BETTER XVII. 



dity, and bound from rock to rock with sucii ease, 

 that no other animal can follow them ; and nothing 

 can be more astonishing, than the extraordinary fa- 

 cility with which the chamois climbs and descend* 

 precipices, that to all other quadrupeds are inacces- 

 sible. These animals will frequently leap from ft 

 rock of thirty feet high, and light with the greatest 

 security on some fragment or excrescence on the sidf 

 of the precipice, which is only just large enough to 

 place their feet on ; and such is the extreme quick* 

 ness and agility of their motion, that to a spectator, 

 they seem rather to fly than to leap. Such extraor- 

 dinary advantages lias the Great Creator given to tliia 

 singular quadruped, to serve as means for its preser- 

 vation. 



The chamois, notwithstanding its extraordinary 

 wildness, is, when caught, very easily rendered tamo 

 and docile, and like other animals of the goat kind, 

 soon becomes attached to good treatment. Its flesh 

 is very good and wholesome, and the skin of the cha- 

 mois was once reckoned, when tanned, exceedingly 

 valuable for its softness and warmth. At present, how* 

 ever, the leather called shammoy, is made also from 

 the skins of the deer, the .sheep, and the domestic goat. 



The chamois is so much incommoded by heat, that 

 in summer they are never found any where but under 

 the shade of high and spreading trees, in the caverns 

 of rocks, amidst fragments of ice, or under rough and 

 over-hanging precipices, facing the north, as they 

 cannot bear the rays of the summer's sun. They 

 pasture only in the evening or morning, and when 

 the day begins to grow warm, always retire to their 

 shady recesses. Thus we find, that an all-wise Pro- 

 vidence has, in every respcec, adapted the nature of 

 this, as of every other creature, to the region which it 

 is destined to inhabit. 



THE GOAT OF ANGORA 



Is remarkable for its long, thick, and glossy hair, 

 which is of a dazzling whiteness, and is highly va- 

 lued as a profitable article of commerce ; for of fhi* 

 are made those beautify! cloths, well known among 



