1839.] Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. 1011 



numbers. In Seeweestan sheep are the favourite stock, and in the 

 Daman, cows. In the warm parts of Pukhlee buffaloes are very nu- 

 merous, and in Swad and Bhooner they constitute the chief stock, yet 

 are buffaloes not used for carriage in those countries. Beyond Jellala- 

 bad and Lughman, buffaloes are scarcely seen. The climate of the 

 warm parts of Toorkistan and Khoorasan is certainly favourable 

 enough to this animal, which is yet in a manner unknown ; some are 

 indeed seen near Candahar, and a few years ago several were kept in 

 the neighbourhood of Milkh. The buffalo probably extends from the 

 delta of Sindh, west, along the coast of Bulochistan ; but the whole of 

 the inland parts of the west, and the whole of the hilly tracts of 

 Bulochistan are destitute of this animal. 



158. Sheep are kept in all these countries, nor does there appear 

 to be in Bulochistan any tribe which depends on camels alone, like 

 the Arabs of the desert. The sheep are of two breeds, easily distin- 

 guished ; the heavy tailed (called doomba), and the light tailed. The 

 latter species is that found in India, and thence extend west into 

 Sindh, and part of Seeweestan. The sheep of the Daman are gene- 

 rally of this kind, which also prevails nearly to the utmost limits of 

 Pothwar. In Kushmeer, Tibet, Kashhur, most parts of upper Bu- 

 dukhshan, and among the Kafeir's, no other is known. In such a tract 

 of country many varieties must occur in appearance and value ; the 

 finest wool seems to be that of the Indian desert, and the Rajpoot 

 country. The doomba is found in all the other countries ; and is 

 the prevailing species in Persia, with the exception of Geelar and 

 Mazundarum. The doombas of Toorkistan, and particularly that 

 bred by the Kuzzahs is very large. The doomba seems a superior 

 species to the Indian sheep ; the wool on an average is equal, the 

 carcase larger, and the flesh richer flavoured. The lamb is reckoned one 

 of the delicacies of the spring season. The pasturing tribes of the west 

 do not in general suffer the ewes to lamb twice, but where sheep are 

 kept by farmers in small numbers an autumn lamb is dropped, which 

 however does not thrive so well as the spring one. In Kushmeer, the 

 environs of Cabul, and most other places where the sheep are housed 

 in the winter, only one lamb is had from the ewe, but in the upper 

 parts of Budukhshan a contrary practice prevails. 



159. Every flock of sheep ought to contain a few goats, which lead 

 the way in pasturing. In some countries goats and sheep are nearly 

 equally mixed, but some situations are so steep and rugged, that sheep 

 cannot accompany the goats. Where it is practicable to keep them, 

 sheep are a more profitable stock. The goats of these countries present 



