244 



ANIMALS OF THE 



seems equally helpless and a stranger; it still 

 requires the unceasing attention of mankind 

 for its preservation ; and although it is found 

 to subsist, as well in Greenland as in Guinea," 

 yet it seems a natural inhabitant of neither. 



Of the domestic kinds to be found in the 

 different parts of the world, besides our own, 

 which is common in Europe, the first variety 

 is to be seen in Iceland, Muscovy, and the 

 coldest climates of the north. This, which 

 may be called the Iceland sheep, resembles 

 our breed in the form of the body and the 

 tail ; but differs in a very extraordinary man- 

 ner in the number of the horns; being gene- 

 rally found to have four, and sometimes even 

 eight, growing from different parts of the fore- 

 head. These are large and formidable; and 

 the animal seems thus fitted by nature for a 

 state of war : however, it is of the nature of 

 the rest of its kind, being mild, gentle, and 

 timid. Its wool is very different also from 

 that of the common sheep, being long, smooth, 

 and hairy. Its colour is of a dark brown; and 

 under its outward coat of hair it has an inter- 

 nal covering, that rather resembles fur than 

 wool, being fine, short, and soft, 

 i The second variety to be found in this 

 animal, is that of the broad-tailed sheep, so 

 common in Tartary, Arabia, Persia, Barbary, 

 Syria, and Egypt. This sheep is only re- 

 markable for its large and heavy tail, which 

 is often found to weigh from twenty to thirty 

 pounds. It sometimes grows a foot broad, and 

 is obliged to be supported by a small kind of 

 board, that goes upon wheels. This tail is 

 not covered underneath with wool, like the 

 upper part, but is bare ; and the natives, who 

 consider it as a very great delicacy, are very 

 careful in attending and preserving it from in- 

 jury. Mr. Buffon supposes that the fat which 

 falls into the caul in our sheep, goes in these 

 to furnish the tail; and that the rest of the 

 body is from thence deprived of fat in propor- 

 tion. With regard to their fleeces, in the 

 temperate climates, they are, as in our own 

 breed, soft and woolly ; but in the warmer 

 latitudes, they are hairy : yet in both they 

 preserve the enormous size of their tails. 



The third observable variety is that of the 

 sheep called strepaicheros. This animal is a 



Krantz. 



native of the islands of the Archipelago, and 

 only differs from our sheep, in having straight 

 horns, surrounded with a spiral furrow. 



The last variety is that of the Guinea sheep, 

 which is generally found in all the tropical 

 climates, both of Africa and the East Indies. 

 They are of a large size, with a rough hairy 

 skin, short horns, and ears hanging down, 

 with a kind of dewlap under the chin. They 

 differ greatly in form from the rest, and might 

 be considered as animalsof another kind, were 

 they not known to breed with our sheep. 

 These, of all the domestic kinds, seem to 

 approach the nearest to the state of nature. 

 They are larger, stronger, and swifter, than 

 the common race ; and, consequently, better 

 fitted for a precarious forest life. However, 

 they seem to rely, like the rest, on man for 

 support ; being entirely of a domestic nature, 

 and subsisting only in the warmer climates. 



Such are the varieties of this animal, which 

 have been reduced into a state of domestic 

 servitude. These are all capable of produ- 

 cing among each other; all the peculiarities 

 of their form have been made by climate and 

 human cultivation ; and none of them seem 

 sufficiently independent to live in a state of 

 savage nature. They are, therefore, to be 

 considered as a degenerate race, formed by 

 the hand of man, and propagated merely for 

 his benefit. At the same time, while man thus 

 cultivates the domestic kinds, he drives away 

 and destroys the savage race, which are less 

 beneficial, and more headstrong. These, 

 therefore, are to be found in but a very small 

 number, in the most uncultivated countries, 

 where they have been able to subsist by their 

 native swiftness and strength. It is in the 

 more uncultivated parts of Greece, Sardinia, 

 Corsica, and particularly in. the deserts of 

 Tartary, that the moufflon is to be found, that 

 bears all the marks of being, the primitive 

 race; and that has been actually known to 

 breed with the domestic animal. 



The moufflon, or musmon, though covered 

 with hair, bears a stronger similitude to the 

 ram, than to any other animal: like the ram, 

 it has the eyes placed near the horns; arid its 

 ears are shorter than those of the goat; it also 

 resembles the ram in its horns, and in all t'he 

 particular contours of its form. The horns 

 also are alike ; they are of a yellow colour ; 



