SOME PECULIAR AFRICAN BREEDS 219 



hocks ; the outward direction of the horns of the 

 rams, when these are fully developed, and the 

 hairy coat, but very sparsely mingled with wool, 

 which varies in length in the different breeds, and 

 is frequently elongated into a ruff or frill on the 

 throat of the rams. The colour is very generally 

 black and white, but the black may be replaced 

 by brown or chestnut. 



Cuvier was of opinion that these sheep are 

 descended from the wild North African arui or 

 udad ; but Fitzinger remarked that the absence of 

 tear-pits in the latter is sufficient to show that this 

 is not the case, his opinion being subsequently en- 

 dorsed by Messrs. Gaillard and Duerst.^ There can, 

 indeed, be little or no hesitation in regarding long- 

 legged sheep as derived from the same Asiatic wild 

 stock as that which gave rise to so many of the 

 other domesticated breeds. Next to the lop-eared 

 and fat-tailed breeds, they are the largest of all 

 tame sheep. 



The headquarters of long-legged sheep are the 

 districts extending from Fezzan and Tripoli through 

 Morocco, Senegambia, and Guinea to Damaraland, 

 Namaqualand, and Angola ; but they also range 

 into part of the Eastern Sudan, and in pre- 

 Pharaonic times were found in Egypt. They have, 

 however, been transported not only to other parts 



* Vide C. Gaillard, " Le R61ier de Mendes," Bull. Sac. Anthrop. 

 Lyon, 1901, p. 22. 



