SOME PECULIAR AFRICAN BREEDS 215 



ground, is covered with long tangled wool, forming 

 a kind of tuft at the tip. 



The face, ears, and shanks of the legs are 

 covered with short, smooth-lying hair, whereas the 

 upper portion of the limbs and the whole body are 

 clothed in a thick fleece of long, soft, woolly hair, 

 which forms a more or less distinct parting down 

 the back and hangs down below the belly ; beneath 

 this is a coat of short wool, or wool-like hair. The 

 colour is often uniformly dark reddish brown, with 

 a more or less well-marked tinge of yellow ; but 

 according to Dr. Schweinfurth,^ who gives a figure 

 of one of these sheep, it is frequently white, except 

 on the muzzle, round the eyes, and the legs, where 

 there are black patches. 



Lop-eared sheep are bred in large numbers in 

 Upper Egypt, Nubia, and the Eastern Sudan, 

 more especially in the neighbourhood of Assuan, 

 where enormous flocks are kept by the Bisharin. 

 They are more numerous in the plains than in the 

 hills, and are of great value to the natives ; whom 

 they supply with flesh, milk, wool, and leather. 



As already mentioned, they were first made 

 known in Europe by Leo Africanus about the year 

 1 500 ; and in the second half of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury specimens were seen in Holland by Pallas, 

 which appear to have been brought from Libya by 

 way of Morocco, and were accordingly described by 



* Im Herzen von Afrika, vol. i. p. 37, Leipzig and London, 1874. 



