FAT-TAILED AND LONG-TAILED SHEEP 171 



Himalayan breeds, which there is good reason to 

 believe are themselves descended from the wild 

 urial. Whether, as Dr. Duerst suggests,* fat-tailed 

 sheep have likewise been developed in Turkestan 

 from the domesticated turbary sheep, may be left an 

 open question ; but even if such a dual origin really 

 existed, it makes very little difference, since, as we 

 have seen, there is good reason to regard the 

 turbary sheep as a domesticated form of the western 

 race of the urial. 



The Bokharan or Astrakhan dumba may be 

 taken as a good representative of the fat-tailed 

 group — a group specially characterised by the ac- 

 cumulation of fat on the sides of the tail, which is 

 usually of moderate length, and has the under side 

 naked. Bokhara and the Kirghiz steppe are the 

 true home of the breed under consideration, which 

 has, however, been carried to Astrakhan and the 

 Crimea, and also occurs in Persia, Syria, and Pales- 

 tine, the Afghan dumba being closely allied or 

 identical. Writing of the Turki representative of 

 these sheep. Dr. Duerst^ observes that "the long, 

 limply hanging tail, reaching to the heel-joint [hock], 

 is surrounded by a mass of fat, which has, however, 

 no great size. The rams of this race are horned, 

 the ewes for the most part hornless. The horns of 

 the rams are not very long nor particularly thick ; 



' Supra, p. 152. 



' Animal Remains from Anau, p. 378. 



