MAMMALIA — SHEEP. 



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countries, as Madagascar and India, they are clothed with hair. The 

 superabundance of fat, which in our sheep fixes upon the reins, in these 

 sheep descends under the vertebrse of the tail ; the other parts of the body 

 are less charged with it than in our fat sheep. This variety is to be 

 attributed to the climate, the food, and the care of mankind ; for these 

 broad, or long tailed sheep, are tame, like those of our country, and they 

 even demand much more care and management. This breed is much more 

 dispersed than ours ; they are commonly met with in Tartary, Thibet, Tur- 

 key, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Barbary, Ethiopia, and Madagascar ; and even as 

 far as the Cape of Good Hope. In Thibet, their fleeces, which are very 

 fine, are manufactured into shawls. 



In the islands of the Archipelago, and chiefly in the island of Candia, 

 there is a breed of sheep, of which Belon has given the figure and descrip- 

 tion, under the name of strepsiccros. This sheep is of the make of our 

 common sheep. It is like that, clothed with wool ; and only differs from it 

 by the horns, which are larger and rise upwards, but are twisted into 

 spirals. The distance between the horns of the ewe enlarges towards their 



tops ; those of the ram are parallel. This animal, which is commonly 

 called the Wallachian sheep, is frequent in Austria and Hungary, where its 

 name is zackl. 



In the hottest countries of Africa and India, there is a breed of large 

 sheep, which has rough hair, short horns, hanging ears, and a kind of tuft 

 under the tail. Leo Africanus, and Marmol, call it adamain ; and it is 

 known to the naturalists by the name of the Senegal ram, the Guinea ram, 

 and the Angola sheep, &c. He is tame, like ours ; and, like him, subject 

 to variety. These, though different in themselves by particular characters, 

 resemble each other so much in other respects, that we can scarcely doubt 

 that they are of the same kind. 



A specimen of the male African shcrp, is now in the Tower menagerie, to 



which it was presented by Lord Liverpool. In temper, it is extremely 



mild ; but it is an uncouth looking creature. It is high on the legs, narrow 



in the loins, and its coat is rough and shaggy. Its horns are remarkably" 



48 



