i8o THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



farmers. They are admirably suited to the African 

 climate ; and in summer used to be driven to the 

 high mountain pastures, where they fed largely on 

 the succulent and saline plants which abound in such 

 situations. At the commencement of autumn the 

 flocks returned to the plains, where they remained 

 during the winter and spring. The shepherds 

 were either Hottentots or slaves imported from 

 Madagascar, who were assisted by large and fierce 

 dogs, without the aid of which it would have been 

 impossible to keep off lions, leopards, hyaenas, and 

 other marauders. When the voyage to India and 

 China was made by way of the Cape, fat-tailed 

 sheep were much in request by both outward and 

 homeward bound ships as a mutton-supply, while 

 their wool was also in considerable demand. 



Writing from Port Elizabeth, Mr. F. W. Fitz- 

 simmons, director of the museum in that town, 

 states that there are few Africander sheep now 

 remaining in that district ; these being mainly in 

 the hands of natives and old-fashioned European 

 farmers ; the main reason for this diminution in 

 numbers being that their wool is practically value- 

 less in comparison with that of merinos. 



These sheep were at one time exported to New 

 Zealand and Tahiti, but I have no information 

 whether flocks are still to be found in either of those 

 islands. 



In the Levant fat-tailed sheep are represented 



