THE SHEEP AND THE GOAT. 217 



The Gazelle. The Gazelle, of which there are numerous species, 

 belongs to Syria, Egypt and Algeria. It is a beautiful animal, 

 resembling a roebuck, but more delicately and finely limbed, 

 with hair equally short, but finer and more glossy. It has a 

 small tuft of hair on each of its fore limbs. Of all animals 

 in the world, gazelles are said to have the most beautiful 

 eyes extremely brilliant, and yet meek and expressive. Their 

 swiftness is equal to that of the roe; they do not, however, 

 bound forward like the roe, but run along in an even unin- 

 terrupted course. Most of them are brown upon the back, 

 white under the belly with a black stripe separating these 

 colours. Their horns are annulated or ringed round. 



The Sheep The sheep, so useful to man, furnishing him 

 and the Goat. w jth both food and clothing, is one of the most 

 defenceless and inoffensive of all animals. The goat is more 

 hardy, more playful, lively, and vagrant than the sheep. It 

 delights in climbing precipices, for which nature has fitted 

 it, by giving it hoofs hollow underneath, with sharp edges, 

 so that it walks securely on narrow ridges. Both animals have 

 been known from the earliest times, and are frequently men- 

 tioned in the Sacred Writings. Of the different kinds of sheep, 

 the common sheep, the long-tailed sheep and the Wallachian 

 sheep are typical varieties. The common sheep provides us 

 with our chief supplies of wool. The wool of the Spanish 

 sheep (the merino) is finer in quality, but much less in quan- 

 tity. The long-tailed sheep belongs to Syria and Egypt, and 

 the Wallachian sheep to Crete, Wallachia, Hungary, and 

 Western Asia. This last has long horns, and its wool is 

 mixed with hair. The musk sheep of Arctic America resembles 

 the yak somewhat in appearance, though minus the hump and 

 with horns more resembling those of the buffalo. It is some- 

 times called the musk ox. The goat is not much used in 

 England, but it is practically the cow of Syria and Switzerland. 

 The Cashmir goat produces the fine wool so much valued for 

 shawl material ; the kid, the materials so largely used by the 



