THE SHEEP AND GOATS 



227 



We may first say a word or two as to foreign breeds of sheep, especially those of the East. 

 Some of these resemble the wild breeds in having smooth coats and almost no wool. The SOMALI 

 SHEEP, for instance, yield no wool useful for felting or spinning. They have drooping ears and 

 black heads. Some of the finest natural wool is developed by a white sheep in Tibet. The fur 

 is usually sold as Tibetan lamb. The wool is exactly like white floss-silk. When cured by 

 the Chinese, the leather is like white kid, with this flossy wool attached. 



In India and Persia the sheep is sometimes used as a beast of burden. Mr. Lockwood 

 Kipling, in his " Beast and Man in India," says : " Borax, asafcetida, and other commodities 

 are brought into India on the backs of sheep in bags. The flocks are driven in large numbers 

 from Tibet into British territory. One of the sensations of journeying in the hills of the 

 ' interior,' as the farther recesses of the mountains are called by Anglo-Indians, is to come 

 suddenly on such a drove, as it winds, with the multitudinous click of little feet, round the 



, K.li. 



MERINO RAMS 



Tkt best wool-producing sheep. Imported from Spain to Australia 



shoulder of some Himalayan spur. The coarse hair bags scrape the cliftside from which the 

 narrow path is built out or hollowed, and allow but scant room for your pony, startled by the 

 hurry and the quick-breathing rush of the creatures as they crowd and scuffle past. Only 

 the picturesque shepherds return from these journeys. The carriers of the caravan (/. e. the 

 sheep), feeding as they go, gather flesh in spite of their burdens, and provide most excellent 

 mutton. ... In the towns of the plains rams are kept as fighting animals. A Mohammedan 

 swell going out for a stroll with his fighting-ram makes a picture of foppery not easily 

 surpassed by the sporting fancy ' of the West. The ram is neatly clipped, with a judicious 

 reservation of the salient tufts, tipped with saffron and mauve dye, and besides a large collar 

 >f blue beads it wears a necklace of hawk-bells." 



The FAT-TAILED SHEEP of Persia and Tartary exhibits a curious provision of nature. When 

 food is plentiful, a quantity of fat accumulates on the tail and croup. As the pasture dries up 

 and the animal finds little food, this store of fat is gradually absorbed. Another fat-tailed 

 sheep is found from Syria and Egypt to the Cape. This has a long tail reaching to the 



