SHEEP AND GOAT KIND 



249 



same manner, by its smell, it can discover a 

 man at half a league distance, and gives the 

 earliest notice. Upon any alarm, therefore, 

 or any apprehensions of danger, the shaminoy 

 begins his hissing note with such force, that 

 the rocks and the forests re-echo to the sound. 

 The first hiss continues as long as the time of 

 one inspiration. In the beginning it is very 

 sharp, and deeper towards the close. The 

 animal having, after this first alarm, reposed 

 a moment, again looks round, and, perceiving 

 the reality of its fears, continues to hiss by 

 intervals, until it has spread the alarm to a 

 very great distance. During this time, it seems 

 in the most violent agitation ; it strikes the 

 ground with its fore-foot, and sometimes with 

 both : it bounds from rock to rock ; it turns 

 and looks round ; it runs to the edge of the 

 precipice; and, still perceiving the enemy, 

 flies with all its speed. The hissing of the 

 male is much louder and sharper than that of 

 the female ; it is performed through the nose ; 

 and is properly no more than a very strong 

 breath driven violently through a small aper- 

 ture. The shamrnoy feeds upon the best 

 herbage, and chooses the most delicate parts 

 of the plants, the flower and the tender buds. 

 It is not less delicate with regard to several 

 aromatic herbs which grow upon the sides of 

 the mountains. It drinks but very little while 

 it feeds upon the succulent herbage, and chews 

 the cud in the intervals of feeding. This ani- 

 mal is greatly admired for the beauty of its 

 eyes, which are round and sparkling, and 

 which mark the warmth of its constitution. 

 Its head is furnished with two small horns, 

 of about half a foot long, of a beautiful black, 

 aiul rising from the forehead, almost betwixt 

 the eyes. These, contrary to what they are 

 found in other animals, instead of going back- 

 wards or sideways, jet out forward, and bend 

 a little, at their extremities, backward, in a 

 small circle, and end in a very sharp point. 

 The ears are placed, in a very elegant man- 

 ner, near the horns ; and there are two stripes 

 of black on each side of the face, the rest 

 beingof a whitish yellow, which never changes. 

 The horn of this animal is often used as the 

 head of a cane. Those of the female are less, 

 and not so much bent ; and some farriers are 

 seen to bleed cattle with them. These ani- 

 mals are so much incommoded by heat, that 



they are never found in summer, except in the 

 caverns of rocks, amidst fragments of unmelt- 

 ed ice, under the shade of high and spreading 

 trees, or of rough and hanging precipices, that 

 face the north, and which keep ofTentirely the 

 rays of the sun. They go to pasture both 

 morning and evening, and seldom during the 

 heat of the day. They run along the rocks 

 with great ease and seeming indifference, and 

 leap from one to another, so that no dogs are 

 able to pursue them. There is nothing more 

 extraordinary than to see them climbing, and 

 descending precipices, that to all other quad- 

 rupeds are inaccessible. They always mount 

 or descend in an oblique direction; and throw 

 themselves down a rock of thirty feet, and 

 light with great security upon some excres- 

 cence or fragment, on the side of the preci- 

 pice, which is just large enough to place their 

 teet upon; they strike the rock, however, in 

 their descent, with their feet, three or four 

 times, to stop the velocity of their motion; 

 and, when they have got upon their base be- 

 low, they at once seem fixed and secure. In 

 fact, to see them jump in this manner, they 

 seem rather to have wings than legs : some, 

 indeed, pretend to say, that they use their 

 horns for climbing, but this wants confirma- 

 tion. Certain it is that their legs alone are 

 formed for this arduous employment, the hind- 

 er being rather longer than the former, and 

 bending in such a manner, that when they 

 descend upon them, they break the force of 

 the fall. It is also asserted, that when they 

 feed, one of them always stands as centinel; 

 but how far this may be true is questionable. 

 For certain, while they feed, there are some 

 of them that keep continually grazing round 

 the rest ; but this is practised among all grega- 

 rious animals ; so that when they see any dan- 

 ger, they warn the rest of the herd of its ap- 

 proach. During the rigours of winter, the 

 shammoy sleeps in the thicker forests, and 

 i feeds upon the shrubs and the buds of the 

 ! pine-tree. It sometimes turns up the snow 

 ! with its foot, to look for herbage, and, where 

 it is green, makes a delicious repast. The 

 more craggy and uneven the forest, the more 

 this animal is pleased with the abode, which 

 thus adds to its security. The hunting the 

 shaminoy is very laborious, and extremely 

 dillicult. The most usual way is to hide be- 



