THE SHEEP AND GOATS 



231 



Photo by E. Lander] 



FEMALE ANGORA GOAT 



The breed from "which mohair is obtained 



[ Eating 



THE GOATS 



Though the dividing-line between 



the Sheep and Goats is very indistinct, 



some differences are of general appli- 

 cation. The goats are distinguished 



by the unpleasant " hircine " odour of 



the males, and by beards on the chins 



of the same sex, by the absence of 



glands in the hind feet, which sheep 



possess, and by certain variations in 



the formation of the skull. The 



difference between the temperament 



of the sheep and goats is very curious 



and persistent, showing itself in a 



marked way, which affects their use 



in domestication to such a degree that 



the keeping of one or the other often 



marks the owners as possessors of 



different degrees of civilisation. Goats 



are restless, curious, adventurous, and 



so active that they cannot be kept 



in enclosed fields. For this reason 



they are not bred in any numbers in 



lands where agriculture is practised 



on modern principles ; they are too enterprising and too destructive. Consequently the goat is 



usually only seen in large flocks on mountain pastures and rocky, uncultivated ground, where 



the flocks are taken out to feed by the children. 



On the high alps, in Greece, on the Apennines, and in Palestine the goat is a valuable 



domestic animal. The milk, butter, and cheese, and also the flesh of the kids, are in great 



esteem. But wherever the land is enclosed, and high cultivation attempted, the goat is banished, 



and the more docile and controllable 

 sheep takes its place. In Syria the 

 goat is perhaps more docile and better 

 understood as a dairy animal than 

 elsewhere in the East. The flocks are 

 driven into Damascus in the morning; 

 and instead of a milk-cart calling, the 

 flock itself goes round the city, and 

 particular goats are milked before the 

 doors of regular customers. 



The EUROPEAN GOAT is a very 

 useful animal for providing milk to 

 poor families in large towns. The 

 following account of its present uses 

 was recently published : " The sheep, 

 while preserving its hardy habits in 

 some districts, as on Exmoor, in Wales, 

 and the Highlands, adapts itself to 

 richer food, and acquires the habits as 

 well as the digestion of domestication. 

 The goat remains, as in old days, the 



ANGORA RAM 



\_ Haling 



These goats -were originally obtained from Turkey in Asia, and exported to South 



Africa . 



