MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 457 



of blood-sucking flies, are able to transmit it to other 

 live-stock which, like horses and camels, die or alternately 

 again pass it on, after the manner of the sheep, to other 

 animals. 



No trace of any disease was found, nor was it likely 

 to be in sheep from such a healthy country as Bokhara, 

 where surra does not exist. The wonderful hardiness of 

 the breed, as compared with other large long-wool breeds, 

 was demonstrated by the fact that through the trying- 

 ordeal of the long and tedious journey, including incar- 

 ceration for over three months in a dark barn, none of 

 the original animals or any of the seven lambs born at 

 New Jersey, making a total of twenty-two, died on the 

 way. They were put on board at the port of Libau late 

 in October and arrived in New York early in November. 

 Darkness was believed to be necessary to test for the 

 presence of surra. 



Until comparatively recent years it was practically 

 impossible to get any Karakul sheep out of the country, 

 and even now " the Authorities of Bokhara put every 

 obstacle in the way of foreigners attempting to export 

 the valuable animals." To make the position still more 

 difficult, the Emir has recently issued an edict absolutely 

 forbidding the exportation of Karakul sheep, and none 

 is supposed to have left the country except those obtained 

 by the various agricultural societies of European Russia. 



Owing to these difficulties, and the fact that the 

 Bokharan traders will, if possible, provide Karakul-like 

 cross-bred animals in place of the pure-bred sheep that 

 would breed true, it is an extremely uncertain under- 

 taking to secure the genuine Karakul sheep even for 

 those willing to pay a good price. Dr. Young got his 

 sheep by means of letters of introduction to the Russian 

 Government from ex-President Roosevelt and Secretary 

 Root, but only with the greatest difficulty. By this 

 means he enlisted the sympathy and secured the help of 

 His Excellency A. S. Yermoloff, ex-Minister of Agri- 

 culture, and later Member of the Imperial Council, as 

 well as of the Poltava Agricultural Society, assisted by 

 Michael Alekseevitch Stamatoff, who personally super- 

 vised the selection of pure-bred sheep from the best 



