SHEEP AND GOAT KIND. 



245 



they have three sides, as in the ram, and bend 

 backwards in the same manner behind the 

 cars ; the muzzle and the inside of the ears, 

 are of a whitish colour, tinctured with yellow; 

 the other parts of the face are of a brownish 

 gray. The general colour of the hair over 

 the body is of a brown, approaching to that 

 of the red deer. The inside of the thighs and 

 the belly are of a white, tinctured with yellow. 

 The form, upon the whole, seems more made 

 for agility and strength than that of the com- 

 mon sheep ; and the moufflon is actually 

 found to live in a savage state, and maintain 

 itself, either by force or swiftness, against all 

 the animals that live by rapine. Such is its 

 extreme speed, that many have been inclined 

 rather to rank it among the deer kind, than 

 the sheep. But in this they are deceived, as 

 the musmon has a mark that entirely distin- 

 guishes it from that species, being known 

 never to shed its horns. In some these are 

 seen to grow to a surprising size; many of 

 them measuring, in their convolutions, above 

 two ells long. They are of a yellow colour, 

 as was said ; but the older the animal grows, 

 the darker the horns become : wilh these they 

 often maintain very furious battles between 

 each other; and sometimes they are found 

 broken off in such a manner, that the small 

 animals of the forest creep into the cavity for 

 shelter." When the musmon is seen standing 

 on the plain, his fore-legs are always straight, 

 while his hinder legs seem bent under him; 

 but in cases of more active necessity, this 

 seeming deformity is removed, and he moves 

 with great swiftness and agility. The female 

 very much resembles the male of this species, 

 but that she is less, and her horns also are 

 never seen to grow to that prodigious size they 

 are of in the wild ram. Such is the sheep in 

 its savage state ; a bold, noble, arid beautiful 

 animal : but it is not the most beautiful crea- 

 tures that are always found most useful to man. 

 Human industry has therefore destroyed its 

 grace, to improve its utility. 



THE GOAT, 



AND ITS NUMEROUS VARIETIES. 



THERE are some domestic animals that seem 

 as auxiliaries to the more useful sorts ; and 



a Gmelin. as quoted by Buffon. 



that, by ceasing to be the first, are considered 

 as nothing. We have seen the services of the 

 ass slighted, because inferior to those of the 

 horse; and, in the same manner, those of the 

 goat are held cheap, because the sheep so 

 far exceeds it. Were the horse or the sheep 

 removed from nature, the inferior kinds would 

 then be invaluable ; and the same arts would 

 probably be bestowed in perfecting their 

 kinds, that the higher order of animals have 

 experienced. But in their present neglected 

 state, they vary but little from the wild ani- 

 mals of the same kind : man has left them 

 their primitive habits and forms; and the 

 less they owe to his assiduity, the more they 

 receive from nature. 



The goat seems, in every respect, more 

 fitted for a life of savage liberty than the sheep. 1 " 

 It is naturally more lively, and more possess- 

 ed with animal instinct. It easily attaches it-, 

 self to man, and seems sensible of his caress- 

 es. It is also stronger and swifter, more cou- 

 rageous, and more playful, lively, capricious, 

 and vagrant : it is not easily confined to its 

 flock, but chooses its own pastures, and loves 

 to stray remote from the rest. It chiefly de- 

 lights in climbing precipices, in going to the 

 very edge of danger ; it is often seen suspend- 

 ed upon an eminence hanging over the sea, 

 upon a very little base, and even sleeps there 

 in security. Nature has, in some measure, 

 fitted it for traversing these declivities with 

 ease ; the hoof is hollow underneath, with 

 sharp edges, so that it walks as securely on 

 the ridge of a house, as on the level ground. 

 It is a hardy animal, and very easily sustained; 

 for which reason it is chiefly the property of 

 the poor, who have no pastures with which to 

 supply it. Happily, however, it seems better 

 pleased with the neglected wild, than the cul- 

 tivated fields of art; it chooses the healthy 

 mountain, or the shrubby rock ; its favourite 

 food is the tops of boughs, or the tender bark 

 of young trees; it seems less afraid of immo- 

 derate heat, and bears the warm climates bet- 

 ter than the sheep ; it sleeps exposed to the 

 sun, and seems to enjoy its warmest fervors ; 

 neither is it terrified at the storm, or incom- 

 moded by the rain; immoderate cold alone 

 seems to affect it, and is said to produce a 



Buffon. 



2S* 



