246 



ANIMALS OF THE 



vertigo, with which this animal is sometimes 

 incommoded. The inconstancy of its nature 

 is perceivable in the irregularity of its gait ; 

 it goes forward, stops, runs, approaches, flies, 

 merely from caprice, and with no other seem- 

 ing reason than the extreme vivacity of its 

 disposition. 



There arc proofs of this animal's being na- 

 turally the friend of man; and that the goat 

 seldom resumes its primeval wildness, when 

 once reduced into a state of servitude. In 

 the year 1698, an English vessel happening 

 to touch at the island of Bonavista, two ne- 

 groes came, and offered the sailors as many 

 goats as they chose to take away. Upon the 

 captain's expressing his astonishment at this 

 offer, the negroes assured him that there were 

 but twelve persons in the island, and that the 

 goats were multiplied in such a manner as 

 even to become a nuisance : they added, that 

 instead of giving any trouble to catch them, 

 they followed the few inhabitants that were 

 left with a sort of obstinacy, and rather be- 

 came importunate with their lameness. 



The goat produces but two at a time, and 

 three at the most. But in the warmer climates, 

 although the animal degenerates, and grows 

 less, yet it becomes more fruitful, being gene- 

 rally found to bring forth three, (bur, and live, 

 at a single delivery. The buck is capable of 

 propagating at the age of one year, and the 

 female at seven months ; however, the fruits 

 of this premature generation are weak and de- 

 fective; and their best breeding-time is ge- 

 nerally delayed till the age of two years, or 

 eighteen months at least. One buck is suf- 

 ficient for a hundred and fifty goats; his ap- 

 petites arc excessive: but this ardour brings 

 on a speedy decay, so that he is enervated in 

 four years at most, and even becomes old be- 

 fore he reaches his seventh year. The goat, 

 like the sheep, continues five months with 

 young; and, in some places, bears twice a 

 year. 



The milk of the goat is sweet, nourishing, 

 and medicinal ; not so apt to curdle upon the 

 stomach as that of the cow : and, therefore, 

 preferable to those whose digestion is but 

 weak. The peculiarity of this animal's food 

 gives the milk a ilavour different from that 

 either of the cow or the sheep; for as it ge- 

 nerally feeds upon shrubby pastures, and 



healthy mountains, there is an agreeable mild- 

 ness in the taste, very pleasing to such as are 

 fond of that aliment. In several parts of Ire- 

 land, and the highlands of Scotland, the goat 

 makes the chief possession of the inhabitants. 

 On those mountains, where no other useful 

 animal could find subsistence, the goat con- 

 tinues to glean a sufficient living, and supplies 

 the hardy natives with what they consider as 

 varied luxury. They lie upon beds made of 

 their skins, which are soft, clean, and whole- 

 some ; they live upon their milk, with oat- 

 bread; they convert a part of it into butter, 

 and some into cheese : the flesh, indeed, they 

 seldom taste of, as it is a delicacy which they 

 find too expensive; however, the kid is con- 

 sidered, even by the city epicure, as a great 

 rarity ; and the flesh of the goal, when pro- 

 perly prepared, is ranked by some as no way 

 inferior to venison. In this manner, even in 

 the wildest solitudes, the poor find comforts 

 of which the rich do not think it worth their 

 while to dispossess them : in these mountain- 

 ous retreats, where the landscape presents 

 only a scene of rocks, heaths, and shrubs, that 

 speak the wretchedness of the soil, these sim- 

 ple people have their leasts and their plea- 

 sures ; their faithful flock of goats attends them 

 to these awful solitudes, and furnishes them 

 with all the necessaries of life; while their 

 remote situation happily keeps them ignorant 

 of greater luxury. 



As ihese animals are apt to stray from the 

 flock, no man can attend above fifty of them 

 at a time. They are fattened in the same 

 manner as sheep; but, taking every precau- 

 tion, their flesh is never so good or so sweet, 

 in our climate, a* that of mutton. It is other- 

 wise between the tropics. The mutton there 

 becomes flabby and lean, while the flesh of 

 the goat rather seems to improve; and in 

 some places the latter is cultivated in prefer- 

 ence to the former. We, therefore, find this 

 animal in almost every part of the world, as 

 it seems fitted for the necessities of man in 

 both extremes. Towards the north, where 

 the pasture is coarse and barren, the goat is 

 fitted to find a scanty subsistence; between 

 the tropics, \\ here the heat is excessive, the 

 goat is fitted to hear the climate, and its flesh 

 is found to improve. 



One of the moat remarkable varieties we 



