114 



THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



At this point we must take up the question 

 of the Domesticated Sheep {Ovis aries), and 

 it may be observed at the outset that there 

 are a few important facts that dominate the 

 whole question. In the first place, it is 

 manifest that the sheep became domesticated 

 among the ancient Egyptians at least much 

 later than the ox and the horse, since the old 

 wall-paintings which represent these two 

 animals never represent the sheep, while we 



have found drawings of the arni, from which 

 Jupiter Ammon derived his horns. We come 

 upon drawings of a later date, however, ex- 

 hibiting sheep of various breeds, and in 

 particular breeds with pendent ears, which is 

 always a sign of lengthened domestication. 

 The Egyptians of the later dynasties appear 

 accordingly to have received this animal after 

 it had first been domesticated elsewhere. In 

 the second place, we must take into con- 



sideration the fact that there have been found 

 representations of sheep with woolly fleece, 

 which is likewise plainly a result of domesti- 

 cation; for wild sheep, such as the kashkar 

 and the argali, may indeed have a little fine 

 wool under the hair of which the fleece 

 consists, but never have a fleece entirely of 

 wool. On the other hand, remains have 

 been found round the Swiss lake-dwellings 

 of a long-legged sheep, whose horns resemble 

 those of a goat, and whose descendants, but 

 slightly altered in form, appear to have been 

 preserved to the present day in the mountains 

 of the Grisons. In short, the sheep is, if I 

 may so express myself, the animal which has 

 been least remodelled in the hands of man. 



Every country, even those regions in which 

 it is certain that there has never been any 

 wild sheep, possesses its own peculiar race. 

 In some cases the breeds have undoubtedly 

 been produced according to the demand that 

 had to be supplied — whether wool, flesh, or 

 tail- fat, which last is the case in certain 

 Oriental breeds, in which the tail is an 

 enormous lump of fat, which the animal has 

 to drag along on a small wheeled cart. Be- 

 sides the wild sheep already indicated there 

 are three or four others all belonging to 

 Tibet, the Himalayas, or other parts of 

 Central Asia, and all similar to the European 

 sheep. It is accordingly probable that wild 

 sheep have been domesticated on the spot, 



