CHAPTER LV 



THE TUNIS 



The native home of the Tunis breed, often referred to as Fat- 

 Tailed Sheep, is in northern Africa, in Tunis, a French province 

 of some 4S,ooo square miles fronting the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Much of the land is hilly, some of it bordering the desert of 

 Sahara, the climate is warm, and the main crops produced are wheat 

 and barley. This breed is found mainly in the upland region. 



The origin of Tunis sheep is unknown, but the type has no 

 doubt existed for centuries in Tunis and the associated section 

 of northern Africa sometimes termed Barbary. 



The introduction of Tunis sheep to America is said to date 

 back to 1799, when the Bey of Tunis allowed General William 

 Eaton, then United States consul at Tunis, at his request, to 

 ship from that country to the United States several "broad- 

 tailed Barbary or Mountain Tunis sheep," only one pair of 

 which survived the voyage. These were placed in the hands of 

 Judge Richard Peters, on his farm near Philadelphia, where they 

 increased in number, the rams being used on native American 

 ewes also. The original ram was later used in Lancaster County, 

 Pennsylvania, on the farm of General Hand. It was soon dis- 

 covered that they produced superior mutton, and sheep of Tunis 

 stock came into demand. In 1807 or 1808 Commodore Barron 

 of the United States Navy imported some Tunis sheep to Vir- 

 ginia and the District of Columbia. Later President Jefferson had 

 a ram and ewe brought over on a government vessel, and in 1825 

 some thirteen were landed at New York. A pair of these was sent 

 to General Van Rensselaer of Albany. From the early stock, 

 descendants of the Peters breeding, it is claimed, flocks were 

 established in South Carolina by Colonel Richard Singleton and 

 in Georgia by Richard Peters. These sheep increased in number, 

 but the Civil War nearly exterminated them. Most of the impor- 

 tations were unsuccessful owing to the apparent physical disability 



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