10 
has been introduced by the tribes who carried hither the germs 
of civilisation in their migrations westward from Asia. Abel 
was a keeper of sheep, and of their antiquity we have the beautiful 
pastoral picture portrayed in the following few and simple words 
from Isaiah xl. 11:—“ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; 
he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his 
bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” 
Western Asia was probably the original habitat from whence it 
was spread by the agency of man, and, influenced by climate, food, 
treatment, and different wild species commingled, have ramified 
into numerous varieties for the thousands of years the sheep has 
been subject to man. Professor Owen also observes that natural 
history “ as yet possesses no facts or principles adequate to the 
satisfactory solution of the question—whether the domesticated 
sheep was created as such in special relation to the exigencies of 
man, or whether it was the result of man’s interference with the 
habits and wild mode of life of the* argali (ovis ammon), or other 
untamed or unsubdued species of sheep.” He also states that 
“ the most ancient records of our race, both sacred and profane, 
tell us of the sheep as already an animal domesticated for the 
food and clothing of man; and it is a significant fact that both 
the Scythians of the elevated plains of Inner Asia, and the 
patriarchal shepherds of the plains of Mesopotamia — the earliest 
instances of pastoral life — dwelt in that part of the earth where 
the wild argali still exist in greatest numbers." 
In 1854, the Zoological Society of London received a fine pair 
of the wild sheep of the Punjaub, allied to the argali just 
mentioned. It is the orial or ovis qjcloceros , of which drawings 
are exhibited of this and the shapoo, or ovis vigniL The female 
has twice bred in the gardens, in 1858-59, and on each occasion 
produced two female kids, so that the society now possesses a 
male and five females of this animal, all in a robust state of 
health, and we may expect that this rare species of sheep 
will soon become acclimatised in England. There are several 
other species of wild sheep also found within the limits 
of our Indian possessions, all of which are capable of 
acclimatisation in various parts ol Australia. These animals 
are interesting from its being suspected that they may 
be the type of the first races of the sheep, which, inter¬ 
mingling with other species distributed over the globe, have 
produced the fine fleeces which have been improving for so 
many ages, yet have not, especially in this wool-producing 
colony, attained the perfection it has even done in Europe ; and 
