The first sheep in South Africa are said to have originated in Southern and Central, Asia from where they migrated to Egypt and then down through Africa eventually arriving in the Cape. The sheep seen by visitors to the Cape were very big, had big tails similar to the sheep found in Syria, and also had very good meat. They were different to other sheep in that they did not have wool but hair on their backs.
With the arrival of van Riebeeck in 1652 it was necessary for the Dutch to barter with the locals to obtain meat for the passing ships and the colony, as they had no herds of their own. The Hottentots who owned the sheep were given a plug of tobacco and a length of copper wire measured from the head to the tail of the sheep as payment for the sheep. Beads were also used when there was no copper wire available.
