Hayes.] 422 [March 18, 



absence of trees, bushes and arborescent plants gives the country the 

 aspect of immense steppes. This nudity permits the first heats of tlie 

 spring to dry up the little humidity which the earth has acquired in 

 winter. Tlie climate is ejccessivo, the winters being very cold, and 

 the summers exceedingly hot. The country is covered with snow in 

 winter, the rain and snow being very frequent, the thermometer in the 

 neighborhood of Angora frequently descending to 12°, 15° and 18° 

 of tlie centigrade thermometer, coi'responding to 53. C°, 59° and G4.4° 

 Fahrenheit. 



The cold season continues, however, only three or four months. 

 During tiie rest of the year the temperature is very hot, particularly 

 in the valleys, while the fine days continue almost without interrup- 

 tion ; abundant pasturage is found for the white goats only after the 

 frosts and snows, when the first warm rains revive the vegetation. 

 This time is of short duration, and the stimulus given by a copious 

 and succulent nourishment is exerted wholly in developing the fleeces 

 in length. The shearing, which takes place in April, is hardly con- 

 cluded when the vegetation called forth by the warm spring is 

 arre:<ted, and receives no moisture from the dews, persons lying at 

 night in the open air finding in the morning no humidity upon their 

 garments. This dryness, however, gives to the vegetation which 

 flourishes, the only aliment to flocks during summer, an aromatic char- 

 acter ^vhlch m.xkes it jjccullarly digestible and stimulating. 



The mineralogical character of the rocks which underlie the coini- 

 try is generally feldspathic, the trachytic and serpentine ro'.;ks 

 abounding. No peculiar mineralogical elements appear to be essen- 

 tial to the successful culture of this species, as M. Boulier ol)serves 

 that there is not the least sign of degeneracy in the fleeces of flocks 

 grown upon calcareous or gypseous soils. The localization of this 

 species in certain districts within the general domain assigned to it, 

 is qui'te remarkable, and appears to be mainly determined by the alti- 

 tude of the countxy, the flocks of the pure race being rarely dis- 

 tributed upon the most elevated districts, in the deep valleys or the 

 neighborhood of the forests-. This localization is doubtless encour- 

 aged by the native proprietors, who unanimously assert that this goat 

 cannot be transported from the place where it is born to a neighbor- 

 ing village without suffering a deterioration of fleece. Even the 

 intelligent travellers above referred to seein to partake of this opinion. 

 Direct observations, however, in Europe and elsewhere, have shown 

 that this apparent deterioration is only the effect of age, and not due 

 to a change of jjlace and climate or food. The finest fleece is found 

 upon animals a year old, which is worth eleven francs the kilogramme ; 

 although somewhat less fine in the second year, it is quite good at the 

 end of the fourtli year, when it is worth six Irancs the kilogramme. 



