Shawl-Goat into Britain, 335 



that, even in that to which they were confined, it might have 

 been prevented by paring ; a process, which, it is understood, 

 it has been found necessary to adopt, in certain cases, in India. 



Subsequently to the death of the male, the kid also died, 

 having attained its full growth, without any apparent cause of 

 disease ; and, to prevent the total loss of the breed, a cross 

 was proposed with a native male goat, which resembled the 

 female in its general form and appearance. This project, how- 

 ever, was abandoned, unfortunately, as it would have been de- 

 sirable to know whether a hardier breed might not have been 

 produced, possessed at least of a sufficient share of the pro- 

 perties of the pure Thibet goat to have rendered it a valuable 

 acquisition. 



In the summer of 1819, the female, which had for some time 

 shewn the same marks of rheumatism and general ill health by 

 which the male was affected, died. Thus the second attempt 

 to naturalize them at Blair and Dunkeld, also failed. 



It is probable that both these failures must be attributed, 

 partly to the want of a sufficient variety of food, and, possibly, 

 to the quality of a pasture much richer than that to which they 

 are destined by nature. But it appears also to have arisen, in 

 a great degree, from the rainy nature of the Highland climate ; 

 a very large proportion of the days, both of summer and win- 

 ter, being wet, and the rains often continuing for many weeks 

 without intermission. In Thibet, it appears that the climate is 

 dry, the alternation being that of fair weather with snow, and 

 not with rain. If this should be the cause, and that, by suc- 

 cessive breeding, the shawl-goat cannot be inured to bear wet 

 weather, it is probable that all attempts to naturalize it in Scot- 

 land will prove unavailing. It is worthy of remark on this 

 subject, that, in some attempts to naturalize the reindeer at 

 Blair, the same consequences followed ; the animals sickening 

 in the rainy season, and at length dying, apparently from the 

 effects of protracted wet weather ; but in some measure also, it 

 was suspected, from the richness of the pasture. 



No attempt was made to shear these animals, more than the 

 preceding, but the wool was collected as it dropped off or hung- 



