in winter becomes rough and curled, resembling coarser hair
intermixed with wool.* The breeds of sheep kept by the
Kirguis-Kaisacs are v e ri similar with respect to their fleeces
to thé argali. They are covered with strong hair, intermixed
with coarse wool. We are assured by Pallas, that into whatever
countries th e breed may be removed, its character continues
to be the same.f
It has often been observed that the sheep now existing in
the West India islands are covered with coarse-hair. They
are descended from the woolly sheep of Europe. The change
has generally been attributed to the heat of the* climated
De. Anderson has called this opinion in question, and. conjectures
that a different race of sheep may have been propagated
in the West India islands. But we have no reason to
believe that any other breed was ever introduced into-the
West Indies, than those of England, and perhaps of Spain*
No sheep existed in the islands at th e time of their discovery.
The different characters of the West India breed nxush there-
fore be the effect of the circumstances under which they,have'
existed and propagated their kind. Among these51 am inclined
to agree with Mr. Bakewell/ m believing, that the*
most important is, that they have been neglected by man,,
particularly with respect to their breeds The heat of the Sun,
variation of temperature, will indeed produce a considerable?
change in the growth of wool on one individual animal ; and
if those same .animals, which are hairy in the West Indies,«
were brought to- England, and properly fed and treated,, their
appearance would soon be altered to a certain degree. But
whatever effect might arise from such am alteration external
circumstances, a great difference would still remain between
West Indian sheep and the native sheep of England;
and, this difference, now inherent in the stock, is strictly
analogous to the variety in mankind.
Mr. Bakewell has described a sheep brought from the Mississippi.
In figure it exactly resembled our Wiltshire sheep,
and was probably the remote offspring of that race. “ It was
a fine healthy animal, but it produced no fleece. It was
* Pallas. Spicileg. Zoolog. ■f Pallas. Voy. en Sibérie, tom. i.
thinly covered with short coarse hairs, or kemps, under which
there was,a slight appearance of a fine down or wool.” “ This,”
adds the author, ^might probably have been increased by
proper management.”“^
On the whole it appears that a considerable -change is
speedily produced on the-fleece of the sheep by the influence
o f,Climate. This kind of variation has no close analogy to
the. diversity between the h a ir'o f the Negro-and European.
But independently^ the effect of climate, it seems that there
is'-a'great'variety in the fleeces' Of* sheep, depending on the
breed, and the circumstances of propagation; ' and1 this difference/
since'it constitutes ^character.*which affects the
whole prb'gefly, is analbgou^t©'-*the diversity between the different
kiMs .of hair in the humamracei
• Soihe other animals besides the sheep are well known to
vary in theirnatural.covering in nd’-less a:dégi^léy'
Goats arc both hairy atridhwóolly. ’uSomegmfc are covered
with rough, others with '1Éhoüth hair. Other raceS of goats,
without any difference that- edn- be ^Supposed to constitute a
distinction of species, produce fine wool thas'those'of Cash-
mire/ from whose fleéce the shawls are fabricated. The gOdts
Of Lydia are ^mentioned as producing wool, in the time^df
J E l i a n . '
The gpats of Angora, in Anatolia, produced fine silky hair
of snowy whiteness, and great length. I t is remarkable that
the cats and rabbits of the samë district resemble the’'goats in
thè' colour/ ahds ièxture of their hair, a circumstance which
seems, as Blumeribaeh has remarkedyto imply sortie peculiar
influence of climate on the covering o f these animals.
Some breeds of dopfchave a-covering of close harsh wool;,
otherè of softer wool. I t can hardly be- imagined that these
animals are of distinct species from those breeds of dogs
which are covered with hair, or that they had different prototypes
a m o n g the races of wild animals. Wild dogs are not
woolly. We have therefore in the dog «species fully as great
* The same author has given an account of; tv^o English ewes, which were trans-
to St. Domingo. , “ These animals, soon after their arrival on the island,
became languid and s^klytlost their wool, and in twelve months a harsh, sparing
crop of hair was observed on them.'’ Bakewell, p.,154.