60 The 'Book of the Goat. 



and bought at a high figure by Mr. B. Ravenscroft, who 

 used him largely, until his death in 1908, to supply 

 fresh Eastern blood to his Anglo-Nubian herd. 



This is the sum total of our English experience with 

 the Nubian, and I must therefore refer the reader once 

 again to French writers, who have devoted much space to 

 it in their works. It should be remarked, however, that 

 neither Crepin nor Huart du Plessis seems to have had 

 much personal experience with the Nubian as a milker. 

 Both get their information chiefly from Dr. Sacc, a 

 naturalist, whose statements, however, as to the yields of 

 certain specimens are of so improbable, not to say impos- 

 sible, a character that one cannot give credence to them. 

 Thus we read in "La Chevre " that Dr. Sacc, who had 

 studied and bred this kind of goat at Wesserling (Alsace), 

 stated that one milker in his possession gave from 10 to 12 

 litres (8| to n| quarts!). This is the yield of a good 

 Kerry cow and the average daily yield of an ordinary- 

 dairy Shorthorn. A goat would have to be as big as a 

 fair-sized donkey to be physically capable of elaborating 

 it. It is remarkable how people exaggerate on this point. 



According to the writers abov.e mentioned, the in- 

 troduction of the Nubian breed into France seems 

 to have been due to the gift of a young hippo- 

 potamus which some Eastern potentate made to Napoleon 

 III., and which was accompanied by some Nubian goats 

 to supply its daily needs. These found their way to the 

 Jardin d'Acclimatation, where they came under the obser- 

 vation of the then Director, M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who 

 was so astonished at their milking powers that he pre- 

 ferred not to mention the precise amount supplied for fear 

 of being charged with exaggeration. The worthy doctor 

 previously alluded to was evidently less reticent. M. Crepin 

 had himself a small herd of Nubians, which were exhibited 

 on two occasions in Paris, where they each time came 



