JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



OCTOBER, 1847- 



On the tame Sheep and Goats of the sub -Himalayas and of Tibet. 

 By B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



Zoologists, seeking to deduce the essential characters of species and 

 genera, very properly give an unlimited preference to wild over domes- 

 ticated animals, as exemplars of their several kinds. But in an cecono- 

 mical point of view, the world at large as properly feels a higher interest 

 in the tame species, and particularly in those herds and flocks, which 

 contribute so largely to the food and clothing of mankind. England 

 stands pre-eminent in Europe for the attention paid, not only to the 

 breeding, but to the describing, of her domesticated animals, being 

 fully aware that accurate book lore is always apt to be subservient in 

 various unexpected ways to practical utility. It is, therefore, somewhat 

 surprising, that the widely diffused colonists of England, have not imi- 

 tated the excellent example of their compatriots at home, and that the 

 herds and flocks by which Britons are surrounded in the colonies of 

 the empire, yet remain almost wholly undescribed. 



I trust that this reproach to the colonial residents may ere long be 

 wiped away, and that some of the many enlightened and able men, 

 scattered over the Indian continent, from the snows to Cape Comorin, 

 will be induced to favour the public with descriptions of the numerous 

 breeds of large and small horned cattle, that are to be found in the vari- 

 ous provinces of this vast country. 



I purpose, on the present occasion, to describe the several breeds of 

 tame Sheep and Goats, proper to my own vicinity ; and hereafter to give 



No. X. New Series. G o 



