The wool is not of the same excellence, and is used less for clothing (probably for want of knowledge in the preparation of it) than for carpets, travelling-bags, horse-cloths, and similar other coarse stuffs; it is little seen in the export trade. Black, curly lamb-skins, on the other hand, form an important article of trade. Its chief source is Bokhara, especially Karaköl; from here it is exported all over Asia, and even to Europe, where it is known under the name of Astrachan. The skin is drawn off the young lamb two or three days after its birth, and then softened in barley meal and salt. It is said, that washing it in the water of the Zerefshan gives it the beautiful lustre; and in the month of July thousands of them may be seen spread out for drying along its banks, between Bokhara and Behaeddin. The skins are everywhere admired, but mostly in request in Persia, where they are made into the fashionable hats of the country. If we take into account, that a külah (a hat, for which three or four skins are used) costs there as much as from ten to fifteen ducats, we may feel assured that our Astrachan of a considerably lower price is no Bokhara production. With the nomads of Central Asia the breeding of sheep is a chief means of maintenance, and we can easily form an idea of the innumerable flocks of sheep which graze and rove upon the steppes. The Kirghis send great quantities of sheep to the Khanats and to Russia, where the importation is constantly on the increase. In the year 1835 about 850,000, and in the year 1860 already 3,644,000 roubles' worth of sheep were imported.[30] In addition to this enormous quantity of sheep, raw sheep-skins to the value of 75,000, and wool to the value of 86,000 silver roubles, passed the Russian frontier at Orenburg in the same year. [30] Compare "The Russians in Central Asia," p. 462. The _goat_ is, after the sheep, one of the most important of domestic animals. Goats' flesh is not so palatable as that of sheep, but it is here better than anywhere else in Asia. The wool of the goat, according to Burnes, is far inferior to that of the Cashmir goat, but tolerably good; and waterproof stuffs are made of it. _Horses_, of excellent breed, are found among the Turkomans, who export the finest to Afghanistan, India and Persia. The Turkoman horse, especially the Akhal and Yomut race,[31] is very little inferior to the Arab horse in point of swiftness and endurance, as well as in beauty of form. The Œzbeg horse, or the species met with in Bokhara, Khiva, and Maymene, possesses more strength than swiftness. [31] Compare "Travels in Central Asia," p. 420.