82 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



thin feet, long, broad tail of 18 or 20 vertebra; at birth, jet black, 

 with lustrous, close, tight curls, which, soon after, open out on all parts 

 of the body and become gray except on the face, neck, legs, abdomen, 

 and end of tail; rams are horned. 



2. The 'large arabi,' or 'doozbai' — a larger sheep than any common 

 breeds in America and Great Britain; same coarse, gray wool as the 

 small arabi or somewhat coarser; large head with long, drooping ears 

 and convex nose line; strong, thick feet; enormous broad tail of about 

 16 vertebra. The wool characteristics at birth and at maturity, are 

 similar to those of the small arabi, except that an occasional specimen 

 is fawn-coloured at birth gradually changing to white and whitish- 

 gray at maturity; rams often horned. 



3. The 'intermediate class' is a cross between the small arabi 

 and the doozbai and possesses one or the other characteristics of each 

 breed. 



4. and 5. The 'gray shiraz' and the 'zigai' are too few in number 

 to merit description. 



6. The 'karakul Afghan' (also known as the 'karakul finewool') 

 comprises probably 98 per cent of all karakul sheep in Bokhara. 

 They are characterized by the presence of fine, short, lustreless, merino- 

 like wool often completely hidden by the longer, coarse, gray arabi over- 

 wool. At birth, the skins have open, lustreless, curls, due to the presence 

 of the fine wool, and are practically worthless if a large quantity of fine 

 wool is present. It is this class of sheep that is usually sold to the 

 unsuspecting foreigner by the crafty natives who care little how they 

 treat the 'giaours,' or 'infidel dogs,' as they term Christians. 



When, in 1908, Dr. Young made his first importation of fifteen 

 head to America, he found, after three years of breeding, that twelve 

 of the fifteen were karakul Afghans and produced almost worthless 

 skins when bred to one another. However, when they were crossed 

 with one good doozbai ram, the skins brought an average price, in whole- 

 sale lots, of $6.50 according to valuation furnished by United States 

 Government furriers. This mistake was avoided in the second importa- 

 tion from Bokhara in May, 1912, and the nine lambs born in transit, 

 none of which were slaughtered or died, possessed skins of magnificent 

 tight curls and gloss. It is not probable that any profit can be made 

 by breeding the karakul Afghan type of sheep, though, because of the 

 mistake made in the choice of the first importation, they are in the 

 large majority even in America. Dr. Young largely retrieved himself 

 in the choice of his second importation, but unsuspecting fur farmers 

 will almost certainly be disappointed if they depend on the fine-wool 

 karakul strains of his first purchase in Bokhara. Descendants of the 

 first karakul Afghan sheep imported are in the possession of several 



