1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 159 



Ark, and therefore that none of them have now, in a state of freedom, 

 the original stock from which they sprung. 



It should also be remembered, that if the animals at present distri- 

 buted over the earth, are all to be considered as having descended from 

 the Ark, (which I deny,) we ought rather to seek among our domestic 

 breeds for the original stock from whence they have become diffused, 

 than that the converse should be the case ; for it can scarcely be sup- 

 posed with any show of reason, that man, who had once held every 

 species in captivity under his immediate controul, would have suffered 

 them to escape and roam over various quarters of the earth, until they 

 had become wild and difficult of approach, and that then he should have 

 turned his attention to the means of recapturing and reducing them 

 again to subjection. — If, therefore, any of the existing wild breeds of 

 oxen, sheep, or goats are identical with our domestic species, (which is 

 not proved,) it should rather be supposed that the former had descended 

 from the latter , and that they gained their freedom after the flood, when 

 the then existing families of men had selected from among them a suf- 

 ficient number to serve as the foundation of their domestic flocks and 

 herds. 55 But as the Scriptures declare, that only seven pairs of each of 

 these animals were preserved alive, and as we read that some of each 

 kind were sacrificed by Noah on his descent from the Ark, it becomes 

 very improbable that any of them regained their freedom, and conse- 

 quently the domestic breeds of camels, goats, asses, oxen, sheep, and 

 some others have descended from stock which lived before the flood, 

 either wild or in a state of domestication. Therefore, we perceive that 

 neither can our domestic breeds be traced to any of the wild stock of 

 the present day, nor can the latter be traced from them ; and the wild 

 races are consequently distinct as species, and have been created since 

 the flood ; — of this however more will be said elsewhere. 



The treatment of the flocks in Afghanistan appears in many respects 

 very similar to European methods. One ram is reckoned sufficient for 

 a flock of a hundred ewes. At the rutting season the ewes are kept 

 in an enclosure and passed to the rams until all are served, the shep- 

 herd assisting in the operation by holding up the tail, without which it 



55. The writer of the article 'Sheep,' in the • Penny Cyclopaedia,' alludes only to 

 the Moufflon and Argali (O. musimon and O.ammon,) among wild races; absolutely 

 stating of them, that " They are descendants of those which have escaped from the do- 

 minion of man, and are retreating from desert to desert in proportion as the population 

 of the country increases." ! ! !— Cur. As, Soc. 



Y 



