August 4, 1898] 



NATURE 



315 



The author also quotes several writers who have 

 pointed out that the climate of Angora exhibits a re- 

 markable tendency to the development of a silky coat 

 in animals of several kinds, this tendency displaying 

 itself among cats and greyhounds, as well as in the 

 goats. Very interesting is his suggestion that the so- 

 called mohair of the Angora goat really corresponds to 

 the under-fur or " pashm" of the wild goat, the ordinary 

 fur of the latter being represented by the " kemp " of the 

 former. If this prove to be well founded, it would be 

 decisive for the origin of the domestic breeds from the 

 wild goat, in contradiction to the markhor {Capra 

 fulconeri), since under-fur is not developed at all in the 

 latter species. 



Although it is considered probable that the Angora 

 originally formed a single pure breed, there is evidence 

 of subsequent crossing with the common Kurd goat, by 

 means of which several sub-breeds have resulted, one of 

 them being now hornless. Crossing seems also to have 

 taken place with a local breed descended from the well- 

 known shawl-goat of Kashmir. 



.After several chapters devoted to the extent and value 

 of the mohair trade in Turkey, the author comes to what 

 appears to be the chief subject of his work, namely the 

 first importation of the Angora into Cape Colony, and 

 the subsequent development of the South African mohair 

 trade. First of all, in 1725, the experiment was tried of 

 introducing Kashmir goats into the Cape, but it turned 

 out a failure ; and probably this was fortunate, since, in 

 the first place, it is a much less valuable animal than 

 the .A.ngora, having only a comparatively small quantity 

 of " pashm " at the roots of its long hair, and, secondly, 

 there is a strong probability that even this would dis- 

 appear under the influence of a hot climate. Of Angoras 

 the first importation took place in 1838 ; and it is prac- 

 tically to a single female and her one kid that the exist- 

 ing stock owes its origin. To improve the crosses thus 

 produced between the Boer goats and the Angoras, fresh 

 importations have continued from time to time from that 

 date up to 1896 ; and some idea of the value attached to 

 high-class blood may be gathered from the fact that no 

 less a sum than 450/. has been paid for a single pure- 

 bred ram, and 205/. for a ewe. Unfortunately, with 

 some of the importations, pleuro-pneumonia was intro- 

 duced into the Cape, and, with the usual virulence of 

 such diseases in a new field, played terrible havoc with 

 the flocks. Inoculation and other remedies seem, how- 

 ever, at last to have pretty well stamped out the plague. 



In a later chapter statistics and tables are given show- 

 ing the value of the Cape trade in mohair and goat- 

 skins from the year 1857 to the present time. Of the 

 former commodity the maximum value appears to have 

 been reached in 1895, when the sum realised was 

 710,867/. ; while in the latter 1890 was the record year, 

 the declared value then being 142,425/. The two final 

 chapters on the Angora are devoted to its importation 

 into the United States and Australia respectively. In 

 the States, although the number of goats in comparison 

 with the population is relatively small, the trade seems 

 to be in thriving condition. Not so in Australia. 



".Apart from the suitability or otherwise of Australia 

 to Angora goat farming, the failure to establish the 

 industry there is amply accounted for by the fact that 



NO. I 50 1, VOL. 58] 



Australia is so perfectly adapted to sheep ; so that the 

 question is, after all, not so much whether the Angora 

 will thrive and pay, but whether it will thrive and pay 

 better than the Merino. Goats and sheep never do 

 equally well on the same veld ; that which is peculiarly 

 adapted to the one never suiting the other nearly so 

 well." 



Did space permit, many more equally interesting 

 extracts might be taken from Mr. Schreiner's work. To 

 many of our readers, as to his reviewer, the extent and 

 value of the mohair trade will doubtless come as a 

 revelation, and since everything relating to the prosperity 

 and wealth of the empire ought to be of interest to every 

 patriotic Englishman, the book may lay claim to a wider 

 circle of readers than might at first sight be attracted by 

 its title. 



From mohair to ostrich feathers— another important 

 article of British African trade— is a wide jump, but the 

 portion of the book devoted to this subject is of so much 

 interest, that a few words must be given. And here the 

 interest is not so much from the commercial as from the 

 natural history point of view. Mr. Schreiner strongly 

 combats the generally accepted theory of the polygamous 

 habits of the ostrich. 



" Every authority," he writes, " that I have consulted 

 holds that the ostrich is polygamous, but the evidence 

 against polygamy is very strong : a pair make the nest ; 

 the hen lays all her eggs (a full sitting) in that nest ; the 

 hatching of the eggs and the care of the chicks are 

 shared equally by cock and hen ; the cock loses his 

 sexual vigour, and leaves his attention to the hen, soon 

 after beginning to sit ; and one hen to a nest yields the 

 best results." 



It is true that nests are frequently seen in which two 

 or more hens are laying, but the author believes that 

 such hens have been unable to obtain a mate for them- 

 selves, and have attached themselves, nolens volens^ to 

 one already provided with a partner. In such a nest 

 the eggs get shifted about and never receive regular 

 incubation, with the result that few or no chicks are 

 hatched ; this alone forming a strong argument against 

 polygamy being the normal habit. Furthermore, it is 

 added that travellers frequently mistake large chicks for 

 hens, thus asserting polygamy when it is non-existent. 

 The conclusions of one who has had such unusual oppor- 

 tunities of observation should, to say the least, receive 

 the most respectful attention on the part of stay-at-home 

 naturalists. R- L- 



ASTRONOMICAL , RELIGION IN EGYPT. 

 Creation Records discovered in Egypt. By G. St. Clair. 

 Pp. xii -t- 492. (London : Nutt, 1898.) 



THE idea that the religious observances of the 

 Egyptians were founded upon facts of astronomy 

 deduced by them is very old, and almost every text of 

 any length which is published affords additional proof of 

 the substantial correctness of the idea ; it could, in fact, 

 hardly be otherwise. Since the visible emblem of the 

 great god of the early Egyptians was the sun, and since 

 the representatives of the lesser gods were the moon and 

 stars, it follows that every religious ceremony which was 

 celebrated publicly in Egypt must have had reference to 

 the conditions and movements of the celestial bodies. 



