Origin and Early History. 15 



hair, whose horns were allowed to grow. A good he-goat, 

 according to Columella, should have the following 

 qualities : It should show under the lower jaw two small 

 warts (verruciila) hanging from the neck, and should 

 have a large body, thick legs, a full and short neck, 

 flaccid and very long shiny hair.* The Romans used 

 either to shearf or to pluck the hair from the goats ; as 

 they did also with their sheep; the Latin term vellus, " a 

 fleece," is derived from vello, " I pluck," referring to 

 this custom. 



There was a very prevalent belief amongst these 

 people that goats were never altogether free from fever, 

 or from a liability to take it; and so Varro in his instruc- 

 tions about purchasing goats says, " No sane person 

 warrants his she-goats as sound " (" Capras sanas sanus 

 nemo promittit "), " for they are never free from 

 fever," so when you go to buy you must make your bargain 

 in a few such words as " About these she-goats, are they 

 in good health to-day? Can they drink? Can you say 

 they are well at present? Can you warrant them thus 

 far? " 



* It is curious to notice how the Roman writers, as Varro 

 and Columella (practical agriculturists of their day), Pliny and 

 others, lay stress on the importance of goats having these 

 abnormal jaw appendages, the possession of which was supposed 

 to indicate excellence of breed and a prolific nature; whereas 

 by Sanskrit writers these appendages were properly regarded 

 as of no importance whatever. In the Hitopadesa (Introduction, 

 i, 26) a man destitute of virtue is " like the throat-nipple of the 

 he-goat his birth is useless"; the Ajagala-stana, i.e., "goat 

 throat-nipple," is an emblem of any useless person or thing. I 

 do not know whether these appendages are frequent on our 

 domestic animals or not ; I have myself occasionally observed 

 them; but how they are to be accounted for I know not. It 

 is certainly curious that pigs as well as goats should have occa- 

 sionally similar abnormal appendages. 



t From Lucian (" Piscator," 46) it appears that the same 

 custom prevailed among the Greeks. Tragokourice machaira 

 was an instrument for shearing he-goats. 



