190 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



altitudes in the mountains and table-lands produce their 

 abundance at different times of the year ; hence the flocks 

 and their faithful guardians must move. These people in 

 their rude way manufacture the wool of their flocks into 

 blankets and articles of personal apparel. 



10. The Asiatic argali, a large, powerful sheep about 

 three feet high and weighing two hundred pounds, is the 

 original wild sheep of the mountains of Asia, and the 

 source of a valuable domestic breed. Its heavy and awk- 

 ward horns would seem to be a burden rather than a 

 means of defense. The kebsch is an African species, and 

 is remarkable for its long mane, which feature has led 

 some writers to class it as a goat. Our Rocky Mountain 

 sheep is an argali, and is called a big-horn from the great 

 size of these ornaments of the head. It inhabits the 

 northern regions of the Rocky Mountains and the Yellow- 

 stone. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

 MOUNTAIN MILK-GIVERS. 



1. THE goat is closely related to the sheep, from which 

 it differs in features that are familiar. The horns worn 

 by both sexes always turn or curve backward ; the cover- 

 ing is more of hair than of wool ; the chin is bearded, and 

 the tail, like that of the deer, is short. " The goat has 

 more intelligence than the sheep, and soon becomes famil- 

 iar and attached ; it is light, active, and less timid than 

 the sheep. It is capricious, and loves to wander, to climb 

 steep mountains, sleeping frequently on the point of a 

 rock or on the edge of a precipice. It is robust, and will 

 feed on almost any plant." Its milk is said to be more 



