THE GOAT OF ANGORA. 47 



with which the chamois climbs and descends precipices, that to 

 all other quadrupeds are inaccessible. These animals will fre- 

 quently leap from a rock thirty feet high, and light, with the 

 greatest security, on some fragment or excrescence on the side 

 of the precipice? which is only just large enough to place their 

 feet on ; and such is the extreme quickness and agility of their 

 motion, that to a spectator they seem rather to fly than to leap, 

 such extraordinary advantages has the great Creator given to 

 this singular quadruped, to serve as means for its preservation. 



The chamois, notwithstanding its extraordinary wildness, is, 

 when caught, very easily rendered tame and docile, and like 

 other animals of the goat kind, soon becomes attached to good 

 treatment. Its flesh is very good and wholesome, and the skin 

 of the chamois was once reckoned, when tanned, exceedingly 

 valuable for its softness and warmth. At present, however, the 

 leather called shammoy, is made also from the skins of the deer, 

 the sheep, and the domestic goat. 



The chamois is so much incommoded by heat, that in summer 

 they are never found any where but under the shade of high and 

 spreading trees, in the caverns of rocks, amidst fragments of 

 ice, or under rough and overhanging precipices, facing the 

 north, as they cannot bear the rays of the summer's sun. They 

 pasture only in the evening or morning, and when the day begins 

 to grow warm, always retire to their shady recesses. Thus we 

 find, that an all-wise Providence has, in every respect, adapted 

 the nature of this, as of every other creature, to the region 

 which it is destined to inhabit. 



THE GOAT OF ANGORA 



Is remarkable for its long, thick, and glossy hair, which is of 

 a dazzling whiteness, and is highly valued as a profitable article 

 of commerce ; for of this are made those beautiful cloths, well 

 known among us by the name of Camblets. These animals in- 

 habit the rocky mountains of Pontus, where they experience a 

 considerable degree of cold, and, as well as the sheep of Tibet, 

 so famous for the fineness of its wool, from which the high-priced 

 Indian shawl is made, might, in all probability, thrive as well in 

 Britain as in their native country. Both these valuable quadru- 

 peds live in a climate which, in winter, is much more severe than 

 ours. They might, undoubtedly, be transplanted into this coun- 

 try with success, and if once introduced, would not only tend to 

 beautify and enliven the rugged scenes of our most bleak and 

 barren mountains, but render the uncultivated and unproductive 

 parts of the island a source of utility and wealth. In Portugal 

 there is also a breed of fine large goats, remarkable for their 

 abundance of milk, of which some yield not less than six quarts 



