[7] 



like the gazelle, while others have the huge spiral horns of 

 the mountain, or big horns of the Osage Mountains. 

 Others, again, are without horns altogether, as are most of 

 mutton sheep. 



The same difference exists in regard to the tails. They 

 have long, slender, vibrating tails, a broad, flat tail like 

 those of Asia, or no tail at all, only a rudiment of one being 

 discernable. In some countries the tail attains a weight of 

 from seven to twelve pounds, and is considered a great 

 delicacy. 



And thus with the covering. It hardly seems possible 

 to connect the straight, hairy fleece of the Rocky Mountain 

 sheep and the long, combing wool of the Leicester or Cots- 

 wold, in the same animal. In Madagascar the sheep have 

 short, hairy wool, hardly to be considered wool at all. In 

 Lincolnshire it is long and coarse. In Saxony it is almost 

 like silk, fine, curly, and lustrous. In Angola it is furry 

 and soft as a rabbit's fur. Nor does the diversity stop here. 

 In our own country we meet with the white and black 

 sheep. About the Cape of Good Hope they are gray, dun, 

 brown, buff, blue, and all intermediate shades of color. 

 This great difference of color results from long breeding 

 under many different climates and modes of feeding. 



The uses to which these animals are applied seem to par- 

 take of the great diversity of their characteristics. The meat 

 forms one of the standard dishes of the world. For 

 luscious juiciness, ease of digestion, and delicacy of flavor 

 it has no equal. Agreeable alike to the invalid and to the 

 laborer, it is eagerly sought by all classes. Nor is its flesh 

 the only thing about it that forms a diet of man. Some 

 nations use, to a large extent, the milk of sheep as well as of 

 cows and goats. Excellent cheese is manufactured from it, 

 and its use is thought by some physicians to be a specific 

 diet in obstinate cases of dyspepsia. Even the wool is con- 

 sidered a choice dish by some of the Highland clans of 

 Scotland. They scorch it to a crisp brownness, and eat it 



