94 



THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



generally carefully guarded against injury by being supplied 

 with a sort of truck which is drawn about by the animal as 

 it moves. A sheep of this kind bred in Astrachan has black 

 fine frizzled wool, and the skins are highly valued as a fur 

 for the ornament of cloaks and especially for the collars, 

 and a strip down each side of the front and for the cuffs. 



The Tunis sheep has been introduced here from its Afri- 

 can home, and like all other immigrants is standing on its 

 merits as a valuable acquisition to our varieties. For some 

 time it strove with its new surroundings, on the quite differ- 

 ent conditions here from which it had been used to in its 

 native African home, where it was a habitant of the moun- 



FAT TAIL SHEEP. 



tain districts of that part of the dark continent lying to the 

 East of Algeria. Thus Mr. Kandall generally well in- 

 formedmade the mistake of asserting that this sheep had 

 become extinct, the fact being that its hardy constitution 

 enabled it to overcome difficulties of acclimatation, and it 

 still remains as one of our adopted races and is especially 

 now an American sheep. 



Its origin is kindly described by Mr. Rountree, of Indi- 

 ana, who is now the owner of the largest flock in the United 

 States. Mr. Rountree gives the following particulars of 

 the American history of this breed: 



"It was introduced here by General Eaton, our Consul 

 at Tunis, who procured a small flock from the Bey and 

 shipped them to Pennsylvania where they came under the 

 care of Judge Peters of Belmotnt, near Philadelphia, The 



