160 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170. 



is asserted the animals cannot consummate. When all have been passed 

 to the male in succession, the rams are turned in with them, and should 

 any ewe have been passed over or not served, the ram detects her by 

 the scent. The rams selected to serve are fed up with barley and 

 melon-rinds, and in the autumn, which is the rutting season, they are 

 rendered furious with lust. Another mode of treating them is, to turn 

 the rams out with the flocks in the autumn time, when those ewes 

 which are ready for the male will leave their food and follow him about, 

 upon observing which, the shepherd separates them and puts them to 

 the serving ram. 



In the spring months, the young are yeaned at the very season when 

 the grass is again springing up. Some females come in heat after 

 yeaning, but they are never served then, because the young would be 

 dropped at the end of the year when the grass is fading : when the lambs 

 are born, the mother is milked to prevent the lamb from tasting the 

 first milk, which the Afghans reckon to be injurious; 56 after this 

 the lambs are allowed to suck sparingly in the morning and evening, 

 and after the third day, they are all flocked together during the day, 

 and only allowed access to the mothers at sucking-time ; the surplus 

 milk is manufactured into croot and ghee, as cows' milk is not much 

 esteemed by the Afghans. If the rains of winter have been plentiful 

 and the spring grass is in consequence abundant and rich, the lambs 

 are allowed to suck for four months, as the milk is good ; but if the con- 

 trary has been the case, the lambs are taken up at three months old, 

 in order that they may not weaken the mother. 



I was informed by a person who possessed large flocks, and who had 

 no reason to deceive me, that sometimes the tail of the Tymunnee 

 doombas increased to such a size, that a cart or small truck on 

 wheels was necessary to support the weight, and that without it the 

 animal could not wander about ; he also declared that he had produced 

 tails in his flock which weighed twelve Tabreez-i-munds or forty-eight 

 seers puckah, equal to about 96ibs. It has been remarked by Fred. 

 Cuvier, that the fat of these tails, when melted, does not return on cool- 

 ing to the state of fat, and this assertion is a fact well known to the 

 Afghans, who sell and use it mixed with the ghee formed from milk. 

 Some objections were on this account offered to the ghee by our 

 sepahees, but their scruples soon vanished. 



56. The reverse is the opinion in Europe.— T. H. 



