GENUS CAPRA. 109 



which now renders the original stock of the various 

 races of the utmost difficulty to determine. 



The first of those which comes under our notice, 

 though not so abundantly kept, formed in the pri- 

 meval ages a large portion of the flocks in southern 

 Europe, and more particularly in Asia and Egypt ; 

 and figures of goats of a large and strong race, but 

 not very nearly approaching to the wild animals from 

 which they are conjectured to have sprung, have 

 been handed down upon monuments of an aged date. 

 They are now used for their flesh and skins, and 

 hair or wool. In this country the former is little 

 esteemed, though kid forms no despicable repast. 

 Gloves of a fine kind are made from the skins sub- 

 jected to maceration, and the coats of it separated ; 

 and it is from goat skins that th_e real morocco leather 

 is manufactured, being supposed to take the dye 

 better than those of sheep. The hair or wool of one 

 variety is well known as the source of the beautiful 

 Cashmere manufacture. 



In common language, the appellation of " goat" 

 and " sheep" is applied to very different looking ani- 

 mals. The one, clothed in a fine thick covering, 

 familiarly known as wool, with the horns, if any, 

 bending laterally, and generally spirally ; the other, 

 covered with shaggy hair, a long beard, and the 

 horns directed with a gradual bend upwards or 

 backwards. When the different animals are, however, 

 brought together, this generic distinction is not so 

 easily perceived, and there is a running into each 



