392 APPENDIX A 



Straight in three squadrons all our crew we part, 

 And bend the bow, or wing the missile dart. 

 For bounteous gods afford a copious prey. 

 And nine fat goats each vessel bears away ; 

 The royal bark had ten." 



— Pope's Translation. 



A hundred and eighteen goats (for there were thirteen ships 

 in all) must have been a record bag even then ! 



It has till recently been considered that the animal referred 

 to by Homer was invariably the Capra cegagrus, or, as it is 

 perhaps less pedantic to call it, the Grecian ibex (though some 

 may object again that it is neither a true ibex nor confined 

 to Greece). In one case it certainly was, and that is in the 

 description of the bow of Pandarus : — 



" Won from a mountain ibex, which himself 

 In ambush lurking, through the breast had shot ; 

 True to his aim, as from behind a crag 

 He came in sight : prone on the rock he fell, 

 With horns of sixteen palms his head was crowned." 



— Lord Derby's Translation. 



It is also generally assumed that this goat is necessarily 

 the ancestor of our domestic goats; and furthermore, even 

 by good naturalists, that all the wild goats now found in 

 Greece are either cross-breds between the Levantine ibex and 

 the common goat, or even merely common goats run wild. 

 In venturing to differ from some very well-known authorities, 

 may I plead that, at all events, I base my ideas on personal 

 observation, which, I think, will be allowed always to carry 

 a certain amount of weight. The opportunities which I have 

 had for studying these animals have already been fully 

 detailed. 



To deal firstly with the question of feral goats. These no 

 doubt are plentiful on more of the islands than is generally 

 known. I can, either from personal knowledge or reliable 

 information, speak to their present, or recent, existence on 

 Skyros, on Polinos near Milo, on Antiparos or the neigh- 

 bouring islet of Spotiko, on Nikaria (Ikaros), on Naxos, 

 and on Mount Baffavento in Cyprus. Those on Skopelos, 

 Cerigotto, and Oxia have all been killed ofi* recently. I 

 have no doubt that a systematic examination of the remoter 



