FAT-RUMPED SHEEP 205 



markedly Roman "nose, and the cheeks are laden 

 with fat. The small, short, and sharply pointed 

 ears are upstanding, with a forwards and outwards, 

 or outwards and backwards direction. In length the 

 slender legs are medium ; and the hoofs are long 

 and pointed. The rudimentary tail is about a 

 couple of inches in length ; and the fat-masses on 

 the rump weigh about 25 lbs. 



Dr. Fitzinger ^ was of opinion that Upper Egypt 

 was the original home of these sheep, whence they 

 were carried in early times to Somaliland, and like- 

 wise to Arabia, and even Persia, where they be- 

 came much intermixed with other breeds. There 

 is, however, no native African wild sheep from 

 which they could have originated ; and there is no 

 doubt that, like the ancestors of all the breeds 

 found in Africa, they made their way into that 

 continent from Asia. Our first knowledge of the 

 existence of these sheep in Somaliland was due to 

 one Barthema, who came across them in the Sella 

 district ; but they remained unknown to naturalists 

 till the year 1827, when an example was described 

 by Isidor Geoffroy, since which date many specimens 

 have been exhibited alive in Europe. 



The typical representative of these sheep seems 



to be the well-known Somali breed (pi. xiv. fig. i ), 



in which the limbs and under-parts are wholly white 



and horns normally absent, although one ram in a 



» op. cit., p. 184. 



