390 FAT-RUMPED SHEEP. 



wool. The tails of these Sheep sometimes grow 

 so large, long, and heavy, as to weigh, according 

 to some reports, from fifteen to fifty pounds, and 

 in order to enable the animal to graze with con- 

 venience, the shepherds are often ohliged to put a 

 board, furnished with small wheels, under the tail. 

 This part of the Sheep is of a substance resembling 

 marrow, and is considered as a great delicacy. 

 Mr. Pennant has remarked, that both the broad 

 and long-tailed varieties of this kind of Sheep 

 were known to the ancients ,- being mentioned by 

 Aristotle and Pliny ; the former mentioning the 

 first, and the latter the second sort. One says the 

 tails were a cubit broad, the other a cubit long. 



There are many intermediate races of these 

 sheep ; and some have the tails ending in a point; 

 others rather square, or rounded. 



FAT-RUMPED SHEEP. 



Ovis Steatopyga. 



Cape Sheep. Pennant Quadr. i . p. 42. 



THIS variety is furnished with long, coarse, 

 hairy wool ; has longish legs, a somewhat arched 

 visage, horns in the male, like those of the com- 

 mon sheep, and large pendent ears. The tail is 

 sometimes so enveloped in fat as to be scarcely 

 visible, the parts on each side swelling out into 

 a pair of naked hemispheres, of such a size as 

 sometimes to weigh nearly forty pounds: their 

 substance is said to resemble suet. These Sheep 



