456 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



are adorned with a rather long beard, composed oi 

 wiry or stiff hair. A dazzling, uniform white is the 

 prevailing color of this breed of Goats; individuals 

 showing dark spots on a light ground are of rarer 

 occurrence. In summer the hair pulls out or is shed 

 in large locks or bunches, but soon grows again. 

 French breeders have found that one fleece weighs 

 from two and one-half to five pounds. 



This Goat derives its name from the small town of 

 Angora, now in the Turkish pashalic of Anadoli in 

 Asia Minor, but which was once the commercial 

 town Ancyra, famous among the ancients. The na- 

 tive country of the animal is dry and hot in summer, 

 but very cold in winter, though this latter season 

 lasts only three or four months. In times of great 

 scarcity, or when there is no food to be found in 

 the mountains, the Goats are sheltered in miserable 

 stables, but they are left to graze outdoors for the 

 remainder of the year. During the hot season the 

 fleece is washed and combed several times a month, 

 to preserve its beauty. 



Great Value The number of these Goats kept in 

 of Angora Goat's Anadoli is estimated at half a mil-: 

 Hair - lion, and there are a hundred or more 



female Goats to every male. Angora alone furnishes 

 nearly two million pounds annually of the hair of 

 these Goats [which is the mohair of commerce], the 

 value of this quantity amounting to about $900,000. 

 Part of the product is locally woven into strong 

 fabrics for Men's wear, and finer ones for the use of 

 Women, as well as into stockings and gloves, and 

 the residue of the product is shipped to the English 

 markets. 



Ever since the value of mohair became known in 

 civilized lands attempts have been made to intro- 

 duce this Goat into Europe and other portions of 

 the globe, and the results so far leave no cause for 

 complaint. It is even said that the wool of the ani- 

 mals born in France is finer than that of the parents. 

 In Cape Colony, South Africa, the Angora Goat has 

 been introduced with especially excellent results, 

 the demand for these Goats in that colony increas- 

 ing to such an extent that in 1880 a consignment of 

 bucks commanded prices ranging from five hundred 

 to two thousand dollars each. The animals throve 

 excellently, and the export of mohair increased at a 

 surprising rate. In 1862 the amount exported barely 

 amounted to one thousand pounds, while in 1885 it 

 aggregated four million eight hundred pounds, the 

 value of which was officially given at over one 

 million dollars; so that the Cape Colonists are not 

 without warrant for their expressed hope that they 

 will soon outdo the Asiatic producers in the quan- 

 tity as well as the quality of their product of mohair. 



The Cashmere The Cashmere Goat ( Capra hircus 

 Goat and its Value laniger) is scarcely less valuable than 

 to Man. t-j le Angora. It is a rather small ani- 



mal, of graceful build, measuring nearly five feet in 

 total length, and twenty-four inches in height at the 

 shoulder. A long, stiff, fine and straight outer fur 

 covers the short, soft, down-like wool of an exquis- 

 itely fine texture; only the face and ears are covered 

 with short hair. The color of the coat is variable. 

 Usually the sides of the head, the tail and the upper 

 portions of the body are of a silver white or a faint 

 yellowish hue. 



The range of this beautiful Goat extends from 

 Tibet, throughout Bokhara to the Kirghiz country. 

 It has been introduced into Bengal, but it is espe- 

 cially numerous in the mountains of Tibet, among 

 which it ranges even during the severest cold. 



For a long time doubt prevailed in Europe as to 

 what animal furnished the hair which is used in the 

 manufacture of the finest of all woolen fabrics, until 

 a French physician, Bernier, visited Tibet in 1664, 

 accompanying the Great Mogul, and was informed 

 that two varieties of Goats furnished such wool, one 

 being a wild and the other a tame species. The pure 

 white is in greatest request, really possessing the 

 lustre and beauty of silk. One animal yields from 

 three-fifths to four-fifths of a pound of downy wool 

 fit for use. 



Forty thousand establishments for weaving shawls 

 are said to have existed in Cashmere during the 

 reign of the Great Mogul; but gradually this impor- 

 tant branch of industry was neglected to such an 

 extent that thousands of the sixty thousand weavers 

 who earned their living by their craft were forced to 

 emigrate for lack of work. Even yet the weaving 

 industry has not been restored to its former flourish- 

 ing condition. 



The Cashmere Goat Naturally, the idea of introducing 

 Successfully Ac- this profitable animal into Europe 

 climated in Europe. was entertained years ago. Ter- 

 naux, who was the pioneer of the weaving of fine 

 shawls in France, bethought himself of procuring 

 Cashmere Goats, and the celebrated J.aubert offered 

 his services for the realization of this plan. He 

 sailed for Odessa in 18 18, and was there informed 

 that the nomad tribes in the steppes between As- 

 trachan and Orenburg kept Cashmere Goats. He 

 joined these people, convinced himself of the genu- 

 ineness of the animals by a close examination of the 

 down, and bought one thousand three hundred of 

 them. This flock he brought to Kaffa in the Crimea, 

 embarked with it and landed in Marseilles in April, 

 1819. Only four hundred of the Goats had lived 

 through the long, troublesome journey, and they 

 had suffered so much hardship that there was little 

 hope that they would be able to propagate them- 

 selves. The bucks especially were very weak. For- 

 tunately the French naturalists, Diard and Duvaucel, 

 sent a strong Cashmere buck to the zoological gar- 

 den in Paris, at nearly the same time, having received 

 the animal as a present in India. This Goat became 

 the male ancestor of all the Cashmere Goats now 

 living in France, which yield an annual income of 

 from three million to four million dollars. From 

 France the Cashmere Goat was imported into Aus- 

 tria and Wurtemberg, but unfortunately the breed 

 did not prosper there. 



Various Other The Syrian Goat ( Capra hircus niain- 

 Breeds of Domes- bricd) somewhat resembles the Cash- 

 tic Goats. mere Goat on account of its long 

 hair, but differs from it in having extremely long, 

 pendulous ears: no other variety of Goat having ears 

 of such size and shape. At present it is very nu- 

 merous in the territory near Aleppo and Damascus. 

 Beginning in Asia Minor, it seems to range over a 

 great part of the Asiatic continent. The Kirghiz 

 Tartars keep these Goats in large herds. 



Next to this variety the Egyptian or Nile Goat 

 ( Capra hircus cegyptica), the animal which is so fre- 

 quently seen represented on the ancient monuments 

 of Egypt, seems to me to be the most worthy of 

 note. It is somewhat smaller in its physical struct- 

 ure than our domestic Goat, but has longer legs and 

 shorter horns and is especially characterized by its 

 small head and disproportionately large, flat muzzle. 

 Egyptian Goats of both sexes are either devoid of 

 horns or else these appendages are small, thin and 

 stubby, and none of the Goats of this breed which 1 



