CHAPTER II. 



HISTORY OF SHEEP. 



ARGALI, MUSMON, ASIATIC, AND AFRICAN SHEEP. 



ASIATIC ARGALI. 



The following description of the Asiatic Argali is from 

 the pen of Professor Low: — 



*' The Argali possessing the generic characters of the 

 sheep, is somewhat less than the size of a stag. He has enor- 

 mous horns, measuring more than a foot in circumference at 

 the base, and from three to four feet in length, triangularly 

 rising from the summit of the head so as nearly to touch at 

 the root, ascending, stretching out laterally, and bending for- 

 ward at the point. He has a fur of short hair, covering a 

 coat of soft white wool. The color of the fur externally is 

 brown, becoming brownish grey in the winter ; there is a 

 buff-colored streak along the back, and a large spot of a 

 lighter buff-color on the haunch, surrounding and including 

 the tail. The female differs from the male in being smaller, 

 in having the horns more slender and straight, and in the 

 absence of the disc on the haunch. In both sexes the tail 

 is very short, the eyelashes are whitish, and the hair 

 beneath the throat is longer than on any other parts of the 

 body. 



" These creatures inhabit the mountains and elevated plains 

 of Asia, from the Caucasus northward and eastward, to 

 Kamschatka and the Ocean. They are agile and strong, but 

 very timid, shunning the least appearance of danger ; their 

 motion is zigzag, and they stop in their course to gaze upon 

 their pursuer, after the manner of the domestic sheep. They 

 are usually found in very small flocks, and at rutting season 

 the males fight desperately, using their horns and forehead 

 in the manner of the common ram. They are hunted by 



