, but there seems no 

 reason or detail of experiments which can prove any 

 thing satisfactorily; Fred. Cuvier remarks, that the 



Pallas's History of Russian Sheep. 



