[Illustration: HAUSSA EWE.]

Dr. Heck considers the long tail of the domestic sheep the chief
impediment to the adoption of the theory of its descent from the
short-tailed wild sheep. And yet, in sheep, this member is of
secondary importance, for it varies greatly in form. The short-tailed
heath sheep are just the opposite of the fat-tailed Persian sheep,
which are represented in a fabulous account as being obliged to draw
their broad tails, that weighed 40 pounds, behind them on wheels.
These are the sheep that supply the Astrakan and Persian lamb which is
so much worn now. The fur is caused to lie in peculiar waves or tight
rings by sewing the newly born lamb in a tightly fitting covering
which keeps the fur from being mussed. In the Berlin Zoological Garden
there is a very fine four-horned, fat-tailed ram, from the steppes on
the lower Volga. From this region come also the large-boned,
fat-rumped sheep, which have a large mass of fat on each side of the
stunted tail. In the illustration this peculiarity does not show well,
on account of the thick winter wool. Their color is red, with dirty
white. When Wissman and Bumiller returned from their last expedition,
they brought a fine ram of a different breed of fat-rumped sheep,
which are raised by the Kirghise, on the Altai Mountains. They are
smaller than those from the steppes of the Volga, but have finer wool,
and evidently belong to a finer breed. As mutton tallow is very
useful, and has been used even from the most ancient times by sheep
raisers in the preparation of food, they prize sheep with these masses
of fat on the tail and rump, which were purposely developed to the
greatest possible degree.

[Illustration: FAT-TAILED SHEEP (FOUR-HORNED RAM).]