THE GOAT. 223 



The fleece of the ewe shears from three to five pounds, and that of the buck 

 from five to nine. The tail is shorter than that of the Cashmere, and usually 

 carried erect. " These goats have the hair very long, thick, and so fine that 

 stufi"s have been made of it almost as handsome and glossy as our silks, and 

 have been known under the various names of cashmeres, camlets," &c. This 

 brief description will apply to almost all we saw in Western Asia, Europe, and 

 in this country, (say of several thousands,) save some diifereuce in the ears ; 

 for while many have the pendent ears, others we examined have ears exceed- 

 ingly small and short. 



The fleece in some is longer, more curly, pendent, and wavy than in others. 

 The boundary for these goats is set in Asia Minor, from which the natives say 

 if taken they will detericy^-ate or lose much of their beauty, which, however, 

 has been disproved by successful experiments, both in France and in the 

 United States. They are there generally accustomed to high, dry land, the 

 greater part of Natolia consisting of dry, chalky hills, on which there are 

 bushes rather than trees, or else of valleys, lying from 1,500 to 2,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea, which, however, are quite bare of trees, and but 

 scantily covered with grass. Even in this expanse there are spots that pro- 

 duce finer flocks than others, where the goats are mostly kept on hills, the 

 natives attributing a general superiority to mountain flocks which have a rare 

 atmosphere, more feed, and a larger choice of herbs ; and, ranging widely, are 

 kept in good health, on which the quality of their fleece mainly depends. 



Some roving tribes ai-e said to keep their flocks out day and night, summer 

 and winter, (except when an unusual quantity of snow falls,) so that they do 

 not soil their fleeces by folding them. They are mostly kept on fresh food in 

 winter by shepherds leading them down and up the mountain sides as the 

 snow and grass appears and disappears, while the flocks of the valleys must 

 be fed on hay or branches. 



The fleece of the white Angora is called " tiftick," and is clipped annually, 

 that of the yearlings and females being more valuable than that of the males, 

 and is here manufactured into the most delicate articles. 



A curious statement was made to us at Angora, that only the white goats 

 which have horns wear their fleece in long curly locks, which are so much 

 admired, while the hornless ones have a comparatively close coat. The finer 

 the fleece the more readily and naturally it curls, while the fleece is made or 

 kept finer by cai'efully washing or combing out all impurities, thus giving it a 

 polish. 



There is also a second or other variety of Angora or shawl-wool goat beside 

 tliose generally described. This goat has an unchanging outer cover of long, 

 coarse hair, between the roots of which comes in winter an undercoat of downy 

 wool that is naturally thrown off" in spring, or is carefully combed out for use. 

 A remarkably fine species of this breed exists throughout the area to which 

 the white-haired goat is limited, and similar breeds prevail all over the high- 

 lands of Turkish and Persian Armenia, Koordistan, and at Kirman ; and, 

 although some flocks yield finer fleeces than others, it is called the same wool 

 or underdown as the wool of Cashmere and Thibet, and samples of the wool 

 of the Thibetian and the double- woolcd goat of the banks of the Euxine show 

 them to be but varieties of the same species. 



This goat is of a larger size than those of the more southern Turkish 

 provinces, and its wool finer, and is probably the variety introduced by Dr. 

 Davis from Asia Minor as the Cashmere, and now erroneously so-called 

 throughout the country, as all the importations to this country, as far as we 

 can learn, were shipped from ports on the Mediten-anean or Constantinople, 

 several thousand miles from Cashmere or Thibet, through inhospitable and 

 almost untravelled countries for Europeans, which goes tar to prove the so- 

 called "Cashmere goat" to be the Angora. 



