1847.] On the tame Sheep, $-c. of Tibet. 1007 



is, therefore, not surprising that the tame and wild breeds of the Hima- 

 layas, mountains which constitute so unrivalled a part of the " dome of 

 the world," should be pre-eminently characteristic ; nor that the same 

 regions should, in the wild Nahoors and Barhels, exhibit samples of 

 abnormal sheep ; and such I take to be these last named Himalayan 

 species, and likewise the wild sheep of Europe or the Moufflons ; whilst 

 the Argalis, both of Asia and of America, constitute the true type of 

 the Ovine family.* 



The tail of the Hiinia is invariably short, though less remarkably so 

 than in the Argalis, yet still retaining the same essentially deer-like 

 character. It is cvlindrico-conic and two-thirds nude below, differing; 

 little or not at all from the same organ in the several other tame races 

 of these regions, where long-tailed sheep are never seen till you reach 

 the open plains of India ; and, as upon those plains not only are all 

 the sheep long tailed, but Dumbas or montrous tailed sheep are com- 

 mon, whilst the latter also are totally unknown in the hills, it is a 

 legitimate inference, that this caudal augmentation in most of its phases 

 is an instance of degeneracy in these pre-eminently Alpine animals, 

 and that, therefore, 'tis vain to look in the wild state for any prototype 

 of at least the more egregious of the macropygean breeds, how great 

 soever be the historical antiquity of the Dumbas. f 



Having now described the Himia from the tip of his nose to the end 

 of his tail, I may conclude with his ceconomic qualities, first resuming 

 that this fine breed is characterised by extreme docility, by superior 

 size, gracefulness of form, slender horns, of which there are frequently 

 four, and rarely, even five, a polycerate tendency displayed by no other 

 tame breed of these regions ; and, lastly, by the almost invariable mark 

 of a black face. The general colour is almost as invariably white. I 

 never saw a wholly black sheep of this breed. Nor I think one with 

 perfectly white face and legs. Both the latter parts are characteristi- 

 cally and almost invariably dark, black or brown, and there are patches 

 of the same hue, occasionally, on the neck or hips : but rarely. 



This genuinely Tibetan race cannot endure the rank pasture or high 



* See paper above referred to in Journal Asiatic Society. 



t The range of civil, as compared witli physical, history, is as 5000 years to periods, the 

 imagination can hardly cope with, though fossil Zoolog'y gives demonstration ol their 

 reality and successive character. 



