258 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



means of protection and must at least have imitated 

 the goat, which resolutely faces danger, or, if too 

 weak, scales with unerring foot the ledges of rock 

 and there takes refuge. The sheep, as we have it 

 to-day, is absolutely incapable of living without 

 man's protection; left to itself, the whole species 

 would soon perish, the victim of carnivorous animals 

 and inclement weather. To lose thus all its native 

 instincts and descend to the lowest degree of stu- 

 pidity, how many centuries of servitude must it not 

 have undergone? I would not venture to say; but 

 at least I see that, after the dog, the sheep was one 

 of the first animals tamed by man. 



"No other species, the dog alone excepted, has 

 undergone so complete a transformation at our 

 hands. Let me tell you some of the strange results 

 obtained. In Africa, Madagascar, and India there 

 is found a breed of sheep in which the tail, loaded 

 with a heavy mass of fat on each side, right and 

 left, is transformed into a sort of ponderous battle- 

 dore, broader at its base than the body itself. The 

 weight of this inconvenient appendage amounts to 

 and even exceeds thirty pounds. " 



"Inconvenient appendage I should say it would 

 be," remarked Louis. "The sheep cannot walk 

 very easily with that heavy battledore knocking 

 against its hocks. The tallow from that tail would 

 make a good many candles, but it is a very trouble- 

 some sort of treasure when one has to run away from 

 a wolf." 



"This breed is called the broad-tailed sheep. 



