CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



out of the kennel and eat them. They will eat 

 mouldy bread or biscuit, fusty hay, and almost 

 rotten straw, furze bushes, heath thistles, and 

 indeed what will they not eat, when they will 

 make a hearty meal on paper, brown or white, 

 printed on, or not printed on, and give milk all 

 the while ! They will lie in any dog-hole. They 

 do very well clogged, or stumped out. And then 

 they are very healthy things into the bargain, 

 however closely they may be confined. When 

 sea-voyages are so boisterous as to kill geese, 

 ducks, fowls, and almost pigs, the goats are well 

 and lively ; and when no dog of any kind can keep 

 the deck for a minute, a goat will skip about upon 

 it as bold as brass.' 



In Britain, no attempts have been made, at 

 least successfully, to introduce foreign breeds of 

 goats, although in France this has been done 

 to a considerable extent. The Cashmere goat, 

 famous for its long silky hair or wool, has been 

 brought to France, and there bred with the 

 Tibet goat, a hardier species, but almost equally 

 esteemed for its wool. The manufactures pro- 

 ducible from this material, as the Cashmere 

 shawls have long testified, are scarcely to be 

 surpassed for fineness, and yield immense prices. 

 It is probable that, in our warmest districts, a 

 cross of these foreign goats with the common 



656 



breed might be successfully and advantageously 

 effected. 



THE ALPACA. 



This animal, an inhabitant of the Andes below 

 the line of perpetual snow, belongs to the family 

 of the CamelidcE. Naturalists are not agreed 

 whether it is a distinct species, or merely a var- 

 iety of the Llama, which was used as a beast 

 of burden by the native Peruvians. The Paco, or 

 I Alpaca, has the wool or long hair more developed 

 than the other species or varieties, whichever 

 they may be. The wool is much prized for its 

 silky fineness, length, and lustrous appearance. 

 Nearly 4,000,000 pounds of Alpaca wool are now 

 annually imported into Britain, where it is used in 

 the manufacture of shawls, coat-linings, cloth for 

 warm climates, umbrellas, &c. Some years ago, 

 attempts were made to naturalise these animals in 

 Britain, but with little success. Their introduc- 

 tion into Australia has also been attempted, with 

 little advantage. They are naturally suited for 

 mountainous districts in a climate rather milder 

 than that of Scotland. They are said to be dimin- 

 ishing in number in their native country, and to 

 threaten, before long, to become extinct 



