LETTER XI 7. 133 



goat ; natives in the Cascades call it ' the white 

 sheep ;' naturalists, out of pure perversity, I sup- 

 pose, call it an antelope, the antelope being the 

 lightest and most graceful, while the ' haploceros ' 

 is the heaviest of beasts ; and after all, it looks 

 much more like a little white buffalo, only 

 clumsier, with its back rising in a heavy hump, 

 and its shaggy white beard and coat, the latter 

 hanging in wide frills to its ankles. The horns 

 are bent back slightly, and are about twice as 

 heavy as a chamois', but not hooked like that 

 little beast's. The horns on my best goat's head 

 (which I think a very good one) are between 

 five and a half and six inches in circumference at 

 the base, and the longest of them is nearly nine 

 and a half inches in length. Behind each horn is 

 a black leathery orifice like a false ear, and in 

 this I found a deposit like musk, and certainly 

 as strong in scent. Each orifice contained about 

 as much of this deposit as would equal a small 

 bean in size. Is this useless, or might it not be 

 a substitute for the precious little pod extracted 

 from the musk-deer of India ? 



An excellent photograph of the beast, from a 

 negative, I believe, in the possession of Mr. 

 Baillie Grohman (who has been almost a god- 

 father to this goat, if not its actual discoverer), 

 has long lain in my portfolio, and now, having 



