man. utility.* Human industry has, therefore, destroyed its grace, to improve its THE GOAT, AND ITS NUMEROUS VARIETIES.-There are some domestic animals that seem as auxiliaries to the more useful sorts; and, that by ceasing to be the first, are considered as nothing. We have seen the services of the ass slighted, because inferior to those of the horse; and, in the same manner, those of the goat are held cheap, because the sheep so far exceeds it. Were the horse or the sheep removed from nature, the inferior kinds would then be invaluable; and the same arts would probably be bestowed in perfecting their kinds, that the higher order of animals have experienced. But in their present neglected state, they vary but little from the wild animals of the same kind; man has left them their pri * ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.-The following information concerning this highly interesting animal is chiefly the copy of a letter addressed to the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. The Rocky Mountain sheep inhabit the elevated region comprised in that portion of the mountain range from which its name is derived, situated between the 48th and 60th parallels of north latitude. They are found in great numbers near the head waters of the north fork of Columbia river, where their flesh constitutes the principal food of the natives. The country at the sources of Muddy River, (Marais River of Lewis and Clark,) Saskatchawin and Athabaska Rivers are also inhabited by them; but they are said to be less numerous on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains than upon the western; they are seldom or never seen at a distance from the mountains, the climate and productions of which appear best adapted to their nature and mode of life. In summer they resort to the peaks and ridges in quest of pasture, but retire to the valleys in winter. The size of the animal is nearly the same as that of the common sheep; their fleece is white, interspersed with long hair, protruding beyond the wool, and standing erect on the surface of the body, which gives them a shaggy appearance; their horns are short, merely projecting beyond the wool of the head, and slightly arcuated backwards; these together with their hoofs, are black, while the other parts of their bodies are uniformly white; their flesh has a musky flavour, and is, at best, unsavoury. They are of easy access to the hunter, who seldom pursues them unless compelled by hunger. Their fleece is esteemed of little value by the traders, and is used only as a covering to the feet during winter; their skin is of a remarkably thick and spongy texture. It has been asserted by good judges, that the silky fineness of the wool is not surpassed by that of the Cashmere goat. THE PURUK SHEEP OF LADUSK.-An interesting paper read before the Royal Asiatic Society, particularly notices a singular breed of sheep, of the Himalaya Mountains, by Mr. Moorecraft, says, "The Puruk sheep of Ladusk, when at full growth, is scarcely as large as a South Down lamb, six months old; yet, in fineness and weight of fleece, and flavour of mutton, added to its peculiarities of feeding and constitution, it yields not in merit to any race hitherto described. It gives two lambs in twelve months, and is twice shorn within that space: the clip may afford, in the annual aggregate, 3 lbs. and the first yield is fine enough for tolerably good shawls. The British flockmaster would be delighted with the fineness of the bone, the spread of the carcass, the hardiness of its constitution, and its aptness to fatten. The Puruk sheep, if permitted, thrusts its head into the cooking-pot, picks up crumbs, is eager to drink the remains of a cup of salted and buttered tea, or broth, and examine the hand of its master for barley, flour, or for a cleanly picked bone, which it disdains not to nibble; a leaf of lettuce, a peeling of turnip, the skin of the apricot, are a luxury: and the industry is indefatigable with which this animal detects and appropriates substances so minute and uninviting, as would be unseen and neglected by ordinary sheep: perhaps the dog of the cottager is not so completely domesticated as it is. I have been minutely tedious upon their acquired habits of feeding as introductory to the conclusion that there exists not a cottager in Britain who might mitive habits and forms; and the less they owe to his assiduity, the more they receive from nature.* The goat seems, in every respect, more fitted for a life of savage liberty than the sheep.(g) It is naturally more lively, and more possessed with animal not keep three of these sheep with more ease than he now keeps a cur dog; nor a little farmer, who might not maintain a flock of fifteen or twenty without appropriating half an acre exclusively to their use: they would derive support from that produce which now either totally runs to waste, or goes to the dunghill. I have procured some of the sheep, and mean to increase the stock to two hundred, leaving them under the care of a respectable lama for two years, at the end of which period my journey will have been completed. Should I fall, an event by no means impossible, government will receive them as a legacy, without expense, under the hope that some of the individuals will be sent to Britain; and in the sure expectation that the progeny will be distributed to cottagers and small farmers in poor and dry countries."— LOUDON'S MAGAZINE. NAT. HIST. * THE GENUS CAPRA.-It is a fact of a singular nature, that as far as geological observations have extended over fossil organic remains among the multitude of extinct and existing genera, and species of mammiferous animals, which the exercised eye of comparative anatomists have detected, no portions of Caprine or Ovine races have yet been satisfactorily authenticated; yet in a wild state the first are found in three quarters of the globe, and perhaps in the fourth; and the second most certainly exist in a very great portion of the earth, New Holland, perhaps, excepted. It would almost seem as if this class of animals were added, by the all-bountiful hand of Providence, to the stock of other creatures, for the express purpose of being the instruments which should lead man to industry and peace; at least, such an effect may, in a great measure, be ascribed to them, and if not the first companion, the goat may nevertheless, be regarded as the earliest pas sive means by which mankind entered upon an improving state of existence. The dog may have associated himself with the fortunes of human nature at an earlier period, but his society could lead no further than to mutual assistance, not to civilization. The goat and sheep, the best fruits of the united exertions of man and his canine associate, first slain and devoured, then caught, tamed, and reared, must have furnished obvious inducements to abandon the precarious life of a hunter. A gift of nature so evidently important, led to its usual effect upon minds without cultivation. The wandering shepherd guided his nightly course by the stars; he observed the connexion of the seasons by the passage of the sun through certain portions of the heavens; he named the stars within the range, after the objects most familiar to his mind, and his zodiac was formed with Capricorn and Aries among its members or houses. In the early mythologies, Pan the supreme power over nature, is portrayed with the insignia of the goat, and the Lybian Jupiter, with the horns of the Ram; Osiris, or the sun, during the vernal period of the year, assumes the same characters; and the Grecian Jupiter and Minerva claim alike the Ægis, or goat skin, for a breast-plate. Both the goat and sheep were held sacred to one or more divinities, and sacrificed at their altars. In the Jewish they were likewise sacrificed, but not with the same intention; for here the goat was expressly marked as emblematical of atonement, and in the Christian dispensation, the beautiful image of exalted innocence bearing the sins of mankind, is still retained in the figurative designation of the lamb.-CUVIER. PECULIARITIES AND HABITS.-It would be difficult, if not impossible, to substantiate the descent of the present domestic breed of goats from any one particular species in a state of nature. The genus capra is distinguished from antelope, by many external peculiarities which it might be dry and tedious to explain here. A beard adorns the chin of nearly all the males, the ears are narrow and rounded at the tips, the fur is not very coarse, and the legs strong and thick. Goats are by nature inclined to ascend: in a wild state all the species reside on the most elevated mountains upon the borders of perpetual snow; and the domesticated, if they live in mountainous countries, will climb invariably while feeding, till the necessity of drinking, or the habits of education, again call them down. When mixed with sheep, they always take the lead, and the more helpless species follow their track. They are fearless, capricious, impudent, gregarious, not disinclined to associate even with man, but always in motion, ever in search of new objects, persevering yet inconstant. They spring with precision on the most difficult ground, love to look over precipices, and to perch on the highest accessible pinnacles. They walk on narrow ledges of rocks, and if two meet in such a place that neither can turn, one lies down and the other passes over its back. Mr. Bingly relates an anecdote of the kind, where two goats passed each other in this manner upon the torus of (g) Buffon. instinct. It easily attaches itself to man, and seems sensible of his caresses. It is also stronger and swifter, more courageous, and more playful, lively, capricious, and vagrant: it is not easily confined to its flock, but chooses its own pastures, and loves to stray remote from the rest. It chiefly delights in climbing precipices; in going to the very edge of danger: it is often seen suspended upon an eminence hanging over the sea, upon a very little base, and even sleeps there in security. Nature has, in some measure, fitted it for traversing these declivities with ease; the hoof is hollow underneath, with sharp edges, so that it walks as securely on the ridge of a house, as on the level ground. It is a hardy animal, and very easily sustained; for which reason it is chiefly the property of the poor, who have no pastures with which to supply it. There are proofs of this animal being naturally the friend of man; and that the goat seldom resumes its primeval wildness, when once reduced into a state of servitude. In the year 1698, an English vessel happening to touch at the islands of Bonavista, two Negroes came, and offered the sailors as many goats as they chose to take away. Upon the captain's expressing his astonishment at this offer, the Negroes assured him that there were but twelve persons in the island, and that the goats were multiplied in such a manner as even to become a nuisance: they added, that instead of giving any trouble to catch them, they followed the few inhabitants that were left with a sort of obstinacy, and rather became importunate with their tameness.* The goat produces but two at a time; and three at the most. But in the warmer climates, although the animal degenerates, and grows less, yet it becomes more fruitful, being generally found to bring forth three, four, and five at a single delivery. The buck is capable of propagating at the age of one year, and the female at seven months; however the fruits of this premature generation are weak and defective; and their best breeding-time is generally delayed till the age of two years, or eighteen months at least. One buck is sufficient for a hundred and fifty goats; his appetites are excessive: but this ardour brings on a speedy decay, so that he is enervated in four years at most, and even becomes old before he reaches his seventh year. The goat, like the sheep, continues five months with young; and, in some places, bears twice a year. despair, bolting down upon him, and plunging both head-long into the abyss.-GRIFFITH. The milk of the goat is sweet, nourishing, and medicinal; not so apt to curdle upon the stomach as that of the cow; and, therefore, preferable to those whose digestion is but weak. The peculiarity of this animal's food gives the milk a flavour different from that either of the cow or the sheep; for as it generally feeds upon shrubby pastures, and heathy mountains, there is an agreeable wildness in the taste, very pleasing to such as are fond of that aliment. In several parts of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, the goat makes the chief possession of the inhabitants. On those mountains, where no other useful animal could find subsistence, the goat continues to glean a sufficient living, and supplies the hardy natives with what they consider as varied luxury. One of the most remarkable varieties we find in the goat is in that of Natolia. the rampart of the citadel of Plymouth, overhanging the beach, in sight of a number of spectators. Their senses are accurate; they see to a great distance, and the faculty of smell ing is very delicate, but in the choice of food they are not particular, often prefering bitter plants, and even manufactured tobacco, barking the trees and buds, and doing great mischief to the woods. Their structure is robust, their habits vigilant; the chase of them is, therefore, both laborious and dangerous: for every strange object is seen at a great distance, and if suspicious, avoided by a retreat, which defies the skill and industry even of the most intrepid hunters, and often causes his life to be sacrificed, by the dangers of the precipices, the ice, or the animal driven to * TRACTABILITY.-Sonini, in his edition of Buffon's Natural History, has given us a curious instance of the readiness with which the goat will permit itself to be sucked by animals of a different kind, and far larger than itself. He assures us that he saw, in the year 1780, a foal that had lost its mother, thus nourished by a goat, which was placed on a barrel, in order that it might be sucked with greater convenience. The foal followed its nurse to pasture, as it would have done its parent; and was attended with the greatest care by the goat, which always called it back by her bleatings when it wandered any distance from her." The Natolian goat, or, as Buffon calls it, the goat of Angora, has the ears longer than ours, and broader in proportion. The male has horns of about the same length with the goat of Europe, but black, and turned very differently, going out horizontally on each side of the head, and twisted round in the manner of a cork-screw. The horns of the female are shorter, and encircle the ear somewhat like those of the ram. They are of a dazzling white colour; and in all, the hair is very long, thick, fine, and glossy; which, indeed, is the case with almost all the animals of Syria. There are a great number of these animals about Angora, where the inhabitants drive a trade with their hair, which is sold, either raw or manufactured, into all parts of Europe. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the stuffs which are made from the hair of almost all the animals of that country. These are well known among us by the name of camlet.* GOATS OF THIBET.-The project of introducing the breed of goats of Cashmere into Germany, has not been very favourably entertained. One writer has pretended to show that the European goat, by a single cross, might be brought to yield the precious article for which so much money is sent into Asia. Another argues against the Asiatic animal, on the ground that a single sheep of a good breed will bring four times the profits of a goat of Thibet; and a third, M. Schmidt, rejects their introduction into Germany, because France has anticipated that country in the manufacture of the merchandise in which their down is used. M. Schmidt makes the following observations on the fleece of these animals. Judging by their fleece, there are, he says, two sorts of goats; one which may be called the race of Angora, with hair long and pendent; the other, the goat of Thibet, with hair short and stiff. The former has no down; the latter, on the contrary, is covered, during winter, with a down which is more abundant and finer in those kept on the mountains. These two races, originally from Asia, have produced by their mixture, aided by the influence of climate, many varieties. On examining with attention the European goat, it will be found also that the long-haired ones have no down; or, if they have any, it is in very small quantities along the vertebral column; while of those which have short hair, there are to be found some which have a down spread over the entire carcass. This down grows almost to the length of hair in the spring, then comes off, and appears on the surface, to which it gives a gray tint. By the mixture of these breeds, a bastard race is formed, which have more or less down; but it is observed that the offspring partook more of the nature of the dam than of the sire. The two principal importations of the goats of Asia into Germany are those of M. Wallner of Geneva, who procured them directly from Thibet; and of M. Lowenherz, who received them from M. Terneaux; so that the former are goats of Thibet, the latter Kirguises. The Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, all the Archdukes, and some private individuals, have procured goats of the former importation. They have been introduced into Saxony by M. de Buest, on his domain of Tossfell.-ARCANA OF SCIENCE, 1830. GOAT SKINS AND HAIR. -The skins of these animals were, probably, among the first materials employed for clothing; afterwards, the long hair of the goat was mixed up with the short and soft fur of other animals, and united with the gum of trees, or animal glue, manufactured into that coarse and solid felt, known in northern Asia from the earliest ages, and noticed by historians and poets. It was probably of this material that the black war tunics of the Cimbri were made, in their conflicts with Marius; and we know it was the winter dress of the auxiliary cohorts, and even of the Roman legions in Britain-at least to the period of Constantine. But long before this period, the gradual advance of art was felt, even in the depth of northern Europe. The distaff had reached the Scandinavian nations, as well as we find it subsequently in the hands of the Mexicans; and the thread, at first platted into ribbons, afterwards enlarged and wrought, like matting, into a kind of thrum, was at length woven into narrow, and last of all into broad, pieces of cloth. In the ribbon plat, (i. e. plaid,) we see the origin of the check dresses common to most nations of northern latitudes, during their state of incipient civilization; for these were made by platting the ribbons into broader and warmer pieces; the stripes almost universal in the south, were the same plats sewed together. That goat's hair was the chief ingredient among the Scandina vians, is proved by their divinities being dressed in Geita Kurtlu. The domestic goat in the north and west of the old world, preceded sheep for many centuries, and predominated while the country was chiefly covered with forests; nor is there evidence of wool-bearing animals crossing the Rhine, or the Upper Danube, till towards the subversion of the Roman empire. In Spain, Southern Gaul, Italy, the shores of the Black Sea, and Greece, the case is otherwise: it may be A second variety is the Assyrian goat of Gesner, which is somewhat larger than ours, with ears almost hanging down to the ground, and broad in proportion. The horns, on the contrary, are not above two inches and a half long, black, and bending a little backwards. The hair is of a fox colour; and under the throat there are two excrescences, like the gills of a cock. These animals are chiefly kept round Aleppo, for the sake of their milk. They are driven through the streets, and their milk is sold to the inhabitants as they pass along. In the third variety may be reckoned the little goat of America, which is of the size of a kid, but the hair is as long as that of the ordinary breed. The horns, which do not exceed the length of a man's finger, are thick, and bent downwards so close to the head, that they almost enter the skin. There is an animal of this kind at the Cape of Good Hope, called the blue goat, which may be ranked as the fourth variety. It is in shape like the domestic, but much larger, being nearly of the size of a stag. Its hair is very short, and of a delightful blue; but it loses a great deal of its beauty when the animal is dead. It has a very long beard; but the horns are not so long in proportion as in other goats, being turned spirally, in the manner of a corkscrew. It has very long legs, but well proportioned; and the flesh is very well tasted, but lean. For this reason, in that plentiful country, it is chiefly killed upon account of its skin. In fine, the Juda goat resembles ours in most parts, except in size, it being much smaller. This animal is common in Guinea, Angola, and all along the coasts of Africa: it is not much larger than a hare, but it is extremely fat, and its flesh admirably tasted. It is in that country universally prefered to mutton. These animals seem all of one kind, with very trifling distinctions between them. But, although these are evidently known to belong to the goat kind, there are others nearly resembling the goat, of whose kindred we cannot be equally certain. These are such as, being found in a state of nature, have not as yet been sufficiently subjected to human observation. Hence it is impossible to determine with precision to which class they belong;-whether they be anima s of a particular kind, or merely the goat in its state of savage freedom. Were there but one of these wild animals, the inquiry would soon be ended, and we might readily allow it for the parent stock; but in the present case, there are two kinds that have almost equal pretensions to this honour; and the claims of which it has (Ibex.) been found difficult to determine. The animals in question are the chamois and the ibex. These both bear very near approaches to the goat in figure have horns that never shed; and, at the same time, are more different from each other than from the animal in question. From which of these two sources our domestic goat is derived is not easy to settle. Instead, therefore, of entering into the discussion, I will content myself with the result of Mr. Buffon's inquiries. He is of opinion that the ibex is the principal source, that our domestic goat is the immediate descendant, and that the chamois is but a variety from that stock, a sort of collateral branch of the same family. His principal reason for giving the preference to the ibex is its having a more masculine figure, large horns, and a large beard; whereas the chamois wants these marks of primitive strength and wildness. He supposes, therefore, in their original, savage state, that our goat has taken after the male of the parent stock, conjectured that the mythological romance of tion of the breed of sheep into the land of the Argonauts rests upon the first importa- taste and genius.-CUVIER. |