174 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



are killed soon after birth. Black, grey, and silver- 

 white skins are the most beautiful and the most 

 valuable. Writing in 1892 of the trade in the skins 

 of Astrakhan lambs, which are smaller and therefore 

 more valuable than those from Bokhara, Mr. H. 

 Poland ^ observed that " the annual collection is 

 about 600,000, or rather exceeds that number ; 



A Syrian Fat-tailed- Ram. 



these skins are generally sold in the cleaned state 

 at Moscow or Noshai-Novgorod, the price ranging 

 from eightpence to two shillings each, according to 

 demand : they are mostly bought by German firms. 

 The skins are sent to Leipsic, where they are dyed 

 black in the well-known dyeing establishments on 

 the Pleisse." 



' Fur-bearing Animals, p. 336, London, 1892. 



