CHAPTER XXIII 



THE AMERICAN TUNIS 



History. — In the Arizona Experiment Station Bulletin 69 Pro- 

 fessor F. W. Wilson gives the following account of the American 

 Tunis : 



" The history of Tunis sheep in America dates from 1799, when 

 General William Eaton, U. S. Consul at Tunis, bought ten head of 

 the fat-tailed sheep of that country from the Bey of Tunis and sent 

 them to America on the man-of-war Sophia. Only one pair, Car- 

 melli and Salena, survived the voyage. They were placed on the 

 farm of Judge Richard Peters, of Belmont, near Philadelphia, and 

 lived to a ripe old age, when both were killed by dogs. Selena raised 

 her last lamb in her sixteenth year. 



" Judge Peters offered the free use of his rams to breeders, and 

 was so well patronized that, in a short time, flocks had found their 

 way to Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. During the Civil War 

 the breed was exterminated with the exception of the sheep held by 

 Col. Maynard E. Spigler, of Columbia, South Carolina. The 

 present Tunis blood in America has been preserved through this 

 flock of Colonel Spigler, who bred them for over fifty years. Several 

 other importations of Tunis sheep have been made; namely, in 

 1806, by Commodore Barron, of the U. S. Navy, to Virginia and 

 the District of Columbia ; later, a ram and a ewe by President Jef- 

 ferson, and, in 1825, thirteen head to Xew York, one pair of which 

 was sent to General Rensselaer, of Albany. 



" In 1894, J. A. Guilliams, through correspondence with Colonel 

 Washington Watts, of Laurens, South Carolina, learned of the flock 

 of pure-blood Tunis sheep on the plantation of Colonel Spigler. 

 He bought ten head and shipped them to Putnam County, Indiana. 

 They were exhibited at the fair at Crawfordsville, Indiana, where 

 they attracted much attention. Their quaint conformation and 

 lack of wool, however, gave them an unfavorable introduction. 

 Nevertheless, Charles Roundtree, near Crawfordsville, Indiana, who 

 is now the largest breeder of Tunis sheep in America, purchased 

 additional animals from the Spigler flock, and with several other 

 farmers became interested in the breed. He conceived the plan of 

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