266 



GOALANDA 



GOAT 



and new harbour and railway works were inaugu- 

 rated in 1882. The public buildings include the 

 viceregal palace and spacious barracks, one wing of 

 which accommodates the national lyceum or 

 college, the public library, and the Institute Pro- 

 fessional. There was a revolt in 1895, soon 

 suppressed. Pop. 8440. See Fonseea's Historical 

 and Archaiological Sketch (1878), and Lady Burton's 

 Arabia, Egypt, India (1879). 



(xOalailda, a market-town of Bengal, situated 

 on a tongue of land at the confluence of the main 

 streams of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, has be- 

 come within a few years an important entrepot for 

 the river trade, the terminus of the Eastern Bengal 

 Railway, and the starting-point of the Assam 

 steamers. Only temporary buildings are erected, 

 as the floods of July have more than once swept 

 away the more expensive masonry structures. 

 Busy markets are held daily, and the river is 

 crowded with native craft and fishing-boats. The 

 population has grown from about 1000 in 1881 

 to over 10,000. 



<o;iliar;i, the most westerly districtof Assam, 

 on both sides of the Brahmaputra, and bounded on 

 the north by Bhutan, with an area of 3897 sq. m., 

 and (1891) 452,304 inhabitants. Earthquakes are 

 common, and occasionally severe ; the climate is 

 regarded by both natives and Europeans as very 

 unhealthy, especially during the rains. Goalpara 

 Town, on the Brahmaputra, is the only place in 

 the district with over 5000 inhabitants. It has a 

 considerable river trade. Pop. 5700. 



Goat (Copra), a genus of ruminant ungulates, 

 nearly allied to sheep. The horns, which consist 

 of a solid core of bone and a horny sheath around 

 this, differ from those of sheep in their position on 

 the top of the head, in their backward curvature, 

 and in being laterally compressed. They are 

 roughened by transverse ridges, and are either 

 keeled in front as in the common goat, or broad 

 anteriorly and triangular in section as in the ibex. 

 Though present in both sexes, they are larger ( up 

 to 3 feet) in the males, who use them as weapons 

 in contests with rivals or foes. Goats are further 

 distinguishable from sheep by the arched forehead, 

 the straight nose, the beard on the chin, the short 

 erect tail with little hair, the general absence of 

 tear-pits and interdigital glands, the nature of the 

 hair, which can hardly be called wool, and the dis- 

 agreeable odour, which is especially strong during 

 the breeding season. The curious, confident, capri- 

 cious temperament of the goat is also different 

 from that characteristic of sheep ; but in regard to 

 this and most of the other characters it must be 

 allowed that they are not constant, and that the 

 two types are very nearly allied. 



Goats are confined to the mountainous parts of 

 the Old World, where they are found throughout the 

 south European alpine region, from Spain to the 

 Caucasus, and thence onwards through Armenia 

 and Persia to the Himalayas and China. With 

 the exception of a Neilgherry goat and an Abys- 

 sinian ibex, they are confined to the palsearctic 

 geographical region. Their remains are found in 

 the Indian Pliocene, if not also Miocene deposits, 

 and include a hornless form, Bucapra damesii. 



Goats are characteristically mountain-loving 

 animals, climbing and leaping with marvellous 

 dexterity. There does not seem sufficient warrant 

 for believing the statement that the males of some 

 species (e.g. C. cegagrus or C. ibex) are able to save 

 themselves in falling from a height by bending the 

 head inwards and alighting on the massive horns. 

 They feed on herbage of many kinds, and are 

 unfortunately fond of young shoots of trees. The 

 herds are usually small ; the old males are cross 

 and combative ; the old females are said to act in 



turn as sentries ; the kids are very agile and grace- 

 ful. The males differ from the females in having 

 stronger horns, thicker manes, and in slight colour 

 distinctions. The breeding season is in autumn ; 

 the gestation lasts five months ; the birth is single 

 or double ; and the kids follow the mother a few 

 days after birth. 



Goats have highly-developed senses of sight and 

 smell, and are in many ways highly successful 

 animals, swift in flight, bold in necessary attack, 

 and well-adapted to their natural surroundings and 

 mode of life. For general cleverness of climbing 

 goats are deservedly famous, and in captivity they 

 often exhibit daring and cunning. Romanes cites 

 a case of one ringing a door bell when hungry for 

 dinner, and two instances of the reasonable be- 

 haviour of two goats which met face to face on a 

 narrow, rocky ridge, where the only action consist- 

 ent with the life of both was that one should walk 

 over the other, as accordingly . happened. Their 

 roguishness often suggests a faint sense of humour. 



The common domestic goat is a variety of the 

 Wild Goat (C. hircus) which inhabits the Taurus 

 and other mountains of south-west Asia. Compared 

 with its ancestor, the domesticated form is some- 

 what degenerate, being much reduced both in 

 general size and as regards its horns. The domes- 

 tication must have taken place at a very remote 

 period, and spread from the East, probably through 

 Egypt, westwards. A great number of breeds now 

 exist, the pedigree of which has been of course 

 complicated by varietal hybridisation, and it is 

 at least possible that other species, such as the 

 Grecian ibex, may in some cases have co-operated in 

 the process. A most important variety, formed 

 into a breed by artificial selection, is the Angora 

 Goat (C. hircus, var. angorensis), where almost the 

 whole body is enveloped in that long, silky, white 

 hciir which is so familiarly valuable and comfort- 

 able. The Angora goat has been introduced into 

 Cape Colony, Australia, and the United States. 

 The Cashmere Goat (C. hircus, var. laniger), from 

 Tibet and Bokhara, is almost equally valuable, 

 furnishing the white to brown hair used in mak- 

 ing Cashmere wares. It has been successfully 

 acclimatised in France. A third variety, utilised 

 in the same way, is the Mam her Goat ( C. hircus, 

 var. mambrica), from Asia Minor and Tartary, 

 distinguished by its long pendent ears. The Syrian 

 goat, which also has long ears, is trained in the 

 East to all manner of tricks especially to balance 

 itself on a slender pile of small wooden blocks, 

 built up to a height of several feet. 



The Bezoar Goat, Grecian Ibex, or Paseng ( C. 



The Bezoar Goat (Capra cegaffrus). 



(egagrus), which ranges from the Greek Archi- 

 pelago to Persia, was once in great repute on 

 account of the supposed medicinal virtue of round 



