THE GOAT. 219 



The suet of the goat makes candles superior in whiteness and firmness to 

 those of the ox or sheep, while the skins of the goat are useful in the manu- 

 facture of morocco leather, parchment, and vellum ; it being susceptible to a 

 deeper, more perfect, and permanent dye than the skin of any other animal. 

 In Turkey, Persia, and Africa, morocco leather is made fi-om its skin in vast 

 quantities, and is highly prized all over the world, while the skm of the kid 

 is made into gloves of the finest quality, and always commands the highest 

 prices. In Persia we observed it constituting the chief and most valuable arti- 

 cle in the manufacture of the peculiar woolly kid and lamb-skin hats, so highly 

 prized by the natives. Eighty thousand raw goat skins are annually exported 

 from Norway for leather. Russia uses it largely. The horns are used for 

 handles to tools of all kinds, while from the fleece are made various articles of 

 clothing from the most luxuriant and costly shawl to the more humble and 

 useful camlet and heavy durable clothing of the peasant. The goat is not only 

 hardy and prolific, but long-lived, some attaining to the age of twenty-five 

 years. Its flesh, as already asserted, is used for food, while that of the kid, 

 especially with the crosses from the Angora and Cashmere, has been pro- 

 nounced as being more delicious and delicate than that of the lamb or any fine 

 venison. 



There is, perhaps, more difference among goats than among any other class 

 of animals, their milk varying both in quality and quantity, the latter from 

 one pint to four quarts daily ; and the following directions are laid down for 

 selecting a good milker : Let the goat be of good size, the hair hard and stiff, 

 the neck short, resembling that of the sheep, the head small and narrow about 

 the muzzle, the eyes large and full ; those destitute of horns are generally the 

 best milkers ; the color dark, or as nearly approaching to black as possible, 

 avoiding light, yellow, or pied ; legs straight and the joints even and firm. 

 A goat is best at from three to six years old, but is useful till twelve years and 

 older. 



At the Cape of Good Hope large flocks of goats are kept, and they manifest 

 extreme sagacity, needing no goatherd to watch them or lead them ; and they 

 are altogether wiser than the sheep. In the morning they sally out upon their 

 foraging expedition, and in the evening they voluntarily return ; and this ap- 

 plies to similar flocks we saw in Asia and Europe. 



The goat is also said to be an excellent barometer, and able to foretell 

 stormy weather, and always contrives to place himself under shelter before the 

 advance of the storm if possible ; they wiU run miles to evade or get out of a 

 stonn or avoid an undesirable rain. 



There are at least forty distinct acknowledged varieties of the goat, the most 

 valuable of which are the Angora, the Cashmere, the Thibetian, the Rhingis. 

 the Kirman, and an equally fine species along the Caspian, Ural, and Black 

 seas, and the black goat of Nepaul, all of which produce the finest wool fleece 

 or hair in the world, and Avill readily cross with the common goat, producing 

 a new and valuable acclimated variety in this country. The Scinde and the 

 Syrian goats are noticeable for their extremely long ears, often twenty-two 

 inches in length, and touching and dragging on the ground. The Assyrian, 

 Spanish, and a few other goats are mostly destitute of horns, while the goat of 

 India and Thibet is celebrated for its large and exquisitely twisted horns, 

 much resembling the Wallachian sheep. 



The Capra Americana, or Rocky Mountain goat, is a beautiful large white 

 goat inhabiting the Rocky mountains, the headwaters of the Missouri and 

 McKenzie rivers, the Pacific coast range of mountains, especially around the 

 base and sides of Mounts Rainier, Hood, Baker, and the vast buttes all along 

 the coast as high north as Mount St. Elias. 



A beautiful stuffed specimen of this goat is now in the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, and is well described by Professor S. F. Baird in the Agricultural Report 



