226 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



smooth-lying hair ; but the hair on the body is long 

 and shaggy, attaining its maximum length on the 

 withers, where it forms a pronounced whorl, from 

 which proceed lines of long hair on to the throat. 

 The colour is generally yellowish white, with large 

 irregular black blotches ; the jaw being white, with 

 a large elongated black patch on each side, which 

 includes the eye and ear. The tail is mostly black, 

 and there are generally black blotches on the limbs. 

 The horns are brownish horn-colour. 



In pre-Pharaonic times Egypt was the home 

 of a breed of long-legged sheep closely allied to 

 the foregoing. Of this breed, which is represented 

 in some of the earlier Egyptian frescoes, such as 

 the one here reproduced,.' Mr. C. Gaillard writes 

 as follows in his above-quoted article on Le Bdlier 

 de Mendds : ^ — 



" The Mend^s sheep of the Memphitic period, 

 the domesticated sheep of Neolithic Egypt, although 

 nearly related to some of the breeds of long-legged 

 sheep of Guinea, Morocco, and Fezzan, differs from 

 all of them in certain physical characters. On the 

 other hand, the comparative study of the bones 

 found at Toukh and of skulls of the recent Ovis 

 longipes does not reveal any specific difference be- 

 tween these two sheep. Mr. Duerst and myself have 

 accordingly arrived at the following conclusions : — 



* Vide supra, p. 219. 



