SHEEP GOATS DOGS. 453 



Chenier says this animal can travel sixty leagues in a day, 

 or 145^ miles; and some of the African Bedouins have 

 offered to ride 400 miles through the Great Sahara in 

 four days. His motion is so violent and rapid that the 

 rider must be girded to the saddle, and have a handker- 

 chief before his mouth to break the current of the wind. 

 Sheep and goats form a considerable part of the pastoral 

 wealth of the Arabs, but there seems to be nothing very 

 peculiar in the breed. Russell and Barthema relate that the 

 sheep have a thick and broad tail, which they drag behind 

 them supported on a small carriage. In Hejaz, AH Bey 

 remarked that the tail, though large, was less so than in 

 the southern countries ; while Burckhardt informs us, that 

 in the northern deserts this appendage is of the ordinary 

 size. The ears, however, are rather bigger than those of 

 the common English kind. In the neighbourhood of 

 Mecca and Medina he noticed a diminutive species with 

 a white and brown spotted skin. They are purchased 

 as rarities by foreigners. At Cairo, where they are kept 

 in the houses of the grandees, they are painted red with 

 henna, and have a collar with little bells hung round their 

 neck to amuse the children. The Aenezes shear their 

 flocks yearly about the end of spring ; they generally sell 

 the wool before it is cut from the sheep's back, at so 

 much per hundred. The greater part of them are black, 

 having the head and neck, or sometimes only the face, 

 white. The goats also are mostly black with long ears. 

 The male lambs and kids are sold or slaughtered, except 

 two or three which are kept for breeding. The ewes and 

 goats are milked morning and evening during the three 

 spring months. From the milk of 100 (which is always 

 mixed together) the Bedouins expect, in common years, 

 about eight pounds of butter per day ; of this a single 

 family will consume about two quintals (about 220 Ibs.) 

 a-year ; the remainder is carried to the market. 



Of dogs there are several varieties in the domesti- 

 cated state. There is a wild kind called derboun, of a 

 black colour, which is found in the country near Syria, 

 and eaten by the Fellahs. Those which All Bey saw at 

 Mecca appeared to be of the shepherd breed; and as 

 they had no owners they roamed about the streets at 

 pleasure. This animal being declared unclean by the 

 Koran, the Mohammedans will not allow it to enter their 

 houses. Linnaeus, speaking of the dog, says " a Maho- 



