THE GOAT. 221 



from Cashmere ; and it is in tlie French works we find the most valuable re- 

 ports, plates, and experiences on this subject. 



In Fitzinger's Natural History, (German,) figs. 212 — 215, there are four good 

 views of the Hircus capra pillosa, the rough-haired xlomestic goat, the Cashmere, 

 and the Thibetian, in which the Cashmere is represented with a black neck and a 

 white face, almost straight, round, pointed horns, long coarse Avhite hair, tail six 

 inches long ; while the Thibetian goat is represented with a long smooth neck, a 

 sheep-like head, hornless, short hair, with an immense udder, indicative of a good 

 milker rather than a fine fleece-bearing animal. These, Avith other descriptions, 

 correspond well with what we saw of Cashmeres both in Asia and Europe, and dif- 

 fering widely from, or resembling in but few respects, what are called Cashmeres 

 in this country ; and by simple reference to the plates, the description, and a 

 view of the animals, the difference is quite apparent. Thus we have valuable 

 descriptions of these goats in the New American Cyclopedia ; in the Penny 

 Cyclopedia ; Rees's Cyclopedia, vol. 5, plates, a fine plate of Cashmere and 

 Angora; "Wood's Natural History; the Farmer's Library, vol. 2, page 261; 

 Naturalist's Library, page 108, plate 9 ; in the Naturalist's Miscellany, vol. 8, 

 two plates of Cashmere; in Professor Low's Domesticated Animals of the Brit- 

 ish Islands, page 1 ; in Goodrich's Animated Nature and in the Agricultural 

 Report of 1855, two plates of the so-called Cashmere, but plainly and evidently 

 Angoras; while similar views are found in other English, French, and Ger- 

 man works consulted ; but these sufiice for reference, while our personal ob- 

 servations, the examinations of flocks, animals, and testimony before us, both 

 in Asia and Europe, and at home, furnish us further facts. 



THE CASHMERE AND THIBETIAX GOAT. 



This variety of the wool-bearing or "shawl goat," as it is often called, and 

 of which we herewith present a good illustration, is spread over Thibet, North- 

 em India, an^ the regions to the east of the Caspian sea. It is somewhat smaller 

 tlian the common and Angora goat ; it has straight, round, pointed horns, 

 pendant ears, is covered with straight aird falling, long, fine, flat, silky hair, 

 with an undercoat in winter of a delicate greenish wool, of but two to three 

 ounces to each, which latter alone constitutes the fabric from which the cele- 

 bi'ated shawls are made. Ten goats only furnish wool enough for a shawl one 

 yai'd and a half square ; but even this is often found diifering both in color and 

 the quality of the wool, or rather the fine hair of which the fleece is composed. 

 The principal points in the most approved breeds are large ears, the limbs slender 

 md cleanly formed, the horns not spirally twisted, and, above all, the fleece 

 teing long, straight, fleecy, and white. 



Besides, the true Cashmere and Thibetian breed from which originally the 

 ciebrated Cashmere shawls were made, there are several others which have 

 b<2n employed for the same purpose in different parts of Thibet, India, and 

 T.rtary. The Tartar half-breed has been found to survive well in a colder 

 ciiaate, and has been introduced into France with considerable success, as also 

 thae from the Ghengis and Caspian. 



"he shawls still most in request, however, are brought from the Kuyam of 

 Casimere, where 16,000 looms are constantly at work, employing three men to 

 eacl manufacturing and disposing of thirty thousand shawls annually. 



Hdgson, in speaking of this goat, alludes to it as " a variety of the common 

 dometic goat, known as shawl goat, of Thibet and Cashmere, and they are 

 callec including its relative, the goat of Angora." " From earliest time the 

 hair o fine underdown of this goat has been used in the manufacture of tissues 

 or tex'le fabrics, especially in Eastern Europe and Western Asia." 



Theiong-eared Syrian goat, to judge from the specimens we have seen, is 

 only a variety of the Thibetian and Angora breeds, having long hair, with 



