454

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PENINSULA

gerous hilly paths; on which account they are fold at fromthirty to fixty rubles a head; this being a higher price thanthey are apparently worth.

The homed cattle of the Crimean plains are fmaller than inthe Ukraine; being fimilar to thofe of Hungary, often of a greyor black, but rarely of a brown colour: they are heavier andflower in their pace than the cattle reared on the mountains,where the breed is fmall, though ftrong and fwift; fo that thelatter delight to trot when harneffed, and run up and downthe fteepeft paths with facility. Among the oxen of themountains, many are of the colour of antelopes; and ufuallyhave a more elegant fhape and finer limbs.

There are three varieties of fheep in the Crimea. Thofemoft commonly occurring in the plains, are of a middling fize,generally white or black, feldom grey, and ftill more rarelybrown. Like all the Crimean fheep, they have an elongatedtail, which for half its length is overgrown with fat and coveredwich coarfe wool. In winter, large flocks are driven into themountains, on the Cherfonefus, and other places along the fea-coaft, where the falls of fnow are flight; fo that they find afcanty fubfiftence throughout the winter, and fhelter them-felves in cavities of rocks, or beneath proje&ing cliffs. SomeTartars conftrud regulär fheds of wicker-work {Ko/h) y wherethe fheep remain during the night; or they are folded in thefields during the day, on account of their düng, and are drivenhome for the night. Of thefe animals, the grey fheep (thatfumifhes the celebrated Crimean lamb-fkins, or fürs) is. onlya variety: they are produced by a peculiar pafture, in thenorth-weftern angle of Crim-Tartary, which is by the natives

called