SOME PECULIAR AFRICAN BREEDS 221 



a single large black patch ; but in other cases the 

 head is black or reddish brown, and the body 

 irregularly marked with dark blotches. The horns 

 range in colour from horn-colour to blackish. 



In their native country these sheep are kept in 

 large flocks alike in the plains and in the moun- 

 tains, for the sake of their flesh, milk, and hides, 

 as they yield no wool. Early in the seventeenth 

 century these sheep were carried by the Portuguese 

 to the northern districts of Brazil, while about the 

 same time, or perhaps still earlier, they were intro- 

 duced by the Spaniards into the West Indies and 

 Guiana, At a later date they were acclimatised in 

 Persia, the East Indies, China, and some of the 

 islands of the South Pacific. A century or so ago 

 these sheep were commonly shown in travelling 

 menageries, in which some are stated to have inter- 

 bred with the mouflon. Their native name in 

 Upper Guinea is emrnema. 



The West Indian breed, from which the Brazilian 

 is probably inseparable, is stated by Fitzinger^ to 

 differ from the Guinea type by the constant lack 

 of horns in the rams ; but a mounted specimen in 

 the Natural History branch of the British Museum 

 is further distinguished by its small upright ears, 

 as well as by its uniformly foxy coat and the 

 absence of a throat-ruff". Possibly the pricked ears 

 may be a late development. A breed of these 



' Op. cit., p. 209. 



