296 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



shouM not be able to separate them : and even these 

 characters, if not well defined, are not very conspicuous, 

 unless to a practised or careful observer. 



The Chamois, which is classed by many among goats, 

 in some degree approaches the antelopes. Its horns 

 shoot straight up, and then at the tips turn suddenly 

 back, like a fish-hook. It frequents all the mountain 

 chains of Europe and Western Asia ; in summer, climb- 

 ing to the highest summits and displaying the most 

 daring agility. In the winter it comes down just below 

 the regions of perpetual snow, for the sake of nourish- 

 ing. Its smell, sight, and hearing are very acute ; and 

 it will detect the approach of a hunter at the distance 

 of half a league. When frightened, it bounds from 

 rock to rock, making a strange hissing sound ; dashes 

 itself across the most fearful chasms, and throws it- 

 self down precipices of thirty feet. It feeds on herbs 

 and flowers, and the young shoots of shrubs, seldom 

 drinks, and is extremely fond of salt. As some of the 

 rocks of the Alps contain saltpetre, the chamois has 

 worn holes in them by constant licking. It may be 

 domesticated with goats, and will go to pasture and 

 return with them. If, however, it should be called by 

 one of its own kind, although to all appearance quite 

 reconciled to its companions, it abandons them all and 

 rushes off to the mountains, never to come back. 



As with other domesticated animals, there are many 

 disputes as to the original country of Goats ; but most 

 naturalists seem inclined to think that the first stock was 

 placed in Persia ; but it is a question involved in much 

 obscurity. In very far-off times, when superstition and 

 medicine went hand in hand, and charms were deemed 

 more efficacious than drugs, a hard substance found iu 



