FAT-TAILED SHEEP. 



53 



in yards, so as to be in little danger of hurting their tails 

 from the bushes. The shepherds in several places in Syria 

 fix a thin piece of board to the under part, which is not, 

 like the rest, covered with wool, and to this board are some- 

 times added small wheels ; whence, with a little exaggera- 

 tion, we have the story of the Oriental sheep being under 

 the necessity of carts to carry their tails. But the necessity 

 of carriages for the tails of the African sheep, mentioned by 

 Herodotus, Rudolphus, and others, is real. The tail of that 

 animal when fat actually trails, not being tucked up like 

 those of the Syrian sheep." 









THE FAT-TAILED SHEEP. 



A distinguished writer on sheep supposes the broad or 

 fat-tailed sheep merely a variety of the fat-rumped ; " the 

 strange collection of adipose matter having only shifted its 

 situation from the posterior part of the haunch — the very 

 rump — to the superior part of the tail. This may have been 

 at first accidental, and perpetuated by accident or design." 



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