Our viands

The sheep was probably the earliest of domesticated animals, for Abel was a keeper of sheep; but in many countries in which it now abounds it was unknown before the advent of Europeans. The many millions of "sheep now pastured in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand owe their origin to those taken over from Europe, for there was no indigenous species in those countries; but there are many wild varieties of this useful animal in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and from these our domesticated varieties have sprung. All these are traced by some naturalists to that 79 8o OUR VIANDS • remarkable animal the mouflon, which is still found wild in Sardinia and Corsica, and certainly has the most singular resemblance to the sheep, the goat, and the deer combined. There is a very curious wild sheep in the Rocky Mountains, much larger than any of our domestic breeds ; it has close hair, rather than wool, whilst the wild goat of the same region has a very long fleece. The rams have such enormous horns that they are said to be unable to feed on level ground. Our European sheep seem to belong to two principal divisions — the horned and the hornless — but of each of these there are innumerable varieties ; and one very singular kind, common in Asia and Africa, is not known in Europe. This is the fat-tailed sheep. When ancient writers spoke of sheep having hair instead of wool, and tails so long and so large that they were obliged to have little waggons to carry them on, the wise men of Europe laughed, and hinted at 'long-bows' and ' travellers' tales ; ' nevertheless, our friends in South Africa know these broad-tailed sheep well, and have even told us of small boughs being fastened under the precious caudal appendage, to prevent its being bruised and torn by dragging over rough ground, for the tail is a delicacy, and, being almost all firm fat, is often cured, and takes the place of bacon. It is also used for many culinary purposes, being superior to suet and equal to marrow; but as the sheep has no wool, and the flesh is coarse and poor, it seems wasteful in these utilitarian days to rear it for the sake of the tail, and in consequence the breed will probably soon die out — it is, in fact, seldom met with now in South Africa, except when kept as a SUNDRY MEATS 81 curiosity, but the skin is valuable, having twice the strength and thickness of that of an ordinary sheep. There are several varieties of this broad-tailed sheep in Asia, which are supposed to have been" derived from Barbary, Egypt, and the Levant. Two very curious varieties of this sheep are found in Tibet: in one, known as the fat-rumped sheep, the tail is short and thin, and the rump extremely fat, whilst in the other the tail is very broad, and the head is adorned with four, five, or even six horns. The wool of the first is good, but that of the latter very coarse. Then there is the Angora sheep, found in Asiatic Turkey, long-legged, lop-eared, and with very long tails, but not particularly fat. In almost all these varieties the wool is poor and hairy and the flesh coarse, but, in the present day, the sheep is bred entirely for its fleece and the quality of the meat, and, therefore, the hairy fat-tailed species is retained only in countries where farming is not carried out scientifically, or where the finer long-woolled varieties will not thrive.