43^ MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



ORIGIN OF THE BREED. 



There is no subject in which there is more confusion 

 with regard to facts in general, including classification, 

 than that of Asiatic sheep. Towards this state of uncer- 

 tainty there are several contributary causes. Military 

 considerations forbid exploration in Afghanistan and in 

 important regions of Bokhara under Russian domination. 

 Moreover, neither trie ancient nor the modern authorities 

 have properly differentiated between the two great 

 branches of the ovine race which supply the prepon- 

 derating numbers in the vast hordes of sheep of Western 

 Asia the fat-rump or " Kurdiuk " type 1 (Oms steato- 

 Pyg}, and the broad-tail type (Oms platyura). The 

 term " broad-tail " in the fur trade, as will be explained 

 later, is correctly applied and confined to a specific variety 

 of lamb-fur. 



The Karakul breeds are correctly classified as a type 

 of the true 0. platyura. They also belong to the variety 

 of long-tail, the fatty accumulation being of a roughly 

 triangular form, with the apex pointing downwards on 

 the base of the tail and joining on to the region of the 

 rump described by Pallas as "thick and fat above but 

 long and lean below." There is equal uncertainty with 

 regard to the origin as with regard to the classification 

 of Asiatic sheep. 2 There seems to be sufficient presump- 



1 " Kurdiuk " in Tartar means a hanging fat sack. 



2 Dr. C. C. Young of Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada, writing 

 from Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia, South-West Russia, on 

 June 28, 1914, says : " All Karakul breeds belong to the class of 

 Ovis 'platyura j called in Russian ' Shirokochvostaja ovtsa ' ; in 

 German this means ' Breitschwanz,' and in English 'broad-tail.' 

 They have from eighteen to twenty-four vertebrae surrounded by 

 fat, except Cocey Cross (sic) t and are the result of the cross of 

 the fat-rump, O. steato^pyga^ also called Kurdiuk or long-tails. 

 Fat-rumps are called * Fettsteis ' in German. There are no fat- 

 tails in the area under consideration : the Russians call them 

 ' Jirnochvostaja ovtsa,' in German this means ' Fettschwanz,' 

 and in English ' fat-tail.' A fat-tail is a long-tail with a little 

 extra fat. The fat-tails are not fur-producers unless one is will- 

 ing to consider the Tshushka, Reshetilev and Malitch (Russian 

 breeds) as such. They are descendants of the long-tail Danadar, 

 from which all Karakul breeds (Arabi, Duzbai and Shiraz) 

 descend. The latter three kinds are broad-tails, because they 

 contain fat-rump blood ! " 



