ICELAND SHEEP.] AND TIIElli VAlvIOUS JiliEEDS. [ali'aca and lama. 



in some of the larj^or kiiul-s, well fiittencd, tho 

 tail will weigh seventy, eighty, and it 13 said, 

 even 150 poiuuls. Ludolph saw, in Egypt, a 

 sheep's tail of eighty pounds' weight. This 

 overgrown appendage is a great inconvenience 

 to tlie animal; and, in order to prevent injury 

 to it, the shepherds are often obliged to lix a 

 thin piece of board to the under surface of tho 

 part that trails on the ground, to which small 

 wheels are sometimes added. The caudal 

 deposit of fiit in these varieties of sheep is 

 olea'^iuous, being of a consistence between fat 

 and marrow, and is often used in the place of 

 butter : when the animal is young, this fat is 

 stated to be little inferior to tho best marrow. 

 The long-tailed breed (var. Macrocercus) is 

 not only found in Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, 

 but is very numerous in the interior and 

 southern parts of Africa, and is covered with a 

 mixture of coarse short wool and hair. 



Aristotle speaks of the Syrian sheep in his 

 day, and names a variety which had tails a 

 cubit broad. Such a naturalist ought certainly 

 to be credited. Dr. Eussell describes the tails of 

 modern Syrian sheep as weighing fifty pounds ; 

 but these are house-fed animals, and excep- 

 tions to the general rule. The head is bare, 

 and the horns semicircular, and bending down- 

 wards. The ears are pendulous, aud the face 

 free from wool. The throat is covered with 

 long shaggy hair, projecting almost as far 

 forward as the mouth. The posterior parts are 

 woolly, aud the tail reaches nearly to the fet- 

 lock joint ; but, before it extends that length, it 

 makes an upward turn at its pointed tip. 



THE ICELAND AND FAROE ISLAND SHEEP. 

 Leaving the regions of the East, and coming 

 nearer our own island, we find that in Iceland 

 and the Earoe Islands, there are two races of 

 sheep — one of a small size, and of a dun or 

 rust-black colour; the other of larger size, and 

 white. Both of these races are remarkable for 

 the number of their horns, varying from three 

 to eight. Eour, however, is the usual number. 

 Tlie larger race are strongly-built animals, 

 with a coarse fleece, consisting of long hair 

 externally, aud an under-layer of close wool, 

 impenetrable by the heaviest rain. The wool, 

 however, is of little value, being fit only for 

 horse-cloths and common rugs. These sheep 

 yield an extraordinary quantity of milk, far 

 4 u 



superior to that of any of tho more soutliern 

 breeds. Von Troil, in his Letters on Icthmd, 

 states that a single ewe will yield from two to 

 six quarts a day. Tho Faroe Island race of 

 sheep is of great antiquity, and wild. They 

 are covered with black, short, curled wool, and 

 their ilcsh has a peculiarly dark aji[)ear:uiec, 

 and venison-like flavour. When IMr. Trevelyan 

 visited these islands, he found the remnants of 

 this wild race in no way dependent upon or 

 under the control of man. They are some- 

 times caught by dogs ; but can seldom be ob- 

 tained, except by being shot, or intercepted in 

 a narrow space, and driven over the cli3"d. 



THE ALPACA AND THE L.\MA. 



The alpaca and the lama, or Peruvian sheep, 

 are natives of the Andes, in South America. 

 The lama is somewhat taller than the alpaca; 

 and, though in some respects a remarkable 

 animal, its peculiarities are not such as to 

 render it, for purposes of practical utility, so es- 

 pecially interesting as the alpaca, ovt of its na- 

 tive regions. The alpaca — which it is proposed, 

 under the most respectable auspices, to domes- 

 ticate in Britain — is an animal combining tho 

 appearance of the common European sheep 

 with that of the goat, and partly of the deer and 

 camel. Like the sheep, it is lanigerous, or 

 wool-coated ; in its general structure it is 

 light, and possesses limbs adapted for spring- 

 ing and leaping like the goat. It resembles 

 the deer in skin, flesh, and general appearance ; 

 and though without the camel's deformities, 

 it is gifted like him with patience and docility, 

 being often used as a beast of burden by the 

 natives of South America. The height of the 

 alpaca is from three to four feet, when measured 

 from the ground to the top of the back ; tho 

 eyes are large, black, soft, and expressive ; the 

 animal has no horns ; the neck is long, 

 slender, curved backwards, and finely set; tho 

 head handsome, and the muzzle and cars 

 lengthened. To common observers, the alpaca 

 might seem to bo a fine tall goat, with small 

 head and no horns, but of more gentle and 

 fleecy appearance than that animal. The fine 

 quality of its wool forms, of course, a point ot 

 peculiar importance, taking into view the fact 

 of its having been introduced to Europe. 

 The flesh is also delicious. The experiment of 

 keeping these animals in Great Britain has 



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