The weakest species of useful animals were rendered domestic the
earliest of any. The sheep and goat were subjugated before the horse,
the ox, or the camel. They were also transported from one climate to
another with greater ease; hence the great variety which are to be met
with in these species, and the difficulty of recognizing the original
breed of each. It is certain, as we have proved, that our domestic
sheep, as they at present exist, could not support themselves without
the assistance of man; it is, therefore, evident that Nature did not
produce them as they at present are, but that they have degenerated
under our care; consequently we must search among the wild animals
for those which come the nearest to the sheep; we must compare them
with the domestic sheep of foreign countries, examine the different
causes of the alteration, change, and degeneration, which has had such
influence upon the species, and endeavour to restore all these various
and pretended species to a primitive race, as we have done in that of
the ox.
The sheep, with which we are acquainted, is only to be met with in
Europe, and some of the temperate provinces of Asia; if transported
into Guinea, it loses its wool, and is covered with hair, it decreases
in fertility, and its flesh has no longer the same taste. It cannot
subsist in very cold countries, though a breed of sheep is to be found
in cold climates; especially in Iceland, who have many horns, short
tails, and harsh thick wool, under which, as in almost every animal in
the north is a second lining, of a softer, finer, and thicker wool. In
warm countries, on the contrary, the sheep have generally short horns
and a long tail, some of which are covered with wool, others with
hair, and a third kind with a mixture of wool and hair. The first of
these sheep of a warm country is that commonly called _Barbary sheep_,
or the _Arabian sheep_, which resembles the domestic kind, excepting
the tail which is so loaded with fat, as to be often more than a foot
broad, and weighs upwards of twenty pounds. This sheep has nothing
remarkable but his tail which he carries as if a pillow was fastened to
his hinder parts. Among this kind of sheep, there are some whose tails
are so long and heavy, that the shepherds are obliged to fasten small
boards with wheels to them, to enable the animal to walk along. In the
Levant, these sheep are cloathed with a very fine wool, while in warm
countries, as Madagascar, and the Indies, they are covered with hair.
The superabundance of fat, which in our sheep fixes about the kidneys,
in these animals descends upon the vertebræ of the tail; the other
parts of their body are less charged with it than our fed sheep. This
variety is to be attributed to the climate, the food, and the care of
men; for these broad, or long-tailed sheep, are domestic like ours, and
even demand more care and management. This breed is much more dispersed
than the common kind. They are common in Tartary, Persia, Syria, Egypt,
Barbary, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and even as far as the Cape of Good Hope.
In the islands of the Archipelago, and chiefly in the island of Candia,
there is a breed of domestic sheep, of which Belon has given the figure
and description under the name of _strepsiceros_: this sheep is of the
make and size of our common kind; it is like that covered with wool,
and only differs from it by the horns, which are erect, and in form of
a screw.[F]
[F] Sonnini observes that this race is also very common in Hungary and
Austria where it is called _zackl_.
In short, in the warmest countries of Africa and India, there is a
breed of large sheep with rough hair, short horns, hanging ears, and a
kind of dewlap under the neck. This sheep, Leo Africanus, and Marmol
call _adimain_, and it is known to the naturalists by the names of
the _Senegal ram_, the _Guinea ram_, the _Angola sheep, &c._ He is
domestic, like ours, and like him, subject to varieties. The sheep,
though they differ in particular characters, resemble each other so
much in other respects that we cannot doubt they are of the same kind.
Of all domestic sheep, this appears to approach nearest to a state
of nature; he is larger, stronger, quicker, and consequently more
capable of supporting himself; but as he is only found in the hottest
countries, and cannot bear cold, and as he does not exist in his own
climate in a wild state, but is domestic and obliged to the care of man
for his support we cannot regard him as the primitive breed, from which
all the rest have derived their origin.
In considering domestic sheep, therefore, according to the difference
of climate, we find, 1. The sheep of the north, who have many horns,
and whose wool is coarse. The sheep of Iceland, Gothland, Muscovy, and
other parts of the north of Europe, have all coarse hair, and appear to
be of the same breed.
2. Our sheep whose wool is very good and fine in the mild climates of
Spain and Persia, but in hot countries changes to a rough hair. We have
already observed the conformity in the influence of the climates of
Spain and Chorazan, a province of Persia, upon the hair of goats, cats,
and rabbits; it acts in the same manner upon the wool of sheep, which
is very fine in Spain, and still finer in that of Persia.
3. The broad-tailed sheep, whose wool is also very fine in temperate
countries, such as Persia, Syria, and Egypt; but which in warm
countries, changes into hair more or less coarse.
4. The _strepsiceros_, or Canadian sheep, who resembles ours both in
wool and make, excepting the horns, which are erect, and in the form of
a screw.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
[Illustration: FIG. 139. _Mouflon._]
[Illustration: FIG. 140. _Iceland Ram._]
5. The _adimain_, or great sheep of Senegal and India, which are
covered with hair more or less short or coarse according to the
heat of the climate. All these sheep are only varieties of the same
species, and certainly would produce with each other, since we know
from experience that the he goat, whose species is further distant,
copulates with our ewes. But though these five or six races of domestic
sheep are all varieties of the same species, entirely produced by the
difference of climate, treatment, and food, yet none of them appear to
be the primitive stock from whence the others sprung; nor is there any
of them strong or swift enough either to resist, or avoid, carnivorous
animals, by flight. They all equally need care and protection, and
must all, therefore, be looked upon as degenerate races, formed by the
hands of man, and multiplied for his use. At the same that he fed,
cultivated, and increased these domestic races, he neglected, hunted,
and destroyed the wild breed, which being stronger and less tractable,
would, consequently, be more troublesome, and less useful; they
are, therefore, only to be met with in small numbers, and in thinly
inhabited places, where they can support themselves. In the mountains
of Greece, in the islands of Cyprus, Sardinia, and Corsica, and in
the desarts of Tartary, the animal, which we call the _muflon_ (_fig.
139._), is still to be found, and which in my opinion is the primitive
stock of all the varieties of sheep; he lives in a state of nature,
and subsists and multiplies without the help of man; he resembles the
several kinds of domestic sheep more than any other wild animal; he
is more lively, stronger, and swifter, than any of them; his head,
forehead, eyes, and face, are like the ram's; he resembles him also in
the form of the horns, and in the whole habit of the body; in short,
he produces with the domestic sheep, which alone is sufficient to
demonstrate that he is of the same species, and the primitive stock of
the different breeds. The only difference betwixt the muflon and our
sheep is, that the first is covered with hair instead of wool; but we
have already observed, that even in domestic sheep the wool is not an
essential character, but a production of temperate climates, since in
hot countries these same sheep have no wool, and are all covered with
hair; and that, in cold countries, their wool is as coarse as hair.
Hence it is not astonishing that the primitive wild sheep, who must
have endured cold and heat, have lived and increased without shelter in
the woods and deserts should not be covered with wool, which he would
soon be deprived of among the thickets; and its nature would, in a
short time, be changed by the action of the air, and in temperature of
the seasons. Besides, when a he-goat copulates with a domestic ewe, the
produce is a kind of muflon, for the lamb is covered with hair, and is
not a barren mule, but a mongrel, which returns towards the original
species, and which appears to indicate, that the goats and domestic
sheep have something in common with their origin; and, as we know by
experience, that the he-goat very readily copulates with the ewe, but
that the ram is incapable of impregnating the she-goat, it is not to
be doubted, that, when these animals are in a domestic state, the
goat is the predominant species. Thus our sheep is a species much more
degenerated than that of the goat, and there is every reason to believe
that if the muflon were brought to the she-goat, instead of a domestic
ram, she would produce kids approaching nearer to the species of the
goat, as the lambs produced between the he-goat and ewe return nearer
to the species of the ram.
I know that naturalists, who have founded their knowledge of Natural
History on the distinction of some particular characters, may make
some objections to this doctrine, and, therefore, I shall endeavour to
anticipate them. The first character of the sheep, they will say, is
to be clothed with wool, and that of the goat with hair. The second
character of the ram is to have circular horns, which turn backwards,
and that of the he-goat is to have them straight and erect. These,
they will affirm, are the distinctive and infallible marks by which
sheep and goats will always be distinguished; for as to the rest,
they cannot avoid acknowledging, they belong to them both in common.
Neither have incisive teeth in the upper jaw, but each of them have
eight in the lower; both want the canine teeth, and both have cloven
feet, simple and permanent horns, teats in the same parts of the belly,
both live upon herbage, and ruminate. The internal organization has
still a greater resemblance, for it appears to be absolutely the same;
the number and form of their stomachs, the disposition of the viscera
and intestines, the substance of their flesh, the qualities of the
fat and seminal liquor, the time they go with young, and the length
of their lives, are perfectly the same. There only remains, then, the
wool and the horns, by which these two species can be distinguished;
but we have already demonstrated by facts, that wool is not so much a
substance of nature as a production of climate, assisted by the care
of man. The sheep of hot and cold countries, and those which are wild,
have no wool, but hair, while the goats in very mild countries have
rather wool than hair, for that of the Angola goat is finer than the
wool of our sheep. This character, therefore, is not essential, but
purely accidental, and even equivocal, since it equally belongs to, or
is deficient, in both species, according to the difference of climate.
The character of the horns appears to be still more uncertain; they
vary in number, size, form, and direction. In our domestic sheep the
rams have commonly horns, and the ewes have none; nevertheless, I
have seen in our flocks rams without horns and ewes with them; and
sheep not only with two but four horns. The sheep of the North, and of
Iceland, (_fig. 140._) have sometimes even eight. In hot countries the
rams have only two very short horns, and often are deficient of them
as well as the ewes. In some the horns are smooth and round, in others
they are furrowed and flat, and the points instead of turning back,
are often bent and come forward, &c. This character, therefore, is
not more constant than the first, and consequently, not sufficient to
constitute a different species; the largeness of the tail has also been
considered, by some naturalists, as an essential distinction, and from
the difference in the size of that, the wool, and the horns, they have
made seven or eight different species of these animals, which we have
reduced to one; and this reduction appears to be so well founded, that
we are not afraid of its being contradicted by future observation.
It appeared necessary in composing the History of Wild Animals, to
consider them one by one, and independently of genus; but on the
contrary, in domestic animals, it appears requisite even to extend
the genera; because, in Nature, there only exists individuals, and
succession of individuals, that is, species. Men have had no influence
on independent animals, but they have greatly altered, modified, and
changed domestic ones; therefore, we have made physical and real
generas, greatly different from metaphysical and arbitrary ones,
which have never existed but in idea. These physical genera, are in
reality composed of all the species, which by our management have been
modified and changed, and as all these species so differently altered
by the hand of man, have but one common and simple origin in nature,
the whole genus ought to form but one species. For example, in writing
the history of tigers, we have admitted as many species as are found
in all the different parts of the world, because, we are certain that
man has never subjected, nor changed the species of those untractable
animals, which subsist at present such as Nature produced them. It is
the same with all other free and independent animals. But in composing
the history of oxen and sheep, we have reduced all the first under the
species of a single ox; and the latter under that of a single sheep,
because, it is also certain, that man, and not Nature, has produced
the different kinds which we have enumerated. Every thing concurs to
support this idea, which, although clear in itself, may not, perhaps,
be sufficiently understood. That all the different oxen produce
together, we have demonstrated by the experience of M. de la Nux, and
the testimonies of Messrs. Mentzelius and Kalm; that the sheep also
produce with one another, with the muflon, and even with the he-goat;
I know from my own experience. All the different kinds of oxen,
therefore, are no more than one species, and all the sheep but another,
however extended the genus of both may be.
I shall never cease to repeat (seeing the importance of the subject)
that it is not by trivial particular characters we can judge of
Nature, or distinguish the species; that methodical arrangements, far
from elucidating the History of Animals, serve but to obscure it by
multiplying unnecessary denominations and species; by making arbitrary
genera which are not in Nature, and perpetually confounding real beings
with imaginary creatures; by giving false ideas of the characteristics
of the species, and mixing or separating them without foundation,
without knowledge, and often without having seen a single individual.
It is hence that our nomenclators constantly deceive themselves, and
write almost as many errors as lines. We have already given so many
examples of this, that he must be blindly prejudiced indeed, that can
in the least doubt them. Monsieur Gmelin speaks very sensibly on this
subject, when treating of the animal in question.[G]
[G] Vide Voyage à Kamtschatka, par M. Gmelin.
We are convinced, as M. Gmelin observes, that we cannot acquire a
knowledge of Nature, but by making a judicious use of our senses, by
reflecting, seeing, comparing, and, at the same time, by rejecting
the bold freedom of forming methodical orders, and minute systems,
in which animals are classed without the authors having seen them,
and of which they are only acquainted with the names; names which are
often equivocal, obscure, and misapplied. The wrong use of these names
confounds the ideas in vague and indefinite words, and drowns the truth
in a torrent of error. We are also convinced, after having compared
the living mouflon with the description of M. Gmelin, that the argali
is the same animal. We have said they are found in Europe, and in warm
countries, such as Greece, the island of Cyprus, Sardinia, and Corsica;
nevertheless, they are found also, and in great numbers, in all the
mountains of the southern parts of Siberia, under a climate rather cold
than temperate, and where they appear even to be bigger, stronger,
and more vigorous. He might, therefore, have stocked the north and
south parts, and his posterity have become domestic; after having long
endured the rigours of this condition, he might have degenerated,
taking relative characters, and new habits of body, according to the
different climates, and the different treatments he has received; which
being afterwards perpetuated by generation, have given rise to our
domestic, and all other kinds of sheep, of which we have heretofore
spoken.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
[Illustration: FIG. 141. _Barbary Wedder._]
[Illustration: FIG. 142. _Ram of Tunis._]