COAT 



GOATS BEARD 



concretions (or Bezoar balls, -. J:I./M\K) formed, 

 a- iii IHIUIV other ruminants, in tin- stomach. This 

 is iln> wild ^'<>at tliat Homer refers to in run 

 nection with tin- Cyclops and Crete. The IIOHIH of 

 tin- iii;ili-s lrar strong tiilx-rdes in front; the In-ard 

 is miirli developed ; tin- general colour is reddish- 

 IIMINMI, \\ith (lark stripes here and there. 



The Markhor (C. falfinn-ri or tnegaceroti), from 

 Tibet, < 'aslmiere, ami Afghanistan, is a strong, 

 powerful goat, with corkscrew horns, miicli larger 

 in tin- males, which are also distinguished by a 

 thick mane on the nock ami breast. Hunters 

 credit it witli killing and even eating serj>ente. 

 Attempt* at taming it in Kuro|e have not been 

 rewarded with much success. 



The Alpine Ibex, or Steinbock ( ('. //./), is typical 

 of iiunieroiis goats which some separate oil' a- a dis- 

 tinct genus. The chief difference is that the horns 

 are broad in front, triangular in section, without a 

 keel, but with a series or anterior transverse ridges. 

 Different kinds frequent the lofty mountains of 

 Kmope and West Asia C. hispanica or Izard 

 in the Sierra Nevada, C. pyrenaica in the Pyre- 

 nees, C. caucnsicd in the Caucasus ; but the distinc- 

 tions are trivial, if not merely varietal. The 

 Alpine ibex is a magnificent goat, without beard, 

 but with very strong, slightly divergent, much- 

 ridged horns. It used to be abundant, but through 

 over-hunting, lx)th for sport's sake and on account 

 of supposed medicinal virtues, has become nearly 

 extinct. Victor Emmanuel saved it in fact just in 

 time by strict preserving, and small herds, amount- 

 ing in all to about 300, still live on the heights 

 between Piedmont and Savoy, especially in the 

 Val -de-Cogue. Attempts at reintroduction have 

 not been successful ; in captivity the animals tend 

 to become vicious, and the same is markedly true 

 of hybrids between it and the common goat. In 

 its native haunts it is said 'to surpass even the 

 chamois in the certainty with which it estimates 

 distances for extraordinary leaps.' 



Goats can be kept with advantage in situations 

 too rocky, or where the herbage is too scanty, for 

 oxen or sheep. They were formerly kept in greater 

 numbers in Britain than they now are. The goat 

 is capable of the most perfect domestication, and 

 becomes extremely attached and familiar. It is apt, 

 indeed, to prove a troublesome pet, and makes use 

 of its horns, although not angrily, much more 

 freely than is at all agreeable. Goat and sheep 

 may be successfully crossed, and the hybrids are to 

 a certain extent fertile among themselves. 



The uses of the goat are numerous. The flesh 

 is good ; that of the kid, or young goat, is in most 

 countries esteemed a delicacy. Requiring but 

 little attention, and able to subsist on rough diet, 

 the goat is in many countries ' the cow of the poor.' 

 The milk is very rich and nutritious, more easy of 

 digestion than that of the cow, and often useful to 

 consumptive patients. Some goats yield as much 

 as four quarts of milk daily, although the average 

 quantity is more nearly two. Both cheese and 

 butter are made of goats' milk ; they have a 

 peculiar but not disagreeable flavour. Goats' milk 

 is still very much used in Syria and other parts of 

 the East, as it was in the days of the patriarchs. 

 The skin of the goat was early used for clothing, and 

 is now dressed as leather for many uses, particularly 

 for making gloves and the finer kinds of shoes (see 

 < ii.nVKs). The hair, which may l>e advantageously 

 <lipped annually, is used for making ropes which 

 are indestructible in water, and for making wigs 

 for judges, barristers, and other functionaries. 

 For the latter purpose the hair of white goats is 

 used. Especially valuable of course are the 

 Angora and Cashmere varieties. The horns are 

 used for making knife-handles. (Src., and the tat is 

 said to be superior to that of the ox for candle.-.. 



Goat* are sometime* employed in drawing chil- 

 dren's coaches, to which ait many a* four are Morne- 

 timeM harnessed together, and they are sufficiently 

 1 1 act able and oltedient to the rein. 



Hut the economic im|ortance of the goat w not 

 altogether on the side of utility. It ruins young 

 plantations and makes reforesting in some case* 

 impossible. According to Carl Vogt, the legend 

 that the devil created the goat in justified by 

 the animal's pernicious influence: 'It is the moxt 

 destructive creature in the world in forest**, and 

 the old seats of civilisation viz. the countries 

 round the Mediterranean owe the destruction of 

 their forests, the nakedness of their mountains, 

 and the inevitable consequence of that condition, 

 the dry in"-s of their climate, to the devastations of 

 these animals.' In the same connection it may 

 be noted that the goat, as destructive of the vine, 

 was sacrificed in ancient times to Bacchus. Spain 

 has about 4,000,000 domestic goats ; Germany, 

 Greece, and Italy each some 2,000,000. See 

 (under Angora) ANGORA COATS, ANTELOPES, 

 AKTIODACTYLA, CASHMERE GOAT, SHKKI-. The 

 Rocky Mountain Goat (q.v. ) is an anteloim rather 

 than a goat, The i/ard is the ibex of the Pyrenees. 

 See Pegler's Book of the Goat (new ed. 1HS6). 



(lOHt-lllOtll (Cossus ligniperdu), a large moth 

 common throughout Europe and Asia. It measures 

 three inches or more across the wings, and has a 

 thick heavy body. The general colour is yellowish- 

 gray ; the upper wings are mottled with white, and 

 marked with many irregular black lines ; the lower 

 are of an almost uniform ash-colour. The cater- 

 pillar is about three inches long when full-grown, 

 and has a yellowish colour, the upper parts flesh- 

 like, the head black. It inhabits and feeds on the 



Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Imago of the Goat-moth 

 ( Cotsus / i<i n if a ri In ). 



wood of willows, poplars, and elms, making holes 

 large enough to admit a finger, and often causing 

 the destniction of the tree. Its size, abundance, 

 and voracity make it a formidable devastator of 

 trees. When alarmed or handled it emits a disa- 

 greeable goat-like odour, which cannot be removed 

 from the hands even by frequent washings. It takes 

 two or three years to attain maturity. The reddish- 

 brown pupa is enclosed in a cocoon of chips cut by 

 the jaws of the creature. The caterpillar has been 

 regarded by some as the cossus of Roman epicures, 

 but this was more likely the larva of some large 

 leetle. 



Goat's Beard (Tragonogon) is a genus of 

 plants of the natural order Comjvosita-. The 

 common Goat's Beard ( T. itratfii.tr), also known by 



